From the time since the film Cruella was announced, it was inevitable that whoever was chosen to recreate Disney’s iconic villainess in live-action form would be compared to Glenn Close’s all-in performance in Disney live-action classic 101 Dalmatians. Cruella joins the roster of recent Disney reimaginings that tell brand-new origin stories with iconic villains. Like Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent, Emma Stone’s Cruella arrives with instantly iconic looks and a heartbreaking backstory for Disney villain Cruella De Vil.
Review after review of the film compares Oscar-winner Emma Stone’s portrayal to Oscar-nominee Close’s flamboyant take on the character. While each brings a no-holds-barred performance to the table, there’s one version of Cruella that is destined to be unforgettable.
Glenn Close’s Cruella was introduced as the toxic, extravagant owner of a fashion house, prone to bullying her staff. Emma Stone’s Cruella is introduced as Estella, young, scrappy, and hungry to break into fashion design only to have her dreams threatened by her employer, who shares more than one trait with Close’s version of Cruella. The best Cruella of the two is the one where the actress truly got to sink her teeth into the role.
In the 1996 film, Glenn Close inhabited an already established character, thus her performance plays to Cruella’s traits from the animated film. She’s intrusive, arrogant, and relentlessly malevolent. Close’s Cruella brings hilarity and never lets the viewer forget she would gleefully murder any number of adorable furry animals to enhance her wardrobe. Emma Stone’s Cruella is created nearly from scratch, both by the actress herself and by her character Estella. Just as Estella deliberately shapes herself into the more formidable Cruella, Stone crafts both characters from the ground up, gradually merging the two into one exuberant, menacing protagonist.
Close and Stone both divided the critics on their performances. EW said Glenn Close "camps with full-tilt extravagance" in its 1996 review of 101 Dalmatians while legendary critic Roger Ebert was not as enthusiastic, remarking, "She isn't Cruella DeVil. No one of flesh and blood could be. If she's anyone, she's Norma Desmond from 'Sunset Boulevard,' playing Cruella DeVil." Reviews for Stone’s performance run along the same gamut. Screen Rant praises Stone’s work, saying, “Stone is the absolute epicenter of Cruella, and she owns the role completely, immersing herself within the dual roles that flesh out the nuances of an emotionally driven backstory” while The London Times was not as impressed, lamenting Stone "just doesn't scare you." Ultimately, Stone’s Cruella is an original, which, as fashion aficionados know, is always more exciting to experience.
Is Cruella or 101 Dalmatians the better Cruella movie? 101 Dalmatians finds its story in the antics of multiple furry family members eluding a crazed villain out to skin them. Cruella De Vil is the antagonist, and the actual main characters are the dogs. The new movie doesn’t merely flip the script to reverse those roles; instead, Cruella gets a whole new foe to face off against. It’s Oscar-winner Emma (Thompson) vs. Oscar-winner Emma (Stone) in an electric pairing that gives the movie its best scenes when Cruella spars with Thompson’s Baroness von Hellman.
Cruella centers the spotlight squarely above its titular protagonist, and the show’s entire aesthetic is in service to her character. The incredible Oscar-worthy costumes from designer Jenny Beavan, the set design recapturing 1970’s London, and the superb incorporation of music from the ’70s are all perfectly matched with the story the movie is telling. And that story is Cruella’s, making 2021’s retold tale the far better Cruella movie.
Close's 101 and 102 Dalmatians had magnificent costumes recreating the style and spirit of the wardrobe Cruella wore in the 1961 animated movie. Most of Close’s costumes are meant to remind the audience of her sinister role through her abundant use of animal elements like fur and feathers, the massive silhouettes, and, of course, black and white dots to reflect her evil aims. The garments in those films are fabulous, fiendish accessories, ones that accentuate her villainy.
Cruella immerses its characters in the fashion-forward 1970s; this was the decade that Vogue declared, “There are no rules in the fashion game now!” This approach and era give the movie an immediate edge in terms of wardrobes. Cruella uses the same statement to declare herself to the world and introduce her style with its daring use of bold angles and unusual material combinations. For Stone’s Cruella, her looks are all integral parts of her story, each one corresponding with both her individual development and the story’s narrative course. Cruella’s fashion choices, largely featuring synthetic materials, are all deliberate decisions that represent innovation and transformation. As the movie gathers speed and intensity, Cruella’s outfit changes become more frequent. With every look unforgettable and significant, Stone’s Cruella wins the fashion game hands-down.
Cruella almost completely ditches the concept of the original 101 Dalmatians film but does toss out some Easter eggs here and there. Cruella’s iconic fur coat becomes a major statement moment. A mid-credits scene features Cruella’s friend Anita (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and the Baroness’s former lawyer Roger (Kayvan Novak) receiving a pair of Dalmatian puppies. Roger starts writing the iconic “Cruella De Vil” song. Cruella also has two accomplices named Jasper and Horace, as she did in earlier screen versions of the story. The car that Emma Stone’s Cruella steals for her and her team to make their escape from the Baroness is a throwback to the original Cruella roadster.
Glenn Close’s films adhere to the basic tenets of the animated movie. A devilish, larger-than-life figure fiendishly hunts down sweet puppies for gruesome purposes. 101 Dalmatians did, of course, make alterations to the original story. Cruella was Anita’s employer rather than an old school friend and subsequently fired Anita when the latter refused to sell Cruella puppies. Other than having Cruella be subdued by the dogs themselves, the 1996 film faithfully recreated the dognapping and escape structure from the original Disney movie. Though both movies were vastly different from the original animated movie, Cruella is a complete reimagining where 101 Dalmatians is more of an adaptation.
While Glenn Close’s Cruella will always be entertaining to revisit, Emma Stone’s take on the character in Cruella brings a vivid, exciting interpretation that sets her version apart. Close stayed true to the original, terrifying villain, but Stone brings nuance and pluck in spades to a triumphant reimagining of the character.
Stone’s rendition is not telling the origin of the vicious, flamboyant monster audiences already know. More antihero than antagonist, Disney's latest live-action remake features a wholly different Cruella who chafes under the constraints of a world that would extinguish her individuality and rises, determined to burn that world down, rather than reshape herself in its image. A Cruella worth cheering for is no easy feat, but Emma Stone successfully accomplishes that task.
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