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A live-action prequel feature film following a young Cruella de Vil. A live-action prequel feature film following a young Cruella de Vil. A live-action prequel feature film following a young Cruella de Vil.

• Craig Gillespie
• Tony McNamara
• Aline Brosh McKenna
• Emma Thompson
• 2K User reviews
• 345 Critic reviews
• 59 Metascore
• 29 wins & 43 nominations total

• The Baroness

• Catherine …

• John the Valet

• Anita Darling
• (as Kirby Howell-Baptiste)

• Liberty Shop Girl

• Baroness Head of Security
• Mean Ginger

• Police Commissioner

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Fashion On Screen

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Did you know

• Trivia Glenn Close , who played the first live-action Cruella DeVil in 101 Dalmatians (1996) and 102 Dalmatians (2000) , serves as executive producer for this movie.
• Goofs Cruella crashes a car into an old-fashioned British red phone box, which buckles on impact. These phone boxes were made of cast iron which would, with sufficient force, break, not bend.

Cruella de Vil : They say there are five stages of grief. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Well, I'd like to add one more. Revenge

• Crazy credits There are scenes in the closing credits: Anita and Roger receive a gift of two Dalmatians (one each) from Cruella. The dogs are named Pongo and Perdita, the parent dogs from 101 Dalmatians. Roger then starts to play the Cruella de Vil song from One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) .
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: D23 Expo 2019 Extravaganza (2019)
• Soundtracks Bloody Well Right Written by Rick Davies (as Richard Davies) and Roger Hodgson Performed by Supertramp Courtesy of A&M Records Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews 2K

• gobraves9-259-630922
• Jun 28, 2021
• How long is Cruella? Powered by Alexa
• May 28, 2021 (United States)
• United States
• United Kingdom
• Official Disney+ Hotstar
• Cruella de Vil
• Old Royal Naval College, King William Walk, Greenwich, London, Greater London, England, UK (Rock Concert and Fountain at Regent's Park)
• Walt Disney Pictures
• Marc Platt Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $100,000,000 (estimated)
• $86,103,234
• $21,496,997
• May 30, 2021
• $233,503,234

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 14 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Surround 7.1

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Emma stone in ‘cruella’: film review.

The actress plays 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians' villain Cruella de Vil in this origin story directed by Craig Gillespie and co-starring Emma Thompson.

By Lovia Gyarkye

Lovia Gyarkye

Arts & Culture Critic

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In case you needed reminding: The One Hundred and One Dalmatians franchise has never been about the dogs. No — its real star is Cruella de Vil, the acerbic, deliciously biting antagonist with an unhinged fur obsession.

Betty Lou Gerson voiced the character in the 1961 Disney animated film, investing the villain with wit, haughtiness and an understated charm. Glenn Close came next in 1996’s live-action 101 Dalmatians , all but — excuse the hyperbole — revolutionizing the role. Cruella, in Close’s claws, was sharper, more menacing and, with her untamed, two-tone black-and-white hair, scarlet lipstick and maniacal laugh, frankly iconic. To fill her shoes — or should I say her furs — is a daunting undertaking. But it’s one Emma Stone tackles with admirable hustle and considerable charisma in Disney’s new Cruella .

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Release date: Friday, May 28 Cast: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser,  Emily Beecham, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mark Strong Director: Craig Gillespie Screenwriters: Dana Fox, Tony McNamara; story by Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel, Steve Zissis

Stone’s task in this fitfully fun, frenzied, beautifully costumed version directed by Craig Gillespie ( I, Tonya ) is to help us understand a Cruella-in-progress — the person she was before she started kidnapping and skinning puppies. I admit to finding it hard to picture Stone going so flamboyantly savage; despite her lauded work in La La Land and The Favourite , the actress will, for me, forever be Olive from Easy A . But I’m not afraid to admit when I’m wrong.

Running roughly 2 hours and 16 minutes, Cruella pursues a long, at times slow, path to contextualizing the titular figure’s origins. The film begins in 1960s England with young Cruella (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland), birth name Estella, struggling to fit in. There are early signs of the woman she will become: When her mother (Emily Beecham) admonishes her for not following a prescribed pattern while sewing, Cruella, precocious and unfazed, snaps, “That’s ugly,” before ripping her mother’s work to shreds.

She doesn’t fare much better at school, where her bicolored hair makes her a target for bullies and her attempts at self-defense land her in the dean’s office. Her only friend is Anita Darling (first played by Florisa Kamara, later by Kirby Howell-Baptiste). With Cruella on the verge of being expelled, her mother pulls her out of school, packs their bags and off to London they go.

On the road, the pair stop at a magnificent country home. Cruella’s mother, hushed and vague, commands her daughter to stay in the car. But ever the rebel, Cruella, her rescue puppy in tow, sets out to explore the grounds. What she finds in the house — an opulent fashion show replete with gorgeous gowns — blows her mind and warms her aspiring-designer heart. “For the first time in my life,” she marvels via voiceover, “I felt like I belonged.”

Mayhem ensues and Cruella finds herself running from security guards and three angry Dalmatians, ending up on the estate’s veranda, where she sees her mother talking to a mysterious figure. In an unexpected turn, the dogs attack Cruella’s mother, pushing her off the terrace’s edge.

Her death haunts Cruella, who goes to London, where she links up with a band of orphan thieves (Ziggy Gardner’s Jasper and Joseph MacDonald’s Horace). Now played by Stone, our protagonist also spends much time at war with herself: Should she embrace Estella, the kind, well-behaved girl her mother wanted her to be, or go all in as anarchic, angry Cruella? Stone assuredly embodies this tension, shifting between wide-eyed Estella and diabolical Cruella without ever losing the thread — a deep desire to be seen — that connects them.

As the story moves into the 1970s, Cruella, thanks to Jasper (now played by Joel Fry) and Horace (now played by Paul Walter Hauser), lands a job at a prestigious fashion house. Here the film veers into Devil Wears Prada terrain — Aline Brosh McKenna, who wrote that 2006 hit, has a story credit on the film  — and it’s a thrill to see Stone and Emma Thompson , sly and funny as the Miranda Priestley-esque Baroness in charge of the house, gnash their teeth at each other.

Their interplay is the main attraction in a film that wears genre loosely, lurching between dark comedy and heist thriller with an over-reliance on cross-cutting and on-the-nose musical cues to manufacture tension. The extent to which the titular figure has been sanitized and softened is also a bit disappointing: This Cruella is more revenge-seeking designer giving #girlboss energy than morally bankrupt dog murderer. (The film sidesteps that part of Cruella’s story altogether.) And while no one will be coming to Cruella for astute sociopolitical criticism, the movie underutilizes London’s punk rock revolution moment, treating it as fodder for Cruella’s aesthetic without teasing out the causes that inspired it. It feels like a missed opportunity for a subversiveness that would have deepened and expanded the film’s vision.

What Cruella lacks in script, however, it makes up for in sheer visual punch, with costume designer Jenny Beavan’s exquisitely detailed gowns especially enriching the angsty, sinister universe the film conjures. From Thompson’s glamorous plaid gold suit and show-stopping dresses to Stone’s lace-trimmed gloves, peplum skirts and one adventurous frock made of newspaper, the costumes are architectural and aesthetic feats that pay homage to designers from Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano to Alexander McQueen.

Ironically, contrary to the disposition of its titular character, Cruella requires dialing down the cynicism and buying in a little. But after such a wretchedly constrained and constricted year, who isn’t ready to revel in a little chaos?

Full credits

Distributor: Disney Production companyies: Gunn Films, Marc Platt Productions, TSG Entertainment, Walt Disney Pictures Cast: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser,  Emily Beecham, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mark Strong Director: Craig Gillespie Screenwriters: screenplay by Dana Fox, Tony McNamara; story by Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel, Steve Zissis Producers: Andrew Gunn, Kristin Burr, Marc Platt, Mark Mostyn Executive producers: Emma Stone, Michelle Wright, Jared LeBoff, Glenn Close,Aline Brosh McKenna, Jessica Virtue,  Director of photography: Nicolas Karakatsanis Production designer: Fiona Crombie Costume designer: Jenny Beavan Editor: Tatiana S. Riegel Composer: Nicholas Britell Casting director: Lucy Bevan, Mary Vernieu

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‘Cruella’ Review: Emma Stone Reimagines the ‘101 Dalmatians’ de Villainess as an Iconic Underdog

The de Vil wears Prada in Disney's latest live-action remake, a deliciously dark, unexpectedly empowering origin story that's just the right amount of campy.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

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What’s black and white and red all over? A Dalmatian thief with a diaper rash. Or a scarlet-frocked Disney de Villainess making her debut in the London tabloids.

Starring Oscar winner Emma Stone as the monochrome-coiffed fashionista with a soft spot for puppy fur, “ Cruella ” takes its cues from the “Wicked” playbook — or more recently, Warner Bros.’ “Joker” — to deliver a dark yet sympathetic portrait of a cult-favorite character whom audiences only thought they knew. That character, of course, is “101 Dalmatians” dognapper Cruella de Vil (previously embodied by Glenn Close for one of the studio’s first live-action adaptations), who turns out to be more fierce than cruel in a franchise offering with an identify of its own.

What “Cruella” is not — to the immense relief of many, I’m sure — is another “Maleficent.” (Although who could top the casting of Angelina Jolie as Sleeping Beauty’s misunderstood nemesis?) Whereas that live-action Disney spinoff was an obnoxious eyesore that risked tarnishing the appeal of the original, director Craig Gillespie ’s “Cruella” proves ingeniously creative in its reimagining of the underlying IP.

Set in 1970s London, the movie imagines Cruella as a Vivienne Westwood-esque punk clothing designer desperate to make her mark. Parading an increasingly stunning line of anti-establishment garments (only one of them “fur”), Stone seems positively delighted to vamp her way through the role, channeling her best Eva Green energy as an alabaster-skinned, cat-eyed haute couture disruptor opposite Emma Thompson ’s imperious Baroness, the elegant yet egocentric designer at the top of the London fashion scene.

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So often, these high-concept prequel/reboots can feel like watching someone else try to solve a punishingly tough Sudoku puzzle, as handsomely compensated screenwriters tie themselves in pretzels to reverse-engineer a plot with which audiences are already all too familiar. By contrast, “Cruella” stands on its own, to the extent that Disney could have changed the title character’s name, and the resulting movie would still have been a slyly empowering underdog story — especially for those who see themselves in the put-upon assistant position of “The Devil Wears Prada.” (In retrospect, wasn’t that movie a “Cinderella” fantasy of sorts?)

Credit goes to co-writers Dana Fox (“Kate and Ben”) and Tony McNamara (“The Favourite”), although it was the trio of Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel and Steve Zissis who cracked the way for Cruella to come across as more than just a one-joke camp icon, but an antihero to be reckoned with. As a result of their collective brainstorming, Cruella has been reimagined as the survivor of a bleak, Dickensian childhood. Even her birth name, Estella, seems like a deliberate nod to “Great Expectations.”

The poor little nonconformist (played in early scenes by Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) witnesses her mother (Emily Beecham) knocked off a cliff by three very aggressive Dalmatians, which handily serves to explain her own antipathy toward the creatures. That said, what Disney fan wants to see these notoriously difficult dogs recast as aggressors? The movie’s true villain is the aforementioned Baroness, a cutthroat businesswoman who discovers Estella’s untapped talent for designing clothes during a visit to the Liberty department store and invites the until-now-unlucky young lady to come work for her.

By this point in the film, Stone has assumed the role of Estella, a two-bit grifter who’s been disguising her rather unusual “natural” hair color — stark white on the left, pitch black on the right — and trying to catch a career break. Now it’s off to the races, as Gillespie leans on vintage British rock to power through montages almost sure to inspire a generation of kids to seek employment in the fashion industry. In many ways, “Cruella” feels more Tim Burton-esque than Tim Burton’s own contribution to the Disney live-action catalog (2019’s bloated “Dumbo” redo), giving the title character a chic Gothic attitude designed to clash with the relatively snobby institution she’s determined to upset.

The movie runs a hefty 134 minutes and packs a lot of story into that space, including Estella’s parallel life as a petty criminal. She and fellow orphans Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) are constantly scheming small-time heists, and though Estella dreams of more legitimate success as a clothing designer, their skills of distraction and disguise serve them well when it comes time to crash one of the Baroness’ swanky themed parties.

That’s where the “Cruella” identity is born — as an alter ego for Estella, who makes a rather spectacular entrance at the Baroness’ Black and White Ball, literally lighting the gown she’d arrived in on fire and emerging in a strictly verboten red-all-over stunner instead. From the moment she arrived on-screen until this point, Thompson has clearly stolen the show, but now it’s Stone’s to take back. The rest of the film plays like a rapidly escalating war between the two divas, and the battle gets brutal enough at times that parents of younger kids may be shocked that such a film carries the Disney imprint.

Then again, the fact that Gillespie and his team don’t play it safe, but embrace the macabre, “Series of Unfortunate Events”-like setbacks that befall these characters (including a scene in which the Baroness repays the favor of having been upstaged by attempting to burn Cruella alive) that makes this something other than formulaic kids’ fodder. The director, who brought a wicked edge to pop-culture redux “I, Tonya” a few years back, has rescued “Cruella” from the predictability of the earlier “101 Dalmatians” remakes and created a stylish new franchise of its own in which a onetime villain has been reborn as the unlikeliest of role models.

Reviewed at El Capitan Theater, Hollywood, May 19, 2021. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 134 MIN.

• Production: A Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Disney Plus release of a Disney presentation of a Marc Platt, GunnFilms production. Producers: Andrew Gunn, Marc Platt, Kristin Burr. Executive producers: Emma Stone, Michelle Wright, Jared LeBoff, Glenn Close.
• Crew: Director: Craig Gillespie. Screenplay: Dana Fox, Tony McNamara; story: Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel & Steve Zissis, based upon the novel “The One Hundred and One Dalmatians” by Dodie Smith. Camera: Nicolas Karakatsanis. Editor: Tatiana S. Riegel. Music: Nicholas Britell.
• With: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, Emily Beecham, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mark Strong.

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CRUELLA: Rotten Tomatoes Score For Disney's Latest Live-Action Movie Revealed

The review embargo for Cruella lifted yesterday, and with the first wave of reviews now online, the live-action 101 Dalmations spinoff has received its Rotten Tomatoes score. Read on for details...

The first wave of reviews for Cruella arrived yesterday, and with 154 of them now counted on Rotten Tomatoes, we have an early score for the latest live-action Disney movie. 

While it wasn't to everyone's liking, Cruella currently sits at a Fresh 73% (which is 2% shy of the 75% needed for it to be "Certified Fresh"). As for the Critics Consensus, it reads: "Cruella can't quite answer the question of why its title character needed an origin story, but this dazzling visual feast is awfully fun to watch whenever its leading ladies lock horns."

More reviews are likely to land over the weekend when those who didn't get advance screeners are able to check the movie out, so it's possible it will be pushed into that "Certified Fresh" status...or drop a few percentage points. However, it's highly unlikely it will go anywhere near Rotten.

In our review of Cruella , we concluded by saying , "The biggest surprise of 2021, Cruella is a bold, striking, and visually stunning delight featuring a fierce, transformative performance from Emma Stone that sees her make Cruella de Vil entirely her own. A must-see." You can read a different take here , though we're definitely keen to find out what you guys think of this one. 

Cruella is set to be released in theaters and on Disney+ tomorrow.   

Early reviews are in for #Cruella - currently it's #Fresh at 73% on the #Tomatometer , with 101 reviews: https://t.co/Y4X8PVwBHy pic.twitter.com/wXhvHRdt5M — Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) May 26, 2021

Early reviews for #Cruella say the punk-rock reimagining is creative, fun, and visually striking, even if it's a tad long. https://t.co/1qvJsb8IZy — Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) May 26, 2021

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‘Cruella’ Review: A Disney Villain Gets a Backstory. It’s Spotty.

Emma Stone stars in the film that feels fresher than most recent Disney live-action efforts.

‘Cruella’ | Anatomy of a Scene

The director craig gillespie narrates a sequence from his film featuring emma stone and emma thompson..

“Hi, my name is Craig Gillespie and I’m the director of Cruella.” “Who are you? You look vaguely familiar.” “I look stunning. I don’t know about familiar, darling.” “At this point in the film, we’re pretty much halfway through the film. And it’s the first time the audience is going to meet Cruella. It’s the first time the characters in the film meet Cruella. And it’s born out of a necessity for a certain revenge. And we get to see this group pulling off a heist. And it’s something that they’ve grown up doing and they’re very good at it. But this has sort of escalated to a whole other level for them. So we have Emma Stone playing Cruella. And we have Emma Thompson playing the Baroness. The Baroness is a fashion icon and she’s hosting a party here, which is a black and white ball. And as you can see, Emma Stone has turned up in a red dress. This scene has sort of everything— every juggling act going on in the film, which is tonally, there’s a lot of humor. But there’s also a lot of emotional stakes.” “Yes. Aren’t they gorgeous and vicious? It’s my favorite combination.” “Within this scene, we’re going to actually see the transformation of Cruella from an external character, because she’s putting on a character here and having to do that dance as an actor, to having a profound, emotional reaction to some news that she discovers throughout. But in the midst of it all, there’s a heist going on.” “You’re a very powerful woman.” “First and foremost was the dynamic between the Baroness and Cruella. But to complicate that, we have Cruella, who has gotten trapped in this situation of having a conversation with the Baroness. And she’s having to put on a character that she’s not familiar with, which is Cruella. So she’s improvising in that situation. It was kind of nerve wracking to figure out that character with Emma, because it’s its own character. It’s like separate from the other Cruellas that she plays. And it’s like a heightened version, where she’s not supposed to be good at it. So you start to get into this dangerous idea of like, bad acting and overcompensating. And so you always feel a little bit like you’re hanging out on the line a little bit as an actor, I think, when you’re going for that. But she’s very gracious with that work. And then, within all of that, you’ve got her two cohorts, Horace and Jasper, that are trying to improvise with the situation. We have Paul Walter Hauser, who is playing Horace. And then we have Joel Fry playing Jasper. Part of that improvisation for Jasper is using rats, which walks a very fine line of becoming too grotesque or too much for the audience. It was something Disney was concerned about. But I felt like we could walk that line. And there was many conversations about how many rats could we have in this scene. And then you just start to get how these characters can work together so well and improvise. It was almost like a jazz situation.” “Someone’s stolen my necklace.” “So I loved that we were going through all of these dances. And every character brings a different humor to it.” “Now it’s a party.”

By A.O. Scott

“Cruella” is a vaguely retro costume party with a doggedly retro playlist — a treat for fashion-curious kids whipped up by the boomers and Gen Xers who hold the keys to the Disney I.P. storage locker. And there’s a millennial Oscar winner in the titular role. When I say it has something for everyone I’m not being sarcastic, though I’m also not being entirely complimentary.

This revisionist supervillain origin story, directed by Craig Gillespie (“I, Tonya”), doesn’t offer much that is genuinely new, but it nonetheless feels fresher than most recent Disney live-action efforts. There’s some visual wit and pop sparkle in the mildly Dickensian tale of how Cruella DeVil, the notorious pooch-hater of “One Hundred and One Dalmatians,” came to be that way.

Reviewing the original animated adaptation of Dodie Smith’s novel for The Times in 1961, Howard Thompson observed that “the kids who survived ‘Psycho’ should survive Cruella.” Pretty scary stuff! Times change: No puppies, C.G.I. or otherwise, are harmed in this movie. Cruella — originally known as Estella and played by a harmlessly snarly Emma Stone — actually likes dogs (though she does have a specific grudge against Dalmatians).

This is not “Joker,” so Cruella’s transgressive energies are kept within the bounds of social acceptability and the PG-13 rating. Her motive is revenge, and her methods include fraud, theft and deceit, but the closest she comes to evil is occasional selfish insensitivity to her friends. She isn’t a monster. She’s an artist, and her theatrically outrageous misbehavior is a sign of her uncompromising creativity.

Cruella’s swaggering, eclectic spirit aligns with the film’s idea of London in the 1970s, its alleged setting. The aesthetic is raffish, glammish and also punkish, and the musical selections zigzag through the years from “Their Satanic Majesties Request” to “London Calling.” No deep cuts here, just an eclectic sampling of Dad Rock Essentials. The choices can be a little on the nose — Stone’s first appearance as the grown-up Estella, with hair dyed crimson, is heralded by “She’s a Rainbow” — but my middle-aged ears were not offended. Special kudos to Gillespie and Susan Jacobs, the music supervisor, for including the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” a song with no kinky subtext whatsoever and as such a perfect fit for a “Dalmatians” spinoff.

The oldies greatest-hits package, linked by Nicholas Britell’s elegant score, keeps things lively even when the plot turns draggy or hectic. Jenny Beavan’s costumes and Fiona Crombie’s production design, festooning posh department stores, bohemian thrift shops and couture palaces, engage the eye even when the characters wander through the city in search of coherent motives.

Estella starts out as a renegade schoolgirl (played by Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) with two-tone hair, and soon lands in London, orphaned and alone. She befriends a pair of pickpockets, Jasper and Horace, who grow up to be Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser, providing cartoon-sidekick japery as the horizon of Estella’s ambition shifts from petty crime to high fashion. At that point, she adds a journalist (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and a used-clothing aficionado (John McCrea) to her retinue.

Estella’s nemesis and role model is a famous designer known as the Baroness, a self-described genius who recalls Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada,” Daniel Day-Lewis in “Phantom Thread” and, of course, Cruella DeVil in both her cartoon and Glenn Close incarnations . Luckily, the role belongs to Emma Thompson, who plays her as a haughty, feline predator alternately annoyed, enraged and charmed by Stone’s angry mouse.

The film itself traffics in less intense emotions, which makes it easy enough to watch but hard to care much about. Its main purpose is to remind you that other movies exist, which might describe Disney’s current business strategy as a whole. At best, it might also inspire you to spin some old records or play dress up with those weird clothes that have languished in the back of the closet through these grim athleisure months.

Cruella Rated PG-13. Danger to and from dogs. Running time: 2 hours 14 minutes. In theaters and available to purchase on Disney+ .

A.O. Scott is a critic at large and the co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

Cruella Review

Emma stone delivers in this wild and wonky origin story about 101 dalmatians’ villainous diva..

By “re-imagining” their animated classics as live-action films, Disney has churned out a string of blockbusters. So perhaps it was inevitable that the iconic villainess of 1961’s One Hundred And One Dalmatians would get her due…again. 21 years after Glenn Close headlined two live-action adventures as the cackling fashionista Cruella de Vil , Emma Stone slips into a two-tone wig and a devilish grin for the inventive origin story Cruella.

Not a prequel but rather a Wicked-style retelling , Cruella forges a new path that begins in 1964. There, a snarling school girl named Estella battles back against bullies and earns a permanent record full of black marks. (Like Dalmatian spots!) However, neither schoolyard brats nor a horrific tragedy that pitches her into a hard-knock life on the streets of London will get in the way of her big dreams to become a major fashion designer.

Smash-cut to 10 years later, where Estella (Emma Stone) crafts stitch-perfect disguises for her thieving crew. Through pickpocketing and more elaborate heists, she, the clever Jasper (Joel Fry), the dopey Horace (Paul Walter Hauser), and two scruffy pups, Buddy and one-eyed Wink, scrape by in an abandoned warehouse. That is until Estella’s genius for design — and troublemaking — catches the eye of London’s top designer, the ever-chic, ever-merciless Baroness (Emma Thompson). Working under this haute couture heiress seems like a dream job, but things swiftly turn dog-eat-dog when a horrid revelation comes to light. So, Estella embraces her dark side, creating an alter ego named Cruella, who audaciously crashes every Baroness event to steal the spotlight. Through the battle of these stylish titans, we are not only gifted the birth of Cruella, but also two deliciously thrilling Disney villainesses for the price of one.

Cruella not only pulls from 101 Dalmatians, but also borrows plot elements, themes, and its diva-licious attitude from films like All About Eve, The Favourite, and The Devil Wears Prada . And it comes by it honestly, as the screenplay was penned by five writers, including The Devil Wears Prada’s Aline Brosh McKenna and The Favourite’s Tony McNamara, who gives Stone another witty and shrewd schemer to sink her teeth into. However, this curious collision of influences reflects the war going on in this unusual Disney movie.

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Cruella is a cheeky coming-of-age story about how a headstrong girl blossoms into a badass, one whose talent and genius will not be ignored. It is also a dark comedy about ambition, greed, corporate sabotage, revenge, class conflict, high fashion, and murder. Of course, much of the above are things that have been neatly folded into family-friendly movies before. (The Great Muppet Caper comes to mind.) Still, director Craig Gillespie struggles with how to create a balance that will enchant children and entertain adults. The result is a messy yet fascinating and tumultuously thrilling film.

The first challenge comes from a need to appeal to fans. Cruella includes her signature black-and-white hair, her reckless driving in chic cars, her bumbling crew, love for the insult “imbecile,” some callback jokes, and her classic cackle. All of this is folded in with ease, while some bits — including her desire for a Dalmatian coat — are re-imagined with razor-sharp wit. However, 101 Dalmatians' big-hearted pet owners, Anita (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and Roger (Kayvan Novak), are haphazardly wedged in, giving two talented TV actors very little to do beyond gawping at the dueling Emmas. But most groan-worthy is the scene where Cruella concocts her last name. We’re talking Solo: A Star Wars Story levels of exasperating. Not every detail needs to be doggedly explained!

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The pandering to parents is just as bad, as evidenced by a comically long list of nostalgia-driven needle drops. Props to the soundtrack team for pulling together truly epic songs from Nina Simone, The Zombies, Deep Purple, The Clash, and The Rolling Stones. However, the editing team should have offered some restraint. The lyrics and song choices become so on-the-nose it’s hilariously predictable, like when a Cruella de Vil victory is celebrated by blasting “Sympathy for the Devil.” Nonetheless, the use of John McCrea’s “I Wanna Be Your Dog” is fantastic, hitting hard with a punk-rock fashion show performance that is edgy and astounding.

The fashion all around is an absolute marvel, because Disney smartly hired an actual genius designer. Even if you don’t know the name Jenny Beavan, you know her work. Over 43 years, she has created costumes for a string of period pieces and fantasy films, resulting in 10 Academy Award nominations. You might know her best for her Oscar-winning designs on Mad Max: Fury Road . Beavan has a brilliant mind that weaves together styles and textures to create characters, worlds, and story all with thoughtful fashion. In Cruella, she establishes Estella as a mirthful misfit from the moment the school girl Fresh Prince-s her blazer, wearing it inside out so the flashy liner shows. Despite car chases, spirited heists, and silly shenanigans, the greatest spectacle in Cruella comes in the sequences built around Beavan’s designs. Every time Cruella upstages The Baroness, a new look — and a new outrageous way to debut it — makes for enthralling fun, while making no mockery of fashion or apology for the ferocious women who wear it. That on its own feels like a gift, since “fashion” is so often sneered at as a frivolous thing. But we’re in a post-Miranda Priestly monologue world, so you better recognize that even those who aren’t interested in fashion are influenced by it.

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Fashion is almost a character in Cruella, and her co-stars do not disappoint. Whether racing through back alleys, eye-rolling over idiots, or cracking a smile wide and blood-red, Emma Stone is living for this moment, and it shows. The quipping misfits of her teen movie years prove the perfect place to cut her teeth, allowing her to bite hard into withering one-liners and howls of rebellion. However, this is about the evolution from Estella to Cruella, so there are pockets where this grandiosity feels like a façade, as it should. Stone is playing a woman finding her inner diva. Emma Thompson’s Baroness is the fully formed villainess here, and she is a vision of viciousness and glamor. No need for cackles or shouts. The Baroness is an ice queen, who might make you cry, bleed, or worse. But she need not raise her voice to make your spine quiver. The script gives Thompson a wealth of punchlines. Yet because of her savage yet sophisticated delivery, the funniest one becomes a simple “Uh-huh.” The Baroness is very rich, yet has no flips to give.

For their part, the supporting cast adds oomph. Hauser, who worked with Gillespie in I, Tonya, plays Horace with unexpected warmth, making him the perfect scene partner to a teeny pup with an eyepatch. John McCrea brings shade and flair as a vintage seller with an eye for opportunity. Jamie Demetriou leans hard into a caricature to establish what kind of fool would dare doubt Estella. Mark Strong gives steeliness in a small but pivotal role. Yet the standout in supporting goes to Joel Fry, who turns Jasper into much more than a lackey. With a twinkle in his eye and a sparkling tenderness, he hints there might be more between Cruella and her partner in crime. Yet, it’s never pushed to the point of subplot or distraction. Instead, this seeming intimacy gives a grander context to why he would put up with some of Cruella’s crueler antics. It also brings a little bit of spice.

Director Craig Gillespie and his screenwriters (Dana Fox, Tony McNamara, Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel, and Steve Zissis) had a tricky needle to thread. They were tasked with creating a re-imagining fresh enough to thrill general audiences, but familiar enough to appease 101 Dalmatians fans. With a PG-13 film, mature content is allowed, but its edges must be child-proofed. The result is a wonky ride that feels like Cruella herself might be at the wheel. All that said, this studio franchise entry makes some big, wild swings that are simply spectacular. Along with the glorious gonzo fashion, this cacophonic film offers complicated female characters with unapologetic attitude, grand ambition, and a truly bonkers backstory that's better left unspoiled. These glimpses at greatness had me wishing it did more than scratch at camp. Swaying between outlandish and expected, the movie ultimately feels like a clumsy compromise. Still, with grimy whimsy, crackling leading ladies, imaginative twists, and plenty of eye-popping spectacle, Cruella is a hell of a good time.

In This Article

More Reviews by Kristy Puchko

Ign recommends.

Cruella Review

28 May 2021

In the original, animated 101 Dalmatians , there was nothing black-and-white about Cruella de Vil. As her name less implied, more flat-out screamed, she was a Disney villain drawn delightfully, deliciously dark. Kudos, then, to director Craig Gillespie for pulling off a live-action prequel that adds a few shades of grey without muddying the character one bit, leaning into Cruella’s inherent flamboyance for a slick and stylish clothing caper.

Unlike the Sleeping Beauty villain-reimagining Maleficent , which tied itself in narrative knots attempting to retool the classic fairy tale, Cruella wisely divorces itself from the context of the original film. Where that was released in 1961, based on Dodie Smith’s novel from the ’50s, this largely takes place in the 1970s — recontextualising Cruella’s raucous sartorial stylings as a punk explosion, railing against conformity and scoffing at the safety of the Swinging Sixties. It’s a colourful background for a reimagined origin story that takes a young Estella (an impressive Tipper Seifert-Cleveland in an opening act coursing with Matilda -esque mischief) and morphs her into the cackling Cruella via a life of crime, a stint on the shop floor of Liberty, and a job at the most fearsome fashion house in London.

What could have been a mere IP cash-in instead becomes an unexpectedly cinematic crime-and-couture romp.

The result is a tale of two Emmas. Central, of course, is Stone , teasing out Estella’s encroaching evil while retaining all the charismatic screen presence that’s defined her career so far — and pulling off a decent British accent to boot. Among the theatricality (in one scene she tumbles onto a red carpet from a bin lorry in a giant rubbish-dress) and the two-tone wigs, she finds moments of humanity without diminishing Cruella’s delectable extremity. But it’s Emma Thompson who threatens to steal the film as The Baroness — a fashion boss whose cutthroat nature extends well beyond the catwalk. Whether she’s slashing at garments with a straight razor, loudly reading her own rave reviews, or calling people “imbeciles” with fatal levels of derision, she’s a killer creation. Thompson plays it to absolute perfection, running away with every scene she’s in.

The pair are so much fun that other players struggle to get a look-in. Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser entertain as Estella’s comrades-in-crime, but Mark Strong ’s valet, John, sinks into the background, Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s journalist Anita (a nod to the original Dalmatians ) appears often while saying little, and John McCrea’s Bowie-esque, androgynous boutique owner Artie is a disappointingly fleeting presence — he’s intriguing enough to deserve his own film.

Though Cruella could easily lose 20 minutes, Gillespie keeps the energy high throughout. The Scorsesean riffs he brought to I, Tonya continue here, from a stacked soundtrack of ’60s and ’70s greats (The Clash, Blondie, The Stooges), to a stunning extended tracking shot through the halls of Liberty. What could have been a mere IP cash-in instead becomes an unexpectedly cinematic crime-and-couture romp, delivered with the sort of style, snarl and eccentricity that Cruella herself would likely applaud. She makes being bad look very good.

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Cruella review: Disney's live-action revamp hangs great performances on a chaotic premise

Leah Greenblatt is the critic at large at Entertainment Weekly , covering movies, music, books, and theater. She is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, and has been writing for EW since 2004.

They're not bad, they were just drawn that way . Or at least that's what the current big-screen mini-boom in villain origin stories from Joker to Venom and Birds of Prey 's Harley Quinn seems to suggest — a trend so far-reaching now, it's even touched Disney. So what does it look like when the house that happily-ever-afters built gets into the antihero business?

The answer, apparently, is a movie as shiny and hectic as Cruella : a heady exercise in style and scenery-chewing whose high-gloss chaos seems designed less for cohesive storytelling or world-building than for looking super-cool in previews. Though the production is rich in other things, including Oscar-winning Emmas: Emma Stone stars as the iconic title character, an orphaned urchin with a flair for fashion and a marked distaste for certain canine breeds; Emma Thompson is the Baroness von Hellman, her erstwhile employer, mentor, and nemesis.

Only one of them is actually British, though Stone has adopted a plummy theatrical rasp for Estella (played in the opening scenes by Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) — an odd, unruly little girl whose stormy temperament and bifurcated hair marks her from birth as an outcast. ("I've always made a statement," she purrs early on. "Not everyone appreciated that. But I wasn't for everyone.") Her tenderhearted mother (Emily Beecham) tries her best to protect her, but when those efforts end in tragedy, young Estella is left to make her own way in the mean (if conspicuously clean) streets of swinging 1960s London.

That's where she befriends fellow ragamuffins Jasper ( Joel Fry ), and Horace ( Richard Jewell 's Paul Walter Hauser ), the boys who will become her found family and future partners in grift. They may be petty criminals, but they're also loyal to a fault; it's their machinations that eventually help land her a low-level job in the atelier of the Baroness, imperious queen of ladies' dressmaking. Her ladyship, it's soon made clear, is a ruthless co-opter of other people's talents, and Estella's inspired sketches are exactly the kind of looks she's more than happy to kill for.

Thus from the ashes of a disillusioned Estella — and several calamitous plot revelations to come — is Cruella born: a goddess of vengeance, righteous in her fury and fake (or are they?) furs. Director Craig Gillespie, who skirted camp so nimbly in 2017's I, Tonya , pits his lead actresses against each other in a dynamic maybe best described as The Devil Wears Dalmation (and in fact, Devil Wears Prada scribe Aline Brosh McKenna is one of six writers credited here).

He never fully nails down the tone, but there's more than a little Meryl Streep in Thompson's glacial Baroness, and at least a little anxious Anne Hathaway beneath Stone's operatic snarls and elaborate wiggery. (To watch Thompson pop an olive in her mouth or casually crush the spirit of an underling is a gift not even a mute button could take away.)

The costumes, by Jenny Beavan ( Mad Max: Fury Road , Sherlock Holmes ), blossom into full fantasy as the story moves into the '70s: a Vivienne Westwood fever dream of punk-rock couture, swathed in yards of trash-bag latex and chiffon. The soundtrack, too, is a gold-plated celebration of the era; you can almost hear the Disney dollars ding as the canonized hits of Blondie and the Stooges and the Rolling Stones pour through the speakers.

But those endless pieces of flair can also feel like a noisy substitute for a story line that never quite materializes, subsumed instead by showpiece moments that seem to lurch from scene to scene: a collection of pin-drop lines and killer GIFs pressed haphazardly into movie form. That may be at least in part a product of trying to be all PG-13 things to all people by giving them a reimagined villainess who is both worthy of empathy (she doesn't just skin puppies for fun ) and naughty enough to be safely but certifiably outrageous. So Cruella comes off as a curious animal; eager to change its spots, and trying a little bit of everything along the way. Grade: B –

Cruella hits theaters and Disney+ Premier Access on May 28.

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Cruella Review – Emma Stone Shines as Estella de Vil

By Tyler Treese

Cruella  is exactly as advertised, a look into the origins of the Disney villainess that serves as the antagonist in  101 Dalmatians . While the original incarnation was portrayed as pure evil,  Cruella gives a more sympathetic look at why the fashion designer becomes the way she is. This ultimately works in the film’s favor as the Cruella portrayed by Emma Stone has many more layers to work with, which is needed as a protagonist that viewers want to root for. However, this isn’t really Cruella’s tale. It’s more about who Estella de Vil was before she became a cartoonish over-the-top criminal.

The film begins with a glimpse at a 12-year-old Estella, who Tipper Seifert-Cleveland wonderfully plays. Her inability to fit in at school is shown through a fun montage, and there’s enough potential here that it could’ve been fleshed out even further (although given the film’s two-hour-plus runtime, it makes sense as to why director Craig Gillespie sped things up). Seeing Cruella not as an evil fashion designer but as a kid that sticks up for herself and finds herself regularly getting called into the principal’s office helps establish sympathy and relatability for the character that was never really there previously.

Over the course of the film’s sizable introduction, Estella finds herself now an orphan living in London that is taken in by two young thieves who want her to have the best life possible. It skips forward a few years to the characters as adults, which is when Jasper and Horace help get Estella a fashion internship that would forever change her life and the trio’s overall relationship.

Of course, for Cruella to serve as a sympathetic figure and one that fans will find themselves surprisingly getting behind, a proper villain is needed. That’s where Emma Thompson’s The Baroness comes in. The fashion magnate is shown much like Cruella de Vil in the 1996 live-action film. She treats her employees horribly, has no care for anyone other than herself, and values fashion over the lives of anyone else. Thompson’s performance is fantastic as she serves as a great antagonist, and there’s a sad tinge as a viewer since it’s clear that Estella becomes what she hates.

Other portrayals that must be commended are Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser as Jasper and Horace Badun, respectively. Fry plays more of a reasonable straight man and has a few heart-to-heart talks with Estella that make the character shine compared to previous incarnations. Meanwhile, Hauser is the main comic relief, and he plays the part wonderfully as he’s aided by a wonderful dog that excels in assisting their thievery.

Despite some fantastic supporting performances, Stone’s natural charisma is what makes Estella a character worth rooting for. Her face effortlessly lights up when talking about fashion, and her serious side shines in her rivalry against The Baroness, which is built around the two characters trying to get one over on the other both in fashion and in more critical matters. While Stone’s transformation into the titular villainess is inevitable, it’s almost seen as empowering for the character as she uses her darker alter ego to get things done.

The movie also wows from a visual standpoint as  Cruella is able to captivate from beginning to end with great shots and some stellar heist scenes that provide just enough humor with the drama. A lot of credit has to be given to costume designer Jenny Beavan, who did an incredible job coming up with an array of eye-catching outfits. Both Stone and Thompson are stunningly dressed throughout, and the film’s aesthetic is perfectly paired with a soundtrack full of memorable songs from the 70s.

Cruella  delivers on its core premise of giving more depth to the iconic villainess and provides a fun ride throughout. While the film is slightly longer than it needs to be at over two hours, Stone’s performance will keep watchers captivated throughout. It’s a worthwhile addition to the Disney franchise and has a cheeky ending that will leave fans grinning.

Score : 8.5/10

As ComingSoon’s  review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.

Disclosure: The studio provided a screener of the film for our Cruella review.

Cruella Posters

Disney's cruella.

Tyler Treese is ComingSoon and SuperHeroHype's Editor-in-Chief. An experienced entertainment journalist, his work can be seen at Sherdog, Fanbyte, Rock Paper Shotgun, and more. When not watching the latest movies, Treese enjoys mixed martial arts and playing with his Shiba Inu, Kota.

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A Battle of Wits and Knits: Despite Its Intentions, ‘Cruella’ Proves Why the Baddies Are More Fun

By K. Austin Collins

K. Austin Collins

“Your name is Estella,” her mother says. “Not Cruella .” Not yet, anyway. Disney’s Cruella , headlined by Emma Stone , is named for its would-be villain rather than for the 90-something Dalmatian puppies she’s tried to dognap in the name of fashion, time and again, over the years. The original Cruella would probably have preferred a biopic more akin to The Devil Wears Pongo . But in line with Maleficent , another of Disney’s recent villain revamps, it’s our old ideas about these bad guys — these bad women — that are getting skewered rather than the women themselves. Those old caricatures have been rendered into last season’s sales rack relics — because Disney isn’t in the business of glorifying villains. At least, not anymore. And not directly. 

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But there’s the rub. The old villains are fun! Rather, they became fun. No one, probably not even deer hunters, wound up rooting for the guy who killed Bambi’s mother. But Uncle Scar? A saucy bitch. Jafar? A literal snake by the end but, really, from the start. Ursula: my octopus teacher. These legendary baddies are all a little more interesting than the heroes of their respective stories. Enticingly vampy, stylishly cruel, stocked with character motivations, surely, but not of the kind that offer much in the way of an appeal to their inner psychologies. The arched-brow barbs of their wit, the claws so befitting of their personalities: This was the pleasure and the purpose, the engineering that allowed us to align ourselves with the unlikely triumphs of the good guys while reveling — curious, tantalized, entertained — in the outlandishness of the bad.

Cruella de Vil: no exception. Originally envisioned by Dodie Smith, in her 1956 novel, The Hundred and One Dalmatians ; modeled in the 1961 animated adaptation of that book after the demonized but notoriously fascinating Tallulah Bankhead ; then later revived in the 1996 live-action feature and its sequel into a gorgeous piece of pop grotesque — even her gloves were adorned with acrylic claws — by a campy, unhinged Glenn Close: Cruella has seen her share of renditions and mild revisions. But not until the new Cruella was her ostensible evil given a purpose, a backstory, a solution to the problem of her bloodthirst for spotted-pup skins — none of which seemed especially mysterious for a rich fashion maven whose taste predates the ethics of modern anti-fur campaigns, but here we are.

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Cruella takes us back — way back, to the time before Cruella lived up to that name, and way, way before she could afford a ride as chic as a Panther De Ville. It takes it back to a time when “Cruella” was just a mother’s nickname for a misbehaving young girl, a child whose intelligence and love of fashion were clear from the get, but whose constant trips to the headmaster’s office and growing scroll of demerits at school threatened to prevent any of that promise from paying off in adulthood. She was, as we too often say, a “rebel,” constantly letting her mother down. But it wasn’t her mother she was challenging, the adult Cruella, narrating her life story, tells us early on. “It was the world.”

And so: the world. Through a series of unfortunate events — a tragic shock, a shabby London childhood fit for a Dickens novel, and so on — we get the ins and outs of Cruella’s slow embrace of her mischievous alter ego, as well as a tour of her growing wiles, her still-burning aspirations for a career in fashion. We learn just how it is that a pair of co-conspirator lugs, Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser, funny as ever), become mainstays in her life. Most pertinent, however, is her rise to power — a story built, surprisingly and not, on a veritable death match against another woman: Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson), titular icon of Estella’s dream job, the House of Baroness.

So begins a battle of wits and knits, a vying for power in which the “villain” doesn’t get a clean makeover so much as displace the badness onto another villain — in this case, another woman. Cruella was directed by Craig Gillespie, best known, until now, for the image-reorienting I, Tonya , which, very much like Cruella , wrested a public enemy’s story back from the public and and gave the enemy a chance to tell that story on her own terms, racking up all the slights and humiliations that made her who she is . Maybe she’s born with it? Nope — she, like Cruella, was manufactured by circumstance. But the movie made sure to give her just enough inner light, that pinch of redemptive potential, to overcome it all, no matter the movie’s attitude toward the other women in her life, no matter its caricatures of that looming pile of loaded “circumstance.”

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You don’t have to buy into that dynamic for a movie like Cruella to be entertaining, which it often enough is, talky and relatively quick on its feet, ably cast with great supporting actors (Mark Strong, among them) and, of course, a few cute dogs. Credit is also due to the music licensing budget, which overloads the story with classics (Nancy Sinatra’s “ These Boots Were Made for Walkin’, ” the Zombies’ “ Time of the Season ,” Nina Simone’s “ Feeling Good ,” most notably, the Stooges’ “ I Wanna Be Your Dog ,” which, ha!) that, on the other hand, seem to have left the movie’s CGI budget out to dry. 

The harsh irony of this operation, however, is that it’s Cruella, not poor li’l Estella, who proves most fun to watch, somewhat on purpose, but only somewhat. Stone, fluctuating accent notwithstanding, is plausibly two-sided, in the way that Anne Hathaway’s harrowed Prada heroine was: frumpy-chic in one scene, a Pygmalion miracle in the next. Comparison to Glenn Close’s Cruella — who remains yet to be outdone by any drag queen tempted to try — wouldn’t be fair; this isn’t that movie. But Stone is relishing the bit, in her way, and so is Thompson, with her mean little one-liners (“Gratitude is for losers”). 

The movie can’t help but reinforce what it’s supposedly trying to revise, however, in part because — if the actors are any indication — it’s more fun to play bad. It’s more fun to be the mean queen, dismissive in ways you can’t (or shouldn’t) be in everyday life, with all your witty comebacks already prewritten, your memeable fashions designed expressly to inspire your inner witch. Cruella is never more galvanizing than its petty tit-for-tat and power wrangling. It’s never more pleasurable than when Cruella crashes a fashion gala in a garbage truck, dressed like so much rubbish, to figuratively shit on her foe’s front lawn. 

For all its fleshing out of the truth of who Cruella “really is,” the movie can’t escape the pure fact of the bad girl being more fun to watch than her normie alter ego. Cruella ’s time and setting allow the movie to render its heroine into an emblem of the Swinging Sixties and beyond, a woman too cool for institutions, too savvy to harness power the old, monied way — but equally apt, somehow, to take advantage of the people around her (so, still somewhat victim to the old norms). Yeah, sure, the movie puts up a little bit of a fight, makes her atone in all the right ways, does what it has to do to remain plausible as a movie for kids, to the extent that children’s fare is still Disney’s main business. I’m honestly not so sure. 

But someone’s gotta win, right? And someone’s gotta lose. Ideally, in the framework set forth by I, Tonya and Cruella and their ilk, it’s the monied snobs, the evil power brokers who’ll stop at nothing to remain on top, who’ll lose — the old Cruella among them, in theory. But by the end of Cruella , the night, as they say, is still young, and the potential for a sequel is very much abrew. Maybe evil loses. Maybe not. There’s still time for Cruella to glue on the acrylics and get to work. If she does, I’ll be waiting.

Cruella is in theaters and streaming on Disney+ on Friday, May 28th.

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Fallout First Reviews: A 'Violent, Fun, Emotional, Epic' Video Game Adaptation, Critics Say

Critics say prime video's new series benefits from strong storytelling, committed performances, and a deft balance of tone, making it one of the best video game adaptations ever..

TAGGED AS: First Reviews , streaming , television , TV

Fallout is the latest video game adaptation to hit the small screen. Created by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner , and executive produced by Westworld ‘s Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy , the eight episode series, inspired by the hit game franchise from Bethesda Softworks drops on Wednesday, April 10 to Amazon Prime Video.

The post-apocalyptic series stars Ella Purnell as Lucy; Aaron Moten as Maximus; and Walton Goggins as The Ghoul. Joining them is an ensemble cast that includes Kyle MacLachlan , Sarita Choudhury , Michael Emerson , Leslie Uggams , Zach Cherry , Moises Arias and Johnny Pemberton , among others.

With nearly three decades of lore under its belt, the video game franchise has drawn a massive fanbase. Needless to say, there’s a lot of hype surrounding the new series. Does it live up to expectations? Here’s what critics are saying about Fallout :

How does it compare to the video games?

Prime Video’s TV adaptation of Fallout does something the games in the legendary franchise never have—put storytelling above all else. — Bernard Boo, Den of Geek

Fallout is the new standard for video game adaptations. This series is violent, fun, emotional, epic, and just plain awesome. — Alex Maidy, JoBlo’s Movie Network

Opting for a new narrative that simply takes place in the Fallout  world, the series is a mix of adventure and puzzle-box mystery, with more than enough action scenes to satisfy the RPG faithful. It’s fun, and only occasionally overcomplicated. — Kelly Lawler, USA Today

Fallout takes the ideas of the games and crafts its own story in an already interesting world. Nails the satire, the wackiness, and about everything a fan could want. — Zach Pope, Zach Pope Reviews

Bodies fly, heads explode, and video game logic reigns triumphant. — Niv M. Sultan, Slant Magazine

How is the cast?

(Photo by Prime Video)

All of the performances are great; Purnell is a strong, loveably naive lead, while Moten delivers a fascinatingly, sort-of loathsome turn. Excusing the wonderful pooch that plays CX404, aka Four, Goggins is the runaway MVP, an agent of chilly, smooth-talking chaos somewhere between John Marston and Clarence Boddicker. — Cameron Frew, Dexerto

“I hate it up here,” Lucy mutters early on, and given the horrors to which she’s subjected, nobody could blame her. Yet her quest not only involves no shortage of carnage but also insights into her community and its origins, as well as encounters (some relatively brief) with a strong array of co-stars, including Moisés Arias, Kyle MacLachlan, Sarita Choudhury, Michael Emerson, and Leslie Uggams. — Brian Lowry, CNN

The Ghoul serves as the perfect foil for Lucy and Maximus, with Goggins deploying megatons’ worth of weary charisma in his performance as Fallout’ s resident lone wolf, black hat archetype. — Belen Edwards, Mashable

Emancipation’s Aaron Moten and And Just Like That… standout Sarita Choudhury nail the determined, world-weary drive that propels their characters forward while Justified’ s Walton Goggins gives one of his best performances yet as Cooper Howard, a mutated ghoul of a gunslinger who gives everyone a hard time with biting quips and searing bullet work. — David Opie, Digital Spy

How’s the writing and world-building?

The show’s creators have done such an impeccable job fleshing out the world of Fallout that it feels like the characters are treading stories and quests you’ve experienced yourself in one way or another. — Tanner Dedmon, ComicBook.com

Story-wise, Fallout  smartly eschews trying to adapt specific storylines or side-quests from any of the games, but rather concocts a new one set in the rich and familiar landscape. — Brian Lloyd, entertainment.ie

There are plenty of Easter eggs, as you might expect from a video game adaptation, but Fallout manages to make them seem like part of the world, too. It all feels real and believable as pieces of a whole existence that these people have scraped together, which goes a long way toward helping the show’s humor land. Even the Easter eggs feel carefully designed to fit into the world and the lives of the characters, rather than drawing focus away from them or sticking out as a glaring distraction. — Austen Goslin, Polygon

Do the violence and humor work?

It’s strong, it’s goddamn hilarious, and it highlights exactly how to swing for the fences while still knowing where Homebase is. It may be a new series, but Fallout is an instant classic of the streaming age. — Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community

A bright and funny apocalypse filled with dark punchlines and bursts of ultra-violence, Fallout is among the best video game adaptations ever made. — Matt Purslow, IGN Movies

Finding a tonal balance between the drama and the comedy is a razor’s edge, but Fallout  makes it look effortless. As a result, spending time in this hardened world is as fun, engaging, and engrossing as the games. — William Goodman, TheWrap

It’s an equal parts funny and nightmarish show that, like its protagonist, isn’t content to live inside a projection of the past. — Kambole Campbell, Empire Magazine

Crucially, these laugh-out-loud moments of disbelief don’t detract from the harsh reality of this world, which is perhaps even more violent than you might expect, especially for newbies to this franchise. — David Opie, Digital Spy

Any final thoughts?

Fallout is a clever, twisted apocalyptic odyssey that soars as both a video game adaptation and a standalone series. — Lauren Coates, The Spool

For those who have never played the Fallout series, especially those of the time-strapped ilk who can’t just pour hundreds of hours into a game, they should give Prime Video’s Fallout a go. — Howard Waldstein, CBR

Fallout is both totally rad and an absolute blast. — Neil Armstrong, BBC.com

The show’s clearly committed to being the definitive Fallout adaptation, a love letter to fans, no question, while still opening the vault door to welcome in just about everyone else brave enough to step inside. — Jon Negroni, TV Line

There’s really nothing like Fallout on television right now, and that’s ultimately a good thing. — Therese Lacson, Collider

Thumbnail image by Amazon Studios. On an Apple device? Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Apple News .

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Screen Rant

Sugar cast & character guide.

Apple TV+'s new crime mystery thriller, Sugar, stars Colin Farrell. He's joined in the hit new series by a talented ensemble of veteran actors.

• Sugar boasts an all-star cast like Colin Farrell, blending classic noir with modern thrills.
• Series earns high praise with 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, showcasing success.
• Apple TV+ continues to deliver top-notch series led by movie star casts.

Apple TV+'s latest crime drama, Sugar , boasts an all-star cast headlined by Academy Award nominee Colin Farrell. Over the past five years, Apple has put its stake in the streaming service game, with many of the best TV series on Apple TV+ led by movie star casts. Sugar is no exception, with an outstanding ensemble of veteran talent and rising stars. The series blends the classic film noir detective genre, akin to Chinatown , with riveting modern action, making for an engaging thriller. It's produced by Mark Protosevich, who previously wrote I Am Legend and Thor .

Sugar's first two episodes have proven successful, with the series earning an 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It follows private detective John Sugar (Colin Farrell), who's investigating the disappearance of the granddaughter of a Hollywood producer. The city of Los Angeles is synonymous with the private detective noir genre, and it again serves as the perfect backdrop for Sugar . The cast is rounded out by alum from some of the best crime shows ever, including The Wire , Better Call Saul , True Detective , and iconic noir films like L.A. Confidential .

Colin Farrell as John Sugar

Colin farrell is 47 years old.

• Name : Colin Farrell
• Date Of Birth: May 31, 1976
• Active Since: 1998

Actor: The Sugar cast is led by Colin Farrell, an Oscar-nominated movie star from Dublin, Ireland, who had his big break in Joel Schumacher's Tigerland in 2000 . Farrell was rushed into stardom in his early 20s, with surging popularity leading him to big-budget movies like Minority Report , Daredevil , and Alexander before his mainstream stardom simmered down in the latter half of the decade. Farrell has since become one of the industry's most respected actors. Colin Farrell's best movies include collaborations with filmmakers Yorgos Lanthimos and Martin McDonagh, and he has still maintained appearances in commercial hits like The Batman .

Notable Movies & TV Shows:

Character: Colin Farrell plays the titular role of John Sugar, an enigmatic private detective tasked with finding the missing girl. Like many of film noir's best detectives, John Sugar is plagued by internal conflicts, with his past unraveling along with his investigation.

Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Ruby

Kirby howell-baptiste is 37 years old.

• Name : Kirby Howell-Baptiste
• Date Of Birth: February 7, 1987
• Active Since: 2008

Actor: Kirby Howell-Baptiste is an actress from London, England, who's actively appeared in various supporting movie and TV roles since 2008 . Despite not starring in any major productions, Kirby has built a successful career in some of the most well-regarded TV shows of the past decade, including Barry , Hacks , The Good Place , and The Sandman . She had a main role in Killing Eve's critically acclaimed first season and has appeared in movies like Cruella and Silent Night .

Character: Kirby plays Ruby, John Sugar's colleague who aids him in the investigation of the missing girl. Typical film noirs see the protagonist without many reliable allies, though Ruby seems to be a dependable supporting character.

Colin Farrell's New Thriller Series Keeps 3-Year Rotten Tomatoes Streak Alive

Amy ryan as melanie mackintosh, amy ryan is 55 years old.

• Name : Amy Ryan
• Date Of Birth: May 3, 1968
• Active Since: 1987

Actor: Amy Ryan is from Queens, New York, and broke into film roles with her Academy-Award-nominated performance in Gone Baby Gone . Ryan has played supporting characters in a variety of well-known movies, including Birdman , Bridge of Spies , and the recent 2023 horror movie Beau is Afraid . Some of her best work can be seen on television, where she's played roles in some of the best TV shows of all time , The Wire and The Office . Recently, she's played Jan in Only Murders in the Building .

Character: Amy Ryan plays Melanie Mackintosh in Sugar , a rock star who's been around the Siegel family and knows some of their secrets. She and Sugar engage in some witty banter early on, and it seems like she could be an ally for him.

Dennis Boutsikaris as Bernie Siegel

Dennis boutsikaris is 71 years old.

• Name : Dennis Boutsikaris
• Date Of Birth: December 21, 1952
• Active Since: 1973

Actor: Dennis Boutsikaris is an American character actor from Newark, New Jersey, with over fifty years of screen credits , appearing in some of the most popular shows of the past few decades. While Boutsikaris has appeared in his share of movies, like Money Monster , The Bourne Legacy , and Batteries Not Included , a majority of his work has been on television. His roles have mainly included guest appearances, though he's played recurring characters on Better Call Saul and the recent AMC series Mayfair Witches .

Character: Dennis Boutsikaris plays a member of the Siegel family who carried on his father's legacy by becoming a movie producer. Though, in his case, his movies are cheap schlock that lack accomplishment. Like the rest of his family, Bernie Siegel is a suspicious figure.

Nate Corddry as David Siegel

Nate corddry is 46 years old.

• Name : Nate Corddry
• Date Of Birth: September 8, 1977
• Active Since: 2002

Actor: Nate Corddry is an actor from Weymouth, Massachusetts, who is known for roles in various TV shows , both drama and comedy. With little over two decades of experience in the industry, Corddry has accumulated an impressive resume, particularly in the past five years. He's played roles in famous comedies like New Girl , The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel , and Barry , along with dramas like Mindhunter and For All Mankind . He's also had minor roles in films like Yogi Bear and the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot.

Character: Nate Corddry plays David Siegel, the half-brother of the missing girl. John Sugar is introduced to him in episode 1, with their first encounter implying David knows more than he lets on. Using his familial connections, David was a former child star.

James Cromwell as Jonathan Siegel

James cromwell is 84 years old.

• Name : James Cromwell
• Date Of Birth: January 27, 1940
• Active Since: 1974

Actor: James Cromwell was born in Los Angeles as the son of actor John Cromwell and actress Kay Johnson and had his TV debut on The Rockford Files in 1974. His five-decade career has included dozens of memorable character roles in TV shows like Succession , for which he was nominated for three Emmys, Six Feet Under , American Horror Story , and more. His most recognizable role is perhaps the 1995 film Babe , for which he was nominated for an Oscar.

Character: Veteran actor James Cromwell plays fictional movie producer Jonathan Siegel, the man who hires Sugar to find his granddaughter. Jonathan Siegel and his family possess immense power in the show's depiction of Hollywood, leading to a conspiracy about their involvement.

Sugar Supporting Cast & Characters

Anna Gunn as Margit: Margit is the ex-wife of Bernie Siegel and the son of David Siegel. She has no blood relation to Olivia and specifies to Sugar that she isn't concerned about the case, making her suspicious. Anna Gunn can be recognized as Skyler White from Breaking Bad .

Sydney Chandler as Olivia Siegel: Olivia Siegel is the missing girl at the center of Sugar's mystery. Sydney Chandler is the daughter of actor Kyle Chandler, who's begun her prospering acting career with roles in Don't Worry Darling and Pistol .

Alex Hernandez as Kenny: Kenny is a friend of David Siegel's who accompanies him and works as his muscle. In the first introduction scene with Sugar, Kenny aggressively draws his gun and carries a serious demeanor. Alex Hernandez can be recognized from The Peripheral and Bloodshot and has done voice work for various video games like Mafia III .

Sugar (2024)

“Sugar” is a contemporary, unique take on one of the most popular and significant genres in literary, motion picture and television history: the private detective story. Academy Award nominee Colin Farrell stars as John Sugar, an American private investigator on the heels of the mysterious disappearance of Olivia Siegel, the beloved granddaughter of legendary Hollywood producer Jonathan Siegel. As Sugar tries to determine what happened to Olivia, he will also unearth Siegel family secrets; some very recent, others long-buried.

Civil War's Rotten Tomatoes Score Extends Alex Garland's Incredible 22-Year Hot Streak

• Alex Garland's latest movie, Civil War, continues his impressive streak with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%, his highest yet.
• The film's focus on a divided America and exploration of war themes is praised for its thoughtfulness and epic storytelling.
• Despite Garland's retirement from directing, Civil War's positive reviews show his unique vision and talent will be greatly missed.

Alex Garland is established as one of Hollywood's brightest minds, and Civil War 's Rotten Tomatoes score extends his incredible hot streak. The 2024 war movie from A24 is a major next step in Garland's career. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman, and others, interest in Civil War spiked after the marketing began and the somewhat realistic future version of America at war with itself was revealed. Considering the promise he showed early in his career as a screenwriter and what he's done directing, Alex Garland's movies are almost always thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking.

Questions about how critics and general audiences who watch Civil War would receive the movie were fair, though. The political nature of the story and view of America opens the door for more critics than some of Garland's prior works. Furthermore, the director's last movie, Men , was not as well-received as his other projects. The potential for a further decline in quality and appreciation, mixed with potentially divisive political and social commentary, made Civil War an expensive risk for A24 and Garland. The good news is the film's Rotten Tomatoes score is very high, continuing a streak for the filmmaker.

A24's Civil War Rotten Tomatoes Score Is A Big Relief After This Movie From 2 Years Ago

Civil war continues alex garland's rotten tomatoes streak that began with 28 days later, all of his projects since 2002 have positive reviews.

Alex Garland has delivered one of his best movies to date with Civil War ​​​​​​, judging by the Rotten Tomatoes score. The movie has a 93% rating on the Tomatometer based on 54 critic reviews that the aggregator site has tallied. This currently means Civil War is Alex Garland's highest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes , edging out Ex Machina 's 92%. However, there is still plenty of room for the score to fluctuate as more reviews are published. Any changes that do come are unlikely to sway Civil War 's Rotten Tomatoes score from staying Fresh (above 60%), which is great for Garland.

This means that every Alex Garland movie or TV show that he has produced, written, and/or directed has received a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes since 28 Days Later . The 2002 zombie-apocalypse movie was the first of Garland's works to garner positive reviews, as his work on The Beach two years prior was met with harsh critical reactions. Since 28 Days Later , Garland has written three films he did not direct, written and directed four films (including Civil War ), produced 28 Weeks Later , and created the show Devs ; all these projects have at least a 69% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Why Civil War's Reviews Are So Positive

A gripping story unfolds in an unsettling look at america.

There are plenty of similar praises that repeatedly pop up in different Civil War reviews from critics. One of the main reasons Alex Garland's fourth directorial effort has received much praise is due to how thoughtfully and viscerally it brings the story to life. Despite its big budget and action sequences, Civil War remains focused on the human experience of the journalists as they traverse across a divided America. Exploring the different views on the war, America, and other ideas all come up naturally. This helps Garland's film not feel like it is taking one side of a political argument.

It is through this approach that Garland's direction and script allow viewers to be completely enthralled by what they are watching . There is an epic feeling to the film that is consistently felt by reviewers. There are still criticisms levied against the film, such as its thin characters or perhaps not fully exploring the massive ideas it touches. However, the Civil War reviews are still much more in Garland's favor than against his work. It all goes to show that the director is still able to deliver a movie that is equal parts engaging, shocking, and moving.

Civil War's Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Even More Important After Alex Garland's Retirement Claims

Alex garland confirmed he's going to step away from directing.

The overwhelming praise for the movie reflected in Civil War 's Rotten Tomatoes score is all the more important considering comments made by Alex Garland leading up to the film. He told The Guardian that "I’m not planning to direct again in the foreseeable future" after finishing work on the 2024 movie. Alex Garland's retirement from directing would still see him continue to work as a screenwriter , such as on the upcoming 28 Years Later film. He might not be fully retiring from filmmaking, but Civil War 's Rotten Tomatoes score is a reminder of how great of a director he is.

Although Garland might still be better known as a screenwriter, the movies he's directed have earned him greater praise. Civil War , Ex Machina , and Annihilation are his highest-rated projects on Rotten Tomatoes. His future works as a writer could continue to get positive reviews, but he knows his material best. It's his complete vision for a movie, from the script to directorial choices, that make some of Garland's movies so special. Civil War 's high score on Rotten Tomatoes is just another indicator that Alex Garland retiring from directing would be a shame.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes , The Guardian

Director Alex Garland

Release Date April 26, 2024

Writers Alex Garland

Cast Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Nick Offerman, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons

Runtime 109 Minutes

Genres Drama, Action

5 new to Max movies with 90% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes

Max's April slate includes these critically acclaimed movies

Along with May flowers, April brings plenty of new movies to Max . This month's list of new on Max movies is filled with big hits and classic films, from mega franchises like "Harry Potter" to foreign action thrillers like "Infernal Affairs." But what we’re interested in is the highest-rated new additions. 

With so many new movies hitting Max in April 2024, we're rounding up the ones with a 90% or higher score on  Rotten Tomatoes  to help you narrow down what to watch on your next movie night. While a high rating on the review aggregate site doesn't necessarily guarantee that you'll love the film, it is a useful indicator that a majority of critics consider a movie worthy of making your watchlist. 

The highest-rated new to Max movies span a range of genres, from documentaries to Oscar-winning dramas. However, something they all share in common is the stamp of approval from people who evaluate movies for a living. That’s more than enough reason to stream these five movies now.

'The Zone of Interest' (2023) 

After taking home two Oscars at this year's Academy Awards, including Best International Feature Film and Best Sound, "The Zone of Interest" finally landed on Max this month. Horrific yet undeniably brilliant, "The Zone of Interest" is a poignant WWII historical drama starring Christian Friedel as Rudolf Höss and Sandra Hüller as his wife Hedwig. The film revolves around this German couple building their perfect picket fence life in the literal shadow of the Auschwitz concentration camp, which Rudolf runs. 

While this movie doesn't shy away from the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany against the Jewish people, it's more like background noise than the main focus. The real horror comes from observing the mundane normalcy the family is able to carve out amid it all, as they see their place in the Holocaust as simply a means to a better life. 

Genre: History/Drama Rotten Tomatoes score: 93% Stream it on Max

'McQueen' (2018)  

"McQueen" takes a look at the legacy of Lee A McQueen, the eccentric, anti-establishment fashion designer better known as Alexander McQueen. This mesmerizing documentary follows McQueen's life from his early days as a tailor to rising through the ranks at Givenchy and eventually launching and overseeing his eponymous line. 

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By combining home videos of the designer goofing off in the studio with footage of his shows and talking head interviews with some of his closest colleagues, "McQueen" manages to capture the impact he had on both the people around him and the fashion industry as a whole. While at the same time not shying away from the controversy, overwork, and drug-fueled stretches that ultimately drove McQueen to suicide in 2010. 

Genre: Documentary Rotten Tomatoes score: 99% Stream it on Max

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2' (2011) 

Watching all the Harry Potter movies in order has never been easier with all eight landing on Max this month. And the highest rated among them (on Rotten Tomatoes, at least) is the big finale, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2."

The franchise follows Harry, Hermione and Ron's adventures at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" sees the trio face off against the greatest evil the wizarding world has ever known. After the friends track down and destroy all the Horcruxes that keep Lord Voldemort immortal, Harry and Voldemort meet at Hogwarts Castle for an epic showdown where the forces of darkness may finally meet their match.

Genre: Fantasy/adventure Rotten Tomatoes score: 96% Stream it on Max

'The Social Network' (2010) 

Frequently hailed as a seminal work of the 21st century thus far, "The Social Network" is a biographical drama detailing the inception of Facebook and the subsequent fallout between two of its co-founders, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). 

Directed by "Fight Club's" David Fincher, the movie opens at Harvard University in 2003 and traces the journey of how the two sophomores created a website from their dorm room that became the de facto social network for millions of people throughout the 2010s. Using a unique, non-linear structure that weaves together multiple timelines, "The Social Network" explores the dangers of mixing business with friendship and underscores just how cutthroat the creation of what would become the world’s largest social media platform really was. 

Genre:  Biopic Rotten Tomatoes score:   96% Stream it on Max

'Lost In Translation' (2003) 

In 2003, Sofia Coppola (daughter of the revered director Francis Ford Coppola) followed up her critically acclaimed directorial debut, "The Virgin Suicides," with what many consider to be one of the best romantic dramas ever made.

A mix of comedy and melancholy, "Lost in Translation" is credited for a resurgence in Bill Murray's career and marked the breakout of Scarlett Johansson from teen to adult roles. The film follows Bob (Murray), an aging movie star who has resorted to television ads to keep his career afloat. While back in Tokyo to promote Suntory Whisky, he meets Charlotte (Johansson), a newlywed accompanying her celebrity photographer husband on a work trip who’s already disenchanted about her marriage. While Bob and Charlotte both feel lost in the world, they strike up a friendship that turns deep and meaningful. 

Genre:  Romantic comedy/drama Rotten Tomatoes score:   95% Stream it on Max

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Alyse Stanley is a news editor at Tom’s Guide overseeing weekend coverage and writing about the latest in tech, gaming and entertainment. Prior to joining Tom’s Guide, Alyse worked as an editor for the Washington Post’s sunsetted video game section, Launcher. She previously led Gizmodo’s weekend news desk, where she covered breaking tech news — everything from the latest spec rumors and gadget launches to social media policy and cybersecurity threats.  She has also written game reviews and features as a freelance reporter for outlets like Polygon, Unwinnable, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun. She’s a big fan of horror movies, cartoons, and miniature painting.

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What Jennifer Did Reviews

What Jennifer Did has a cheap and unfinished quality to it. This true crime documentary has a sluggish pace and leaves out many necessary facts. The re-enactments and dramatic embellishments are also tacky.

Full Review | Apr 11, 2024

It can be defined in a number of profitable ways: a crime thriller, an anatomy of police interrogation techniques, a parenting story and an immigrant fable -- one in the classic tradition, rather than one that fits any narratives currently being promoted.

For true crime fans who are just looking for a quick watch-in-one-night crime story, this one manages to cram in plenty of surprising details and twists into it’s relatively short running time.

Full Review | Apr 10, 2024

As the clues come in, What Jennifer Did unfolds like a great page-turner.

The angle of the documentary is that the story is pure evil, but I was not convinced. The outcome was evil, but the consequences were ironic.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 10, 2024

It’s consistently engaging, but also not much more revealing than a quick perusal of Jennifer’s Wikipedia page, and the fact that its real-life saga may not be over only amplifies the impression that it’s less than the full story.

Full Review | Apr 8, 2024