
I can understand the feelings of some fans. When I watched the original Descendants trilogy in anticipation of the new release Descendants: The Rise of Red, I too got hooked. To be fair, there’s no mistaking when the final scene of the third film revolves around three protagonists who steal the show from the word go, it’s a botched attempt for them not to be endearing. Over the course of all three movies, director Kenny Ortega adapted the supporting cast improving on weaknesses that were present in the first movie, while expanding our appreciation for Auradon’s universe through brilliant plotlines in the second and third arcs. A very important moment was making Dude the Dog speak during both sequels and adding comedy to the mask that wouldn’t be out of place in a permanent fixture of the movie’s atmosphere.
This wasn’t possible with the first three movies’ restricted budgets, which contained action scenes that could only be seen in Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids 3D Game Over, and pathetic camerawork that held back the dynamism that should have been provided by its stellar leads, Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart, Sofia Carson, and Mitchell Hope.
But as Auradon looks more developed since the last time the characters left it, Phang goes above and beyond with a larger, made-for-Disney+ budget. In the third film, King Ben (Mitchell Hope) and Queen Mal (Dove Cameron) have finally brought the end to the division of Auradon and the Isle of the Lost by allowing both princes/princesses and the rotten at heart to come in and have a good chance. A few years pass after the Descendants 3 events, and a Fairy Godmother (Melanie Paxson) of Auradon Prep is revealed to have been employed at the University. She hands it over to Uma (China Anne McClain), who aims to carry out what Mal and Ben had begun by inviting people of all kingdoms to Auradon for their opportunity of reformation, just like what she did in the third film.
She extends invitations to Cinderella (Brandy, who reprises her role from the 1997 television film, alongside Paolo Montalban as King Charming) and Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora) who both agree to let their children, Chloe (Malia Baker) and Red (Kylie Cantrall) go to the school.
Red doubts her tyrant mother’s love since she never allows her to do anything else outside of Wonderland’s confines. Her doubts are ultimately proven true as Queen of Hearts shows herself to Uma and Fairy Godmother while bear of plotting for Auradon’s takeover which includes murdering Cinderella for pranks that are several years old.
In doing so, Red causes time to rewind with the White Rabbit’s little time-keeping device. By pure chance, Chloe goes with her as they try to discover what Auradon Prepto was before the beast- all the kingdoms came together. Led by a wonderful Jeremy Swift who plays the role of Merlin, Red and Chloe find themselves at the end of time and have to figure out the events that took place on the fated day that her mother, played in the past by Ruby Rose Turner with Cinderella being Morgan Dudley, became dark. It is an effective premise and keeps the viewer entertained with several musical numbers.
This time of Red’s appearance is the Mikey matrix that allowed the daughter of Zara and Addie to appear not in the original trilogy, with 91 minutes of runtime, but maybe even in 1:30, and maybe the entire film contains more musical numbers than the previous three combined.
It’s almost stunning how the songs just keep coming, which could be an off-putting factor for many, but not when they are this well done. Some effect shots retain the cheesy quality of Ortega’s Descendants films, but there is a definite movie sense to how Phang constructs the numbers, for example, a scene toward the middle where Merlin’s students sample Bridget’s (the original name of the Queen of Hearts) cupcakes with the flamenco feathered cupcakes. It’s also a better-looking film than the previous Descendants films in general with more intricate camera movements and interesting sets providing more insight into the world of the film in a better way. For instance, the camera moves like another dancer and the students break dancing while their clothes morph into pink. This is an absolute bravura moment in that aforementioned cupcake scene, the rest of the movie is also filled with very innovative musical numbers and rock songs that are very catchy.
But the same cannot be said for the story, which is rather plain compared to the battles of the first act that are brief but engaging, and the only struggle in the film comes when Chloe and Red are in the past.
Back to the Future serves as a blueprint for writers of time travel narratives today, and indeed here as well since almost every cliche comes from Robert Zemeckis’ monumental movie. All of this means that none of the comedy employing time travel works and the idea itself of tampering with the space-time continuum seems to be overly relevant – especially considering the existence of Red’s stopwatch which has a funny way of manipulating time. What does it do to the present time, so to say? Who knows, and it does not even seem to be such a big deal anyway.
The runtime in itself also does not help as it mars the climax as well due to an explosive action scene that rather quickly leads to a point that seems to open the door for another descendant feature. Another movie may not be a problem for me, but the ending does not feel quite as satisfying as when each of the Descendants movies rounded off in an escapade, which then begs for the audience’s presence again in order to continue the plot which will always be there. And though Cantrall and Baker make great bolt-ons, the leading actors have such chemistry that no amount of effort put in by them will be able to equal it.
That said, Phang will not let the spirit of the Descendants franchise die down as she pays a beautiful tribute to Cameron Boyce who passed away in 2019 before the third part was released and who completes Carlos’s arc beautifully and respectfully.
It is, for example, thanks to McClain’s Uma and Paxson’s Fairy Godmother, that the continuity of the fourth part is observed, but they are unfortunately absent for a significant part of the picture in which Red and Chloe put their differences behind them in order to alter the very course of history to prevent evil Bridget. On the other hand, the presence of older stars does not seem that crucial in this as the characters are quite amusing by themselves and are likely to be more fleshed out considering this is a series. Hence, Descendants: The Rise of Red, in the end, is not just incapable of falling over since it has opened as a derivative offshoot of the primary Descendants storyline and expands the cheerful universe of Auradon, with enough musical numbers to cover its one-dimensional script and hasty time travel storyline.
Still, with more Descendants movies most likely to follow, maybe we will see beloved characters make great comebacks after all, which we hope will be on a much greater scale than what we have now. Well, only time will allow us all to have what we want.
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