Descendants: The Rise of Red

From the perspective of someone who has never
watched Descendants.

In 2015, Disney launched what would be the long-running Descendants franchise, centered around a series of television films and books about descendants of various Disney characters, both hero and villain alike, attending Auradon Prep. While I had generally been aware of this franchise since around when it came out, I never really paid much attention to it since I was outside the target demographic by that point. However, as a fan of Alice in Wonderland and Disney’s 1951 animated adaptation, I did suddenly become interested when I found out that the 2021 animated special, The Royal Wedding, teased the introduction of the Wonderland setting to the Descendants universe. When this finally materialized as a fourth movie, Descendants: The Rise of Red, on Disney+, I decided to go in on the day it premiered with the perspective of a complete outsider to see how well it worked on its own merits. While it does manage to stand on its own to some extent, I found the execution of its ideas to be a bit lacking in places.

Following the events of the previous films, Uma (China Anne McClain), daughter of the sea witch Ursula, is being transitioned into the headmistress of Auradon Prep. As her first order of business, she has an invitation sent to Wonderland to invite Red (Kylie Cantrall), daughter and secret rebel of the tyrannical Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora), as a student and to open the borders for the first time. The Queen of Hearts uncharacteristically agrees, only for it to be a trap to get her revenge on both the school and Cinderella (Brandy) for an incident in her youth. Red uses a pocket watch-shaped time machine to go back in time, accidentally bringing Cinderella’s daughter Chloe (Malia Baker) with her, ending up far enough back to when their mothers were students at the school when it was called Merlin Academy. Despite their differences, Red and Chloe decide they need to work together to try and stop the incident that led to their current future.

After traveling back in time, Red (Kylie Cantrall, left) and Chloe (Malia Baker, right)
must put aside their differences to save the future.

To the movie’s credit, it has some interesting ideas, including some more unique interpretations of Wonderland elements. The time travel premise can draw comparisons with Back to the Future, or even Disney’s own 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass, but it tries to do something different and serve as worldbuilding for the Descendants universe. Additionally, the movie has some clever allusions to the Disney properties the characters originate from, be it through dialogue or visuals, even if the former can feel a little cheesy at times. As an outsider, I also appreciated the recap at the beginning, even if it only does an okay job at giving you the gist of the relevant information.

Though the idea of the movie has some potential, the execution leaves something to be desired. Perhaps owing to it being a musical, the pacing feels a little odd at times. The character arcs between Red and Chloe are done well, but the amount of time they take up leaves little room for the main plot by the time it resolves, leading to an abrupt and rushed conclusion. The biggest offender here is the Castlecoming Festival plot point, since it gets built up throughout the movie as a pivotal moment for Red and Chloe’s parents, only for the event to not even be shown; a comparison can be made here with Back to the Future’s Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, except in that movie we actually get to see the event and its consequences on the future, leading to a more satisfying ending. On a more minor note, although the movie has an in-story tribute to the late Cameron Boyce by alluding to the fate of his character Carlos from previous installments, this moment did not have as much of an impact to me as it might have a more invested Descendants fan.

Given the movie has an associated line of dolls, the character designs look like they could translate well to this purpose with intricate costumes and hairstyling, with some highlighted objects even feeling like advertising accessories for said dolls. To the film’s credit though, they still make said objects, such as Chloe’s glass boots, important to the story to make them feel less transparently like a doll ad. There’s also an interesting and consistent sense of color coordination, such as Chloe’s family having a particular shade of blue and Red’s family having a lot of red and black like a playing card. The film also has a rather unique and visually interesting depiction of Wonderland, and though this wasn’t the point of the plot, it’s a setting I would liked to have seen more of.

I would like to see more of this film's take on Wonderland.

Though minor, one thing that bothered me a little was the lack of physical impact in some scenes. This is particularly noticeable when characters land onto a bed from a certain height, such as one moment at the beginning where Red literally falls with great speed from a tunnel onto a bed and yet the impact feels like she just hopped onto it from the ground, as if to prioritize not messing up the immaculate bedspread over having a moment of realism.

Even knowing the movie is a musical, the number of songs feels a little excessive at times, bloating the runtime with little room left for the actual plot. That said, while it personally didn’t stick with me for very long, one of the standouts for me was the early song “Red”, in part due to its catchy beat and use of military chanting. Another highlight is “Bad Reputation”, largely due to it being a cover of “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts with altered lyrics. (In the time since writing this sentence and posting this review, a few of the songs, quality aside, have since floated back into my head, primarily the chorus of "What's My Name (Red Version)" and the tunes of "Love Ain't It", "Life Is Sweeter" and "Get Your Hands Dirty".)

As for the acting, you can really feel the difference in experience levels between the actors. Though not bad by any means, the younger actors with less experience have a tendency to overact a little, while the older actors that have more experience tend to give more nuanced performances. In this department, one standout is Jeremy Swift (whom older viewers may know from Downton Abbey and Ted Lasso) with his more comedic take on Merlin, leading to a very memorable introductory scene. One interesting bit of trivia regarding the casting is Brandy and Paolo Montalban, as Cinderella and King Charming respectively, reprising their roles from a 1997 Disney TV adaptation of Cinderella, making for one heck of a callback for fans of that film.

Merlin (Jeremy Swift, center), is easily a highlight of the movie.

 

As a movie divorced from the context of the franchise, Descendants: The Rise of Red is one with an interesting premise, but whose potential was not fully explored due to a somewhat mismanaged runtime. On top of this, the ending teases a sequel with more story that seems like should have been in the movie to begin with, though I’m not sure if that’s enough to make me stick around. In any case, existing fans of the Descendants franchise may get more enjoyment out of this than a non-fan, while fans of the Alice in Wonderland IP may feel hungry to see more of this film’s interpretation of Wonderland in the future.