In a present day idyllic kingdom, the benevolent teenaged son of the King and Queen (Beast and Belle from Disney’s iconic Beauty and the Beast) is poised to take the throne. His first proclamation: offer a chance at redemption to the trouble-making offspring of Cruella De Vil, Maleficent, the Evil Queen and Jafar who have been imprisoned on a forbidden island with all the other villains, sidekicks, evil step-mothers and step-sisters. These villainous descendants (Carlos, Mal, Evvie and Jay, respectively) are allowed into the kingdom to attend prep school alongside the offspring of iconic Disney heroes including Fairy Godmother, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Mulan. However, the evil teens face a dilemma. Should they follow in their nefarious parents’ footsteps and help all the villains regain power or embrace their innate goodness and save the kingdom?
Kenny Ortega, the Emmy Award-winning director and choreographer of Disney’s record-setting High School Musical TV movies and feature film, returns to Disney Channel to direct Descendants.
The script was written by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott (creators and Emmy Award and WGA Award nominees for their writing on The Starter Wife, also writers of Runaway Bride and onDesperate Housewives). The production design will be by Mark Hofeling (Teen Beach Movie, High School Musical). The wardrobe design will be by Kara Saun (Project Runway, America’s Best Dance Crew).
If you read that, you would see that Disney is planning a film about the kids of the Disney characters such as Belle and Beast but it's mostly going to focus on the kids of the villains. My reaction, when I first saw this was that it felt like Disney was ripping themselves off as this reminded me a bit of Once Upon A Time.
But others have pointed out that this sounds like the Mattel doll line, Ever After High. I wouldn't know, as I don't know much about them. Here's my take on this. While the idea of expanding upon the characters and following their kids is nothing new as that was done in the Direct-to-video sequels. Examples include The Lion King II and The Little Mermaid II.
Now unlike these two as you can see, this is going to be more about the kids of the baddies and their struggle of whether or not, they want to follow in their parents' footsteps. Okay, my first question is where did the villains find the time to reproduce? That aside, there is one inclusion that really bugs me. Cruella, yes I understand that she is an iconic villain but she's seems out of place, when you are including characters like Belle, Beast, Jafar, and Rapunzel. (I wonder if Rapunzel's kid will inherit their mom's healing powers). That is just a bit of a tangent but she just seems out of place. I mean, going back to Once, they know how to work classic stories in well together but they usually tend to stick with the fantastical and magical stories whereas something like 101 Dalmatians is more grounded in reality with it's setting. Not talking dogs but the setting. Putting that aside, I am willing to give this a chance. Why?
Well, while the struggle angle is nothing new, to me it sounds promising but again this is a Disney Channel movie and those are rarely great and only a few are watchable. I don't hate them like others but taking the legacy of these characters from Disney is no easy task and I know a lot of people scoffed at the fact that Kenny Ortega is directing but I have trust in him as I've liked his work. Remember, I like High School Musical but again, he's dealing with characters that mean more to me and that have a longer legacy then say Sharpay. Now for those wondering, Belle's son and Maleficent's daughter. Starting with the latter, the daughter of the most overrated Disney villain will be played by Disney Channel newcomer, Dove Cameron (Liv & Maddie).
What I've seen of Ms. Cameron so far, I've been impressed as in her show, Liv & Maddie, she plays both of the titular roles of the twin sisters and does a fair job but I don't know, if she has it in her to play the daughter of a villain. And as for the son of Beast and Belle, he too is going to be played by a newcomer. Mitchell Hope.
I'll be honest and say that I know nothing about Mitchell, so that may work in his favor. At the end of the day, I would like for this movie to be good but I have my doubts but at the same time, I'm willing to go in with an open mind as I like the concept. This could end up being really good or being really bad but either way, I'll be tuning in. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments. Peace!
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