BACKGROUND
Since Descendants (2015) ended with Mal saying that this wasn’t the end of the story, it was only too obvious that Disney were planning a sequel. Plus, the fact that Descendants turned out to be a hugely successful Disney Channel Original Movie meant that the decision was even more simple. A no-brainer really.
With the potential for new villain kids to be introduced to the series, as well as the incredibly talented and likeable original cast returning, Descendants 2 intended to be bigger and better than Descendants. It didn’t disappoint.
The music is amazing, the sets are fantastic, the new characters are just as entertaining as the originals, and it followed a very relatable story, about struggling to fit in and trying to find your place in the world. In this case, it is Mal who isn’t coping so well in Auradon, whilst the other three have settled in extremely easily. Everyone can relate to this, that first day of school, or first day of a new job, when everything has changed and you have no choice but to just get on with things, even if it seems like you’ll never manage it.
Despite being 24 at the time of Descendants 2 being released, I’m not ashamed to admit that I was very excited for the movie and was counting down the days to its air date. I had actually recently started a new job and it wasn’t at all what I had expected, so I needed something to look forward to. That just so happened to be Descendants 2. I’d also missed out on the excitement of Descendants, choosing to watch it on DVD months after its release instead of seeing it live on Disney Channel, so I wanted to recapture that feeling I used to get about DCOM premieres when I was younger.
Thankfully all that build-up hadn’t been for nothing, because I loved Descendants 2. It was thoughtful, sweet, and for once, I actually liked every song that appeared in the movie – that doesn’t happen very often with me. I listened to the soundtrack on the drive to work for a little while, as a way of calming myself down since I didn’t like driving.
Sadly, it didn’t work and I stopped driving; I still don’t. I also did not manage to stick it out in that job and quit, but although Descendants 2 doesn’t exactly remind me of great times in my life, it hasn’t been tainted and rewatching it this week, it made me smile. It is my favourite movie in the series and I was so pleased to see that it had done well, because the talent of the main actors continues to shine through here.
PLOT
Descendants 2 begins with Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos crowded around a cauldron, clearly trying to enact some kind of spell. Cursed apples start to appear inside the cauldron, at which point, the VKs pass these apples out to all the students and teachers of Auradon Prep. Beast and Belle, King Ben’s parents, even fall for the trick. But don’t worry too much, because this isn’t like the Evil Queen’s poison apples; nobody is dying or falling into a coma. They just make everyone less well-behaved. No school work gets done, graffiti gets sprayed everywhere, and they all seem to be goofing off in one way or another!
We then see that this whole scene had only been happening in Mal’s mind. She is in fact standing in front of a crowd of press, sporting a new blonde hair-do, struggling to find the right things to say as photos of her are being snapped. Luckily, Ben comes to the rescue and tells all of the reporters to get lost. He then has to leave to do king stuff, so Mal is left alone with her thoughts again, which are quite disturbing at this point in time. Mal is dealing with the pressures of being the King’s official girlfriend, having to make visits to royalty, do interviews, and she is soon to become a Lady of the Court, which will be officially announced at Auradon’s upcoming Cotillion dance. It would be an understatement to say that Mal is nervous and stressed out. She has been using spells to try and make herself fit in and be perfect for everyone, and not understanding why she still has these impulses to be go back to her evil ways, whereas Jay, Carlos, and Evie do not feel that way at all. Evie is loving life in Auradon, making dresses and designing clothes for all of the students; Jay is still very much a jock, now captain of the school’s Swords and Shields team; and Carlos has a crush on Jane, Fairy Godmother’s daughter, and has his dog, Dude, to look after.
Meanwhile, over in the Isle of the Lost, Uma, the daughter of Ursula, and Harry, the son of Captain Hook, are angry that Mal is living the royal life over in Auradon, whilst they have been left in the dismal ruins of the Isle, not being allowed to get their “second chance” like the others had. Seeing Mal on TV in news reports only makes them more furious.
Back in Auradon, Mal takes Ben out on a picnic with all of his favourite foods, as he keeps giving her extravagant gifts, like a purple scooter. However, Mal actually forgot what day it was and had to use her spell book to make all of this. As Ben searches for napkins in their picnic basket, he finds the spell book and is annoyed that Mal would lie to him about still having it, and not turning it over to the museum like she promised. Ben doesn’t seem to understand how hard this transition has been for Mal, and upset, she packs up all of her stuff, including her mother, Maleficent, who is still a little lizard from the events of the first movie, and flees back to the Isle, using a spell and her scooter to get across the water.
Once in the Isle, Mal heads to Lady Tremaine’s hair salon where she asks Dizzy, Drizella’s daughter, to give her a new look, to make her feel more like her old self, which she does by turning Mal’s hair purple again. As Mal and Dizzy are finishing up, Harry enters the hair salon and orders Dizzy to hand over all the money in the till. Mal says hello to her “old friend”. Harry responds that Uma won’t be giving Mal back her turf, but she isn’t concerned; she says she’ll just take it back as she plans to stay in the Isle.
Evie has realised that Mal has run away and goes to Ben for help. He says that he has to go to the Isle to get her back, but Evie reminds him he knows nothing about that place. Despite not wanting to go back there, Evie says she, Jay, and Carlos will go with him. They take the limo over the barrier to the Isle and cover it up with a tarpaulin so no-one will know they are there. After a brief makeover and lesson in how to behave correctly on the Isle, the four go to Mal’s old hideout to find her, except Gil, son of Gaston, spots them and runs to tell Uma the king is here.
Ben manages to speak to Mal, and tells her he loves her. Mal says that she isn’t good for him or for Auradon and that she is going to remain in the Isle where she belongs. Heartbroken, Ben leaves as she wishes, but Evie, Carlos, and Jay take their eyes off him for one minute, and he’s gone. Uma has him and she wants a meeting with Mal. Mal, irritated at her friends for being so careless, goes to Uma where Uma announces her terms for Ben’s release: she wants Fairy Godmother’s wand by noon tomorrow or else Ben dies.
The VKs come up with a plan. Carlos and Jay go back to Auradon so they can 3D print an exact copy of the wand, whilst Evie and Mal go to the hair salon to make smoke bombs to use as a distraction during the swap, since Uma will realise that the wand is a fake quite quickly. Evie and Mal also have a heart-to-heart, where Mal reiterates that she doesn’t want to go back to Auradon. Evie offers to stay too, but Mal says she belongs in Auradon.
The next day, Ben and Uma talk as they await Mal and the others. He invites her to Auradon, to get her second chance, but Uma doesn’t want a pity hand-out; she wants to make her own way there. Mal and the VKs, plus Dude the dog who snuck back with Carlos and Jay, and Lonnie, Mulan’s daughter, who blackmailed her way into this plan, arrive at Uma’s boat with the fake wand, ordering her to give Ben to them. Uma’s not an idiot though, and she wants proof the wand works. Mal puts a spell on Dude to make him talk – and Dude starts talking, but only because he ate a magic truth gummy the day before and has been talking ever since! This is enough evidence for Uma though who doesn’t know this, and the swap is done. But Uma then immediately tries to destroy the barrier between Auradon and the Isle, which she is unable to do. A fight ensues and after a – quite lengthy – sword fight, a huge smoke bomb is thrown, giving the VKs, Ben, and Lonnie their chance to escape. They pile into the limo and head back – with Mal’s spell book accidentally being left on the Isle.
Back in Auradon, Mal is told by Ben that she doesn’t have to attend Cotillion if she doesn’t want to. Jay, Evie, and Carlos then talk to her, saying that she should’ve told them how she was feeling because they all think about their old lives on the Isle from time to time. Again, she is told she doesn’t have to go to Cotillion that night, but she should probably give it a try and if it doesn’t work out, then they won’t stop her returning to the Isle.
As everyone arrives at Cotillion, which is being held onboard a ship, Mal makes her big entrance, having decided to attend after all. However, as Ben is about to enter, he makes a shocking announcement – that Uma is here and he is in love with her! Everyone is rightly angry with Ben for hurting and humiliating Mal, even his parents who can’t understand what has happened. Jane then reveals the stained-glass window of Ben and Mal that he had commissioned, showing Mal that Ben does love her for who she is, not for the princess she tried to be. Uma is fuming though, and orders Ben to declare his love for her, by giving her the ultimate gift: destroying the barrier between Auradon and the Isle. Fairy Godmother refuses to do this, and Mal realises that Uma must have put a spell on Ben. She then declares her love for Ben and kisses him, with true love’s first kiss breaking the spell.
Uma then dives into the water, and using her mother’s magic necklace, transforms herself into a cecaelia – half-human, half-octopus, like Ursula – and starts to attack the boat. Mal shocks everyone, including herself, by transforming herself into a dragon to fight Uma. Ben jumps into the water to break up the fight, saying that this is not the way to resolve their differences. The two do stop fighting, with Uma simply turning away from the party and heading back to the Isle. Mal returns to her human form and her and Ben reunite. Mal’s spell book is returned to her, as Uma did steal it, but she hands it over to Fairy Godmother to put in the museum. Evie then asks Ben if Dizzy could be invited to Auradon, saying she has a whole list of kids from the Isle who would benefit from spending time there. Ben happily agrees, and everyone at Cotillion then parties away, much like they did at the end of Descendants, glad to see that the craziness has ebbed once more.
Uma then appears to the audience, saying the story is still not over…
CHARACTERS & CAST
Since Descendants ended with Mal and Ben embracing their feelings for each other, it is only fitting that Descendants 2 would focus on their new relationship – except everything isn’t all happy and rosy with them. Mal is struggling to fit in with her new “princess” role now that she’s Ben’s official girlfriend, using spells to make everything she does perfect. Ben is unfortunately too busy with King duties to help her and is quite unsympathetic when she tries to explain why she’s turned to magic again. This causes a huge falling out between the two of them, and even when Ben goes to the Isle to try and win Mal back, the conversation ends up taking a turn and Mal tells him to go back to Auradon without her – and then Ben is snatched by Uma and her gang, in a nice little twist on the usual “damsel in distress”! It’s not until the Cotillion dance that the two are able to reconcile again, and that’s after Uma has come in to try and spoil everything. Mal is really put through the wringer in this movie! Luckily, it’s a happy ending for Mal and Ben by the end of Descendants 2. Dove Cameron and Mitchell Hope reprised their roles here from the first film.
Whilst Mal begins to look back at their times on the Isle, Evie is having a great time in Auradon, now becoming the resident designer at the school, and is excitedly preparing everyone’s outfits for Cotillion. Evie is also happy in a relationship with Doug, Dopey’s son, who is helping Evie run her new fashion business. When Evie is forced back to the Isle to convince Mal to return to Auradon, she instantly sees the difficulties that the children there are still facing, and begins to feel guilty about the fact she was given a fresh start and these kids aren’t allowed to. One of these is Dizzy, Drizella’s daughter, as in one of Cinderella’s stepsisters. Dizzy shares Evie’s love of fashion and is not evil at all. In fact, she’s being treated badly by her grandmother, Lady Tremaine, much in the same way that Cinderella was. This gives Evie the idea to ask King Ben to give some other villain children a chance in Auradon like she got, and he’s very happy to do so.
Sofia Carson returned to play Evie, as did Zachary Gibson as Doug, who had previously had a minor role in the Disney Channel movie Zapped (2014) prior to his casting in the Descendants series. Anna Cathcart was chosen to portray the new character of Dizzy. After Descendants 2, Cathcart was cast as Kitty Song-Covey, sister of the main character, in the Netflix film series To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018-21). She later reprised this role in the spin-off series XO, Kitty (2023-present). Cathcart’s first major screen role was in the educational children’s series Odd Squad (2014-present) as Agent Olympia.
Jay is still a big presence in Auradon Prep’s sports teams and instead of seeing him play Tourney in this movie, they have a new sport: Swords and Shields, which seems to be a mix of traditional sword-fighting and fencing, so there is less chance of blood and limb loss. Although Jay helps out Mal, Evie, and Ben over in the Isle, fighting off Uma and her gang of pirates with his impressive sword fighting skills, his main storyline in Descendants 2 actually involves Lonnie, Mulan’s daughter, and Chad, Cinderella’s son. Lonnie wants to join the school’s Swords and Shields team, but as Chad points out, a team can only consist of its captain and eight men; no girls allowed. Jay, as captain of the team, is reluctant to go against the rule book, but when Lonnie convinces Jay to let her help over in the Isle, he sees what a talent she is and gets her on to the team: by making her the captain, since the rule book doesn’t specify that the captain has to be a man. Nice loop hole there.
Booboo Stewart returned to his role as Jay for Descendants 2, as did Dianne Doan and Jedidiah Goodacre as Lonnie and Chad respectively. After Descendants, Doan was cast as Mai Ling in the series Warrior (2019-23), and later was cast in the recurring role of Kora in the series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-20). Goodacre was cast in the Disney Channel movie Zapped (2014) prior to his role in Descendants. He later played the role of Dorian Gray in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-20).
Carlos is also involved in the plan to rescue Ben in the Isle, but he has other things on his mind too. One of these is around keeping the four VKs together. He doesn’t let Mal and Evie go off to have “girl talk” alone, wanting them all to be there for each other, so it’s not just girls against guys. They all have shared experiences in the Isle, so they should all be able to share their feelings about Auradon too. Carlos is definitely the peacekeeper in the group. Another thing he has to deal with is the fact his dog, Dude, has suddenly started talking. This occurs as Carlos asks Mal to give him a “truth gummy”, as he hopes to be able to ask Jane, Fairy Godmother’s daughter, to be his date for Cotillion, but he’s too shy to do it. However, Dude then eats the gummy and starts talking. It’s not really an issue, but Dude doesn’t have the benefit of human experience to be able to filter what he says, so he talks at all the wrong moments and is quite blunt in what he says. Despite not having this truth gummy, Carlos finally gets up the courage to ask Jane to the dance and she gladly accepts, giving us another Descendants couple to root for.
Cameron Boyce returned to his role as Carlos, as did Brenna D’Amico as Jane. D’Amico’s first acting role was in the first Descendants movie. She later appeared in the first two seasons of web series Chicken Girls (2017-present) as Sandy, and is still appearing in movies such as The Never List (2020) and in the upcoming Saturday at the Starlight. Dude was voiced by former Saturday Night Live (1975-present) cast member and writer Bobby Moynihan, who was on the show from 2008 to 2017.
Now for the new VKs. The main one is obviously Uma, daughter of Ursula. She has been forced to run night-shifts at her mother’s fish and chip restaurant and is incredibly bitter about Mal and her friends’ rise to fame in Auradon, having been passed over for her chance to get over there. Uma despises Mal and thinks it’s about time she got to have a taste of what’s in Auradon. But she doesn’t want a handout, as she turns Ben down for an invitation to come over there; Uma wants to get there on her own. And how does she do that? With magic, of course! That obviously doesn’t work out for her, but she promises that this isn’t the end of her story and that she’ll be back.
China Anne McClain was cast as Uma. McClain’s acting career began at a young age. She turned down the chance to appear in the Disney Channel movie Jump In! (2007), instead choosing to star in Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (2007-present), which she has recently returned to. McClain also starred alongside Cameron Boyce in the Adam Sandler films Grown Ups (2010) and Grown Ups 2 (2013). For Disney, her first major role was as Chyna Parks in the series A.N.T. Farm (2011-14), before starring in the Disney Channel movie How to Build a Better Boy (2014). Most interestingly, she was cast as Freddie, daughter of Dr. Facilier, in the animated series Descendants: Wicked World (2015-17). When McClain was cast as Uma, her sister, Lauryn, took over this voice role.
A villain would be nothing without her sidekicks and Uma gets two of these: Harry, son of Captain Hook, and Gil, son of Gaston. Uma seems to be the brains of the operation, Harry is the brawn, and Gil is the…comic relief, or pretty face? I’m not sure how Gil is of use to Uma, but he’s there anyway, and his dim-wittedness is quite amusing. Dylan Playfair was cast in the new role of Gil, having previously acted as Knox in the teen sitcom Some Assembly Required (2014-16). Thomas Doherty was chosen to play Harry. He had previously played Sean Matthews in the Disney Channel series The Lodge (2016-17).
MUSIC
Much like Descendants, Descendants 2 features many big, high-energy, colourful ensemble numbers. Within the soundtrack’s six original songs, only one of these does not fit that description and that is “Space Between”, the duet between Mal and Evie. Similarly to “If Only” from the first movie, this is the emotional calm moment of reflection in the film. Mal and Evie are saying to each other that even though they may not physically be in the same realm together, they’ll always be there for each other, as Mal has said she will not be coming back to Auradon with the others. It’s very touching, and Sofia Carson and Dove Cameron’s voices blend so well together. It’s beautiful and my favourite song in the soundtrack.
Another number that is not a huge ensemble number, I suppose, is “Chillin’ Like a Villain”, which involves Evie, Jay, and Carlos teaching Ben how to act like someone from the Isle, since he almost gets beaten up for trying to shake hands with a random stranger! Despite not having backing dancers, “Chillin’ Like a Villain” still includes some quite complicated choreography. It might sound patronising to say this but I can really see how much Mitchell Hope’s dancing as improved between Descendants and the sequel. All four of them look perfectly in sync with each other and not one bit of it looks awkward – apart from the moments when Ben is supposed to not be fitting in with the other three, of course! This song itself is incredibly catchy and gets stuck in my head on a regular basis. It was actually filmed during a typhoon in Vancouver. It was the final day when they could film in that particular set, so they just had to roll with the punches, with half of the set apparently blowing away and the whole place almost flooding!
So, to the big production numbers. Let’s talk about “You and Me” first, even though it’s the finale piece. It’s an upbeat, hopeful song, much like “Set It Off” in Descendants, though it does have a touch of melancholy to it as they talk about what they’ve learnt through this whole experience. It was filmed on a flooded yacht deck, which required two huge water cannons to get the deck sufficiently flooded. The cast are literally dancing in ankle-deep water, but nobody seems to slip and injure themselves. It must have been a nightmare for costuming, hair and make-up, and health and safety, but I bet it was so much fun to film[1]!
Then there is “Ways to Be Wicked” which opens the sequel, warning the viewer that they’d better be ready for this bigger and better movie! It starts the film off with more of a bang than “Rotten to the Core” did in Descendants. It also helps that it confuses everyone because the VKs seem to have gone bad, passing out cursed apples to everywhere at Auradon Prep, whereas we left them at the end of Descendants vowing to be good!
Now to the new, true villains, who get to have just as much fun as the heroes. Uma gets her very own song to introduce her to the audience and that is “What’s My Name?”. China Anne McClain pulls this song off brilliantly, as it needed some real power and strength to it. This shows that Uma is not someone to be messed with. This is my second favourite song in the movie, because I always love the villain song in Disney’s animated movies and this certainly feels like one. The only thing that I don’t love is Harry’s little rap bit in the middle. It wasn’t really needed, and this song is meant to be all about Uma, so don’t pull focus away from her, Harry! The song takes place in a restaurant, so there’s lots of dancing on tables and chairs, and even dancers flying from bits of ceiling decoration.
The final number within the movie to mention is “It’s Goin’ Down”. This scene was originally only going to be dialogue, but apparently, it was changed to be a rap battle after being inspired by some of the songs within the musical Hamilton. I particularly like the piece that Ben sings in the middle of all this hostility, as he gives a heartfelt plea to Mal and Uma to stop all this fighting – even though he’s tied up and walking the plank at this point so he doesn’t really seem to be in the best position to try and call a truce! This song gets an even bigger stage than the others in the movie as it takes place in the docks and on Uma’s boat. It also ends with a huge sword fight, which must have been difficult to choreograph.
Descendants 2’s soundtrack debuted at No. 6 in the Billboard 200 chart, which doesn’t match up with the original movie’s soundtrack which topped that chart. Descendants 2, however, did equal its predecessor by topping the Billboard US Kid Albums and US Soundtrack Albums chart. But that doesn’t mean that the soundtrack was received poorly. The soundtrack topped the iTunes album chart on 24th July 2017, just a couple of days after its release, and the six songs from the movie filled the Top 10 of the Soundtrack Songs chart for Apple less than 24 hours after the movie aired[2].
As well as songs from the movie, a version of “Kiss the Girl”, sung by the cast as the End Credits song, and “Poor Unfortunate Souls”, by China Anne McClain, also appear on the soundtrack. These songs are clearly there to reference the fact that Uma’s mother is from The Little Mermaid (1989), just in case it wasn’t clear! There are also three songs from Descendants: Wicked World on this soundtrack, as a kind of cross-promotion, I guess.
One other thing I will mention is that all the cast members seem to sing for their characters in Descendants 2. In Descendants, singer-songwriter Jeff Lewis was credited as providing the singing voice for Ben, however, for Descendants 2, Jeff Lewis’ name only appears as a credit for “You and Me”, alongside Mitchell Hope’s. Hope does definitely seem to be the sole singing voice for Ben in both “Chillin’ Like a Villain” and “It’s Goin’ Down”.
Composer David Lawrence returned to compose the score for Descendants 2.
PRODUCTION
Since Descendants had been such a huge hit, and because Mal teased a sequel at the end of the movie itself, hype around a potential sequel began as soon as Descendants finished airing in 2015. The cast had been asked about whether there would be a sequel during interviews after the movie had premiered, such as at the D23 Expo in August 2015, however, they refused to comment on it. It wasn’t until October 2015 that Disney Channel officially confirmed that they would in fact be making a Descendants 2.
The first behind-the-scenes video was dropped in November 2016, which showed glimpses of the new sets as well as clips of the cast sword fighting. The cast interviews promised that the movie would be huge. “Ways to Be Wicked” became the first single of the soundtrack to debut after playing on Radio Disney on 13th April 2017, a day before it became available to purchase online. Shortly after, the premiere date was revealed: 21st July 2017.
The movie was of course promoted in all the usual ways, with interviews and performances. It was revealed that there were going to be more action-packed scenes, with the cast going through around 20 hours of sword training, more visual effects, and bigger sets, with more dance numbers and superior music[3]. The cast were also invited onto Good Morning America to perform “Ways to Be Wicked” and “What’s My Name?”.
Kara Saun, the costume designer for both Descendants and Descendants 2, who was a finalist on the first season of Project Runway (2004-present) talked about how she came up with the costumes for the newer characters. She said that she did a lot of research, by watching the Disney animated films that the villain parents come from and going to Disney’s Animation Research Library to look at artwork. From that point, she would look at the parent’s signature colour and incorporate that into the child’s clothing. However, they couldn’t have the same colour, which became a bit of a problem when adding in these new VKs. Both Gaston and Captain Hook are known for wearing red, but it was decided that Harry’s signature colour would be red, and Gil would have burnt orange instead, which references some of the early artwork on Gaston which used that colour instead of red, apparently. Uma also could not be purple like Ursula because that’s Mal’s colour. Instead, Saun looked to Ursula’s eyeshadow to find Uma’s colour of turquoise[4].
Sofia Carson, Dove Cameron, Booboo Stewart, Cameron Boyce, and China Anne McClain, joined by Kenny Ortega, were all seen at the D23 Expo on 14th July 2017 to promote the film. There was a mini parade that ran through the conference centre featuring these six in vehicles, with Mark Hamill and Stan Lee following behind them. The day before, they had also been the Grand Marshals in the pre-parade at Disneyland, prior to Mickey’s Soundsational Parade coming through. “Ways to Be Wicked” played as they went by.
RECEPTION
Descendants had reached over 100 million viewers worldwide not too long after its release, having had 6.6 million viewers just on its US Disney Channel premiere date. Disney wanted to do something bigger for Descendants 2.
It was decided that the movie would air on 21st July simultaneously across six different networks in the Disney-ABC Television group. These channels were Disney Channel, ABC, DisneyXD, Freeform, Lifetime, and Lifetime Movies. It was reported that the movie reached 13 million total viewers across those six networks, with Disney Channel’s audience reaching 5.3 million on the night. Descendants 2 also broke social media records for Disney Channel, reaching 174.1 million video views, 90.8 million impressions, and 14.6 million engagements by the time of its release[5].
The cast were involved in a live party on Disney Channel for the premiere, which featured games, Descendants 2 gossip, and surprises, seemingly taking place between the channel’s programming on that day. There was also the ABC After Party with Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart and China Anne McClain, which aired straight after the movie’s premiere.
Many viewers liked this darker sequel, enjoying the lively musical numbers and the messages about fitting in and the class inequality between the fortunate of Auradon and the unfortunate of the Isle. The new characters were received well, and the majority felt that this was a step up from Descendants, as the sequel had promised to be. If you liked Descendants, the critics were sure you’d like Descendants 2. Most of the negative reviews came from people that already hadn’t liked the first one, but there were additional comments around the CGI not being good enough. That’s probably because there is so much “big budget” CGI in movies nowadays that people forget that television movie budgets aren’t nearly as much, even if it is Disney! Descendants 2 was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Television Presentation in 2018. It sadly lost out to Twin Peaks: The Return (2017).
It came to light shortly after the movie premiered that there had in fact been a particular moment that was filmed but cut from the final edit. This was a kiss between Harry and Gil, a photo of which Thomas Doherty and Dylan Playfair put on social media. Though this scene was cut from the movie, in the novelisation of Descendants 2, there is a line which mentions the two characters kissing. It is at the point when they are watching Uma arrive at Cotillion on television, and seems to just be a kiss of celebration that their plan has worked and they can finally get off the Isle. I don’t believe it was meant to be anything serious or romantic, so I can see why it wouldn’t be needed in the film, but I can also see why it could’ve been there, since it was such a small moment[6].
LEGACY
In 2016, the four VKs returned to the Disney Parks for another holiday show, after they were seen in 2015’s show. This was Disney Parks Presents: A Descendants Magical Holiday Celebration, a show featuring musical performances and a look at the Disney Parks for the holiday season. With Cameron Boyce and Sofia Carson hosting from Walt Disney World, and Booboo Stewart and Dove Cameron at Disneyland, they performed a new version of the song “Rotten to the Core”, renamed to “Jolly to the Core”. China Anne McClain was also a performer during this show, as she had been announced as a new cast member addition for Descendants 2 back in June 2016. An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the sequel was also shown to further hype the sequel. In 2017 for the holiday season, Sofia Carson recorded a new version of “Chillin’ Like a Villain” called “Chillin’ Like a Snowman”, which she performed at Magic Kingdom during the Disney Parks’ festive television special that year.
After Descendants 2, as a sequel was once again teased in the movie itself, this time by Uma, many fans were excited to see what would come next. In February 2018, Descendants 3 was officially announced as coming to screens in Summer 2019. I actually find it a little bit unfair how and where Disney decided to announce Descendants 3, as it was during the premiere of ZOMBIES, another musical DCOM, on 16th February 2018. Were the cast and crew of ZOMBIES really not allowed their own moment in the spotlight? Could the Descendants 3 announcement not have waited until afterwards?
Anyway, to make the wait for Descendants 3 easier for fans, a new ten-minute live-action short film called Under the Sea: A Descendants Short Story premiered on 28th September 2018 on Disney Channel. It followed on from the teaser of the official announcement, where Mal has just seen a glowing orb in the woods, whispering her name. Mal sees Dizzy on the beach outside of the woods on the Isle. It turns out Dizzy is wearing Uma’s necklace, so she has been sort of possessed by her. Harry and Gil arrive to warn Mal away from the Isle and let her know that Uma is looking for revenge. Mal then dives into the water, where she sees Uma. This seems to only be a hallucination and Mal is back on the beach, talking to Dizzy. Mal is scared that danger is coming to Auradon. The short features a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” by Dove Cameron. The cast reprised their roles here.
Under the Sea doesn’t add much to the Descendants franchise, and it seems to have only been made as a way of bridging the gap between the release dates of Descendants 2 and Descendants 3. It also sought to build anticipation for the next film, but it did confuse some viewers, including me, since it didn’t give us any more information about Descendants 3. We already knew about the glowing blue orb being Mal’s father, and we’d already managed to speculate who Mal’s father must be.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Making a sequel can be a tricky undertaking, especially when that sequel has promised to be more extravagant than its predecessor.
Managing fan expectations is perhaps the most difficult task, but there are other potential risks. Like, what if the new characters don’t come across well on screen, or don’t gel with the originals? Or what if the music isn’t good, or the story confuses viewers?
Luckily, Descendants 2 didn’t have anything to worry about because a large proportion of Descendants fans loved the sequel. Not everyone would say that the sequel is better than the original, like me, though. I liked the sequel more because it was a bit darker and touched on real-life issues like dealing with your past, and creating an environment with equal opportunities for all. It felt less like a fairy tale than Descendants, in a good way.
Due to the success of Descendants 2, this was not the end of the series, and there was still more to come from this cast.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Kimberly Nordyke, ‘Sword Training, 1,500 Costumes and Water-Filled Dance Numbers: Behind the Scenes of ‘Descendants 2’’, HollywoodReporter.com, 21st July 2017.
[2] Credit: Melinda Newman, ‘Disney Channel’s ‘Descendants 2’ Soundtrack Strikes a New Wicked Chord After Original Hit’, Billboard.com, 2nd August 2017.
[3] Credit: Kimberly Nordyke, ‘Sword Training, 1,500 Costumes and Water-Filled Dance Numbers: Behind the Scenes of ‘Descendants 2’’, HollywoodReporter.com, 21st July 2017.
[4] Credit: Beth Deitchman, ‘The Villain Kids are Dressed to Thrill in Descendants 2’, D23.com, 21st July 2017.
[5] Credit: Disney ‘‘Descendants 2’ Premiere Reaches 13 Million Total Viewers’, TheWaltDisneyCompany,com, 24th July 2017.
[6] Credit: Noelle Devoe, ‘Thomas Doherty Shares the Surprising Kissing Scene That Was Cut From ‘Descendants 2’’, Seventeen.com, 25th July 2017.
The Disney Purist 