New Disney movie Cruella

[HeartBlade]

Didn’t see a post for this yet so wanted to get the ball rolling. Not going to lie, it looks good and seems they are actually going to make Cruella a villain, unlike Malificent which was terrible.

Emma Stone is also a great choice. She is a great actress and has proven that she can play the bad guy from her work in the Favorite.

 

[The 48th Ronin]

By any chance are you dyslexic?

 

[Psab keel]

All that comes to mind is this:

 

[ScourgiousJinx]

All that comes to mind is this:

So true and very well said.

 

[HeartBlade]

By any chance are you dyslexic?

No but my iPhone is lol.

 

[Gimpdiggity]

I’m in for Emma Stone, she’s pretty good in most of her roles.

 

[CB2001]

Do we really need another Disney turning a classic villain into some misunderstood anti-hero film? What's next? Are we going to get a story of the Evil Queen from Snow White being portrayed as some sympathetic and misunderstood anti-hero who is really trying to kill Snow White because Snow White is more beautiful than any other woman in the land, and tries to do it to help the self-esteem of every other woman in the land?

 

[Psab keel]

Disney is nothing more than an acquisition company at this point and hasn't released anything "original", meaning something that isn't a live action remake of their animated classics, a reboot, sequel, or other derivative work, since 2009's The Princess and the Frog as far as I'm aware. At the very least it was an attempt to recapture that Disney animated magic and a fresh take on an old fairy tale that I very much enjoyed. I like Emma Stone but this looks like an SNL skit or the type of thing you'd see as a direct to video release in the kids section of Blockbuster. It's no wonder streaming shows and films are crushing the Hollywood system. A huge part of the decline in theater attendance over the last few decades is due to movies like Cruella not having much to offer audiences other than a warped trip down memory lane. Does anyone remember the live action remake of 101 Dalmations from the 90's with Glen Close? I suspect this might suffer the same fate.

 

[ScourgiousJinx]

That's the joy of living in a throw-away society. They just have to keep a constant flow of new and the easiest thing to do is to repeat, repackage and make everything including movies (by only focusing on current trends) have a short life span, not be durable at all, so we can be ready to buy the next offering as soon they're ready to produce it. Gotta love mass consumerism. Disney does this very very well, especially convincing people that what they're selling is what people want. Many buy into it, myself included sometimes. It's hard not to lol.

I'm not interested in watching Cruella, although I enjoyed her in 101 Dalmatians. I respect people's excitement for it though. I genuinely hope everyone who sees it has a great experience.

 

[HeartBlade]

I don’t know. I get more joker vibes than maleficent vibes from the trailer and Stone has portrayed a villain recently with the Favorite so she could make it work. Getting more birth of a villain in a villainous world than misunderstood true hero. You can definitely argue that it’s Disney’s answer to Joker and thus not creatively new.

I agree that Disney and Hollywood in general has been creatively bankrupt. I really think part of the reason why the MCU even got as big as it did is because there were few alternatives as well so people were willing to watch the next Marvel since nothing else sparked notable interest with few exceptions. Unfortunately the same can be said for the video game industry as well with developers “remastering” and “remaking” old classics rather than attempt new IPs.

 

[HeartBlade]

I don’t think that creativity is dead and streaming may arguably revive it. People did stick to movie stars, then franchises because people were afraid of the unknown and the cost of watching a movie (both in terms of dollars and time) was relatively high.

Now that streaming will likely become the main method of watching movies, the cost of watching a movie is now much lower. Instead of watching the game or a tv show, I could try out a movie Netflix/ Disney+/ Apple suggests. Movies will need to be tailored to a more segmented audience since the audience will want more that cater to their preference and that could result in more cult classics. This does depend a lot on how the streaming wars play out though and will give a ton of power and money to the platform holders.

 

[Psab keel]

I stand corrected. There have been some Disney originals that I've enjoyed since The Princess and the Frog. Zootopia being one of my favorites. Great movie! Though even these are pretty few and far between. Due to the similarities between animation styles I often get these types confused with Pixar movies. Besides Disney isn't the only guilty party in this. They're just following the same trends like the rest of Hollywood.

For the consumer streaming is a welcome departure that will give Hollywood the necessary kick in the pants they need to evolve their content because as you said HeartBlade there is no shortage of creativity. We are seeing more original content from streaming than has come from Hollywood in decades and it's refreshing.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

This seems to cover a lot of the ground from this thread...

 

[Egon Spengler]

Let's make a movie where the "hero" goes on to want to skin dogs for coats. Pass. I'm guessing she's just a mistreated misunderstood unappreciated genius who is manipulated and goes "bad".

 

[kayakiit]

Excellent points in the videos commented above. I'm personally pretty torn about whether to watch, I wouldn't pay to see it but still might stream it down the road. I love Emma Stone and it does look well-made...but i's nevertheless gross to make another movie glamorizing and arguably justifying vile actions because of tragic backstories etc. for the cash grab.

 

[testsqa]

Disney does not allow smoking in films, so Emma Stone will not be able to use the Cruella's character signature cigarette holder.

 

[HeartBlade]

Yeah it seems this movie was Disney’s attempt at Joker + typical villain was actually misunderstood.

i do think its better than Disney’s other attempts at this like Maleficent in that Cruella is actually a bad person but rewrites her motivations again (Cruella has a more “reasonable” motivation against dogs vs her original depiction which is just for pure vanity).

 

[CT1138]

Ah yes, the sympathetic origin story of the chain smoking sadist who likes to skin puppies. Easy pass.

Disney does not allow smoking in films, so Emma Stone will not be able to use the Cruella's character signature cigarette holder.

Which, coincidentally, was half of Cruella's character.

I stand corrected. There have been some Disney originals that I've enjoyed since The Princess and the Frog. Zootopia being one of my favorites. Great movie! Though even these are pretty few and far between. Due to the similarities between animation styles I often get these types confused with Pixar movies. Besides Disney isn't the only guilty party in this. They're just following the same trends like the rest of Hollywood.

Most of Disney's creativity seems to get expressed via Pixar anyway, so I can relate to the confusion. Considering Pixar's existence seems to be in name only, I often consider anything they make to just be a Disney movie with extra steps.

Disney is nothing more than an acquisition company at this point and hasn't released anything "original", meaning something that isn't a live action remake of their animated classics, a reboot, sequel, or other derivative work, since 2009's The Princess and the Frog as far as I'm aware. At the very least it was an attempt to recapture that Disney animated magic and a fresh take on an old fairy tale that I very much enjoyed. I like Emma Stone but this looks like an SNL skit or the type of thing you'd see as a direct to video release in the kids section of Blockbuster. It's no wonder streaming shows and films are crushing the Hollywood system. A huge part of the decline in theater attendance over the last few decades is due to movies like Cruella not having much to offer audiences other than a warped trip down memory lane. Does anyone remember the live action remake of 101 Dalmations from the 90's with Glen Close? I suspect this might suffer the same fate.

The only reason these remakes/reboots are even happening is purely for the petty reason of preventing the material from returning to public domain. Disney's bread and butter, going as far back as the Walt days, was taking public domain work, and then copyrighting it. The entire pantheon of Disney Princesses were all public domain until Disney made their movies. The greatest irony is that Disney retains an army of lawyers to come down on you if you so much as consider infringing on THEIR copyright, when Disney itself was built on getting around the copyright of a cartoon rabbit.

Yeah it seems this movie was Disney’s attempt at Joker + typical villain was actually misunderstood.

I feel like it works with the Joker, though, because his historically ambiguous past, plus the popularity of The Killing Joke having such an influence on The Joker's origin and personality. With Cruella we KNOW her origin: she was a wealthy, vain sadist who went to college with Anita. She didn't NEED an origin story, because, unlike the Joker, she's not a complicated person. She's a Karen who was used to getting whatever she wanted in life because of her wealth.

 

[HeartBlade]

I feel like it works with the Joker, though, because his historically ambiguous past, plus the popularity of The Killing Joke having such an influence on The Joker's origin and personality. With Cruella we KNOW her origin: she was a wealthy, vain sadist who went to college with Anita. She didn't NEED an origin story, because, unlike the Joker, she's not a complicated person. She's a Karen who was used to getting whatever she wanted in life because of her wealth.

I personally felt joker worked as a movie because it was a scathing critique of the lack of mental health care and an inhumane society. I think the mass media’s wrongful critique that the movie would “empower incels” shows in a sense how well the movie captures their plight and feelings of isolation in society. Joker isnt a good “Joker movie” but its a great social critique movie in the guise of a superhero movie imo. Also helps that Batman villains with tragic backstories is not exactly new (and we can thank Animated Batman’s Mr. Freeze for that).

I agree Cruella fails at this and is a cheap knockoff to get on the villain is sympathetic train. I always saw Cruella as the epitome of vanity, choosing to do immoral things like skin 99 puppies to realize her visionary art. I think this can be very pertinent to modern society with “influencers” being very disruptive for likes, clicks, etc and Cruella could have been a scathing critique of that.

i will say I still liked it better than Maleficent which was the dumbest interpretation of a villain ever.

 

[CT1138]

I personally felt joker worked as a movie because it was a scathing critique of the lack of mental health care and an inhumane society. I think the mass media’s wrongful critique that the movie would “empower incels” shows in a sense how well the movie captures their plight and feelings of isolation in society. Joker isnt a good “Joker movie” but its a great social critique movie in the guise of a superhero movie imo. Also helps that Batman villains with tragic backstories is not exactly new (and we can thank Animated Batman’s Mr. Freeze for that).

I agree Cruella fails at this and is a cheap knockoff to get on the villain is sympathetic train. I always saw Cruella as the epitome of vanity, choosing to do immoral things like skin 99 puppies to realize her visionary art. I think this can be very pertinent to modern society with “influencers” being very disruptive for likes, clicks, etc and Cruella could have been a scathing critique of that.

i will say I still liked it better than Maleficent which was the dumbest interpretation of a villain ever.

Oh "Joker's" social critique of mental health stigmas is definitely one of its strongest qualities, but that's besides the point. My point is the Joker is a complex character with a long, storied history of being such. Cruella has always just been one thing: a wealthy, albeit vain, chain-smoking sadist. That's all she's ever needed to be. There was never any room for a tragic backstory.