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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Cruella,’ Disney villain’s origin story starring Emma Stone, is a dizzying if uneven ride

By Katie Walsh Tribune News Service

There are some canonical Disney characters who simply demand further interrogation. The maniacally fur-obsessed fashionista Cruella De Vil, who tormented the young Darling family and their Dalmatian puppies in “101 Dalmatians,” and even has her own theme song, has had a grip on our imaginations since the animated feature in 1961.

Glenn Close staked quite a claim on the role in the 1996 live-action film, and now Emma Stone dons the two-tone wig in an attempt to explicate just why Cruella was so hungry for those puppy pelts.

Director Craig Gillespie managed to flip the cultural sentiment on the notorious Tonya Harding with his Oscar-nominated 2017 film “I, Tonya,” so he’s an ideal director to tackle “Cruella.” A dream team of screenwriters, including Dana Fox, Tony McNamara, Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel and Steve Zissis, contributed to the script, but it’s not easy to solve a problem like “Cruella.”

The film is humanizing origin story in the vein of “Joker,” but aimed at a teen audience, and we can’t see her attempt to harm any dogs, but, that’s her whole thing. It’s quite the predicament, character-wise.

Set in London, vaguely in the 1970s, Gillespie attempts to distract from any squidgy story moments with furiously fast filmmaking. The film never, ever stops, the soundtrack churning through classic rock tunes from the Zombies to Nina Simone at a harried pace.

The camera dives, swoops, crawls, scurries and cranes throughout the streets and buildings where the young street urchin Cruella, nee Estella (Stone), grows up pickpocketing with her best pals Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) and Jasper (Joel Fry), who took her under their wing after her mother’s tragic death. Her journey to understanding this life-altering loss will be the driving force of Estella’s life and what spurs her to embrace her wild alter ego, Cruella.

Escaping the grifter lifestyle, Estella snags her dream job as a design assistant for fashion impresario the Baroness (Emma Thompson). Their relationship is similar to Cruella and Anita in “101 Dalmatians,” and if you were wondering what they were going to do with that 2 hour, 14 minute run time, the screenwriters have managed to stuff most of “Phantom Thread” into the second act.

While toiling for the Baroness, Estella takes on a Clark Kent lifestyle, moonlighting as punky provocateur Cruella to prank her boss. Riding around on a garbage truck in a ball gown, the police claim “vandalism,” while the tabloids eat her up, but one can’t help but wonder if “fashion stunts” can make a true villain.

Cruella torments the Baroness by constantly upstaging her, but the truth is Thompson snatches the film from Stone. The second she steps on screen in winged eyeliner and form-fitting couture as the deliciously devilish Baroness, it’s game-set-match between the Emmas. Though sneeringly charming and delightful, Stone never stood a chance.

The tension between the kinda naughty Cruella and the absurdly evil Baroness illustrates the quandary when it comes to making a film to explain one of Disney’s most iconic, and problematic, villains. Though they managed to pull it off with “Maleficent,” positioning her as a misunderstood eco-warrior, Cruella’s whole deal is killing animals for fur. With that element understandably neutered, Stone is tasked with the challenge of balancing Estella and Cruella, trying to make Estella sympathetic, but also celebrating who Cruella ultimately becomes. She’s never as unleashed as Thompson or even Close, who are allowed to be as bad as they want to be.

Despite the character’s limitations, Gillespie’s dizzyingly manic aesthetic makes for a head-rush of a ride, as we trip the light fantastic through a grungy glam-goth take on ’70s London. The effect lasts about as long as the film itself, evaporating almost instantly, but it is indeed a good time while it lasts.