re: Okay so I saw Cruella and it’s better than it looks

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And in what way did this screw up a good villain?

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I didn't say this movie screwed up the villain. I haven't even watched this yet. I'm not paying to see it, i just don't have that much interest in it.

My comment was on Hollywood in general doing villain backstory movies. They rarely pull off a joker level film. More often than not they soften or even turn the villain hero. That to me is ruining a good classic villain.

If they are going to make these movies, leave them bad, but maybe give context. Joker was never in the right. You could see why he turned pure evil, but he was never the "good" guy. He was always fricked up.

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And I really wouldn’t say that this movie qualifies as a prequel to the previous animated movies anyways for numerous reasons.

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But it is. It's Cruella's back story. It is 100% a prequal direct or not. Joker isn't a direct prequal to the Dark Knight, but it's still a prequal/origin story. Maleficent isn't a direct prequal to Sleeping Beauty, but it is a shite origin story/prequal that ruined a good villain.

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I wish they’d included Cruella’s classic car and horrible driving to some exten

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They did.

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I wish they’d included Cruella’s classic car and horrible driving to some extent

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Did you watch the movie?

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There was no reason for them to cast the actors that they cast in those roles at all other than to fill out a self imposed diversity quota. 

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I don't remember much about the original movie. Were these characters who were originally white in the og movie.

Or were these characters made up for this movie. If it's the latter, then I wouldn't count them as diversity hires.

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They’ve been white in every other movie/show that they have appeared in.

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Fair point.

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A Disney version of the Joker

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The best review that I read about the movie was that is was a cross between The Devil Wears Prada and the Joker. I agree with that statement.

I did not want to see the movie, as Disney live action movies have been hit or miss to me, but having watched it I thought it was pretty impressive albeit long.

I didn't mind the diversity casting as I just accept that Disney will do it but I agree with OP, I wanted to like the gay vintage store owner but he definitely was a Bowie ripoff.

Emma Thompson is such an underrated actress and absolutely killed her role. Wanted more Mark Strong

I broke down and went to see it with my niece and nephew, and I have to say that it wasn’t bad. I don’t think we needed a Cruella back story, and what they gave us didn’t necessarily jive with the way her character is presented in the original animated film or the two previous live action movies, but it was entertaining to say the least.

The diversity casting was completely unnecessary, but Disney is woke as frick, and they’re going to do it come hell or high water. At least they cast British actors. It didn’t ruin the movie.

My biggest beef is that Cruella isn’t really evil, at least evil in the wanting to kill cute Dalmatian puppies and make a coat out of them kind of way. The true villain of the piece is the Baroness. Everything bad that Cruella does is directed at her and is out of revenge. She grows to genuinely care for Horace and Jasper, which is a far cry from how she treats them in the past versions. She even gives the puppies to Roger and Anita at the end, signing the notes “meet Pongo and meet Perdita, love Cruella.” It sets up the beginning of 101 Dalmatians nicely, but Cruella never came off as a puppy-killing lunatic. I guess that’s what the sequel will be for.

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I don't think they took it too far. Okay so they made Anita and Jasper black (well I guess Jasper is mixed?). Big deal. And there's the flamboyant gay fashion store owner. His character sort of fits in with the context of the film and the role he plays, so it didn't bother me. And there is not a gay romantic angle to it or anything like that

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I agree. Like I said, it didn’t ruin the movie. I’m just not a fan of diversity casting if it doesn’t really add anything of value to the story. It’s like they wanted to check boxes on the diversity checklist, so they made two characters black, one middle eastern (Roger) and added a sassy gay guy for good measure. At least adding Artie was integral to the story, as he helped Cruella with her plan.

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100% agree. Emma Stone could BEG me to have sex with her, (and I KNOW she never would) and NO WAY IN HELL would I touch her. She absolutely disgusts me for some reason, and I am a 100% hetero male.

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What's that phrase about protesting too much?