A prequel feature following a young Cruella de Vil : Craig Gillespie directs CRUELLA like Joel Schumacher directed his Batman movies with passion & enthusiasim, using the screen as his canvas by splashing color throughout his sets and giving us some of the most exciting and vibrant costumes I’ve seen put to film : I love Dodie Smith’s novel and of course the 60s animated gem The Hundred and One Dalmatians and yes I even have a soft spot for the Glenn Close‘s 1996 movie but if I’m honest neither compare to watching Emma Stone transform herself into this excitingly fresh, refreshing edgy Cruella de Vil, there’s a bubbly confidence that oozes from Stone, an actress who just keeps getting better and better with each role so watching her take on this iconic Jekyll and Hyde persona, dressing in the coolest of clothes, pulling her trademark faces and filling the screen with so much energy was an absolute delight : there’s so many crazy good scenes in Cruella like the Baroness party where the team try and steal the necklace, the prison break, those early childhood moments captured giddly by the maestro that is Nicolas Karakatsanis and each and every time Cruella sabotages one of the Baroness’s fashion shows : it’s over two hours of joyous cinema that lifts you up and puts a smile on your face, with characters such as Jasper & Horace played by Joel Fry and the brilliant Paul Walter Hauser respectively, Estella’s side-kick the adorable Buddy (and of course the master of disguise Wink), a bouncy soundtrack that matches it’s 70s setting and a Disney Villain in Baroness von Hellman done justice by the wonderfully delicious Emma Thompson : so if you fancy a giggle then take yourself to the cinema and watch CRUELLA you’ll have a wickidly good time ★★★★½