(Ray J's Autism Friendly Review) - Disney's "Descendants: The Rise of Red" -Rises Till It Fizzles🍎❤️‍🔥👑

Genre:

Fantasy/Kids/Musical

Where To Watch:

Stream on Disney +

Rated:

TV-G

Runtime:

1h 35m

Cast:

Kylie Cantrall, Malia Baker, Rita Ora, Brandy Norwood, China Anne McClain, Melanie Paxson, Ruby Rose Turner, Morgan Dudley, Dara Renee, Joshua Colley, Peter Lindell, Leonardo Nam, Alex Boniello, Paolo Montalban, Jeremy Swift, Tristan Padil, Grace Narducci, Anthony Pyatt, Mars, Julee Cerda

Directed By:

Jennifer Phang

Ray J's Thoughts:

"Descendants: The Rise of Red" is the 4th installment in Disney's "Descendants" franchise centering around the offspring of popular Disney villains & heroes.

Uma (played by China Anne Mcclain - daughter of Ursula from "The Little Mermaid") has been appointed the new principal of Auradon Prep, while Queen Mal, King Ben, Evie, and Jay have set sail to form new alliances with distant lands. The barrier that separated Auradon from The Isle of The Lost has finally been brought down so that all VK's can attend school in Auradon and go back and forth to see their villainous parent's as they please. Uma requests that an invite be sent to the rebellious Princess Red - of Wonderland - (played by Kylie Cantrall - daughter of The Queen of Hearts from "Alice In Wonderland") and surprisingly the tyrannous Queen Of Hearts (played by Rita Ora) accepts on her behalf.

Meanwhile, Chloe Charming (played by Malia Baker - daughter of Cinderella and Prince Charming) is also preparing to attend her first year at Auradon Prep! What Red & Chloe are both unaware of is that the Queen of Hearts and Cinderella have unresolved beef with each other from their days back in high school. Upon introduction of Uma as the new principal, and a fantastic reprise performance of her hit song "What's My Name" from "Descendants 2", the Queen of Hearts shocks everyone by declaring a coup during the school orientation, eventually seeing Red and Chloe accidentally traveling back in time - thanks to a magical Pocketwatch that Red stole from her tutor, Maddox Hatter (played by Leonardo Nam). Now, the two must set their differences aside and team up with the younger versions of their mothers (played by Ruby Rose Turner & Morgan Dudley) to find a way to stop the prank that was pulled on the Queen Of Hearts back in high school and save Cinderella from a deadly fate.

While I still don't think this start of a new Descendants trilogy is as good as the first three films, there's still fun to be had & bops to put on repeat. Despite being a Disney + original movie this time around compared to a Disney Channel Original Movie - resulting in a better quality VFX & a wider scope format - the film can't escape an a anticlimactic and rushed ending - and over use of green screen. While the original trilogy always ended on a cliffhanger teasing more to come, the movies still felt complete as a whole. With time travel comes consequences, and it seems that is what will be the focus of the upcoming fifth film - slated to release in summer 2026 - "Descendants: Wicked Wonderland".

Even though Rise Of Red is an overall underwhelming entry to this magical franchise, there's still plenty of standout performances. Kylie Cantrall (who plays Red) is fantastic as her character and furthermore has a wonderful (pun intended) singing voice! Much of the film's hype came with the return of Brandy Norwood, and Paolo Montalban (reprising their roles as Cinderella and Prince Charming) from the beloved 1997 made for tv adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella", however I say that Rita Ora as the Queen Of Hearts outshines the both of them. She truly captures the unsatisfied and batsh*t crazy personality of the character. Her performance is honestly my favorite! Ruby Rose Turner (who plays the younger version of the Queen Of Hearts, Bridget) is also quite delightful and I love her song "Life Is Sweeter", which is such a treat. Dara Renee' (who plays Uliana - Uma's aunt & Ursula from "The Little Mermaid's" sister) also gives a performance full of attitude & her song "Perfect Revenge" is such a bop and probably my favorite musical number of the movie. Awesome visuals during that song too!

Besides a few tracks, the music in Rise of Red is nowhere near as memorable as the songs from the original trilogy. My personal favorites are "Red" (the opening number - performed by Kylie Cantrall, as Red), the "What's My Name (Red Version)" performed by Uma and Red - sadly we only get Uma singing her verse in the actual film + "Life Is Sweeter", and "Perfect Revenge" as I mentioned above. A lot of the songs this time around featured too many talk-rapping parts and they just didn't work for me - which is unfortunate because so much of the cast have lovely singing voices, but only few can pull off the Lin Manuel Miranda style rapping verses.

There's a lovely tribute within the first five minutes to late actor Cameron Boyce (and his character Carlos - the son of Cruella DeVil from 101 Dalmations" - who is confirmed to have passed in the movie universe as well Boyce passed away in July of 2019 at the age of 20 after suffering a seizure

"Descendants: The Rise of Red", doesn't necessarily rise to the occasion - there's some fun new characters that have potential to be great - unfortunately the uneven time travel plot fails them. It's fun, but could have been so much more magical. Hopefully the next film will redeem this entry.

Ray J's Rating:

🌟🌟🌟 Out of 5 Stars