Descendants

After the promotion this Disney Original Movie got, I had to go on great lengths to watch it.

The movie reminded me a lot of the 90's Disney Originals and held a familiar sensation which I will attribute it to HalloweenTown. The notions were childish and simple but totally in tune with the Disney Originals tradition which can be seen when Magic and Fantasy is involved.

The movie from the perspective of an adult or an overly mature teen might miss the point. Yes, this movie is not great but it managed to convince us that the silliness of the Golden Age of Disney Animation was not forgotten. On the contrary somewhere the Disney villains settled down and had kids. As a 90's kid I have to admit that I feel somewhat satisfied.

The plot is simple and the musical parts were not half bad but will pass with difficulty in the D.O.M. Hall of Fame as High School musical and HalloweenTown did. I believe that Disney could pull off a great series with this material which would have been perhaps hilarious but as a movie it's something less than Cinderella 1997 of Rodgers and Hammerstein but more of the last attempts to follow the last decade's magic/ghost/zombie and vampire trade.

Therefore, if you think about watching it beware. It may seem great and nostalgic but absurd on several points. In my opinion the plot at some points had great thoughts, badly put together but that's just my opinion. Young children and teens will probably like it but their parents will be a tad disappointed. This is an attempt to lure the young generation back to Disney's animation and live action traditions but parents and young adults alike will be emotionally conflicted.

My daughter has constantly got the Disney channel on at home, so I'm treated with re-runs of the same old thing, even the movies are constantly on and I can get very fed up with it. So this movie was advertised to the hilt since the premier of Teen Beach 2, which was not as good as the first I might add. So after months of the advertising of the Descendants, I was fearing the worst. As much as I can't stand Cameron Boyce, I do like Dove Cameron from Liv and Maddie, which is the only show I can bear on Disney Channel.

After watching this movie, I was quite surprised, also I quite enjoyed it, Dove was brilliant as the daughter of Malificent, and Evie, was quite funny too. OK, the 2 boy villains were OK too. But the idea and story were actually pretty good, and some of the characters were quite fun to watch.

Also the parents of the villains were fun to watch, some of the things they say are quite amusing.

As far as Disney straight to TV movies go, I'd give it a go, of course, after months of repeating the film, you'll get fed up with it.

Overall watchable once or maybe 2 days later, twice, then you'll have had enough.

Definitely a cute little movie, and certainly worth a watch. The plot may be clichéd to a point, but the characters are pretty likable and the overall atmosphere is fun. Kristen Chenoweth is delightful as Maleficent, and even adds a couple of nods to Glinda, something which other Wicked fans are sure to pick up on. Unlike some family comedies, this one doesn't rely on crude humor to be funny and instead remains appropriate for all ages. Disney fans will enjoy the little tributes to some of the classics. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone looking for some light, musical entertainment. I'm looking forward to the sequel!

I wanna make it very clear that this is a Disney Channel original movie. It is not exactly held to the same level as other movies. I watched this film keeping in mind that it is made for TV and targeted towards children. I will say that I liked the casting, I thought the actors fit their individual roles. Also, the musical numbers and singing is very good mostly. There are a couple of the teenage actors that haven't quite gotten where they need to be as far as singing goes, but Kristen Chenoweth was of course incredible. How could you star in one of the biggest Broadway hits ever and not be superb at singing. So I really enjoyed her and most of the singing. I also liked the character Mal, and I liked Ben too, and their connection. They had great chemistry. The plot is very very predictable, you can for sure predict what is gonna happen next. Of course that is a thing with Disney Channel, so just know that. I think this film is pretty good for a child audience. 7/10 for Descendants.

Hallmark movies: bad. Reimaginings of classic Disney properties: bad. Yet mixing those two wrongs together somehow makes a right. Descendants is better, smarter, more original, more entertaining, and thematically deeper than nearly every live-action Disney remake (still stan hard for Branagh's Cinderella).