Cruella (2021), directed by Craig Gillespie

Billed as an origin story of the villain from 101 Dalmatians, the film starts by building sympathy for Estella, a bullied and different child who is orphaned and winds up on the streets of London in a small gang of petty criminals. But it’s difficult to maintain that sympathy when her inner Cruella takes over and in order to defeat her nemesis, the evil Baroness, she becomes just as monstrous. It’s good to see a film with two strong female leads - Emma Stone and Emma Thompson look fabulous and ham it up to the point of bacon. There is loads of OTT action, fabulous fashion and a great soundtrack, but while it’s clever and sometimes entertaining the film is too long and, despite playing for laughs, just not very funny. It’s a struggle to cheer for a psychopath who treats her friends and allies as badly as her enemies, especially when you know she will go on to be a mass dognapper with the aim of making fur coats. Joel Fry, Mark Strong and John McCrea provide diversity and strength in support, while Bluebell the chihuahua provides most of the few laughs.