Prior to Aladdin and The Lion King, Disney live-action adaptations of cartoon classics were not popular, but the release of Maleficent guaranteed the House of Mouse that they may be profitable one day. In 2014, the origin tale of one of Disney’s most beloved villains was so successful that the studio confidently greenlit one for Cruella de Vil, the fur-wearing fashionista who famously covets a coat fashioned from puppies in 101 Dalmatians. Cruella serves as a prologue to 101 Dalmatians, set to a glam-rock soundtrack in 1970s London, while Maleficent is a modern-day version of Sleeping Beauty set in medieval times. What they all have in common is that they’re crazy, flashy rides with strong female protagonists dressed in fantastic clothing that are both revisionist and anti-establishment. Because the film takes place before the events depicted in Disney’s 101 Dalmations, only hinting at what’s to come by a decade or two, it stays solely a genesis story with very little integration of Cruella’s subsequent iterations.
It doesn’t recreate or replicate the tale of 101 Dalmatians, as some of the previous live-action Disney remakes have done; instead, it simply traces Cruella’s early years and leaves it there, without bringing audiences through to the era when she’s a middle-aged fashionista in search of a puppy coat. Maleficent has a certain structure that makes it look logical and intentional as if nothing was left to chance in its creation and all the creative decisions were done on purpose and with care.
