Hazel’s Hint on what to Watch: Cruella

Hello! We’re taking a break from musicals this week, (Did you see the pattern?) and this week I’m suggesting the movie Cruella. This shows the backstory of the iconic and fabulous villain, Cruella Deville. It begins at the beginning, and when I say beginning, I mean beginning. The first frame of her is her as a baby! She was born with her classic black and white hair, which is the reason she got bullied a lot during her school years, and only had one single friend named Anita Darling. She had a kind and caring mother, but when she was expelled (or withdrawn, as her mother thinks), they decided to move to London. Cruella, her mother, and her little dog are all packed in their small car, but Cruella, (or her real name, Estella), notices her mother is driving towards a huge, grandeur building. She asks where they’re going, and her mother answers that they are there to see her “Old friend for some help… Just to help us get us on our feet.” Estella is amazed and astounded by the huge, glowing building, so she is very disappointed when her mother sternly tells her to stay in the car. Her mother removes her shiny red necklace, and places it on Estella’s neck. “Wear it, it looks good!” She smiles, but her mother refuses to, which confuses Estella. “I think I’d better not.” She held the necklace and Buddy as her mother left the car. “Stay in the car, Estella.” Estella was never one for rules. She couldn’t seem to resist, so she eagerly snuck herself in, but made the mistake of taking her dog. Buddy quickly squeezes out of her clutches and causes havoc around the party, which seemed to be a rich baroness fashion designer showing her spring collection of that year. Suddenly, in the midst of the chaos, a guard releases her vicious Dalmatian dogs. Estella grabs Buddy and bolts, avoiding the dogs as they try biting at her Converse. She runs out the door, and sees her mother standing on the edge of a cliff, asking a glamorous woman for a bit of money to get them on their feet. Estella runs and hides behind a bunch of shrubs, but to her surprise, the dogs jump straight over her, and when she looks, her heart sinks and she turns completely white. The dogs jump over and shove her mother. She screams, and she suddenly falls onto the sharp rocks and merciless waves. She stares at where her mother once stood, incredulously stuttering, “No.. N-No.” She sees people coming, and quickly runs away, and stows away in a truck. When she awakes, she discovers she’s in London. What are the odds? She got out of the truck and went over to the fountain her mother said they’d visit. “It’s all my fault,” She laments, and she gasps when she goes to reach for her necklace, but it’s gone. What happens next? I’ll let you figure that out.