Disney's Descendants Makes Even Less Sense Thanks to The Rise of Red!

I have never been a fan of the Descendants franchise, which was originally created by Disney to take down Mattel's semi-successful Ever After High line of dolls, books, and webisodes. It succeeded in this endeavor thanks to Disney brand recognition despite being an inferior product. Coming out nearly a decade after the original, we have a fourth Descendants movie entitled The Rise of Red. This movie introduces a new generation of fairy tale offspring with countless changes to the classic stories, most of which are for the worse. Its only redeeming factor was a heartfelt tribute to Cameron Boyce, who played the son of Cruella de Vil in the original films. The Descendants franchise had very little working in its favor from the start, but it at least had a leg up over The School for Good and Evil by basing the backstories of the Disney characters on their films instead of superimposing an artificial school setting where they learned to be heroes and villains. This film retcons those efforts through the use of time travel and establishes that all the Disney characters went to Auradon Prep in their youth when it used to have a different name.

The Rise of Red follows a paper-thin plot in which Lizzie Hearts Red, the daughter of the Queen of Hearts, is upset that her mom isn't supportive enough of her and isn't a very nice person in general. She receives a magic pocketwatch from the Mad Hatter (justifying the working title of this film, The Pocketwatch) that takes her back in time to when her mother attended Auradon Prep under the name Merlin Academy. She is shocked to learn that her mother used to be a kind and optimistic person. Thanks to the film's erratic pacing and sequel bait at the end, it is never revealed why her personality changed so drastically since then. Ashlynn Ella Chloe, the daughter of Cinderella, follows Red into the past to try to save her own mother, who was captured by the Queen of Hearts' playing card soldiers. Why was the time travel necessary? Couldn't they have stayed in the present, put Cinderella on trial, and turned Red and Chloe into her defense team allowing the secrets of their past to come out on the witness stand? Something similar was done in Once Upon a Crime, a Japanese movie that came out on Netflix last year, which was far more entertaining.

The plot inconsistencies make even less sense when it comes to the fan service casting of Brandy and Paolo Montalban as Cinderella and Prince Charming. These two talented actors portrayed these characters in the 1997 made-for-TV adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. However, it was revealed through flashbacks that they were not playing the same versions of these characters. In The Rise of Red, Ella was a student at Merlin Academy who was an outcast due to her commoner background. If Merlin Academy used to be a school just for royals, it poses the question of why she was able to attend at all. It leads to some interesting revelations when Chloe learns the truth about her mother's past with the song Ella sang to her future daughter about being willing to get her hands dirty being one of the best in the film. However, changing her backstory so much makes little sense in terms of how she came to be Cinderella. To make things even more confusing, Brandy performs a duet with Paolo of "So This is Love" from the animated 1950 version of the film, which also contained a modified version of the events in their film. Disney is throwing everything from the past out the window with their multiverse trend.

Descendants incorporates a particular aesthetic of teenybopper pop stars who dance around in brightly colored wigs and punk leather fashion. Red and Chloe give off fire and ice vibes in this film with their head-to-toe red and blue looks. Although these color schemes provide a striking contrast to watch onscreen, their modern girl-boss personalities are not enough to justify such stark visual symbolism. Moving further along on the note of modern sensibilities, I groaned when Ella told her future daughter that her "princess is showing" in her sequence, a clear reference to the modern colloquialism "Your privilege is showing." Adding fuel to the fire is the horrific music that accompanies the films in this franchise. Heavily synthesized pop music with the autotune turned up to 11 is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this film's ear-wrenching soundtrack. There were many times when two characters would be having a conversation and suddenly begin rapping their dialogue for no apparent reason. Not only was it distracting from the plot, but it sounded awful in general.

The Rise of Red is a disappointing addition to the Descendants franchise, with a convoluted plot, inconsistent character development, and a jarring soundtrack. If you're looking for a superior alternative, I highly recommend PattyCake Productions' Villains Lair web series, which offers a more cohesive and engaging take on what happened to the Disney villains after their downfall. With its well-developed characters, clever plot twists, and memorable music, Villains Lair is a must-watch for fans of the genre. Disney's Descendants franchise, on the other hand, seems to be running out of steam, relying on tired tropes and lazy storytelling. It's time to move on from this lackluster franchise and embrace a new standard in villainous storytelling.