Cruella De Vil is the main antagonist of Disney's 1996 live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians.
Appearances[]
101 Dalmatians[]
Cruella has plans for a Dalmatian fur coat.
In the live-action version of 101 Dalmatians, Cruella was reinvented as the head of a London-based fashion house, House of DeVil. Rather than an old schoolmate, Anita Dearly is one of her employees and, as it is implied, her best designer. It is shown that, next to making furs through sold animals, she also has stolen some of the skins that she sells. For example, early in the movie, Roger is seen reading a paper reporting a stolen rare Siberian tiger from the London Zoo; it is later revealed that Cruella masterminded the theft, and had a close friend — a taxidermist named Mr. Skinner — make the tiger into a fur rug for her house.
When Anita presents Cruella with a design of a Dalmatian furred robe, Cruella immediately falls in love and turns her business to a new goal of making Dalmatian fur coats. When she learns that Anita has married a local lonely young man named Roger Dearly, she decides to pay an unannounced visit to meet Roger, who is initially glad to meet her and has full respect for Cruella, but it quickly drains into disrespect and anger when Cruella mocks Anita for marriage to a video game designer (Roger) and also when she tells them that she's sorry for them after Roger reveals that Anita is expecting their first child, which Cruella is disgusted by as she has no use for babies. Cruella only respects Roger and Anita when she learns that their Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita will be bringing puppies into the world.
It is quickly discovered that Cruella has only shown happiness for the family's new puppies under the mistaken belief that she will be allowed to purchase them. Cruella learns from her spies Jasper and Horace on a stormy and rainy night in October that 15 puppies have been born and pays another visit. She barges in, and when seeing the puppies, Cruella rudely calls them "rats" when seeing no spots until Anita says that they will be spotted in a few weeks. Cruella immediately asks them to put them in a bag or on reserve for her, offering them a paycheck for the puppies and asking to take it. However, Roger immediately and angrily says that the puppies are not for sale; Anita also gains the courage to stand up to Cruella. A furious Cruella fires Anita and leaves vowing vengeance, and calling her and Roger "fools and idiots" in the process.
Cruella laughing maniacally, now that she has all the puppies she needs to make her Dalmatian coat.
A few months later, Cruella has Jasper and Horace kidnap the puppies and bring them to her deserted home in the outskirts of London. It is revealed that next to the 15 puppies, Cruella also stole 84 more puppies, making a total of 99. The vile men succeed, but after a few days, Cruella realizes that the theft has made the headlines and has been the subject of everything; thus, the police have ransacked every home of every suspect, and Cruella realizes that the police are on the verge of targeting her next. Cruella orders Skinner to make the coats while Jasper and Horace guard the puppies, but the puppies manage to escape with some help from other dogs around England; all eventually manage to overwhelm the henchmen into surrendering.
Cruella then decides to take matters into her own hands and follows the puppies' tracks but is held back by the animals at the barn where the tracks end up. During this chase, she is unaware that the Dearlys have finally figured out she is behind the theft of the puppies and that police have investigated her home and connected her to the missing tiger and other crimes.
Cruella, meanwhile, falls into a trap set by the animals and falls into a vat of molasses. Battered and sticky, Cruella is determined to get her coat. After a rant and during another psychotic laughter with thunderclap (despite the sky not covered in clouds), a horse named Punch kicks her out of the barn in a fit of rage. The police arrive at the barn and see Cruella in mud. They arrest Cruella and her henchmen and return the puppies back to the Dearlys.
Cruella is found guilty of crimes such as the tiger stealing, theft of the 15 puppies, conspiring to commit crimes, animal cruelty, crimes against humanity, and verbal assault, sentencing her to life in prison (which is briefly reduced). While on the way, Cruella was shown to have brought a real skunk instead of her purse (by accident), and she, Jasper, Horace, and Skinner are then sprayed by the skunk, causing them to scream in terror (while Horace covers his nose).
Aside from this, the animated version of Cruella made a few appearances in Roger's video game. In the ending, the animated Cruella is chasing the animated puppies down a mineshaft with her car, only to run into lit dynamite, presumably blowing her up.
102 Dalmatians[]
Cruella De Vil in 102 Dalmatians.
Cruella is released from prison after three years and has seemingly been cured of her obsession of furs and now loves dogs (though certain ones are still apprehensive and mistrusting of her) and has decided to get rid of her fashion house because the clothes are made out of fur. However, there is a catch to everything: If Cruella reverts back to her old self and tries to perform her old crimes again, her entire fortune will be donated to charity as punishment. While visiting her parole officer, Chloe Simon, one of the latter's puppies Oddball nearly falls out the window. While Chloe and the parents try to rescue her, Cruella hears the chimes of Big Ben, and she reverts back to her original obsession with spots, seeing black spots everywhere, and furs. She now wants 102 Dalmatian puppies for her coat that will have a hood. She enlists the help of another fashion designer named Jean-Pierre Le Pelt and her unwilling butler named Alonzo. Cruella frames the owner of the Second Chance animal shelter Kevin Shepherd for kidnapping the puppies and he is arrested. He escapes from jail and tries to help Chloe rescue the puppies, but they are trapped by Cruella. The puppies escape and Cruella tries to capture them in the bakery, and at the same time Alonzo redeems himself by growing a spine, defeating Le Pelt, and freeing Chloe and Kevin while Cruella is defeated in a humiliating way once again; being baked in a cake, decorated and drooled on by dogs before knocked into the kitchen window. The police come and arrest her and Le Pelt. Cruella is now imprisoned for life and her entire fortune is donated to the Second Chance animal shelter.
Video games[]
Animated StoryBook: 101 Dalmatians[]
She appears in the Animated StoryBook, which is based more on her appearance from the first live-action film.
In the "House of DeVil" page, if a music player is clicked, Cruella gets her first musical number titled "I Love Fur", where she discusses her obsession with fur fashion.
Escape from DeVil Manor[]
In Escape from DeVil Manor (based on Roger's video game from the first live-action film), Cruella is shown to be present at Roger and Anita's wedding.
As Whizzer and Patches look around DeVil Manor, they find her nanny's room with a portrait of a young Cruella ripping the head from a doll, with a nervous nanny behind her. Whizzer and Patches also find Cruella's room from when she was younger, as it seems to suggest she tortured animals in her youth.
When Cruella learns of Whizzer and Patches, she chases them into a mine shaft where they throw a pile of explosives at her, sending her flying into a bathtub in a junkyard, where the police are waiting to arrest her.
102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue[]
In 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue, Cruella has set up a toy factory next to DeVil Manor. She seems to have tried online dating, where she has supposedly wed herself to Professor Farzboom, a meek professor who helps her make her toys. However, the toy sales are failing, and Cruella suspects it is because the public is spending their money more on animals. She then sends her toys to abduct all the pets in England.
Domino and Oddball confront Cruella on a number of occasions, with her in devices that Farzboom makes for her (such as a helicopter or a boat).
Cruella's plan is to incise the pets of England in a Super Glop made by Farzboom and then sell them as lifelike plush toys.
When Domino and Oddball confront Cruella at her toy factory, they are able to knock her into the vat of Super Glop, with Farzboom jumping in to help her. Afterwards, they are arrested still stuck together. When Cruella angrily asks Farzboom how long will the super glop hold them together, Farzboom cheerfully replies the Super Glop should wear off after 20 years which isn't quite as long as their prison sentence, much to Cruella's horror.
Dottie describes Cruella's scent to be like pepper, a likely homage to how her scent and taste are described in the novel.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Sigourney Weaver was previously offered the role of Cruella De Vil in the live-action adaption of 101 Dalmatians until Glenn Close took it after finishing her run in the musical Sunset Boulevard.[citation needed]
- In both live-action films, when Cruella is defeated, she is seen wearing a red-and-black fur coat.
- Cathy Moriarty screentested for the role of Cruella, but she was deemed "too frightening."
- Cruella has had the most live-action iterations of any Disney Villain.
- In the 1961 film, Cruella is never seen to be arrested after her car crash alongside Jasper and Horace, but in the two live-action films and the animated sequel, she does.
- Cruella is the second Disney Animated Canon villain that gets a live action movie where she is portrayed in a sympathetic manner, the first being Maleficent.
See also[]
- Cruella De Vil
- Cruella De Vil (Once Upon a Time)
- Cruella De Vil (Descendants)
- Cruella De Vil (Cruella)
