Cruella (2021)

After watching her mother (Emily Beecham) savagely killed by a pack of Dalmatians, her daughter (Tipper Seifert Cleveland) runs off to London where she (now Emma Stone) grows up as a grifter and thief. But her true passion is fashion design. Inspired by the novel by Dodie Smith by way of the 1961 animated ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS and directed by Craig Gillespie (I TONYA). The film attempts to humanize Cruella De Vil by giving her a backstory explaining why she is what she is but this Cruella could never be the Cruella of the original 1961 movie. Still, the film is quite entertaining though overlong but the absence of a truly evil Cruella allows Emma Thompson to steal the movie. Thompson's haute couture priestess could sing you a lullaby while cutting your throat! Jenny Beavan's stunning costumes should be in the running at the next Oscar ceremony. After the Bond like end credits, there's an insert that sets it up for a sequel more closely aligned with the 1961 film. With Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, Mark Strong, Kayvan Novak and Kirby Howell Baptiste.