Cruella de Vil radiates the prowess of a supremely awesome Disney villain. Impeccable with her timing, she disrupts the joyous occasion of the birth of Pongo and Perdita’s fifteen puppies. She is clad in mink furs, with lightning flashing ominously and her cigarette smoking viciously. Even though she is screeching, “How marvelous!” you know that the situation is quite the reverse, and that Cruella de Vil is going to be our villain and not one to be trifled with for that matter!
You have to give Cruella credit. Sure, her plan was convoluted (how do you really expect make friends by wearing a coat made out of puppies?) But she almost succeeded in her devious deeds. After attempting to buy the puppies legally from Roger and Anita, she decides to enlist the help of Horace and Jasper to steal them.
She almost gets away with it too. The humans are unable to find the puppies. Scotland Yard can find no trace of the stolen pups. In the end, Cruella was just outwitted by some animals. She probably wasn’t expecting that by any means! (Plus, she probably could have hired some more competent goons. Let’s face it- she could have afforded that!)
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Cruella is her personality. She is volatile, and completely random with her actions, rarely planning ahead for any circumstances. All she understands is that there is something that she wants (the dalmatian fur coat), and she will get it, no matter what. This sets her apart from other villains, who often act to get revenge or for world domination. There is just something so fun about have a villain who is evil just for the sake of being evil.
Plus, it is pretty cool that she gets a completely unique death. A protagonist doesn’t kill her, but instead, she shoots over the side of a cliff where she doesn’t die, but is left in the wreckage of her car wailing, “You idiots! You fools! You imbeciles!” after Horace and Jasper hit her already out-of-control car. And who can forget her super awesome driving face?
Cruella also doesn’t get a song like other Disney villains, but instead, Roger makes one up about her, ridiculing her ways. This is a pretty interesting spin; rather than the villain professing their devious plans in a deep and dark song, you get to hear a protagonist laughing at the villain’s ridiculously evil ways.
No, Cruella is not the scariest of all villains, but she certainly is an interesting one. And, unlike Maleficent, she gets to remain evil in the live-action spin off of the original movie (although let’s see if that lasts for the new film based on the character.)
She may be evil, but man is she fun to watch on screen, because of her truly wicked ways. There is no rhyme or reason to her wickedness, she is just evil for the sake of it, and despite the fact that you hate her for wanting to kill innocent puppies, you also just have to love her for her complete lack of restraint.
