Descendants: Wicked Wonderland

From the perspective of someone who has only watched
The Rise of Red.

As an outsider to the Descendants IP, my first formal experience was with the 2024 film The Rise of Red, which I felt had some neat ideas but an uneven execution. Unsure if I would invest any further into it, the opportunity came with the recent sequel film, Wicked Wonderland, which, as a testament to traditional advertising, I learned about through a bus stop ad while running errands. Like the previous film, my interest was piqued at the prospect of seeing more of Wonderland after getting a taste of it in The Rise of Red. Unlike the previous film, Wicked Wonderland did see a premiere on Disney Channel, but I waited for it to be on Disney+ the following day before watching it, and found it to be an improvement over its predecessor in many respects.

Following the events of The Rise of Red, it becomes apparent that Red (Kylie Cantrall) and Chloe (Malia Baker) changing the timeline has some unintended consequences. The Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora) is no longer evil, but now Red has a sister named Pink (Liamani Segura) and Cinderella (Brandy) is now much stricter with Chloe. When Red and Chloe are ready to start their first day of school at Auradon prep, Maddox Hatter (Leonardo Nam), son of the Mad Hatter, captures the Queen of Hearts in search of the time-traveling pocket watch, leading Red and Chloe, along with Pink and some of the other students, to go back to Wonderland and stop Maddox.

Red (Kylie Cantrall, left) and Chloe (Malia Baker, right) learn that their actions have
consequences.

Compared to The Rise of Red, which had a rushed finale, the story of Wicked Wonderland feels more complete, since the resolution of the main conflict is given more time to breathe and thus feels more earned. Actually exploring the consequences of Red and Chloe’s actions in the previous film is not only interesting on its own, but even becomes a major plot point and drives much of the third act. The HK (Hero’s Kid) and VK (Villain’s Kid) labels are also explored in how they impact some of the students, particularly Max Hatter (Brendon Tremblay) and Red, with the latter’s friendship with Chloe tested throughout the film. Maddox also seems to have some light shades of his American McGee counterpart, namely his use of robotic minions and obsession with time (or time travel in this case).

There are, however, some flaws, the biggest being that much of the cast is underutilized. Hazel Hook (Kiara Romero) and Pink do have some impact on the plot, but they feel underdeveloped as characters and seemed like they needed a little more screen time to flesh them out better. Outside of Luis Madrigal (Alexandro Byrd), Max, Red and Chloe, the other characters feel almost superfluous to the story since they hardly do anything of note outside of comic relief and providing more bodies to make the dance choreographies work. On a minor note, since part of the film is set in the White Rabbit’s house, I would have liked to see the White Rabbit himself in some capacity, but it’s clear that they (cleverly) wrote around that for budget reasons.

Pink (Liamani Segura, left) feels underdeveloped.

Since the bulk of the movie is set in Wonderland, the look of it is very important, and I felt that they captured it very well. The darker version seen in The Rise of Red is gone due to the effects of time travel, replaced with a vibrant and colorful world reminiscent of the 1951 animated Alice in Wonderland film that takes some creative liberties of its own that help it stand out from other interpretations. It’s clear from some shots that the sizes of various Wonderland denizens such as the White Rabbit were taken into account when designing the architecture. There are even some neat nods to the book Through the Looking-Glass, including a touch of mirror travel and the presence of chess, the latter of which was a central theme of said book.

After having adjusted to the art direction of Descendants, I thought the costume designs were on-point and properly conveyed who the students were supposed to be descendants of while being aesthetically pleasing on their own. Since the toyline is a core component, the costumes felt more designed with dolls in mind, but they still work when applied to a live-action actor. Chessy Cheshire (Awkwafina) has a nice design as well, one that fits within the Descendants style while still feeling like she’s related to the Cheshire Cat. I also liked the color coordination of the main cast, especially the opening “Perfect Princess” sequence that makes heavy use of various, carefully-planned shades of red and blue.

Much like The Rise of Red, it’s pretty easy to tell who has more acting experience between the older and younger actors. However, Kylie Cantrall and Malia Baker felt like they had gotten more comfortable in their respective roles as Red and Chloe and their performances feel stronger as a result. Not only was Leonardo Nam good in the role of Maddox Hatter, I could tell he had a lot of fun doing it as well, which is a bonus that can help any performance stand out. I’m not the biggest fan of Awkwafina as a voice actress, but she felt more tolerable as Chessy. I will admit that most of the songs didn’t really stick with me, but “Mad” stood out from the rest, partly because of Nam’s aforementioned enthusiasm, and stuck with me into the next day after my initial viewing; time will tell how long that will last, but in my experience with musicals, I consider a song sticking with me afterwards for any amount of time an accomplishment.

Leonardo Nam is clearly having fun as Maddox Hatter.

 

In a number of ways, Descendants: Wicked Wonderland is an improvement over The Rise of Red, featuring stronger performances from the main cast and a stronger story that explores the consequences of time travel in a largely satisfactory manner. Descendants fans will find something to like here, though Alice in Wonderland fans may tune in just to see this film’s interpretation of Wonderland. Since the ending teases a third entry with these characters really hard, I might still come back when that comes out.