Five years after the original trilogy came to a close, the Descendants are back. The Rise of Red follows Red (Kylie Cantrall), the daughter of the Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora), who is nothing like her tyrant mother. When chaos breaks out in Auradon, Red is forced to team up with Chloe (Malia Barker), the daughter of Cinderella (Brandy) who just so happens to be the former best friend of the Queen of Hearts. Together they must travel back in time to change the future.
When I first heard that they were making a sequel to the franchise, I didn’t think it was really necessary. The way in which they ended things in the last installment seemed fitting and the fact that none of the OG four characters were attached to the project had me skeptical. Still I wanted to see for myself what all the fuss was about and unfortunately I walked away feeling disappointed.
One of the aspects I did like was the introduction of some new characters. Red was a decent enough protagonist and I thought that Ora completely embodied the role of the Queen of Hearts. It was also cool how they incorporated Brandy’s Cinderella and Paolo Montalban’s King Charming and of course it was nice to see China Anne McClain reprise her role as Uma, the only bridge between the old and new stories.
The songs and choreography didn’t feel synonymous with what we had seen before. You could tell that there was no cohesion between when Kenny Ortega was at the helm and now with Jennifer Phang. I couldn’t help but think that they were trying too hard to incorporate some Tik Tok fads as well which is something I couldn’t relate to.
Another thing that really bothered me was how clunky the plot played out. The first two acts were fine but the third went by in the blink of an eye with no proper wrap up! They’d built up the Castlecoming Dance the whole way through and then the audience didn’t even see it happen. There wasn’t even an epic final performance to end on a high note.
Overall, Descendants: The Rise of Red was a letdown. I didn’t have high hopes to begin with but this was just poorly executed and unnecessary. I feel bad for the longtime fans who were looking forward to this one.
Rating: ♥️♥️
Credits Rolling 