Descendants: The Rise of Red

Ny daughter was SO exited about this but unfortunately did not live up to the other films. The songs are below average (apart from one villain song) the acting is terrible and the whole story is boring. Rita Ora is the best singer and she doesn't have enough screen time. The character Red is sad and unlikable and not in the way I think they wanted her to be portrayed . A few cameos may have saved it but we don't get any. After an our 30 mins we knew this wa snot going to be good !

If you like the other films, don't bother watching this one, just rewatch the originals. Let's hope the new Zombies is better. Very disappointing.

Says a lot about a film and its prospects when only 2 of the original cast are involved. Not only that it is flat from the get go that Kenny Ortega's directing/ choreography is not included in the film which just puts a dampener on the whole film. Overall the film isn't the most terrible thing to have ever watched and a good one for younger ones (watched with a 9 year old who loved it). Plot holes especially towards the end of the film and many things that just don't make sense. A highlight of the film was by far China Anne McClain's performance of Uma, very excited by the reprise of "What my name" from the second movie a great feature for older views who grew up watching the original film(s).

I loved the first 3 Descendants movies and was super excited to see what Rise of Red would do now that most of the original cast didn't wanna come back. Started out super strong with both Chole and Red's intros. I wish they stayed in the past a little more and extended the end giving it a bit more impact than what they did. Some of the songs I agree were a bit unnecessary for plot progression. Costumes were pretty good and felt like they would do nicely next to the OG Vks. I will say that we could have spent more time in Wonderland with Red seeing more of how life is there. I feel like seeing a young Maddox would also have been neat as well. There was definitely a missed opportunity to have the time machine break and have young Maddox fix it. As well as the Queens maybe remembering that they saw their daughters in the past. Just also making the ending longer would have been great.

I LOVE the Disney Descendants movies. I'm a Disney adult 100%. But this hurts my heart.

You can definitely tell King Kenny Ortega was not apart of this on any capacity. It lacks all the heart that the first 3 movies had. It's sad because it could have been great, a continuation of a new idea of Disney's stories..

And all the influencers are making it out to be the best in the franchise.. I'm so disappointed.

It's rushed, lacking in chemistry, I don't care for any of the songs, and the story isn't well put together. It's almost like they wanted it to be Disney Descendants and heavily Hamilton. Less movie and more stage production being filmed.

Disney, bring back King Kenny!

Positives are this movie is fun with good performances and lots of good musical moments.

It's costume designs and visuals are top tier for a straight to Disney+ movie, seriously the CGI was surprisingly good. (Like better than a lot of recent blockbusters I've seen) Rita Ora gives such a delicious performance as Queen of Hearts, she's the easy standout and has a real classic Disney villain vibe to her. The fun evil kind with a great evil laugh. Brandy as Cinderella is also amazing, she has a warmth and calmth that make her so motherly while also being so regal and her contrast with the Queen of Heart just works so well! The first Act of the movie sets up the plot well and was my favourite.

Negatives are well the writing and character actions are certainly off, particularly after Act 1. But what lets this movie down is the ending. Without spoiling, it's certainly not satisfying and makes you go wait it's over? While the cast are all teasing a sequel it makes me feel they rushed to the end and wasted lots of the build up throughout just for a potential to return to it later rather than properly fleshing out the story and developing it's new characters with the first movie. Every character feels underdeveloped and like they did very little because, in truth, very little actually happened.

Still though I'd recommend but I hope the sequel actually feels complete and doesn't opt for setting up a 3rd movie.