Ah, in a delightful early birthday gift, the trailer for the upcoming Descendants 3 movie has come out giving us a glimpse at the main four and the new big bad, Hades. And of course, the terrible wigs that have followed this awesome trilogy.
The Disney Descendants franchise is one of those amazing nuggets of current Disney live action series. Disney Channel Original movies have always been a low-budget delight for me because they are fun, a lot of them have great stories, and it’s a great place for kids to watch stories about characters their own age. Disney Descendants is no exception.
For those adults too cool for Disney Channel Original movies these days, the Descendants series is about the offspring of Disney villains: Carlos, son of Cruella de Vil; Jay, son of Jafar; Evie, daughter of the Snow White’s Evil Queen; and Mal, daughter of Maleficent. They grew up in the Isle of the Lost, a tenement-like island, surrounded by a barrier where magic is suspended.
Belle and the Beast are the King and Queen United States of Auradon, a magical Kingdom where all the heroes and good guys of Disney live. Their son, Prince Ben, is about to be named king, and decides that his first royal announcement is to give four children from the Isle of the Lost the chance to live in Auradon, away from the influence of their villainous parents.
Mal, Carols, Jay, and Evie at first team up with their parents to try and destroy Auradan, but due to love plus the power of goodness, they end up saving the day despite their “nature.” The sequel brings in Uma, Ursula’s daughter, as the big bad, and the third movie will deal with Hades and Uma possibly teaming up to take down Auradon.
Yeah, these Dinsey channel films are silly and their wig budget is not enough, but the movies are legitimately a lot of fo fun with good music (other than that terrible Be Our Guest cover). Especially “What’s My Name” by China Anne McClain, Thomas Doherty, Dylan Playfair.
Team Uma. Team Pirates. Team Uma/Harry.
Beyond that, the movies do tackle an underlying societal issue of how much children should pay for the mistakes of their parents and if perpetual incarceration really helps “change” anyone’s behavior. Having all the villains on the Isle together only makes them worse and reinforces their toxic mentalities, which they pass on to their children. The children have been raised in an area where being bad is encouraged and the idea of unconditional love is never really given to them by their parents. If you are never taught to be good and have all the hopes, dreams and goals in live systematically denied to you because of your parents are, how can you learn to be “good?”
I mean also, wigs and dancing, but I think that wider cultural subtext of the series is what makes it something I am really excited to see it return to the screen in this final installment. I am trash when it comes to seeing how Disney reinvents and plays with its canon and overall, I can say that along with Maleficent, this series tickles me in a really genuine way. The way some other shows that deal with Disney versions of fairytales, which we won’t name here, have not. There is something really fun about this series and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Disney Original Movies in their youth.
(image: Screengrab)
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