Disney’s Descendants is the highly anticipated new edition to the Disney Channel original movies collection. It focuses on the next generation of the fairytale family. The Disney villains, as punishment for their crimes, have been forced to live in exile on the “Isle of the Lost”. Now a select group of villain offspring have been given the chance for redemption. Mal daughter of Maleficent, Jay son of Jafar, Evie daughter of the Evil Queen and Carlos son of Cruella Di Vil, are specially chosen to attend an elite boarding school with the children of all the greatest fairy tale heroes and heroines.
This movie can be described as a spectacular fan fiction combining numerous classic Disney tales, the likes of which have only been seen on the hit show Once Upon A Time and in actual fan fictions. Reimaginiging familiar characters and story lines, it's a wonderful and inventive new story for a new generation.
In true Disney fashion, the action of the movie was accompanied by elaborate song and dance numbers. I have to admit that I’ll have the song from the opening number “Rotten to the Core” stuck in my head for weeks.
These villainous children definitely lived up to their famous parents. The big stand out was most certainly Mal played by Dove Cameron. She really had her work cut out for her portraying the daughter of one of the most famous and treacherous villains of all time; especially when said villain is being played by the WICKEDly talented Kristin Chenoweth. Hearing the Broadway legend sing was one of the highlights of the film for me. Also appearing as one of the villain parents is Kathy Najimy as the Evil Queen. I’ve been a big fan of Miss Najimy since her days as Mary Sanderson in the Halloween classic Hocus Pocus. It’s always a pleasure seeing her. As the original Disney villain, I must say she killed it.
All in all I would give this movie an 8/10. This story was interesting but a bit corny at times. Not really a surprise from a Disney Channel movie though. The musical numbers, while in my opinion entirely unnecessary for the movie, did add a lighthearted element to the rather dark plot. Unfortunately for me the best song and dance number was in the opening scene so all the others were a bit of a letdown, but I still appreciated them. My biggest issue with Descendants is all the glaring plot holes throughout the movie. Starting with the fact that most of the villain parents died in their respective movies. So they shouldn't have even been on the island or have children. In defense of Descendants though, I've been overlooking the same sort of thing in almost every episode I watch of ABCs Once Upon a Time so I think I can do the same here. It's fun and what makes the fan fiction genre so great.
Even with its shortcomings, I would still recommend seeing this movie to anyone who loves the Disney classics.
Congratulations Disney Channel on another hit.
