Streaming
Service: Disney+
Movie
Name/Year: Descendants:
The Rise of Red (2024)
Genre:
Fantasy, Musical, Adventure, Family
Length:
1h
31min
Rating:
TV-G
irector:
Jennifer Phang
Writers:
Dan Frey, Ru Sommer, Lewis Carroll
Actors:
Brandy Norwood, China Anne McClain, Rita Ora, Joshua Colley, Jeremy
Swift, Kylie Cantrall, Ruby Rose Turner, Leonardo Nam, Malia Baker,
Melanie Paxson, Grace Narducci, Paolo Montalban, Sam Morelos, Alex
Boniello, Anthony Pyatt, Dara Reneé, Mars, Julee Cerda, Peder
Lindell, Shazia Pascal, Morgan Dudley, Tristan Padil, Kabir Bery,
Levin Valayil, Aiza Azaar
IMDb
Blurb: Follows Red, daughter of
the Queen of Hearts, and Chloe, daughter of Cinderella, as they team
up to save Auradon by traveling in back in time using the White
Rabbit's pocket watch, to stop an event that would cause grave
consequences.
Cat’s
Point of View:
As predicted, my daughter was fairly
chomping at the bit to watch this latest Descendants movie
with me. Mission accomplished, and we were both pleased with the
experience.
Let's dig a little deeper into that,
though.
While, overall, we were happy with the
overall experience of Descendants: The Rise of Red, it
certainly wasn't a perfect movie. That being said, I have a feeling
that it may be judged too harshly by critics – and, perhaps, even
Disney fans, alike. The majority of the original characters that
captured the hearts and imagination of their audience did not carry
over to this new installment, and the general vibe of the film was
slightly different.
Both aspects should have been expected,
however, with a change in director and the tragic loss of a cast
member in reality taken into consideration. I think the production
team for this new story actually handled it rather well. Descendants:
The Rise of Red made a point to honor their fallen cast member
within the story, and not even in a subtle way (even if details were
omitted). The story even carried forward the central theme of the
prior movies where the status quo gets shaken up in the name of
giving the children of villains (or in this case, a particular
villain) a chance for redemption rather than inheriting the sins of
their parents.
There might have been a few hiccups in
the plot; however, I couldn't really call them plot holes until the
full story is played out. While Disney hasn't confirmed any details
regarding a follow-up movie, the story within Rise of Red makes it
very clear that this particular tale isn't exactly over.
I also have a suspicion that theatrical
blockbuster expectations have been placed on a movie within a series
originally designed as a Disney Channel made-for-TV experience. All
told, the effects were on-par with the previous movies, the set
pieces were as colorful and interesting as ever, and over all held up
to the concept of being a part of a fairy-tale universe. Was
everything spectacularly successful? Maybe not, but honestly, unless
someone was watching just to find the problems, I don't see them as
being that glaring or distracting from the experience it was meant to
be.
In usual Disney style, there were
songs, everyone was dancing, and there were some life lessons and
questions of morals and ethics posed in hopes of making you weigh it
out and think about it.
Descendants: The Rise of Red
successfully proved that it would be possible to continue this
franchise as long as the narrative stays true to the heart of the
movies that have come before.
Rotten
Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten
Tomatoes Audience Score – 47%
Metascore
– None
Metacritic
User Score –
2.3/10
IMDB
Score –
4.6/10
Trust
the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5
Movie
Trailer:
