Weekend Watch: Cruella, And A Quiet Place Part II
A Disney villain has an origin story, and Emily Blunt needs to save her family (again)...
Image Credit: Disney Plus
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Emily Blunt’s back battling nasty aliens, while Emma Stone stars in the origin story for a classic Disney villain. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite
Before I get into the reviews themselves, I have to admit how much of a pleasure it was to watch at least one of these movies – A Quiet Place Part II – in a real cinema with actual other people. Though I had been back to a multiplex for one other film, that was empty. The horror-thriller sequel had an audience (socially distanced) that reacted to all the jump shocks and creepier elements. Being able to settle into a comfy big seat, have the lights go down and that big screen light up felt wonderful and transporting.
While I watched Cruella at home, which did somewhat lessen the impact, Craig Gillespie’s latest had enough to keep me entertained. This is Disney’s latest attempt to put a spin on its animated canon, and, like Maleficent, took a villain from one of the films (1961’s One Hundred And One Dalmatians) and fill in some background details. In this case? Dognapping fashionista Cruella de Vil.
You could make the case that the Mouse House has already turned Dalmatians from cartoon to live-action, thanks to the 1996 film and its 2000 sequel, both of which featured Glenn Close as Cruella. Which means that Stone is essentially competing with her and Betty Lou Gerson, who brought such imperious life to the character’s voice in the original. Thankfully for Stone, setting the story in Cruella’s younger years gives her the chance to put a new spin on the role, and the script (from The Favourite’s Tony McNamara and How To Be Single’s Dana Fox) goes to some lengths to give her a tragic backstory and reasons for why she becomes the woman we know from Dalmatians.
Stone’s Estella is introduced as a young troublemaker with an eye for fashion. She eventually ends up working (in a very The Devil Wears Prada fashion, which might not be a surprise given the story credit for Aline Brosh McKenna) for the pompous, perfectionist Baroness (Emma Thompson). Looking to make a name for herself, she also ropes in petty thieves Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) and Jasper (Joel Fry) to aid her schemes. So begins a war of fashion, as Estella re-invents herself as Cruella to launch her own fashion fame; or infamy, with show-stopping displays that include rolling out of the back of a rubbish truck in a dress made of trash.
Gillespie keeps things wicked and sleek, and the clothes, from veteran costumer Jenny Beavan occasionally outshine the stars. But Stone makes Estella/Cruella appealing even as her behaviour slips further towards the outlandish and criminal. And no, for those who are worried, there is no animal cruelty, just some mild dognapping. In fact, two dogs are the breakout stars of the piece. Switching the setting to 1970s London also helps, fuelling the punk feel of the piece and giving new resonance to Estella’s rebellion.
Issues? It’s too long: there’s not quite enough story to fill the two-hour-plus running time, and the needle drop soundtrack veers from appropriate to cheesily on the nose. And if you hire Emma Thompson, you naturally get solid work, with plenty of acid-tongued critiques or self-aggrandizing praise, though the character’s writing doesn’t always do her justice. And while that longer running time might make you think that everyone here has their moment, the likes of Mark Strong (as the Baronesses’ right-hand man) and Kirby Howell-Baptiste (as Estella’s old school pal Anita Darling – yes, that one) are largely left to be shadow characters.
It’s also not quite clear exactly who the film is taking aim at. Cruella is a little dark for young children, and won’t likely always hold their interest, and perhaps doesn’t have all the edge it might for teens. But it’s certainly one of the better live-action twists that Disney has come up with so far.
Cruella is out in US and UK cinemas on 28 May. It is also available on Disney Plus for a Premier Access fee.
Image Credit: Paramount
John Krasinski and Emily Blunt are back – he more writing and directing this time, she once again starring – for another round of alien madness and tough parenting choices. And for a film that has to both build on what has gone before and forge its own path forward. And, while it doesn’t completely pull off that second trick, it’s a sequel that doesn’t embarrass the original. Oh, and for the benefit of those who have yet to see the first film: Spoiler alert!
Starting strong, the new film flashes back to day one, chronicling how falling meteorites brought chaos to the world in general and one small American town in particular as blind, but incredibly powerful and sharp-eared alien beasts start to destroy both property and society. Filled with smart call-backs to the first movie, it allows Krasinski to step back in front of the camera in a visceral, violent set piece that opens the story with a bang. From there, we pick up the narrative with Blunt’s Evelyn Abbott as she adapts to the situation now. Specifically, she still has to protect her son Marcus (Noah Jupe) and daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds). The family farmstead is in ruins, and she’s looking for a new safe harbour. There’s potential with Cillian Murphy’s Emmett, but he’s not sure he wants to offer help to anyone in this ruined world.
The standout here, besides the always-strong Blunt, is Simmonds, who is handed another strong storyline for Regan. Wanting to continue the work her father started on finding a way to defeat the aliens (or at least weaken them), she strikes out on her own after figuring something out about a repeating radio transmission.
When Krasinski and his team are ratcheting up the tension, Part II is at its most effective, making good use of the environment and props, plus the acting abilities of his cast. Jupe is perhaps short-changed again, and there is a late turn that comes seemingly out of nowhere, but the story is generally strong, with a triple-threat sequence that effectively crosscuts between scenes. Weaker moments come when the movie resorts to more than calling back to the original, feeling like it is trying to replicate the same ideas.
Sequels are not easy at the best of times, but A Quiet Place: Part II is a worthy follow-up to the 2018 movie, and will make for an excellent double bill in the future.
A Quiet Place Part II is out in US cinemas on 28 May and arrives in the UK on 3 June.