Furs on Film – Cruella (2021)

In 2021, Disney boldly answered the question, “What if we made a movie about Cruella de Vil with almost no fur in it?” The bold answer: Cruella.

I know, it’s funnier if I said “no fur,” but that is not the truth. The truth is there is fur in this movie.

About five seconds of it.

Slightly more than that if you are willing to be very, very charitable. And I am not.

The less said about the chubby henchman’s appearance at the “Cruella party” in the third act, the better.

So, here it is, the only fur “Cruella” wears in the movie. The most amusing fact about this is that she is not, at this point in the film’s narrative, “Cruella” at all. This is early in Act 1 when she’s a petty thief who uses her knack for fashion to create disguises for their little grifts. One of these is a “rich couple” robbing a jewelry store and includes the following fur-trimmed outfit:

The entire sequence is part of a larger “heist” montage and lasts about nine seconds, of which the fur is visible for five. This, of course, brings us to our famous assessment of the onscreen fur ratio for the movie Cruella (2021):

Fur Runtime: 5 Seconds
Film Runtime: 134 Minutes
Onscreen Fur Ratio: 0.0622%

So, big thanks to Disney for putting in a world-class effort and winning the current site record for the lowest ratio of onscreen fur content in a movie about Cruella de Vil.

They have a green-lit sequel. I would say the odds of there being slightly more 100% faux fur in that sequel are higher, but let’s be sensible. They did it once; they can do it again. I will say I liked Emma Stone in the title role and would enjoy the opportunity to see her in some over-the-top Cruella fur outfits.