Sightlines · reception
How Cruella was received
2021 · Craig Gillespie · Cruella on Sightlines
The arc
Released day-and-date on Disney+ Premier Access in 2021 to a chorus of 'why does this exist?' skepticism, it's since settled into being the rare Disney live-action villain project people actually defend — reclaimed as camp, carried by its costumes and its two Emmas.
What’s debated
The forever fight: is this a genuinely fun punk-couture romp, or proof that no villain should ever get a sympathetic origin story — 'Disney's Joker, but make it fashion' meant as praise by some and as an indictment by others.
Its footprint
The garbage-truck dress reveal became the film's signature image, endlessly gif'd and recreated, and one infamous backstory beat was memed into oblivion the week it opened; Florence + the Machine's 'Call Me Cruella' closed it out.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd guilty-pleasure staple — the Disney IP movie cinephiles admit to enjoying, almost always with 'the costumes deserved that Oscar' attached.
Did you know? Jenny Beavan won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Cruella — beating, among others, the year's period-piece heavyweights — after building a wardrobe war between Emma Stone and Emma Thompson that required dozens of original couture-level looks.