Cruella de Vil is amongst the most notorious of Disney villains, known for her desire to kidnap dalmatian puppies and use their fur to make coats. She’s mean, nasty, unsympathetic, and overall, a pretty terrible person. At least, she used to be.
Disney turned Cruella into something much different when crafting her live-action origin story, and although she made a tasteless joke about turning puppies into fashion, her intention was never to harm a single animal. While the animated 101 Dalmatians film pits Miss de Vil against an innocent family of lovable pups, Cruella focuses on turning her against a world-renowned fashion designer with a bad attitude, known as the Baroness.
During the film, Cruella goes on a long journey towards self-discovery, beginning with her struggles to fit in at school, then losing her mother, to finding a new family amongst a couple of orphaned thieves, and eventually getting the opportunity to work in one of the best fashion stores in all of Europe. Cruella does all of this while still identifying with her birth name, Estella.
Estella definitely does some things that are less than admirable, primarily being the fact that she and her adoptive family make a living by stealing from unsuspecting victims. Estella is kinder than Cruella, but she's definitely walking a fine line between good and bad during the first half of the movie. Estella's straddling of this delicate balance is justified by the fact that she lost her mother at a very young and crucial point in her lifetime.
Estella is a character that makes viewers want to sympathize with her, even though the audience knows exactly where she is headed. Between the voiceovers used throughout the film, the movie’s title, and the original version of the character, Cruella makes it explicitly clear to fans that Estella has been, would become and always will be Cruella de Vil at heart.
While using the name Estella, she was interested in making her mother proud by trying to be a kind woman, capable of making an honest living without stealing. Estella managed to make money the right way, without hurting others. All that changed when she adopted the Cruella de Vil persona.
When Estella finally starts going by the name Cruella, she does so as a way to hide her true identity from the Baroness, who she later discovers is responsible for killing her mother. This turn of events makes it easier for fans to root for Cruella, even when she turns to the dark side, because she is doing so in favor of avenging her mother’s cruel and untimely death.
With that being said, Cruella is still mean at times to the people she loves, not just the Baroness. She takes advantage of her found family of thieves, Jasper and Horace, and doesn't appreciate the things they do for her. After adopting the Cruella de Vil persona, her motivations shift dramatically and she is suddenly driven by anger and revenge. Cruella no longer cares about being nice to the people who took care of her, because she’s more interested in ruining the Baroness’s reputation. Eventually, Cruella resorts back to her old thieving ways for the purpose of destroying all that the Baroness had worked for in the fashion world.
Cruella is a very complex character, because she isn’t one of the good guys, but she isn’t the biggest bad guy in the film. Cruella’s nemesis, the Baroness, is much worse. The Baroness is cold-hearted, stuck up, and most importantly, a murderer. Even the lovable Jasper and Horace aren’t totally innocent, because they’re just as guilty of stealing from people as Cruella is. Nobody in the film is completely good or completely evil, which creates an unusual dynamic amongst the characters.
Instead of sticking with the more traditional “hero vs villain” origin story, Cruella carries more depth than the average movie, because it encourages viewers to root for someone who is bad and ruthless. Cruella never apologizes for embracing her true self, no matter how unlikable she may be at times, and is proud of herself for being so cut-throat.
People like to root for the obvious hero, which is why superhero franchises like Marvel and DC have become so popular. Even when the heroes make questionable choices, it’s still very obvious that they’re good at heart and are making the wrong decisions with the right intentions. They’re never selfish or spiteful like Cruella.
Despite everything Cruella does wrong, audiences are still encouraged to sympathize with her because of all the horrible things the Baroness has done to her. Instead of creating an easily likable and clear-cut protagonist, Cruella proves that not all villains are evil, makes viewers support the bad while hating the worse, and changes the way bad guys are perceived on screen.