BY CHRISTOPHER STAMM
GUEST MOVIE REVIEWER
Cruella (Showing in Theatres)
Rated PG13 – For peril and adult themes.
Well, the folks at Disney have done it again. They cranked up that printing press located deep within the Magic Kingdom and cranked out another money-making original story, and it works.
Cruella, played perfectly by Emma Stone (La La Land), gets a well-deserved back story in the latest from Disney Studios. With her trademark monochromatic hair and sneer, the Disney villainess comes alive on screen and shows just how a villain is created.
Cruella benefits from a solid story and outstanding performances by the afore-mentioned Emma Stone and with great support from the always reliable Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks) as the Baroness, Joel Fry (Yesterday) and Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell) as Jasper and Horace, Cruella’s loyal if not conflicted henchmen/best friends.
Entertaining from the very start, the only reason why Cruella gets only three stars, out of five possible, is because the runtime is a tad long for some, at 2 hours 15 minutes, and for the adult themes. Warning: Leave the little ones home. Cruella is a dark tale, albeit with some real laugh-out-loud humor, but it is not meant for the little ones, who you may be inclined to take to the theatre to see it. There is a death discussion of vengeance and palpable hate.
The PG-13 is spot on. Tweens and adults will love this one. I know I did, and Mary, my ever-patient wife, laughed out loud multiple times. Cruella is absolutely worth the price of admission.