Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Cruella 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 25, 2021

Cruella is not Disney's first attempt at making a live-action film sourced from the beloved 1961 animated film 101 Dalmatians. In 1996, the studio released the tepidly received 101 Dalmatians starring Glenn Close as villainess Cruella De Vil. This film fares better, not as a remake of the original animated treasure but rather as an origins story for the title character, following her work in fashion and transition from orphan to petty thief to high end fashion designer and finally into the character audiences love to hate. It's a solidly entertaining film, perhaps still superfluous when it's all said and done, but as a much-needed diversion from the craziness of the past couple of years it fits the bill.

Life has not been the same for Estella Miller (Emma Stone) since her mother passed away some years ago, accidently tumbling over a cliff while being chased by viscous Dalmatian dogs outside of a high society fashion show she was attending not as a guest but rather as a beggar. The orphaned Estella befriended a pair of ne'er-do-wells, Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser). The three stick together through the years and make ends meet pulling off petty thefts and working menial jobs at London's Liberty department store. One night, Estella, repulsed by the "fashion" on display in the store's StreetSide window, drunkenly takes it upon herself to add her own flair. She's nearly fired but she manages to attract the attention of the city's preeminent designer, The Baroness (Emma Thompson), who hires her on the spot. Suddenly, Estella is living the dream. But when she learns that The Baroness may have played a part in her mother's death, she transforms into her alter ego, Cuella De Vil, and works to steal her now rival's spotlight and elevate herself into the premiere fashionista in London.

As a character origins story Cruella isn’t half bad, though certainly there’s a superfluous feel about it, particularly as its tone feels so drastically removed from the original animated film. This story explores the character’s dislike of Dalmatians, her look, her fashion, and her rise to power as a high society socialite. There are plenty of winks and nods to the original, and a few surprises as well, but it feels like one of those movies that is “an answer in search of a question.” The story is thin, particularly through the middle when it can, and often does, grow a bit long and laborious in the back-and-forth battle between Cruella and The Baroness. It’s scene after scene of the former one-upping the latter, not in montage but in lengthy scenes that only seem to amplify an already tedious runtime rather than build necessary detail and character friction. Fortunately, the bookends work much better but, still, the movie never quite “gets there” in terms of justifying its existence. It’s an interesting aside but certainly not critical viewing for fans of the original animated classic.

Emma Stone is fabulous as the title character, nailing the mannerisms as both Cruella and Estella. The role has something of a Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle/Catwoman vibe to it. It's clearly not a one-to-one type of comparison but it holds water. Equally strong is Emma Thompson as The Baroness. Both actresses bring a feistiness, confidence, and in-depth personality to the parts and they share excellent screen chemistry, whether in more polite scenes when Stone is playing Estella or in the more antagonistic battles when it's Cruella versus The Baroness. Their work saves the movie from full tedium, and even if there's some needless stretch at work in the middle these two make the best of it, soaking up the screen and delivering a couple of classic performances that alone make the movie worth watching.

Cruella 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Disney brings Cruella to the UHD format with a 2160p/HDR UHD presentation that offers a modest step forward from the fantastic 1080p Blu-ray version. From a resolution perspective, the boost doesn't do a whole lot for the picture, at least not when examined on a 65" display. Gains to textural finesse and fine detail are minimal. The clarity boost is obvious; the picture looks cleaner, crisper, a little glossier but still pleasantly filmic in its digital domain. Don't expect to find leaps-and-bounds improvement to detailing, though, but what is here looks very good considering the effortless clarity and in-depth detail found on faces, clothes, and environments. The HDR color grading offer a bit more depth and bounce. The picture is substantially darker than the Blu-ray. Compare any scene and find a fairly dramatic transformation on the brightness level. Colors are certainly deeper by a significant amount. Look at Estella's red hair for a somewhat regular example. There's not much alteration beyond the added depth and reduced brightness. The UHD is not significantly more vivid, just significantly darker. Whites are a little more bright and crisp and blacks are a hair deeper and more pure. The picture is free of troublesome noise or other unwanted source blemishes. It is also free of any seriously distracting compression issues. The picture looks very good, but as UHDs go it's rather run of the mill and not a major upgrade from the Blu-ray. It's the better looking picture, but not by much and in this case it might be a matter of taste if one wants the brighter Blu-ray or the darker UHD. That's the only major difference here.

Cruella 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Much as there is not a dramatic change in the UHD's picture quality compared to the Blu-ray, the UHDs Dolby Atmos soundtrack doesn't make a big transformative splash, either. The move from the Blu-ray's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack to the UHD's Dolby Atmos sound presentation adds little beyond height ambience and no real discrete top layer elements of which to speak. The track sounds a little fuller when given the opportunity, particularly in terms of its prodigious soundtrack delivery. The height channels carry a mite of information, just enough to give the illusion of a larger, more spacious and inviting listening area, but don't expect to be bombarded with top end content. Don't expect much in terms of seriously aggressive audio cues, either. While the track is not Disney-esque in terms of lacking low end output, it's not at all prodigious, either, though to be fair the soundtrack rarely calls for it. Still, when a heavy vault door falls open later in the film, the thud is not quite so deep as one would expect to hear. Overall, however, the track, and its music in particular, is not wanting for significantly more low end depth, but it's also not so intense as to draw attention to itself. Beyond the music and some mild atmosphere, dialogue drives the audio experience. The spoken word is delivered cleanly, clearly, and authentically from the front center channel position.

Cruella 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This UHD release of Cruella contains no extras but the bundled Blu-ray includes several featurettes, a short blooper reel, and deleted scenes. A digital copy code is included with purchase.

• The Two Emmas (1080p, 10:46): Exploring the pairing of Emma Stone and Emma Thompson: their performances, the characters they play, the four-year process of bringing the movie to the screen, this film's portrayal of a more "human" and complex Cruella compared to the version in the animated film, and more.
• The Sidekick Angle (1080p 5:30): Looking more closely at the film's support characters: Jasper, played by Joel Fry; and Horace, played by Paul Walter Hauser.
• Cruella Couture (1080p, 9:43): Looking more closely at Cruella's look and fashion designs and style.
• The World of Cruella (1080p, 6:25): This supplement explores production design, sets and shooting locations, and more.
• New Dogs...Old Tricks (1080p, 6:04): Focusing on some of the film's canine superstars.
• Cruella 101 (1080p, 3:35): Looking at the character's screen history, including similarities and differences between this and the animated film.
• Bloopers (1080p, 1:57): Humorous moments from the shoot.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Included are Hotel Heist Hallway (1:07) and Baroness Rejects Design Sketches (0:42).
• Sneak Peeks (1080p, 0:32): An ad for the Disney+ bundle which pairs ESPN+ and Hulu with the service.

Cruella 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Cruella sheds new light on a favorite Disney villain but doesn't necessarily prove to be must-see entertainment for longtime fans of the original animated movie. It's tangentially attached, a prequel, as it were, which establishes some important points that will allow the viewer to see the original character in a new and fresh light, but it's otherwise a fairly straightforward, and at times overly tedious, film. Its technical construction is above reproach. Disney's UHD is solid, boasting good 2160p/HDR video, a solid Atmos soundtrack, and a nice smattering of extra content. Recommended.