Cruella 2 Can’t Be 101 Dalmatians (& That’s A Good Thing)

Cruella 2 is officially happening and will have Emma Stone reprising her role as the title villain, and this means that the sequel can’t be 101 Dalmatians, as many were expecting – and that’s actually a good thing. The film industry is defined by styles and trends, and one that has been dominating the big screen in recent years is live-action versions of animated movies. This has been mostly seen at Disney, with the studio taking some of its most popular animated classics and giving them the live-action treatment, but it has also picked specific characters to give them a backstory and change the image the audience had of them.

Among those characters is Cruella de Vil, the villain of 101 Dalmatians. In the animated movie, Cruella is a spoiled heiress who is obsessed with fashion and more specifically fur, so when she learns that her old friend Anita and her husband Roger had just welcomed a bunch of dalmatian puppies, she becomes obsessed with creating a coat made out of dalmatian fur. Cruella de Vil had already gotten a live-action version in the 1996 movie 101 Dalmatians and the sequel 102 Dalmatians, but she was given a new, fresh start in the movie simply titled Cruella. Directed by Craig Gillespie, Cruella tells the origin story of the title character, exploring her family background and her rise as a fashion icon, and in its mid-credits scene, it seemed to set up 101 Dalmatians, though that’s unlikely to happen in the sequel.

Contrary to what was initially believed when Cruella was announced, the movie doesn’t explain nor cover her obsession with fur and her wanting to skin puppies for the sake of fashion, and instead was all about getting to know her on a deep and personal level. By the end of Cruella, she had reclaimed her place as the Baroness’ heiress, took over Hellman Hall, and kept the Baroness’ dalmatians. The mid-credits scene shows Cruella delivering two Dalmatian puppies to Roger and Anita: Pongo and Perdita, respectively, with Roger starting to compose the well-known song “Cruella de Vil”. Now, even though this makes way for the 101 Dalmatians storyline, Cruella 2 can’t be it, simply because of what the first movie established about the character and the direction it took her in, which isn’t a villainous one (yet).

Instead of painting her as the villain to fear seen in 101 Dalmatians, one who wouldn’t hesitate in skinning puppies as long as she can have her dream coat, Cruella made sure to give her a tragic and complicated backstory that ultimately made her the character to root for – and most importantly, there were no hints at her dog-skinning tendencies (at least not in a serious manner, as there is a brief mention of the dalmatians looking good as a coat). The way Cruella was made and how the story wrapped left a lot of unanswered questions and mysteries that can only be solved in an original sequel rather than a remake of 101 Dalmatians. It would be strange to jump right into that story in Cruella 2 if the character wasn’t interested in killing dogs, and actually showed a lot of compassion for them, so even if Roger and Anita now have Pongo and Perdita with them, the 101 Dalmatians story can wait.

Cruella lives in its own universe, separate from the live-action versions of 101 Dalmatians and (of course) the animated movie, which allows it to continue telling original stories from Cruella’s journey rather than having to jump right into what the audience already knows. For now, Cruella will return in Cruella 2, and whatever happens after that, whether a third movie or a proper exploration of 101 Dalmatians, will depend on what the sequel sets up and how well received it is by the audience.

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Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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