Reviewing "Descendants: The Rise of Red"

Just when I think that the Descendants films couldn't be any more iconic than it already is after three films, this fourth film really brought home the gold!

Descendants: The Rise of Red was the first installment in the film series in almost five years, and I remember not expecting a fourth film for the obvious reason. Yet when I heard the news about this fourth film, I was over the moon and patiently waiting for the Disney+ premiere. I was crazy about this film before it even premiered; I loved the cast, drank in the epic representation, and loved the characters involved. With all of that said, on to the review.

As the teaser revealed months prior, Auradon Prep has a new principal: Uma. A well deserved redemption, indeed. The film opened with Uma meeting with the Fairy Godmother and voicing her plan to open Auradon to everyone, and by everyone, that includes Wonderland. Fairy Godmother voiced her trepidations against this, due to the ruler's, well, antipathy towards Auradon, but Uma is insistent, and we hear that in the form of the following words:

"It's what Carlos would have wanted."

And there it is, folks. There's the tribute that many fans expected. As we all remember, Carlos was one of the main characters from the first three films, and he was played by Cameron Boyce. Sadly, Boyce passed away at the young age of 20, with his death coming less than a month prior to the third film's airdate. In fact, the release of this film comes just days after the fifth anniversary of Boyce's passing. I figured that with this being the first live-action film in the installment since Boyce's passing, we would see a mention in honor of the actor, and the film delivered.

So with that, we are officially introduced to the two co-main protagonists of this film. First off, the titular Red, who we see tagging various pics of her mother, showing her stance that she has no plans on ever following in her mother's evil queen footsteps. Later on, we see the other half of the main duo in the form of Chloe Charming, the daughter of King Charming and Cinderella, and yes, they are played by Paolo Montalban and Brandy, respectively--the same pair from the 1997 Cinderella film that aired on ABC. Very iconic casting indeed.

Speaking of iconic, I had many reasons for looking forward to this film, but here is #1:

Rita Ora as the Queen of Hearts. Those seven words cover all of the beauty alone, but I have to continue to talk about this. My exact words when I saw Rita Ora playing such a legendary villainess: "I feel like I just watched the Avs win the Stanley Cup." Ooooooh boy, she was so deliciously evil, vicious, and stylish, with a cackle that is music to my ears (fitting words considering she is a musician). From what we see, the Queen of Hearts is your typical cold and controlling mother figure, with immense powers and a killer outfit--one of many. Her villain song was performed so beautifully, and it was epic to see both her and Brandy performing and clashing as well. OK, more gushing later.

So Red receives the invite, and she expects her mother to refuse due to her hatred of Auradon, but the Queen actually lets her go. We see a hilarious first meeting between Chloe and Red, and later on, Uma welcomes all of the royal families to Auradon Prep, only for the Queen to use this to start a hostile takeover. As we see, the Queen's acceptance of Red attending Auradon was a cover for her true plan to unleash her hatred of the school, and it's during this point that we learn that Cinderella had a past with the Queen, who she referred to under her real name: Bridget. Cinderella's attempt to get through to the Queen falls on deaf ears, as the villainous latter revealed that had been holding a decades-old grudge due to a prank pulled on her at Crowncoming. She then goads Red into punishing Cinderella, and sadly, a reluctant Red does so, while her cackling mother approves sadistically.

We later see Red and Chloe fight while clutching the former's watch, and as a result, per the synopsis, they end up back in time. We see the younger versions of a number of characters, including Chloe's parents, with the pair actually befriending Ella (the eventual Cinderella). The duo also befriends a young Bridget, and as promised, young Bridget was definitely not the evil and maniacal tyrant that she would end up becoming; in fact, she and Ella were BFFs. The mission was clear: Red and Chloe had to prevent the prank that ended up triggering Bridget's heel turn. First, they had to find out who was behind it, and they would get that answer quick.

Enter Uliana, Ursula's sister and Uma's aunt. Similar to Uma in the second and third films, Uliana was leading a group of VK (Villain Kids) of her own, and was also Bridget's bully, which we see when she snatches Bridget's cupcakes, but after eating one, she ends up becoming a flamingo. Uliana swears vengeance, and upon hearing this, Red and Chloe quickly deduce that Uliana pulls the prank (turning Bridget into a monster during Crowncoming) that leads to Bridget going down her own villainous path. After a visit to Ella's house results in Ella being unfairly blamed by Lady Tremaine for a broken vase, the pair learns that the spell is from an enchanted cookbook, but Bridget informs the duo that the book may be one of the banned books from Principal Merlin's office. After this, Red and Chloe look into the looking glass, which shows a peek into the future. It's not a good one. In the present day, Charming is captured by the Queen of Hearts, who smashes Cinderella's slippers and cackles maniacally, revealing that she has beheaded her former BFF.

At that moment, Chloe decides that it's time to come clean to Merlin, while Red tells Chloe that they need to steal the book.Red goes alone after Chloe says that Red's evil just like her mother, but after a talk with a younger version of her own mother, Chloe joins Red in her plan to steal the book, successfully doing so jsut as Uliana and her crew arrive--and freeze up after opening the book, as it's protected from evil hands.The duo succeeds in taking the book and the spell, but they need to know if they have succeeded in changing Bridget's fate. They are back at the present, well, close enough--it's mere minutes before the Queen of Hearts unleashed her coup. Just like clockwork. the Queen is clutching her cards, and it's moment of truth time. Did the pair change Queen Bridget's fate?

This pic shows the answer, and it's beautiful. Instead of her favorite game being "War," the Queen releases a different favorite game: "Hearts." We see heart bubbles from a Queen of Hearts who is wonderfully sweet, saccharin, and pink, and she gushes over her daughter being at Auradon Prep. So all is well, the Queen's fate is changed for the better, and we get the typical happy ending, along with the typical Descendants ending, as Uma warns viewers that the story's not over yet. After all, time was messed with, and as any fan of Back to the Future (or anyone who has seen "Treehouse of Horror V") knows, messing with time has crazy effects.

Descendants: The Rise of Red premiered on Disney+ on July 12, 2024, and will hit Disney Channel on August 9, 2024. First, I have to start with more gushing: Rita Ora absolutely slayed as the Queen of Hearts! Beautiful, elegant, fashionable, deliciously outlandish, and wonderfully wicked! I was so glad to see the Queen of Hearts get such a spotlight, because I always felt that she was such an underrated villainess. Let's make one thing clear, Snow White's Wicked Queen is the GOAT, but it seems like the Queen of Hearts doesn't really get the flowers she deserves--similar to Batman's Poison Ivy. Rita's Queen of Hearts (also known as the Red Queen) was absolutely perfect! As I said in a preview of this movie, I had wanted Rita Ora to play a villainess for a long time, and to further elaborate, I had wanted this since seeing her in the 50 Shades movies. I knew she'd knock it out of the park, and she hit a Grand Slam: two of them!

The musical performances were epic as hell! Kylie Cantrall (Red) and Malia Baker (Chloe) were absolutely spectacular as the co-leads in this film. I also really loved the representation, mainly Julee Cerda as Lady Tremaine. It's 2024, and to my knowledge, this film marked the first time that Lady Tremaine was played by a WOC. It should not have taken this long. I also loved Ruby Rose Turner's performance as a young Bridget, she played Bridget's immensely sweet demeanor very well, which made me happy to see that demeanor in Rita Ora's reformed Queen of Hearts in the twist ending.

Speaking of that ending, we were basically promised a fifth film, according to an article I read. It would be great to see new VK characters and a continuation of this story for sure. However, there's just one thing I really want in this fifth film:

The Twitterverse watching this film sensed it, and one of the film's EPs pretty much teased it: Cinderella should turn heel in a fifth film. We see this in wrestling as well, a rivalry where the players swap the good and evil roles. This usually happens as time passes, with one rare exception being WrestleMania 13 (where it happened on the spot), and Descendants should be no exception. Remember, messing with time creates big time effects. We saw one of them in the form of the reformed Queen of Hearts. So now that Queen Bridget is as sweet as sweet can be, we need a Cinderella heel turn in a fifth film.

Halfway into the film, I had this theory about who was behind the prank: "Uliana's too obvious, maybe it was really Cinderella behind it." It was basically the first film all over again; I entered that thinking, "Well, it's Disney; the VKs are all about redemption, so maybe the true evildoer could be one of the heroic offspring." Cinderella would have a good reason to become villainous now that Bridget maintains her goodness; after all, she was in pure hell with Lady Tremaine, and she was grounded from going to Crowncoming after being unfairly blamed for the broken vase, so there's that.

I want an evil Cinderella for one good reason: I've only seen Brandy as a villainess once, and that was on the short-lived series, Star. She would top that role big time if the fifth film gives us an evil and maniacal Cinderella. I could see Brandy shining as a wicked, cackling villainess in a potential fifth film, and she would shine in that persona just like Rita Ora did in this film. I am confident that a fifth film will happen, I just hope I only have to wait one year instead of two (the first three films were released every other year).

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