For my Speculative Chic Resolution Project 2020, I decided to distract myself from work by catching up on random things I’d never seen before on the new streaming service, Disney+.
What I should be working on: Revisions to my latest novel based on feedback from my amazing beta readers.
What I watched instead: Descendants, which originally aired on the Disney Channel in 2015.
The premise:
The teenage son of the king and queen of Auradon offers the trouble-making children of villains a chance to attend prep school in the kingdom.
Minor spoilers.
Did you watch Once Upon a Time and think it was slow, boring, and too realistic? Well, have I got a movie for you.
I like a good villain as much as the next girl, and the classic Disney animated films certainly have some awesome villains. Of course I’d be intrigued by a movie that explores their children, and this movie got so much promotion that its been on my radar since it first aired. I even had a Trick-or-Treater dressed as Maleficent’s daughter last Halloween. I still went into this knowing that I was not the target audience but figured it’d be a fun romp and I’d enjoy it.
I was definitely not the target audience. But while I didn’t love it and I’m not sure I’d ever want to watch it again, I do have to admit that I enjoyed it on a guilty-pleasure level.
In true Disney Channel Original Movie fashion, everything is ridiculously over the top and over-produced. The worldbuilding, the characters, the dialogue, the plot, and especially the musical numbers. I’m not sure why I had no clue this was a musical, or why I was surprised when the singing started — this is Disney, after all. But this is no High School Musical, so none of the songs stuck with me except the first one, probably aided by the constant refrains and excerpts that marked every commercial break moment.
Maleficent has a plan. (via IMDB)
Despite the story being set at a high school, the primary plot is not a love story. In fact, the “love story” element of the film all acts in support of the main story line. Maleficent’s daughter Mal is the star of the show, with the other children of villains in supportive roles. But even Mal’s main support is Evie, daughter of Snow White’s Evil Queen, and the boys (Jafar and Cruella de Vil’s sons) act more as accomplices and comic relief (though Jay’s character arc about being part of a team is also pretty solid). This movie passed the Bechdel test with flying colors, and while there are unfortunate moments of teen girls being catty to each other, it also highlighted important messages about girls not needing a guy to complete them and it being okay to enjoy and excel at “feminine” interests such as clothing design.
Okay, kid. (via IMDB)
Its certainly not a perfect movie. I was put off by multiple elements of subtle racism, such as Jafar’s characterization and his son Jay’s kleptomania. In the otherwise fun and nontraditional makeover scene, Mulan’s daughter gets her black hair lightened. And the less said about her “Asian”-inspired clothing the better, which is a shame, because the rest of the costuming in the movie is actually pretty incredible. (Except for a blatantly plastic royal crown, which was just hilarious.)
But the overall theme of the movie is that good and evil aren’t hereditary. Good is a thing you do, not what you are. An important message no matter how old you are, and even dressed up with bright colors and pop music, Disney capitalized on the success of their character properties to deliver an entertaining way to share that message.
Am I going to watch the sequel? You bet I am.
Also, Cruella de Vil’s son Carlos learning that dogs are not evil is adorable no matter who you are.
Your niece, Cupcake, absolutely adores this series of movies. She knows the words (and dance moves) for every song. She’s now on to the Disney Zombies series, though (and she knows all the songs, dance moves in that set of shows as well).
This looks kind of cute. I had no idea it was a musical!