Disney’s ‘Cruella’ Has A Bigger Villain Problem
Disney’s new “Cruella,” tells the origin story of the iconic villain Cruella de Vil. Emma Stone stars as the titular character with Emma Thompson playing her nemesis. Everybody knows this is the second big-screen “Cruella” film. The first one, in 2001, starred Glenn Close as the villain. Critics hated that one, and it made just $55 million at the box office. For a good comparison, the last Pixar movie to make $55 million was “Finding Dory.”
As Vulture notes, Cruella may make more money overseas. However, the biggest problem with “Cruella” is that the movie is very bad. Emma Stone’s depiction of Cruella de Vil is awful, and so are her lines. And there are not many nice things anyone has to say about Emma Stone, but she was right about this.
Ursula Should Get Her Own Movie
Now that Disney is spinning “Cruella” into its own film, actress Emma Stone thinks Ursula von Greyhaven deserves her own movie as well. “Ursula is quite powerful. She doesn’t get what she wants and she gets what she wants in a way that’s actually not happy, so maybe she should have her own movie,” Stone told Variety.
Stone is right about Ursula’s supposed lack of happiness. She has a habit of flaunting her many stolen items, as she did in “The Little Mermaid” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” She also once robbed the “Pirates of the Caribbean” pirate crew and made their treasure her own by killing their captain.
Watch: Disney’s Cruella | Official Trailer
Ursula is a bad guy with a heart of gold
Ursula isn’t the first villain in the Disney oeuvre to get her own movie, but she’s the only one to get her own movie all the way through. So why is she the one that is so often overlooked? Ursula is a beautifully rendered villain, the kind that Disney does so well, and Emma Stone is working her magic in a big way.
Ursula is coming to us sooner than later in Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid. The movie is in production and casts Mellisa McCarthy as Ursula and Halle Bailey as Ariel. Ursula can be magic on-screen. Let’s hope Ursula makes appearances both in and out of her signature blue skin and she doesn’t miss a beat.
Ursula is misunderstood
However, Stone believes Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” villain Ursula should get her own movie too. Stone says she would love to see “Ursula” become a musical or a play, much like the musical “Avenue Q.” (featuring puppets of everyone from “Sesame Street” to “Full House”) made it to Broadway. “It’s just a lovely musical. It just makes so much sense for Ursula to have her own origin story and her own show.”
Conclusion
It’s no surprise that Disney is working on more live-action remakes. Whether or not this version of “Cruella” has enough in the way of action to make it a hit with the youth is yet to be seen, but Disney has the unique opportunity to re-create some of its most memorable characters in a new format. Let’s hope the studio takes a little bit of inspiration from the box office successes of the likes of “Jumanji” and “The Greatest Showman” and offers fans something worthwhile with its most original characters.
