Content source: Hujiang English
We all know that Disney today holds two major "wealth codes" - Marvel & Comics.
Jumping out of the conventional live-action routine, the success of "Sleeping Curse" gave Disney an epiphany that "the original fascinating villain character is the key to the box office"! No, Kuira the Black and White Witch is here!
Kuira's full name is Cruella De Vil, and from the name, it can be seen that she combines Cruel (cruel) + Devil (devil) as one.
This classic villain in "101 Loyal Dogs" is like this in the anime: after all, the dog is so cute! How can anyone think about ripping off the dog skin every day to make clothes!!
In 1996, this classic Disney animation released a live-action version of 101 Dalmatians:
Kuyla, played by Glenn Cross, was already able to see the shadow of the "evil version of the godmother of fashion":
Kuira, played by "Sister Stone" Emma Stone, is younger, more beautiful, and has a more three-dimensional image. It can be seen that Disney wants to compete with DC for the "female version of the Joker": after all, who reads it without saying a word - crazy criticism of beauty, yyds!
Sister Stone has as many as 47 sets of shapes in the film, all of which are from the hands of the Oscar-winning best costume design Jenny Biwan, and Disney's blood is bound to produce the "fairy tale version of the queen wearing Prada"!
Vulture magazine wrote an article taking stock of the stunning looks in Kuila:
The seemingly unremarkable Work Clothes hides her heart: during the day, she is the only nonocratic Estella (real name), and at night, she releases the evil "Kuila" in her heart, and fashion is her weapon.
The classic shot, The Flame Dress born in flames, the dark version of "Phoenix Nirvana":
The Garbage Truck Dress in the garbage heap, this idea and shape is simply a must!
There is also the slay of The Dog Coat, which is really a "cute and charming villain". Of course, the film side does not forget the special statement, dog lovers, other parties! No animals were harmed in or during the making of this movie。
English punk, exaggerated camp... Any hard photo taken by Kuila can directly participate in the top 1 of the season's show.
The Leather Skirt-Suit
Motorcycle Look
Petal Dress
Charity Gala Frock
With such a gorgeous posture, is Disney's "dark fairy tale" successful? Interestingly, the evaluation of foreign media is "mixed".
The Guardian called the film "extremely entertaining".
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw described the two leading actors as "a sensational couple of Emmas"." Together, they are the highly strung dysfunctional double-act that post-lockdown cinema didn't know it needed," he added in his four-star review.
Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw described the two lead actors (Sister Stone and Emma Thompson) as "a pair of sensual Emmas". "In the post-pandemic era, this concert has turned around in dysfunctional theaters that are locked down and don't know where they're going," he added in a four-star review.
Time magazine, on the other hand, disagreed, dismissing the film as "messy, flabby and confused."
Kevin Maher of The Times was less enthusiastic, Maher said the origin story was "a vague attempt to spin the tale as an All About Eve for the superhero origins crowd" but that "the result, alas, is much more messy, flabby and confused".
Time magazine critic Kevin Maher was less "excited", saying that the original story was "an attempt to transform 'Comet Beauty' into the feeling of a 'superhero' born in a crowd", but the final presentation, unfortunately, was "chaotic, loosely structured, and overwhelmed to watch".
The movie is not good or not, of course, the benevolent see the wise. But in recent years of Disney productions, we can gradually feel that the producers are more and more keen to "whitewash the villain".
Spoilers have been included below
Estella's blackening begins when she discovers that the truth about her mother's death is related to Baroness (Baroness, Emma Thompson). So the naïve Estella died, replaced by the goddess of vengeance, Kuila.
Cruella agonises over being mad and bad, but her villainous actions amount to disrupting fashion shows. When she has the Baroness imprisoned at the climax, it’s for a crime her enemy did indeed commit.
Struggling with madness and evil, Kuila sabotages the show with her rebellious actions. At the climax of the story, the baroness eventually goes to jail and deserves it.
At one point, the baroness is convinced that Cruella has killed and skinned her three dalmatians, but this turns out to be a ruse and Cruella adopts the dogs as pets. This version of Cruella isn’t apologism or revisionism: it’s practically a movie about a different character.
Somewhere, the Baroness had been convinced that Kuila had killed her three spotted dogs and peeled off their skins to make them into clothes, but this was actually Kuira's plan, and in fact, she adopted three dogs as pets. This version of Kuila cannot be said to be "whitewashed" or "corrected", and can be treated as a different character in the movie.
This "I'm evil but I'm also good" characterization began to become a new way of thinking about Hollywood's villains. This was entirely influenced by The Hollywood 'universe' effect, which also required the producers to build a larger worldview and create a more comprehensive and profound character image.
Representative big pit "Marvel Universe"
Cruella offers a glimpse at a previously unexplored corner of a known and beloved story. This production strategy turns linear stories with defined beginnings and ends into vast worlds that audiences can keep returning to.
Building on the well-known and beloved story of 101, Kuila digs out parts of it that are not covered (which can be seen as a "prequel" understanding). This production strategy facilitates the creation of a complete and grand world from front to back, and this kind of linear narrative allows the audience to constantly retrace and explore.
The choice to tell darker, more mature stories that explore the inner worlds of villains reflects a bid by studios to expand their audiences. A key target audience is adults who grew up watching the 1989-1999 “Disney renaissance” films including The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1992) and The Lion King (1994). Studios are eager to appeal to this group both as parents of the children now buying toys and happy meals and as consumers in their own right.
Of course, choosing a darker, more adult story and digging into the inner world of the villain is also the way Disney wants to expand its audience. The target group can be said to be adults who grew up watching the classic animations of the 80s and 90s such as "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast", and "The Lion King", and looking forward to the "Disney Renaissance". They're starting to become parents, but Disney still wants to grab that audience.
These darker and more sophisticated films also aim to achieve prestige and cultural recognition for for genres normally deemed lowbrow or juvenile: super heroes, fantasy and children’s animation. By purporting to tell morally complex and psychologically realistic stories, studios such as Disney aim to expand and enhance their brands.
Darker, more complex films are also designed to "justify" Disney, which is often seen as vulgar or underage, and they also want prestige and cultural recognition: superheroes, fantasy stories, children's animation. By telling stories that are more morally complex and psychologically realistic, studios like Disney are able to expand and enhance their brand.