Cruella

I had an absolute blast watching a Thursday preview of Cruella with a large and appreciative crowd last night!  Estella (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) is a brilliant and creative little girl who was born with black and white hair.  She is also rebellious and has a habit of lashing out when anyone crosses her which earns her the nickname "Cruella" from her mother Catherine (Emily Beecham).  After the death of her mother she ends up on her own in London but soon meets up with two street urchins who reluctantly take her under their wing.  Ten years later Estella (Emma Stone), Jasper (Joel Fry), and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) are accomplished pickpockets with Estella designing and creating elaborate costumes to aid in their deceptions.  She finally gets what she thinks is her dream job at the Liberty department store but she is actually relegated to working as a janitor.  She idolizes the designer Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson) and is thrilled when a window display she designs in secret one night at Liberty gets noticed by the Baroness.  She is asked to join her prestigious fashion house as a designer and does everything she can to impress her.  However, disturbing revelations about the Baroness soon prompt Estella to adopt the persona of "Cruella" and enlist the help of Jasper, Horace, a vintage clothing store owner named Artie (John McCrea), and her childhood friend Anita (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) to help her compete with the Baroness to exact her revenge.  This movie is so much fun and it is easily one of the best Disney live-action remakes yet but, honestly, I think I enjoyed it more when I didn't think about the fact that it is a prequel to One Hundred and One Dalmatians and just appreciated it as a revenge-heist thriller.  The images on the screen look fantastic and I loved the edgy 1970s London punk aesthetic.  Stone and Thompson give really fun over-the-top performances that are wildly entertaining and I also found Hauser to be very amusing.  The costumes are absolutely spectacular, particularly the gowns worn to the Black and White Ball and Cruella's gowns in her pop-up shows.  Finally, I loved the 1970s pop music featured in the soundtrack, especially "Bloody Well Right" by Supertramp, "She's a Rainbow" by the Rolling Stones, "Livin' Thing" by Electric Light Orchestra, "One Way Or Another" by Blondie, "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" by The Clash, and, of course, "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones.  I enjoyed watching this movie so much and the crowd at my screening seemed to enjoy it as well because they laughed and cheered throughout the whole thing (although the kids seemed a bit subdued).  I highly recommend it!

Note:  The mid-credits scene featuring Anita, Roger (Kayvan Novak), Pongo, and Perdita got the biggest reaction from the crowd!