Cruella

Well, no—it’s not that exhausting rooting for the antihero. If, indeed, you do wind up rooting for her. That’s the tough trick to pull off in this outing: making a most iconic villain into something resembling a sympathetic character. It undermines the mission when, in the midst of these goings on, the henchmen start complaining about the nature of the lead character. It shows just how wide a span there is for this story to bridge. In this case, the program is helped a lot by Emma Stone’s work in the title role. She inhabits the personage to the maximum extent while still leaving room for the audience to give the well-known criminal a bit of a break. The rest of the rehabilitation is accomplished through transference: the movie introduces a new villain who takes up the mantle of vileness, and indeed, Cruella earns points by being the new monster's victim. It’s a fine line to walk, but it is mostly accomplished successfully here. As an added bonus, the film’s music—an aural travelogue of the 1960s and ‘70s—really helps put the viewer in a sympathetic (or at least neutral) mood. So does it all work in the end? Mostly, yes. All of the positives listed above, along with some fine humor and a solid (and admirably consistent) storyline make for a piece that, in certain respects, exceeds its inspiration and stands as a success in its own right. For once, Disney mined the back catalogue without going to the dogs.