By Lori Perkins
Cruella was fun, not brilliant, but a lot of fun. It features a terrific soundtrack (who would have ever thought you’d hear The Rolling Stones “Sympathy for the Devil” in a Disney film?) and fun fashion echoing the punk years of my youth (the garbage truck gown unveiling is worth the ticket price alone).
Yes, this incarnation of Cruella has very little to do with the original story, but it is loads of irreverent fun and the two Emma’s (Thompson as the evil Baroness and Stone as Estella/Cruella) are amazing. And Artie, the Trash and Vaudeville-esque thrift store owner, is a definite actor to watch. It’s a solid B, but in my world that’s an A right now cause I'm grading on a curve.
If you have any movie theaters that offer half price tickets, and you feel comfortable going to a theater, that’s the way to do it. There were only 4 other people in the 8:00 showing last night in a theatre that holds at least 250 in the NYC suburbs. I love having my private screenings right now (there were 8 people in the theater when I went to see A Quiet Place II, but it was a smaller theater for about 75) and I have no idea how long this will last (hopefully through the release of Black Widow!)
Of course you can watch this at home on Disney + for $30, but I do think it will lose something in the translation to the smaller screen (even if you have a giant flat screen). I feel that the castle cliffs and outrageous fashion really benefit from the larger spectacle.