Descendants: The Rise of Red Has Potential, But Suffers When It Comes To The Script
It’s been five years since Descendants 3 and now the hit Disney Channel franchise is back with a new story and a new cast of characters in Descendants: The Rise of Red. Uniquely it’s both a spin-off and a prequel in one. It’s centered around new characters Red (Kylie Cantrall), the daughter of Alice In Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts, and Chloe (Malia Baker), the daughter of Cinderella and Prince Charming. When the Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora) uses an invite to Auradon Prep to seek revenge, Red and Chloe time travel to the past to undo events that led the her down her treacherous path.
Descendants: The Rise of Red had so much potential. You’ve got an incredible cast of characters. Cantrall and Baker have a great dynamic as Red and Chloe. I was really impressed by Ora’s acting ability as the Queen of Hearts. This was a perfect role for her. Brandy and Paolo Montalban even reprise their roles as Cinderella and Prince Charming from the iconic 1997 film, which is just everything. Meanwhile, Dara Reneé was such a stand out in her first villainous role as Uliana, the baby sister of Ursula and aunt to Uma.
I really loved the music and how they infused a lot of hip hop and R&B into it. Some highlights were “Perfect Revenge,” “Red,” “What’s My Name (Red’s Version),” and “Shuffle of Love,” which I wish we got a full version of in the film. Although I will say there were a couple of spoken rap style lines that were a bit cringey.
There is even lot of cool attention to detail in the costumes when they time travel like the heart on Red’s belt changing color when she goes back in time. But, outside of that, I wish the story was more layered. They had so much to work with, but went with a really rushed and simplistic plot. The catalyst for a young Queen of Hearts, Bridget (Ruby Rose Turner), to becoming evil could’ve been much stronger. The way they set it up seemed superficial. Having Uliana trick Ella (Morgan Dudley) into partaking in the Bridget prank would’ve added a nuance that could’ve taken the story to the next level and would’ve explained why the Queen of Hearts hates her as an adult. Or, when we learn Chloe gets Ella grounded, that could’ve been a catalyst for her missing Castlecoming which leads Bridget to feeling betrayed by her. That could lead to her losing her best friend and missing out on getting together with Prince Charming, which would lead to Chloe dealing with a Back to the Future situation in a sequel trying to save her family.
The biggest missed opportunity was just not showing Red and Chloe at Castlecoming trying to stop the prank. The dance was a huge plot line in the movie but was never shown. The lack of certain locations like that and the way the sets were built out made the story feel very contained and limited at times and the over use CGI that it started to feel cheesy. Perhaps they will bring that up in the rumored fifth film, but it makes this film feel incomplete. They needed to do a better job with the set up. There were also some plot holes that didn’t make sense. Like if Merlin enchanted the magic cookbook so it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands, wouldn’t Uliana and her crew still have been frozen on their own mission to stake out the book whether Chloe and Red showed up or not? So then they never would’ve been able to prank Bridget, which means it might not have been them that caused her to turn evil.
Speaking of Uliana’s crew, they introduced young versions of Maleficient and Hades and other villain kids, but didn’t actually do anything with them. Dedicated fans wanted to see more especially since they are such a strong connection back to the original films. Instead, they gave bigger cameos to Jasmine and Aladdin, or Jaladdin as they preferred, that were random and cringey.
The film ends happily, but very abruptly, ever after. Headmaster Uma (China Anne McClain) teases that Red and Chloe messed with the fabric of time and that it could have caused issues. I wish they teased a stronger cliffhanger. Instead, the voiceover line felt like an after thought to tease a potential next movie without actually having a plan set.
All in all, Descendants: The Rise of Red is a mixed bag. There were great messages about what it means to be a good person, mother-daughter realtionships, childhood trauma, and being your own person. I really enjoyed this cast and the music, but there were a lot of missed opportunities and holes in the story that tied back to the writing team. They played it too safe and simplistic when their audience is smart enough to keep up with a more detailed story. This is a franchise that is timeless and could go on forever with all the different characters in the Disney fairytale universe. I’d like to see more in this world, but with a stronger script.
Descendants: The Rise of Red is streaming on Disney+. Check out our interviews with the cast, below.
