It seems that every year or so, there are at least a couple of villain origin stories or villain-focused films that are announced or released. There's certainly an appeal, and definitely a sympathetic angle that can be taken in a lot of cases. This adds depth to the characters, making them and their motives and actions more complex. Think of characters like the MCU's Loki, who is getting his own Disney Plus series this year, or Disney's Maleficent films. These are characters that fall into the villain role, but people are fans of them and relate to their stories. Even The Joker got this treatment in Joker, which was a film met with an incredible amount of acclaim.
But do all villains really deserve an origin story? Sometimes it feels like the bad things they do are so bad and baseless, that featuring them in the lead role would be irrelevant. Sometimes, a character's actions are so heinous that where they came from or what their side of the story is, doesn't make a difference. That's how it feels with Disney's upcoming film Cruella. While the film looks well done and visually very attractive, it doesn't seem likely that they could be true to the character while still keeping audiences engaged in what happens to Cruella de Vil. What's known of the character so far is so baseless and nasty, who cares what her reasons are for them.
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The character of Cruella de Vil originally appears in Disney's 1961 animated film 101 Dalmatians. She's the villain of the story, and her storyline is so dark and twisted. The movie follows a Dalmatian couple named Pongo and Perdita. They have puppies, and Cruella approaches their owners to buy them for an unknown reason. When she's told no, she decides to steal them instead and the owners and the dogs work together to try and get them back. It's revealed later on, that she actually has 99 puppies in her possession, and intends to kill and skin them to make coats from their fur. This film has also already been remade in a live-action form in 1996, with Glenn Close in the role.
It obviously doesn't take too extreme of morals to find stealing, killing, and skinning puppies for fashion really despicable. It's not just that it's bad, but it's truly evil. Puppies are cute, newborn, innocent. Harming them is something very taboo in this society. These actions make it very hard to be sympathetic with this character. And even if the upcoming Cruella film doesn't necessarily take a role of sympathy, it's going to be a true feat to even make her likable or have audiences root for her. It causes worry that either it's going to be way too hard to get invested in this film and it won't be fun to watch, or they are going to divert from what's true of the character to give her those relatable qualities that don't currently exist.
Films like Maleficent work in their concept, because there's actual basis in the origin story that evokes sympathy. What she did in Sleeping Beauty was very very wrong, but they were also very mean to her so seeking revenge isn't that far of a stretch. Even Joker evoked some kind of sympathy, though to a lesser extent, because his character is depicted as having intense mental illness and being very sad. What possible angle could they be giving Cruella that would justify skinning puppies for coats? The trailer for Cruella was compared to Joker a lot, but it looks kind of like the Disney film is going for a bit more of a fun and fantasy kind of madness instead of the very sad and depressing tone taken by Joker. That's another decision that is kind of questionable, because filmmakers need to be careful about what kind of stigmas and stereotypes they are endorsing. The "mental illness=violence" trope is tired and harmful.
The film will undoubtedly be visually stunning, so at least it has that going for it. The aesthetics are so clean, so high fashion, and that absolutely is true to the character's story so it is promising in that aspect. Emma Stone also looks very beautiful in the role, and her acting in the trailers seem great. Everything about how the film looks is perfect, but the question is whether or not the substance of the content will live up to the visuals. Cruella doesn't come out until the end of May, so it's of course too early to write off when no one has gotten the chance to see it. Who knows, it could be the best film of the year. It's just really hard to imagine this concept having all that much emotional weight to it, because killing puppies feels honestly irredeemable.
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