Disney Classics Through A Disney Channel Original Movie 

Welcome back, my fellow film lovers! Throughout the Disney Channel era, many popular and heart-warming stories have been expressed within Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOM). One franchise, in particular, tells the story of bringing back the well-known Disney Villains and Heroes by creating a new generation of children. In this blog post, I will discuss this DCOM franchise’s first film, Descendants. 

Descendants

Descendants (Summary) –

In the United States of Auradon, Belle and Beast marry and become king and queen of Auradon. They decided to banish all the villains to protect their kingdoms and create a barrier separating Auradon from the Isle of the Lost. On this island, the villains were miserable as they lived with no magic. Twenty years later, their son Ben was preparing to become the next king, thinking of his first decision as soon to be king. He told his parents that he wanted his first proclamation to be to select four children from the Isle of the Lost to have a chance to go to school at Auradon Prep. However, his selection caused outrage and disbelief as he chose Carlos, son of Cruella De Vil; Jay, son of Jafar; Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen; and Mal, daughter of Maleficent. Although fearful, Ben’s proclamation had begun, and the children arrived at Auradon Prep while following Maleficent’s plan of stealing the Fairy Godmother’s wand. Along the way, the four children experience being good, friendships, and love, trying to define if they are genuinely evil like their parents or good like the children at Auradon.

Main Actors/ Actresses/ Characters –

• Dove Cameron – Mal
• Cameron Boyce – Carlos
• Sofia Carson – Evie
• Booboo Stewart – Jay
• Mitchell Hope – Prince Ben
• Brenna D’Amico – Jane
• Sarah Jeffery – Audrey
• Zachary Gibson – Doug
• Dianne Doan – Lonnie
• Kristin Chenoweth – Maleficent 
• Wendy Raquel Robinson – Cruella de Vil
• Kathy Najimy – Evil Queen
• Maz  Jobrani – Jafar
• Dan Payne – Beast
• Keegan Connor Tracy – Belle 
• Melanie Paxson – Fairy Godmother 

My Review –

As a major fan of the previous Disney Channel Original Movies, I was very excited when I heard the announcement on Disney Channel of a new and continuous story of a mixture of all of the classic Disney characters. Watching this film, I immediately fell in love with the songs and choreography as they bring great enjoyment and emotion to the characters’ relationships and personalities. The song If Only was a compelling addition to Mal’s character development, for she realizes that being evil does not always mean you will have a happy life filled with everything you have been longing for. Additionally, I enjoyed the incredible costume designs of each character as they reflect their personalities and transition from being a villain at the Isle of the Lost to being a good person through the experiences of Auradon Prep. This film’s talented actors and actresses continued the legacy of the original cartoon versions of classic Disney characters so flawlessly and beautifully as I watched most of them on Disney Channel shows. This film will always be a powerful and meaningful story as part of my childhood because of its creative and unique representation of the transition the children created with their opinions and lives. 

Public Review –

Almost 100% of the population have enjoyed watching, singing, and dancing to every magical moment of its well-done retelling and a new adaptation of the original stories of the Disney Villains and Heroes. From the characters, costumes, relationships, songs, and choreography, Descendants has brought great joy to the public, providing a deeper understanding of what it means to be a villain or good. They have given well-deserved credit to the actors and actresses, especially the director Kenny Ortega, as they excellently portray the emotions and story effortlessly. People are speechless regarding this film as they are captivated by every detail of the scenes. The worldwide box office for this film was $22 million, and $18 million in the United States with its release through DVDs. Descendants has grown over the past 10 years as people and children continue to watch with the same excitement as before while watching the following two films. 

Thank you for reading my twenty-fourth blog post. I hope you enjoyed reading about the introduction of the children of the classic Disney Villains and their perspective of being good vs. evil. In the next few blog posts, you will learn more about the filming industry and read more movie interviews.