Descendants: The Rise of Red

This movie was so bad and gave me a headache. It is obviously nothing like the first 3 which is what I expected but I did not think it would be this bad. The plot makes absolutely no sense and completely goes against what was true in the originals. The music, acting, and directing is bad. Also the costumes were terrible which was something I really liked in 1,2,and3. Only thing I liked was that the original Uma and Fairy Godmother were in it. This movie was veryveyvegryyryverrryyyy disappointing and boring. I didn't even finish it bc I needed to turn it off. Also the sets were bad. And the movie felt uncomplete. Making this movie was completely unnecessary.

Positives are this movie is fun with good performances and lots of good musical moments.

It's costume designs and visuals are top tier for a straight to Disney+ movie, seriously the CGI was surprisingly good. (Like better than a lot of recent blockbusters I've seen) Rita Ora gives such a delicious performance as Queen of Hearts, she's the easy standout and has a real classic Disney villain vibe to her. The fun evil kind with a great evil laugh. Brandy as Cinderella is also amazing, she has a warmth and calmth that make her so motherly while also being so regal and her contrast with the Queen of Heart just works so well! The first Act of the movie sets up the plot well and was my favourite.

Negatives are well the writing and character actions are certainly off, particularly after Act 1. But what lets this movie down is the ending. Without spoiling, it's certainly not satisfying and makes you go wait it's over? While the cast are all teasing a sequel it makes me feel they rushed to the end and wasted lots of the build up throughout just for a potential to return to it later rather than properly fleshing out the story and developing it's new characters with the first movie. Every character feels underdeveloped and like they did very little because, in truth, very little actually happened.

Still though I'd recommend but I hope the sequel actually feels complete and doesn't opt for setting up a 3rd movie.

As someone who grew up with the Descendants Trilogy I remember watching the first one air on TV for the first time in my grandparents living room. I was in love with everything about the movie. The story, the characters, and of course the songs. So when I heard a fourth film would be coming out, it made sense to me that I would be watching it, having fun, and loving the songs. However, I think I'd rather have my head cut off than watch this again. I will say, when I saw Brandy and Paulo come onto the screen, I began to shed a tear, for I also grew up watching the Cinderella movie. Their voices were both so powerful in that movie. When I heard Brandy start singing, the autotune made me cry. Full on ball. The autotune within everyone in the film was utterly rancid. Definitely the worst of the 4.

I LOVE the Disney Descendants movies. I'm a Disney adult 100%. But this hurts my heart.

You can definitely tell King Kenny Ortega was not apart of this on any capacity. It lacks all the heart that the first 3 movies had. It's sad because it could have been great, a continuation of a new idea of Disney's stories..

And all the influencers are making it out to be the best in the franchise.. I'm so disappointed.

It's rushed, lacking in chemistry, I don't care for any of the songs, and the story isn't well put together. It's almost like they wanted it to be Disney Descendants and heavily Hamilton. Less movie and more stage production being filmed.

Disney, bring back King Kenny!

I loved the first 3 Descendants movies and was super excited to see what Rise of Red would do now that most of the original cast didn't wanna come back. Started out super strong with both Chole and Red's intros. I wish they stayed in the past a little more and extended the end giving it a bit more impact than what they did. Some of the songs I agree were a bit unnecessary for plot progression. Costumes were pretty good and felt like they would do nicely next to the OG Vks. I will say that we could have spent more time in Wonderland with Red seeing more of how life is there. I feel like seeing a young Maddox would also have been neat as well. There was definitely a missed opportunity to have the time machine break and have young Maddox fix it. As well as the Queens maybe remembering that they saw their daughters in the past. Just also making the ending longer would have been great.