Cruella’s Character Change Creates A Big Problem For 101 Dalmatians

Cruella gave the iconic villain an origin story, but it also created a couple of problems if Disney wants to move forward with another live-action version of 101 Dalmatians. One of the trends that have dominated the film industry in recent years is live-action movies, in big part thanks to Disney giving this treatment to some of its animated classics. Although not all of them have been a success, this hasn’t stopped the Mouse House from trying, and it has also chosen certain characters to give them their solo movies. First was Maleficent in 2014 and 2019, and the latest to go through this experience is Cruella de Vil.

Simply titled Cruella, the movie took viewers back to the 1970s to tell the story of a young Cruella de Vil (Emma Stone), whose real name was Estella. Her backstory turned out to be quite dramatic, with her mother being killed and she growing up with two thieves who showed her a trick or two, all while doing her best to make a name for herself in the world of high fashion. Cruella allowed the audience to get to know this character better and see the journey that turned her into the villain everyone knows, but it also retconned a couple of things that will be a problem for 101 Dalmatians, if it happens.

Perhaps one of the most surprising things from Cruella (and one that made way to a big question) is that it didn’t see the title character targeting dogs for their fur nor did she hate dogs at all – in fact, her most loyal companion was a dog named Buddy, who stayed with her since she was a child. It did, however, include dalmatians, though not as many thought it would. The Baroness (Emma Thompson), who was the head of the prestigious fashion house Estella starting working for, owned three adult dalmatians she had trained to attack and pretty much kill, and all she had to do was blow a special whistle. Estella, now embracing her Cruella persona, commanded Jasper and Horace to steal the dogs as one swallowed her mother’s necklace, and she used their time together to train them so they wouldn’t hurt her. At one point, Cruella joked about turning them into coats, but she never harmed them.

When it was revealed she was the daughter of the Baroness, she tricked her into “killing” her as Estella and transferred her fortune to Cruella, acquiring Hellman Hall (which she changed to Hell Hall) and keeping her dalmatians. This is already a big change in Cruella’s history and one that will be a big obstacle for 101 Dalmatians as she now has a bond with three dalmatians, so there’s no way she could suddenly decide to skin dogs and wear them as a coat. To make the problem even bigger, one of the Baroness’ dalmatians turned out to be a female and got pregnant, and Cruella sent one of her puppies to Anita and another to Roger, setting up 101 Dalmatians. With Perdita and Pongo being the puppies of her dalmatians, it will make it extremely hard to believe that she will be pushed into the direction of the villain who wants to skin puppies for their fur.

At this point, it’s unknown if Disney will go for a new live-action version of 101 Dalmatians, now with Stone’s version of Cruella de Vil, but if it happens, the writers have a lot of work to do as Cruella, as entertaining as it is, didn’t do any good to the story. Of course, there’s also the possibility of Disney going in a different direction in Cruella’s story, but leaving the 101 Dalmatians storyline out of hers would also seem strange to fans.

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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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