30th Aug 202429th Sep 2025 by The Disney Purist

Adventures in Babysitting (2016)

BACKGROUND

In 2016, just under two decades after the first official Disney Channel Original movie, Under Wraps, premiered in 1997, Disney Channel released their 100^th DCOM. What a milestone.

This 100^th DCOM was Adventures in Babysitting, which just so happened to be a remake of an 1980s movie of the same name, released by Disney in 1987 under the Touchstone Films label. When Disney release a movie under Touchstone Films, historically that has meant the movie contains more mature themes and content than the average Disney movie. This was the case with the PG-13 rated Adventures in Babysitting (1987).

After years of speculation around a sequel, and then a remake, of the 1987 movie, Disney delivered with their own Disney Channel movie of the same name, which featured a few stars of Disney Channel at the time, including singer Sabrina Carpenter.

I’d only vaguely paid attention to Adventures in Babysitting previously, when I randomly caught it on the Disney Channel. I didn’t think much of it; I don’t believe I even got to the end of it. I have never seen the 1987 Adventures in Babysitting, so I didn’t have that previous interest to get me motivated to watch it properly. But now I’ve decided to go back and review every DCOM, I had to go back and see it.

Sadly, I still wasn’t that impressed after re-watching it. Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything bad about Adventures in Babysitting, and the two lead actresses of Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson, of Descendants fame, were very likeable and easy to watch. But the overall plot of two babysitters getting into various scrapes in the big city with the five children in their care didn’t feel particularly original or unique to me. Honestly, it bored me after a while because it all felt very samey. Bad guys were chasing them, then there was some misunderstanding that led to a moment of humour, then they were chased again, another misunderstanding, and so on. I just couldn’t stay interested, and after an hour, I really just wanted the movie to end.

Perhaps that is from my lack of understanding of the original, or it might be because I’ve never been a babysitter – I’m not a huge fan of kids, actually – and big cities scare me, especially at night. These elements are kind of key to the story of Adventures in Babysitting, so it was never going to be a film for me, unfortunately.

PLOT

Adventures in Babysitting begins with two girls heading to an interview for a photography internship. Jenny is quite high-strung and uptight, with everything in her life neatly organised and painstakingly planned out; she has her whole future lined up. We also have Lola, who is around two years older than Jenny and is a bit messy and wild. Lola doesn’t have her whole life planned out but she loves photography and desperately wants this internship.

At the interview, the girls are told to go away and find some inspiration for photographs over the weekend, with the actual interview now being moved to Monday. At the same time, the girls accidentally swap phones when both are knocked to the floor, but neither are aware of this. Going back to her car, Lola finds she’s being given a parking ticket for $80. “Lola’s” phone then rings and she answers; it is Zac, Jenny’s crush, inviting her to a concert. Lola realises this is not her phone but turns Zac down anyway, without explaining that she isn’t Jenny. Why you wouldn’t just say “Jenny’s not here right now, but I’ll tell her to call you back”, I don’t know. But Lola is attempting to flirt with the officer writing her ticket, so she’s obviously got other things on her mind instead of common courtesy! Now she needs $80 but luckily, she answers another of Jenny’s calls. Her teacher needs a babysitter for the evening so Lola, pretending to be Jenny, says her reliable friend Lola can babysit tonight.

Meanwhile, Jenny has arrived at her own babysitting job at the Coopers, looking after their two daughters: the glamorous little Katy, and the rebellious teen, Emily. At this point, Jenny then notices that she has Lola’s phone and not her own. Seeing as young people are meant to be constantly attached to their phones, you’d think Jenny would’ve noticed this a little bit earlier… Anyway, Jenny then calls her actual phone, hoping to speak to Lola. The person who picks up is AJ Anderson, one of Jenny’s teacher’s kids, who says that Lola is currently dealing with a fire in the kitchen so can’t come to the phone right now. Jenny immediately drives the Coopers over to the Anderson’s house to figure out what is going on.

At the Anderson’s, Jenny learns that Lola was too busy trying to relax in the hot tub to worry about the three kids she was meant to be looking after, leaving Bobby to mess up the kitchen and cause this fire. Emily Cooper then discovers that Trey, the eldest Anderson kid who was meant to be grounded, has snuck out to go to a Psychic Rockets concert in the city. Jenny freaks out and says she’ll drive there and get him home. The kids blackmail Jenny into taking all of them to the city, saying that they’ll tell their mum that Jenny doesn’t even know Lola if she doesn’t, so all of them go. But Jenny’s car isn’t big enough so they take the Anderson car instead, with Jenny driving slowly so it doesn’t get a scratch, dent, or mark on it whatsoever.

In the city, Jenny parks up by a pawn shop where they believe Trey bought his concert tickets from. The owner of the dark, dingy shop points them to the back, where the ticket scalper is playing with a sword. Lola, with Jenny hiding behind her, asks if a kid bought tickets from him this evening. He finally says that one did and that the kid said something about going for pizza. Emily pipes up that Trey probably went to Mario’s, his favourite pizza place; she has a crush on him so naturally, she’d know these things. As Jenny readies everyone to get back in the car to go to Mario’s, a purple weasel is let loose in the shop, thanks to Bobby. As the pawn shop owner rushes to catch it, Lola takes a photo with her camera, as she looks for spontaneous moments for her art. As everyone tries to get back to the car, they see it being towed away. They are told to come to the tow yard with $100 by midnight if they want to get it back today. Where are they going to get $100 from?

The group then finds that the owner and scalper are chasing them, as apparently that ferret was stolen and they don’t want evidence that they have it. Lola and Jenny hurry the kids onto a city bus and because of their arguing in front of the driver, they get away with not paying the full fare. They eventually get to Mario’s where they find Trey and confiscate his concert ticket. To get the $100, Lola thinks they should resell Trey’s ticket; it’s the only plan they’ve got. Meanwhile, Jenny overhears some girls from her school saying that Zac has decided to take some other girl to the concert and is devastated, not knowing that Lola rejected him on her behalf. Emily has also gone and got herself a sneaky henna tattoo having asked Lola – not Jenny – for permission first. Jenny is horrified and starts to shout at Lola, but they are interrupted by those two guys chasing them again. The group find themselves cornered in some sort of warehouse that washes uniforms and boiler suits. To escape, Lola comes up with a plan of hiding themselves in the suits and being carried up and over the heads of those two guys. It works and they escape via the laundry shaft.

The group then head to the concert venue, with Lola going off to try and resell Trey’s ticket, however, it turns out that this is illegal and Lola is arrested. At the police station, Lola explains that her and her friends are being chased by two men, but the officer is reluctant to believe her. Luckily, the officer who gave Lola a parking ticket at the start of the movie, Officer James, seems to work here and talks to Lola. He tries to tell her how much trouble she’s in, but she pleads with him, saying she doesn’t want to go to jail. Lola is released, and who should be waiting for her but Jenny and the kids. Jenny has just discovered that Emily has dyed her hair green, who, in a fit of teenage rebellion, walks away and calls her mum, leaving a message about what’s been going on, and AJ has met her roller derby idol at the police station. Lola and Jenny continue to argue about Lola’s irresponsibility.

As the two are arguing, the two men come back and see AJ holding Lola’s camera; she is chased down the street by them, with Lola stealing their car to chase after her. AJ manages to outrun and outsmart both the guys, and when the group catches up, they run into a building which turns out to be a rap club. The DJ won’t let them leave without rapping something, so after a brief, but pretty awkward, rap battle between Lola and Jenny, they are free to go. But outside, they see the Cooper parents nearby. It turns out they were worried after hearing Emily’s message on their phone and have gone to the police station to try and find her. The police officers laugh at the suggestion they’ve got their kids locked up here, and the parents head back to the party, believing it was just a prank.

Emily has to admit that she called her parents, which annoys everyone but there’s nothing they can do about it. Katy reminds everyone that her mother keeps a $100 bill in her purse, so they can sneak into the party and get that to pay to get the car back. At the party, which is in a planetarium, Jenny and Lola manage to blag entry by saying this is a field trip – even though it’s late and there is a private party on at this venue… They get to the cloakroom and discover that the Cooper mother’s coat is not there. Meanwhile, Bobby gets distracted by the kitchen at this venue and starts making dessert. The Head Chef is only too pleased to have some random kid in his kitchen, licking and touching all of his ingredients without washing his hands first. Where are the health inspectors when you need them?

To get to the Cooper mother’s coat, Lola is dressed up like a British socialite and takes a seat at their table. She successfully grabs the $100 bill from the mother’s purse and leaves. The scalper and the pawn shop owner have also entered the party but the ferret gets free, causing a panic amongst the party guests. Security is called to detain them and the police arrive to arrest them, with the ferret being taken to an animal shelter.

Lola and Jenny learn that they actually make a good team, but Lola admits that Zac had invited Jenny to the concert that evening and implied Jenny wasn’t interested as she was distracted by Officer James. Jenny is furious, but Lola wants to make it right and gets them all over to the concert venue. To get in to the venue, Lola has to part ways with her special camera, which the security guard wants as payment. Inside, Jenny is given a quick makeover and told to talk to Zac. The concert has just ended but Jenny wades through the crowd to get inside. She runs onto the stage and shouts Zac’s name. She tells him that she would’ve said yes to his invitation to the concert and the two reconcile.

But more trouble is brewing. The Andersons have found that their house alarm is going off and nobody was answering the house phone so they are heading home. The group quickly rush to get the car back from the tow yard and Lola speeds back to the Anderson’s house. They beat the parents there but the house is an absolute mess: Trey is tasked with cleaning the car; Emily with cleaning the dog; whilst everyone else cleans up the kitchen and laundry room. Jenny then takes the Cooper kids home, so Lola can wait for the Andersons to arrive. They are none the wiser, so they get away with their little escapade. At the Coopers, Jenny is about to head home when Zac arrives and asks her out on a date. She gladly accepts. Heading home herself, Lola is pulled over by the police. It’s Officer James and he has her driving license which she left at the police station. He also asks her out; she accepts.

On Monday, Jenny arrives – late – for the internship interview to find Lola already there. She actually tells Lola that she’s turning down the chance to interview for the internship so Lola will get it as she wants and deserves it more. The movie ends with Lola sending her pictures from that night – having remembered to remove the memory card from her camera before parting ways with it – to Jenny, Emily, Katy, AJ, Bobby, and Trey. But she also accidentally sends them to the Anderson mother as well who is horrified to learn what went on that night – oops…

CHARACTERS & CAST

Jenny is the classic example of a “goody two-shoes”. She is the perfect babysitter, the perfect student, and has never done anything wrong in her life, apparently. But that doesn’t mean that Jenny thinks she’s amazing. In fact, she’s quite shy around guys and clearly feels a bit inadequate compared to others her age, but she’s always been organised and is being given the opportunity to attend college early. We don’t get to meet Jenny’s parents but I think it’s probably their influence which causes her to be uptight and stressed all the time! What’s important is that Jenny learns, from Lola, that being perfect all the time is tiring, not worth it, and not all that fun, so it’s nice to see her freeing herself from all that expectation by the end of the movie and getting to live life like a normal teenager for once.

Jenny was played by Sabrina Carpenter, whose breakthrough acting role came from starring as Maya Hart in Girl Meets World (2014-17), the Disney Channel spinoff of the series Boy Meets World (1993-2000). She went on to appear in a few movies such as Tall Girl (2019) and its 2022 sequel, as Harper, as well as Work It (2020) as Quinn, all for Netflix, but nowadays pretty much everyone in the world now knows Sabrina Carpenter as one of the next biggest singing sensations. She has been releasing music since 2014, however, shamefully, I’ve only heard Sabrina Carpenter’s music recently. Sorry, Sabrina… And that was just the one song, “Espresso”, which I love after having heard it about three times on the radio during one car journey earlier in the year! It’s a great song, reaching No. 1 in the UK, Australian, and US Pop Charts. Some of her other more recent songs include “Feather” and “Please Please Please”, with her new song “Taste” released in August 2024.

Lola is not at all like Jenny. For one thing, Lola is about two years older than Jenny and has no plans to go to college. She wants to get the photography internship because she is passionate about it and sees a future career, whereas Jenny wants it for her college application. Lola is clearly talented, but she’s also quite chaotic, both in her art and her life. Lola has managed to accumulate numerous parking tickets, only wants to babysit to get money to pay for those tickets, and doesn’t plan anything; she just barrels into situations and hopes for the best! But Lola is a caring person; she wants the kids to be able to express themselves and do what’s best for them and she also wants to help Jenny with the situation she got them into by choosing to go in the Anderson’s hot tub instead of looking after the children… Lola learns from her mistakes though, apologises for them, and it turns out that Jenny and Lola become good friends because of everything they went through.

Sofia Carson was cast in the role of Lola, having just starred as Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen, in Descendants (2015). After the Descendants trilogy, Carson received a main role in Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists (2019) and went on to appear in multiple Netflix films including Feel the Beat (2020) and Purple Hearts (2022), where she also wrote, and performed on, the soundtrack. Carson also performed at the Oscars in 2023 alongside Diane Warren, singing the song “Applause” from the movie Tell It Like a Woman (2022), which was up for Best Original Song that year.

Now to the kids. Let’s start with the Cooper girls. The oldest is Emily and she is a bit of a rebel, initially wanting to shave her hair off at the start of the movie before deciding just to dye it with green streaks. She later gets a henna tattoo as well and is generally not in a good mood because she has a crush on Trey Anderson who seems to be too obsessed with Jenny to notice Emily. The youngest Cooper is Katy and she is a bit of a princess. She likes to wear her mother’s make-up, clothes, and expensive jewellery, even taking her mother’s earrings all the way into the city – luckily, she doesn’t lose them or she’d be in big trouble because those earrings are one of a kind, you know! Katy uses her fashion expertise in two notable occasions during Adventures in Babysitting; the first to disguise Lola as a socialite to sneak into the parents’ party and the second is to make Jenny look more like a concert-goer – and less like a “stick-in-the-mud” – to impress her crush. I like the Cooper sisters, with the girls’ opposite natures balancing each other out.

Emily Cooper was played by Nikki Hahn. She had played Bianca Russo in the Wizards of Waverly Place television special Alex vs Alex in 2013. After Adventures in Babysitting, Hahn appeared in the recurring role of Gina Tuscadero in American Housewife (2016-21). Mallory James Mahoney was cast as Katy Cooper here, before going on to star as Destiny Baker in the Disney Channel series Bunk’d (2015-24) from Season 3 onwards.

For the Anderson kids, let’s talk about the surly teenager, Trey. He is the reason why Jenny and Lola’s “easy” babysitting jobs become huge disasters. Because Trey is moody about being grounded, he decides to sneak out of the house and go to a concert with his friends, assuming that the babysitter won’t possibly notice that he isn’t there. And if Lola hadn’t been called by Jenny to get her phone back, then he might have just gotten away with it. But he didn’t so everything that happens to the group in the city is all Trey’s fault, really. It’s also his fault that Emily is starting to go off the rails since he won’t pay any attention to her. He finally does near the end, but if I was Emily, I’d be telling him “too little, too late, pal”.

Then, there are the other two Anderson children, Bobby and AJ. Bobby is the cooking fanatic, who is concerned with finding the perfect ingredient for his baking competition through the events of Adventures in Babysitting, with this ingredient turning out to be crushed seaweed. I might have blamed Trey for everything that happens in Adventures in Babysitting and that’s still mostly true, but then again, Bobby does cause the purple ferret to escape from its cage in the pawn shop and let the group in on the fact that this ferret is in fact stolen, so having these two men chasing them is Bobby’s fault. AJ is the youngest Anderson kid who loves roller skating, even getting to meet her roller derby heroine at the police station of all places. So, what I’ve learnt here is that boys are trouble and girls aren’t!

Max Gecowets was cast as Trey Anderson, going on to appear as Jonathan in the mini-series Dreaded Rose in 2017. Bobby was played by Jet Jurgensmeyer, who has voiced characters in children’s series such as Bubble Guppies (2011-23) and T.O.T.S. (2019-22). He later went on to appear as Boyd Baxter in Season 7 and 8 of sitcom Last Man Standing (2011-21). AJ Anderson was played by Madison Horcher.

Speaking of boys, Jenny and Lola have their own distractions to deal with alongside all the shenanigans going on in the city. Jenny’s love interest is Zac. Zac is clearly interested in Jenny because he invites her to the concert that evening but Lola being Lola makes the mistake of turning him down as Jenny. Luckily, Jenny is able to correct this miscommunication and the two begin dating shortly after. Young love, isn’t it sweet? Zac was played by Kevin Quinn, who had starred as Xander in the first two seasons of the Disney Channel series Bunk’d before going on to appear in Hallmark’s A Christmas Love Story (2019) as Danny and Netflix’s A Week Away (2021) as Will.

Lola has her sights set on the officer who gives her a parking ticket at the start of Adventures in Babysitting, even trying to claim that she’s a fan of classical music just to impress him, though Officer James quickly realises that she isn’t! Officer James later appears at the point that Lola has been arrested for attempting to resell the concert ticket and then shows up to return her driving license on her way home. I find their relationship a little bit random, a little bit unrealistic, and a little bit forced, but perhaps it wouldn’t have been fair for Jenny to get her man and for Lola not to? Officer James was played by Max Lloyd-Jones, who was cast in the role of Tom Thornton in When Calls the Heart (2015-24).

Finally, I’ll just quickly mention the two men chasing the group through the city: the Scalper and Tiny, the pawn shop owner, who I didn’t know even had a name – I clearly wasn’t paying much attention to them to notice anyone saying his name! These two are meant to be threatening but they are actually just two buffoons who don’t have a clue what they are doing, easily being outsmarted by these kids all because they want Lola to delete the picture of them with the stolen ferret. It wouldn’t have been too much to ask Lola nicely to delete the photo and frankly, Lola should’ve done because it’s not nice to take pictures of people without their consent. So, the whole evening would’ve been a lot easier had all of them just opened their mouths and communicated! Scalper was played by Ken Lawson and Tiny was played by Michael P. Northey.

MUSIC

The first song to appear in Adventures in Babysitting is “Wildside”, at the start of the movie, as Lola and Jenny are preparing for their photography internship interview. It also plays during the End Credits. “Wildside” was performed by Sofia Carson and Sabrina Carpenter, with Carpenter also co-writing the song. The music video was released on 10^th June 2016, two weeks before the premiere date of Adventures in Babysitting, and shows clips from the film. It’s a good song and I enjoy it; but if I think about Adventures in Babysitting, it’s not the song I’m going to remember the most…

That would be the song “We’re the Babysitters”, which was also performed by both Sofia Carson and Sabrina Carpenter, and written by Brandon N. Caddell. Unfortunately, the reason it is so memorable is because of its cringey rap battle. It was obviously the point for Jenny to feel awkward about rapping, as it’s not her style and she’s never done it before – she’s also being forced to do it, or she can’t leave the rap club – but the whole scene is a bit embarrassing to watch, even when it becomes less of a rap battle and more of a hip-hop song. This scene is an updated, more modern version of the Blues singing that is performed by the babysitter during the 1987 Adventures in Babysitting.

Sabrina Carpenter herself has stated that she is embarrassed by her performance during this rap battle, as it resurfaces online occasionally. She was not a fan of this scene and would rather nobody mentioned it anymore[1]. So, let’s keep this between us and not torture her with the memory of it all over again, ok? She needn’t feel embarrassed by it anyway; pretty much all DCOMs have a cringey scene or some awkward line in it somewhere so she’s not alone in feeling this way!

The other credited song is “Put Your Hands Up”, also written by Brandon N. Caddell. I have no idea where this appears in the movie; skipping through it didn’t give me any hints either, so I am uncertain what this song actually is, but it’s listed in the End Credits so I thought I’d better mention it anyway. It could be a song without lyrics, making it hard to distinguish amongst the rest of the instrumental background music.

There is also the song that plays as Jenny, Lola, and the kids rush to clean up the Anderson’s house before the parents come home. This is “You Ain’t Never Seen It Done Like This” by Photronique. This song is uncredited in Adventures in Babysitting.

Two other pieces of music that are uncredited are Lola and Jenny’s ringtones. Seeing as the music only plays for a few seconds at a time, this is understandable, but for anyone who is interested, Jenny’s ringtone is “Für Elise” by Beethoven, as stated by Officer James, and Lola’s is “Rule the World” by Anabel Englund.

PRODUCTION

As I’ve already mentioned, Disney Channel’s Adventures in Babysitting is not an original idea; it is a remake of the 1987 film of the same name.

With the 1987 Adventures in Babysitting being a PG-13 rated movie, there were many scenes that would’ve needed to be changed to fit the target audience of a DCOM. Some of the scenes that appeared in the 1987 film and not the 2016 film include the group seeing evidence of car theft, gang fights, going to a fraternity party, as well as guns and even a Playboy magazine being frequently seen. Adventures in Babysitting reached ninth place at the box office on its opening on 3^rd July 1987 but became a “sleeper hit”, which is still watched decades later.

Star of Adventures in Babysitting, Elisabeth Shue, said that she had not seen the 2016 film, but that she had seen a picture of Sabrina Carpenter wearing the same coat as her character had in the original movie. Shue also stated that she felt remaking the movie in present day wouldn’t feel the same since having mobile phones makes everything a lot easier for people, so they can just call someone and fix the problem. Phones don’t make a big difference to the plot of the 2016 movie but I can see what Shue means there[2].

The 1987 Adventures in Babysitting is still available to watch on Disney+, however, it has been noticed by viewers that actually two lines that both use “the f-word” have been edited out of the Disney+ version, annoying some fans[3]. It now says “don’t fool with…” and it’s only too obvious that these lines were changed!

But back to the 2016 Adventures in Babysitting. It had been announced years before that Disney were going to be making a remake, however, it had been so long since that announcement that many believed the remake had been scrapped. Raven-Symoné was once linked to an early version of the film which was being worked on around 2006[4]. It wasn’t until 9^th January 2015 that Disney Channel officially announced they would in fact be making a remake of Adventures in Babysitting, with Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson confirmed as the stars of the new movie, playing two different babysitters. The first official trailer for the movie was released in February 2016.

The DCOM Adventures in Babysitting was filmed in British Columbia, Canada, however, it is unclear where exactly the movie is set, with the 1987 film being set in Chicago. Some have stated that it is supposedly meant to be set in Chicago as well, but with no specific filming locations linking the 2016 movie to Chicago, it actually just becomes an undetermined big city to me. I assumed it was meant to be New York City originally, but if that had been the case, I’m sure specific locations would have been used. I read one review that said they thought the film was meant to be set in Seattle, others said Vancouver, where it was filmed. It’s probably safer to just say it is a big city, and not be specific about it.

Adventures in Babysitting was directed by John Schultz, who had also directed A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018), the second instalment in Netflix’s A Christmas Prince trilogy, and Like Mike (2002) amongst others. The screenplay for the movie was written by Tiffany Paulsen, who went on to write Holidate (2020) and About Fate (2022).

RECEPTION

In order to properly celebrate the huge milestone of Disney Channel releasing their 100^th Disney Channel Original Movie, in the lead up to Adventures in Babysitting’s premiere date, Disney Channel aired ALL their previous DCOMs from Memorial Day Weekend in May 2016 through to the premiere of Adventures in Babysitting. The most films – 51 – were shown during that four-date weekend[5]. I wish I’d seen that!

When Adventures in Babysitting did premiere on 24^th June 2016, it reportedly reached 3.45 million viewers on that one day. However, seven further showings of the movie in the couple of weeks that followed, saw the viewer total reach 15 million, where it became the top cable TV movie of 2016 to that date[6].

It also received a nomination for an Imagen Award, which supports Latino talent in the entertainment industry, in 2017 for Best Primetime Program: Special, Movies, & Mini-Series, but lost out to ABC’s American Crime (2015-17). John Schultz was also nominated at the Directors Guild of America Awards in 2017, in the category of Outstanding Directing – Children’s Programs, losing out to An American Girl Story – Melody 1963 (2016).

Adventures in Babysitting received a bit of a mixed reception though. On the positive side, many felt that the lead characters of Jenny and Lola were very likeable and that in general, the movie was fun, exciting, and light-hearted entertainment. On the other hand, those who had already been a fan of the 1987 film had a lot of negative comments on Disney Channel’s new remake.

They felt that this was a “sanitised” version of the original film, that the remake doesn’t capture any of the magic or energy of the original, and that too much of the story had been changed. The 2016 Adventures in Babysitting also happened to come at a time when reboots and remakes seemed to be the only thing that film studios and television channels were capable of making, with many viewers already upset or annoyed even just hearing the word “remake”, feeling that creativity is being wiped out by laziness.

I do agree with this general point but as I’ve never seen the 1987 Adventures in Babysitting, I cannot comment on how Disney Channel handled the remake’s story compared to the original. I can understand fans of the original wouldn’t be happy with the DCOM version though, having read some plot points and seen a few clips of it; the two movies are quite different.

For me, I just felt that it was bit long and a bit samey to keep me particularly interesting. It also doesn’t seem to have much of a message, unlike many other Disney Channel movies, apart from maybe don’t lie to your parents. Or don’t sneak out of the house in case you come across illegal activities and end up being chased around a big city at night by two criminals… But that’s a bit too precise for most kids to relate to.

LEGACY

As for what happened next for Adventures in Babysitting, well, there was no sequel. There is ample inspiration and opportunities for another remake to be made, as the story is quite flexible and it’s easy to inject humour and peril into the general idea of kids running around a city without their parents knowing, but the reception to the 2016 film has probably said that the people didn’t want this version, let alone another one, so it’s unlikely to happen from Disney. Perhaps from a different movie studio though.

However, Adventures in Babysitting will always be the 100^th Disney Channel Original Movie, so that’s something that cannot be taken away. Although from this point on, the number of DCOMs reduced to only around two per year, whereas “back in the day”, in the 2000s, Disney Channel released 8 to 10 movies in some years, Disney Channel have continued to make television movies that have resonated with the young people of the time and launched the careers of many of their stars. Just look at Adventures in Babysitting – Sabrina Carpenter has become a global superstar since her “Disney days”.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Adventures in Babysitting wasn’t for me. I didn’t find the overall premise entertaining and sadly the lead actresses of Sofia Carson and Sabrina Carpenter couldn’t keep me interested either, although I did like their characters, Lola and Jenny.

It also doesn’t look like I would’ve enjoyed the original 1987 film either – it has some quite intense moments from what I have seen – so it’s not like being a fan of that has clouded my judgement of this DCOM.

Perhaps if I’d been a more rebellious, outgoing, extroverted kid, or even just a babysitter, I might have been able to relate to some aspects of Adventures in Babysitting but I was not ever that, not even close. I’m not even like that now as an adult – I still can’t lie to my parents, or run around a city at night without feeling terrified!

Should I get out more and be more adventurous? Maybe – but please don’t make me go out with a group of kids and two babysitters; I don’t think my nerves could cope.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Cosmopolitan, ‘Sabrina Carpenter Is Haunted By This Scene and Asks Us to “Burn It”’, Cosmopolitan YouTube Channel, 27^th March 2024.

[2] Credit: Mara Reinstein, ‘Elisabeth Shue Answers Every Question We Have About Adventures in Babysitting’, Vulture.com, 3^rd September 2021.

[3] Credit: Noah Dominguez, ‘Fans Notice Disney+ Edits Out Elisabeth Shue’s Iconic Adventures in Babysitting Line’, CBR.com, 14^th January 2022.

[4] Credit: Marc Snetiker, ‘Adventures in Babysitting trailer: Disney’s ‘80s revival exclusive’, EW.com, 12^th February 2016.

[5] Credit: Nicole Nalty, ‘The Ultimate Guide to Disney Channel’s DCOM Marathon’, D23.com, 27^th May 2016.

[6] Credit: Tony Maglio, ‘Disney Channel’s ‘Adventures in Babysitting’ Is Top Cable TV Movie of 2016’, TheWrap.com, 11^th July 2016.

23rd Aug 202416th Jan 2026 by The Disney Purist

Cow Belles (2006)

BACKGROUND

In January 2006, Disney Channel released the biggest hit within their Disney Channel Original Movie collection: High School Musical. Because of the success of High School Musical, Disney Channel had a revival of sorts.

Think of the DCOMs that came out before High School Musical. The majority of people are likely to remember the bigger franchises, like Zenon, Halloweentown, and The Cheetah Girls. But there were so many more between 1997, when the first official DCOM was released, and 2006 that have been forgotten or never reached mainstream fame.

After High School Musical, DCOMs suddenly became bigger budget projects, with a more professional image to them. The DCOMs that came after High School Musical have been mostly remembered, perhaps also thanks to their casting of actors from Disney Channel’s most beloved television series, but regardless, it seems that High School Musical catapulted not just itself and its cast into the mainstream, but the humble DCOM as well.

I’m not saying every DCOM that came out after High School Musical was successful or that all of them are loved in the same way, but this was the point when I started to watch the majority of Disney Channel Original Movie Premieres.

Luckily for Cow Belles, it was released a couple of months after High School Musical and had an actress from a Disney Channel series in it, so it has been remembered almost two decades later. I am one of the ones who first watched it at this time and still remember it.

It might not have aged particularly well, with its focus on two spoilt heiresses who are so rich they have no concept of what life is like for the majority of people not sitting well with the people of today who are very quick to point out when “someone’s privilege is showing”. A phrase I find particularly patronising, but it seems fitting to state for this specific movie.

The world has also been through a huge recession and economic crisis since 2006, and some countries are currently in the midst of other economic issues, so watching two girls frivolously spend all their father’s money may not be to everyone’s taste. But I’ve always enjoyed Cow Belles, even if, now I’m older, it involves a lot of eye-rolling and tutting at the spending and the actions of these two teenage girls. It’s not their fault they’ve grown up rich, I’ll accept that, but money certainly doesn’t buy common sense!

PLOT

Cow Belles is about the two teenage daughters of Reed Callum, owner of Callum Dairy, which seems to be a big employer for those living in the area.

As Taylor, the eldest Callum daughter, is taking her driving test, she finds herself distracted by a call from her sister, Courtney, telling her that she’s found the perfect dress for her Cotillion party. Taylor pulls over for this call, before passing the phone over to her examiner to finish up the conversation. Strangely enough, Taylor passes her driving test despite this call, by using emotional blackmail – Taylor says she’ll keep coming back, asking for the same examiner if he doesn’t pass her. Wow, I wish I’d known it could be that simple…

This shows how easy Taylor has had it all her life. Courtney also doesn’t bat an eye at paying $1,000 for this “perfect” dress. Their father seems to accept that this is just how they are, and gifts Taylor her mother’s red Mustang as a present for passing her test, but it’s a stick shift so she’ll be getting lessons from the son of one of the dairy’s milk suppliers. Jackson Meade is not a fan of this “spoilt princess” and Taylor doesn’t want to be spending time with this “farm boy” so as you’d expect, it doesn’t go well. Taylor learns the basics of the stick shift but at one point forgets to put the handbrake on, so Jackson’s truck, which they were practising on, rolls into a lake. Taylor says her father will pay $2,000+ for the damages.

Reed is shocked by Taylor’s carelessness – though I don’t know why; I don’t think any of us watching were – and tells the girls they need to cut back on their spending, especially as he is soon to be out of the country, on a trip abroad gifted to him by his business partner, Bob. The next day, it’s clear this warning fell on deaf ears. Although the girls attempt to make their own lunch, as it is their housekeeper, Corrine’s, day off, they get distracted by shopping and rush off to go to the mall, leaving the stove on. That may have been alright, but Courtney absent-mindedly threw a tea towel onto the stove, setting it and the kitchen on fire. They get home to find the fire department there. Their father is furious and tells them that they aren’t getting any more allowance, aren’t allowed to use their credit cards, and are getting summer jobs at the dairy. Their lives are ruined.

The next morning, nice and early, Reed sees his girls off on their first day at work, telling them not to get into trouble because he’s travelling today and to a remote area, so he is going to be without cell service. They tell him not to worry. I’m sure that set his mind at ease… At the dairy, they report to “Uncle” Bob who passes them over to Fran to give them a tour of the factory. Courtney and Taylor expect to be sitting in the office, making coffees and doing accounts or something, but Fran tells them their father specifically wanted them on the production line. Worst dad ever.

Once Taylor and Courtney are in their hairnets and coveralls, they are tasked with putting lids on yoghurt pots. Courtney starts messing about with her phone, trying to take a picture of Taylor “looking ugly”, but the phone flies into a pot of yoghurt. The line has to be halted, though Taylor calls Courtney’s phone and selects just the right pot so the whole run doesn’t need to be scrapped, thankfully. At lunch, everyone has heard about the production slow down and aren’t friendly to the girls. Only the father of their friend Heather is willing to talk to them, but even he finds it funny that the girls expected there to be a catered lunch, pointing them to a vending machine instead. It’s clear the girls don’t fit in here.

In the afternoon, Taylor and Courtney are given another task, of simply carrying tubs of blueberries over to the right area of the line, but because they stupidly wore high heels to the factory – why they weren’t given some other shoes, I don’t know – they slip and the blueberry pulp spills all over them. This does give the girls the opportunity to do their own laundry though – yay! Then, it’s the end of their first day of work and they head home.

With friend Heather in tow, Courtney comes up with a plan to get a date for her Cotillion. She has her eye on a guy called Phillipe, who happens to be a foreign exchange student and a dairy worker, so they go over to invite him to the party and ask Phillipe to be Courtney’s date. Meanwhile, Taylor is getting ready to see Jackson, with a cheque for his truck’s repairs, but she falls asleep after her tough day. Jackson thinks he’s been stood up.

The next morning, Taylor is horrified to find she slept through her “date” and what’s worse is they have to go to work again! On this day, the dairy employees are complaining because all their pay checks bounced. Bob tells everyone that it seems that Reed, Taylor and Courtney’s dad, took all the money before he went away. Taylor and Courtney don’t believe that so go to Bob’s office, where they see a smashed picture of Bob and their father and the office empty. They suspect Bob took the company’s money. They go to Fran’s house after work and tell her their suspicions. Her and her husband, also a dairy employee, believe that is most likely the case.

Later, Courtney is at Cotillion planning with three other super rich girls. She is trying to get them to stick to their budget by making sacrifices, but apparently $25,000 each just isn’t enough for a one-night party! Courtney asks them to pass her all the figures and she’ll talk it over with her sister, since Taylor is good with money, apparently. Taylor hasn’t got any money-saving ideas, but she’s worried about the dairy workers’ salaries. Taylor wants to use Courtney’s Cotillion money to pay them so the dairy doesn’t have to close. Courtney is furious that Taylor would even think to suggest that, believing that Taylor only doesn’t care about Courtney’s Cotillion because Taylor had her own fabulous one last year. They don’t discuss it any further, but Courtney believes her money is safe.

At a meeting the next morning, the dairy workers demand to know when they’ll be paid because they have bills and rent to keep up with. Taylor sends Courtney out to get her phone from her car, giving Taylor the opportunity to announce to everyone that she can get them the money for their pay checks to keep them working. They agree to keep working, but don’t believe Taylor has the money lying around. Taylor doesn’t but Courtney does, and Taylor’s father gave her the access to Courtney’s Cotillion money, so Taylor withdraws $20,000 of it – without telling Courtney. When it is announced to the workers that their pay has been secured, Courtney knows it was her party money Taylor used. The girls fight and Courtney refuses to talk to Taylor as she will now be kicked out of the Cotillion. Taylor goes to make amends with Jackson and gives him his cheque. Jackson forgives her and is impressed with Taylor as she makes a suggestion that helps one of their cows give birth. They both find they were wrong about each other.

But nothing is right with her and Courtney. Courtney doesn’t want to talk to Taylor and is so distracted by her party date that at work, when the yoghurt tubs need a new expiry date, she accidentally sets it to that day but doesn’t realise. She then promptly quits. Another crisis ensues when the dairy finds their milk refrigeration unit lost power so their milk has gone bad. To get the money for more milk, Taylor agrees to sell her car, the Mustang, to an employee at the dairy for only $9,000. Courtney learns this and is shocked to find that Taylor would do that, but she has also learnt that she’s been acting like a spoilt princess and wants to help. They still need $6,000 more for the milk so Courtney hands over the last of her party budget and returns her party dress. This secures more milk for the dairy.

Courtney then tells Phillipe that he doesn’t need to be her date anymore because there won’t be a party. He doesn’t care and invites her to the Country Club for dinner with his exchange family. But at the club, Courtney encounters her Cotillion “friends” who say they’ve managed to get everything they wanted even without her money and know their party will be amazing. Courtney doesn’t care and enjoys the evening with Phillipe. At the same time, Jackson has visited Taylor and they kiss while watching a movie together.

At work the next day, Courtney has returned and the girls are invited by Fran to a party at her house to celebrate the end of this awful work week. They gladly accept, but at the party, more disaster strikes when the news comes that their deliveries are being turned away because the wrong expiry date was stamped on their products, today’s date. Courtney realises it was all her fault and says they should all try to do a new run. As they’ll need more help, Courtney, Taylor, and Jackson go to the Cotillion to ask for help. They are flatly ignored.

Returning to the dairy, the run is about to be cancelled as they don’t have the workers they need, but then, the girls’ father arrives with people from the party. He had gone to surprise Courtney at her party when all these people rushed over to tell them there was a problem at the dairy and they wanted to help. The run is completed and the dairy is saved from closure once more. As a special gift of thanks, Courtney is given a “spotlight dance” with Phillipe, one that she should’ve had at her party, in front of a van’s headlights.

The next day, the girls are told by their father that they’ll survive but it’ll be hard. He is surprised to learn that the girls want to keep working at the dairy, feeling they belong there. It also means eight hours less at the mall so it’ll stop them spending money – that’s the spirit!

CHARACTERS & CAST

Taylor is the eldest of the Callum girls so naturally is the more mature one of the two, even though Taylor does still like to shop, wear expensive clothes, and generally feel like a princess! But she is more aware of the world around her, and catches on quite quickly that should the dairy workers not be paid, then they could lose their houses. She realises that it’s up to her to pay attention to this problem and figure out a way of fixing it, since Courtney is too caught up in her Cotillion planning to care about anyone else.

Courtney, on the other hand, takes a while to come out of her “rich girl bubble” and step into the real world. She just wants to get through her day-to-day job at the dairy factory like her father wanted, and any spare time she has after that will be going into her Cotillion party. She is younger than Taylor so it’s only natural that she wouldn’t want to take responsibility for anyone else’s life. When Taylor takes the money for the Cotillion without telling Courtney, it causes a huge rift between the two sisters, but ultimately, this rift needed to happen because it makes Courtney take a good long look at herself and her lifestyle. She realises that not everyone’s life is like a fairy tale, and, given her more privileged position, she should be helping the dairy workers instead of whining about trivial things, like parties.

Taylor and Courtney were played by Alyson Michalka and Amanda Michalka respectively, more commonly known as Aly and AJ. Individually, Aly has appeared in movies such as Bandslam (2009) as Charlotte; Easy A (2010), in the role of Rhiannon, alongside Emma Stone; and Grown Ups 2 (2013) as Savannah. In more recent years, Aly was also cast in iZombie (2015-2019) as Peyton Charles. On screen, AJ was cast as Lainey Lewis in the sitcom The Goldbergs (2013-23) and reprised her role in the spin-off Schooled (2019-20). AJ also provided the voice of Catra in the animated series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018-20). Together, Aly & AJ are a singing duo who released their debut album Into the Rush in 2005. They released their most recent album With Love From in 2023.

Taylor doesn’t seem to have any of her own friends in Cow Belles, which is fine and that’s probably why she feels more able to talk to the adults at the dairy factory. Courtney, however, seems to have much more of a social life away from her sister. She has her best friend Heather, whose father also happens to work at the dairy. Heather is nowhere near as rich as her friend Courtney, and feels like she has to hide that fact from Courtney, as we see when her mother is altering a dress for her, despite Heather telling Courtney she was going to buy a dress from some shop they’d been to. The moment when Heather tells Courtney that it’s not her fault she’s been able to have everything in life but that she should really think about how other people feel around her when she’s just going off spending money, it helps Courtney understand that she needs to help Taylor sort out the money situation at the dairy. Heather was played by Christian Serratos. Serratos actually began her acting career on that “other channel” that Disney don’t want you to know about – Nickelodeon – in the recurring role of Suzie in Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide (2004-07). After Cow Belles, Serratos went on to play the role of Angela, one of Bella’s fully human friends, in The Twilight Saga (2008-12). In more recent years, she was cast as Rosita Espinosa in The Walking Dead (2010-22) and portrayed singer Selena in Selena: The Series (2020-21).

As well as one good friend, Courtney also has “frenemies” with the worst of them being the stuck-up Sarah. She is one of the four girls planning the Cotillion, and is the only one not willing to compromise on anything to fit their budget; she wants what she wants and is going to get it regardless of how much it costs. Once Courtney’s money is taken to secure the payroll for the dairy, Sarah kicks Courtney out of the Cotillion and then brags to her later that they begged their fathers for more money and are going to get everything they wanted. Sarah is also the only one of the people at this party not to follow Taylor and Courtney’s father back to the dairy factory to help with their new product run, so that shows what kind of person she is. Maybe she was too busy trying to get all that chlorine out of her hair after falling into the Country Club fountain…Paula Brancati was cast as Sarah, and she went on to play the part of Gina, another “mean girl” if I remember rightly, in the DCOM Jump In! (2007). Brancati was also cast as Jane Vaughn in Seasons 7 to 9 of Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001-15).

Outside of that, along with the distraction of their father’s dairy factory going bankrupt, the teens are distracted by boys – typical. Taylor surprisingly starts to fall for “farm boy” Jackson Meade, son of one of the dairy’s milk providers. Jackson thinks Taylor is stuck-up and she thinks he’s common, but eventually, after spending time together, they realise that their first impressions of each other were wrong. Jackson was played by Michael Trevino who went on to be cast as Tyler Lockwood on The Vampire Diaries (2009-17) winning two Teen Choice Awards, in 2011 and 2012, for Choice TV: Male Scene Stealer. Recently, Trevino was cast as Kyle Valenti in Roswell, New Mexico (2019-22).

Meanwhile, Courtney becomes quite taken with a French foreign exchange student who has been given a summer job at the dairy, seemingly working alongside the delivery drivers. His name is Phillipe and despite not having a clue what a Cotillion is and only meeting her briefly, he is happy to be Courtney’s date for her party. Although they don’t actually get to go to the Cotillion together, they still get to have a literal “spotlight dance” in front of the headlights of one of the dairy vans. How romantic… Chris Gallinger played the role of Phillipe here, going on to be cast as Demitri in Twitches Too (2007).

For the adults in Cow Belles, the one we see the most is Fran. She shows the girls around the dairy factory on their first day. She is accepting of Courtney and Taylor for the way they are, despite the fact they are not used to this type of work. Everyone else in the factory seems dismissive of Taylor and Courtney, but not Fran. She listens to their theory about Bob being the one to steal the company money, not their father, which turns out to be correct, and is pleased to find Taylor wanting to help with some of the dairy’s financial struggles, listening to everyone’s comments and coming up with solutions that work out. Fran was played by Sheila McCarthy, who has performed both on stage and screen. On stage, McCarthy appeared in productions such as Little Shop of Horrors in Canada in 1985, playing the role of Audrey. On screen, McCarthy had supporting roles in the movies Die Hard 2 (1990), as Sam Coleman; The Day After Tomorrow (2004), as Judith; and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), as Mrs. Gerard. In more recent years, McCarthy was cast as Agnes in The Umbrella Academy (2019-24) and appeared as Angie in ZOMBIES 3 (2022).

Lastly, we have Reed Callum, Taylor and Courtney’s father and owner of Callum Dairies. Although Reed moans at his daughters for being careless and reckless with their spending, which I completely agree with, I actually have a bone to pick with him. Reed uses his employees to help his daughters on two different occasions: the first is when one of the drivers is asked to fix up the red Mustang for Taylor, and the other is Jackson being made to teach Taylor how to drive stick, after his father is asked to do this as a “favour” for Reed. It’s a bit rich to start talking about his daughters being too privileged when Reed uses his employees to do things for him. I’m sure they seemed like they were willing and happy to do these tasks for the Callum family, but Reed should know that when an employer asks an employee for a “favour”, the power imbalance means that the employee is obligated to do this, regardless of how they feel about it for fear of getting fired. So, Reed, you might want to deal with that hypocrisy first before talking to your daughters! Jack Coleman was cast as Reed Callum. After Cow Belles, Coleman appeared in the main role of Noah Bennet in Heroes (2006-10); and in the minor recurring roles of State Senator Lipton in The Office (2005-13) and William Bracken in Castle (2009-16).

MUSIC

Having Aly & AJ, a recognised singing duo, involved in this Disney Channel Movie, you’d think that plenty of their songs would be included here, wouldn’t you?

In actual fact, only one of their songs was used: “On the Ride”. Luckily, it’s a very good song, and probably the most recognisable one in the movie. It is used when Taylor is getting ready to see Jackson that evening she falls asleep. A music video was released containing clips from Cow Belles. This song comes from their debut album Into the Rush.

Outside of this, there are three songs that feature in the movie that are performed by the dairy factory employee band. The best of these is the song “All Good Now”, which is sung during Courtney’s “spotlight dance” after they’ve completed the new dairy product run and is in the End Credits. It’s a sweet song, signalling the end of that terrible, stressful week they had. The song was written by Jeannie Lurie, and performed by singer Blaire Reinhard.

Another is performed during Courtney and Taylor’s first lunch at the factory and seems to be called “Together at the Creamery”. The other is played at the workers’ party that Fran and her husband organise for everyone and is called “Beat of the Band”. It was written and performed by Blaire Reinhard. “Beat of the Band” is the only one of these two songs to be credited as part of the soundtrack in Cow Belles, but I wanted to mention them both because I like them, even though country music isn’t my favourite.

Another song that is not credited here is the song that is performed by the band at the Cotillion party. That song is “Don’t Wanna Grow Up” by the band Willknots. This number later appeared in the DCOM 16 Wishes (2010). It’s a good pop/rock song, even though it’s only heard for about twenty seconds before the song ends and Courtney takes the mic!

The score for Cow Belles was composed by Kenneth Burgomaster, who has composed the score for other Disney Channel projects, including the movies Halloweentown High (2004), Go Figure (2005) and Return to Halloweentown (2006), and Season 2 of the series Phil of the Future (2004-06).

PRODUCTION

Apparently, the story of Cow Belles was inspired by the reality series The Simple Life (2003-07), which centred around Paris Hilton and her best friend Nicole Richie having to do low paid jobs out in the real world. I’m not a big fan of reality shows – I only like a few – so I have never seen The Simple Life but I can see the premise of the show being the inspiration for Cow Belles. Except in this case, the girls are being made to work in the dairy by their father so that they can become better people and understand the “value of a dollar”, whereas I’m sure Paris and Nicole not only got paid big bucks to do The Simple Life, but then managed to get incredibly famous off the back of it and no doubt learnt pretty much nothing at all from the experience… Am I making it clear that I’m not a fan of these types of programmes?

Anyway, Cow Belles has also been linked to the movie Material Girls, which also came out in 2006, just a few months later; features two sisters in the lead roles, Hilary and Haylie Duff; and is about two wealthy teenagers who lose all their family wealth, but these two are cosmetics heiresses, not dairy heiresses. I have seen Material Girls, but it must have been so good that I’ve since forgotten almost all of the story, whereas I’ve watched Cow Belles plenty of times. Cow Belles, probably because it was a television movie, escaped some of the same criticism that plagued Material Girls with this movie only having a 4% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Duff sisters received Razzie Award nominations for Worst Actress and Worst Screen Couple for this movie too – ouch…I didn’t think it was that bad…

Cow Belles was filmed in Canada, as so many movies and series are. Cow Belles isn’t set in any specific, exotic location, so it makes sense to film it in Canada; as most of the movie takes place in a dairy factory, with some farmland and houses thrown in, it didn’t need to be filmed somewhere with particularly good weather or amazing views.

Although a movie set in a dairy factory might not sound like a lot of fun, apparently filming the production line scenes was. Aly and AJ also enjoyed doing their own “stunts” too, like spilling the blueberries all over themselves and being sprayed with milk. That doesn’t sound like my idea of fun but whatever! The only downside was having to wear those hairnets in these scenes, which the girls didn’t like so much. They did, however, like the cool outfits they got to wear outside of that, even though they weren’t suitable for the type of work their characters would be doing in a dairy factory[1]!

There are also a couple of other more interesting scenes within Cow Belles that aren’t just factory work or sitting in people’s houses. One of these is swing dancing. AJ and Chris Gallinger were taught the basics of swing dancing by a choreographer just for their one dancing moment in the Country Club. Another is the scene of Jackson teaching Taylor how to drive a stick shift. Aly had only just got her permit so that she could actually drive a car in Cow Belles like her character does. She was only taught how to drive stick just a few minutes before shooting the scene, and it was the first scene that was shot on the movie[2]. No pressure there then!

RECEPTION

Cow Belles premiered on Disney Channel on 24^th March 2006, where it was watched by 5.8 million viewers, which is pretty good for a DCOM. High School Musical had been released just two months earlier, on 20^th January, and reached 7.7. million viewers. Whether Cow Belles benefitted from an increase in DCOM viewers after the release of High School Musical is difficult to judge, but I’m thinking the popularity of High School Musical as a television movie probably helped Disney Channel and therefore any of its subsequent Disney Channel movies, to some extent.

Or perhaps Cow Belles was popular because it was elevated by the casting of Aly & AJ, an already known singing duo amongst teens and tweens after their debut album was released just a year earlier, as well as Aly being a cast member on Phil of the Future (2004-06), where she played Keely Teslow, also helping Cow Belles reach a wider audience, potentially. Not that that made a difference to me; I didn’t like Phil of the Future, so I guess I liked it for the sister comedy angle.

Many did enjoy Cow Belles for its relatable characters, who I’m guessing were anyone other than the Callum girls, and its message about money not being everything, or being enough to make you happy. Cow Belles seems to be considered to be a bit better than the “average” Disney Channel movie, and is still remembered to this day whereas many others are not. That’s probably because Aly and AJ are still working actors and still perform regularly together, making albums and touring.

But not everybody viewed Cow Belles positively. Some say the movie is cringey and don’t like the overused trope of rich girls going broke; I have seen that idea a few times. I suppose. London Tipton going broke in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08) is one Disney example, or there’s Princess Protection Program (2009), which is a similar idea, although not exactly the same. There’s also the movie From Prada to Nada (2011), which is a similar concept to Material Girls, with these two movies stating that their basis for their stories comes from Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, or even Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) to some extent. There are also plenty of real-life examples, and if you already don’t enjoy seeing materialistic people on screen or in real-life, I can see how this story idea can get old, tired, and boring really quickly. Unless schadenfreude is your thing.

LEGACY

Not too many Disney Channel Original Movies have managed to generate enough popularity and acclaim to warrant a sequel. Many non-musical DCOMs do not achieve this feat, with Cow Belles being just one of those.

However, in the 2020s, and even late 2010s, we saw a boom in reboots and remakes coming to our cinema or television screens – whether they were asked for or not. Aly and AJ Michalka discussed the idea of making a sequel to Cow Belles back in 2019, believing that the up-and-coming streaming space may be the place for this type of content but did stress that discussions were still in very early stages[3]. Later interviews in 2021 stated that the storyline could be based around one of the girls having been recently divorced and coming back to keep the family business going, making “Cow Belles 2” more of a typical romantic comedy that is geared towards the adults who grew up around the time of Cow Belles’ release. This doesn’t sound like a bad idea, but Aly and AJ were unsure if Disney would allow this “more adult” version of one of their own television movies[4].

With all that being said, discussions around this sequel have not been reported on since 2021, and in 2022, Aly and AJ said during an interview that they thought the writing in Cow Belles wasn’t great and that their acting was cringey. Aly also said that her first boyfriend broke up with her whilst she was filming Cow Belles so it wasn’t a great experience overall[5]. That’s fair enough to say, but these – slightly critical – comments may mean that a sequel to Cow Belles is not going to happen and that perhaps Aly and AJ are not interested in the idea anymore.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Although Cow Belles might be cringey in places, feel outdated, and focus on two quite unlikeable, at least initially, main characters, I’ve always liked Cow Belles and it’s one of the DCOMs that I like to rewatch when I have time. Granted, there are quite a few of those, but still, Cow Belles is a DCOM that I just like.

In today’s world, with the advent of social media, many of us are inundated daily with pictures of beautiful places that are expensive to travel to, high-fashion items that are expensive to buy, and stunning houses that are expensive to own. This “Instagram lifestyle” is one that many wish for, or even actively strive for. I’ve heard stories about people getting themselves into debt trying to keep up with this way of life, and although those may be in the minority, I think it’s safe to say that social media has made others feel less worthy as a person for not being able to achieve that specific lifestyle, even though it’s not likely or sustainable for the majority of us to live like that.

I wish more people would turn away from this idea of “get rich quick” just so you can have more stuff, but it is ingrained in our society now, and it is troubling. Money cannot buy happiness, and I know lots of people like to say “that might be true, but I’d rather cry in a Ferrari” or whatever, but that’s not a healthy mindset to have. As we see from the Callum girls in Cow Belles, having lots of money can do more harm than good, by messing with your psyche or your self-worth, not to mention what happens when suddenly that stream of wealth comes to a halt, or seizes to exist entirely; then what do you do when you’ve built your whole world around it?

It would be better if everyone accepted that being comfortable and secure financially is the aim in life, not being rich. It might make you feel inadequate in the short-term, but you’ll be much happier in the long run – even without that Ferrari.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Cow Belles 2006 DVD Overview – The Making of Cow Belles’, Diamond Boy’s Disney DVD Overviews YouTube Channel, 26^th January 2024.

[2] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Cow Belles – Behind the Scenes with Michael Trevino and Aly and AJ Michalka (2006)’’, Michael Trevino Source YouTube Channel, 2^nd March 2016.

[3] Credit: Avery Thompson and Lanae Brody, ‘Aly & AJ Michalka Are Totally Down For A ‘Cow Belles’ Reboot: ‘We’ve Talked About It’’, HollywoodLife.com, 5^th July 2019.

[4] Credit: JJ Staff, ‘Aly Michalka Opens Up About Doing An R-Rated ‘Cow Belles’ Movie Reboot’’, JustJared.com, 27^th June 2021.

[5] Credit: Morgan Murrell, ‘‘Aly & AJ Got Real Honest About Their Disney Channel Movie “Cow Belles”, And I Really Hope Disney Isn’t Listening’, BuzzFeed.com, 1^st June 2022.

16th Aug 202423rd Jan 2026 by The Disney Purist

Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off (2003)

BACKGROUND

Nowadays, within the huge catalogue of Disney Channel Original Movies, the films that are generally remembered and treasured the most are the musicals.

Yet, if you are a true Disney Channel fan, you’ll know that there have been plenty of great DCOMs that are not musicals but are still just as memorable, especially if you watched them at a young age. Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off is just one of these for me.

Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off combines two things that adults like to force on all children if they can: cooking and sport, baseball in this case. Cooking, at least at a basic level, is necessary to ensure that kids grow up to be self-sufficient adults – even if that’s only being able to cook pasta or eggs; they will at least keep you alive. Sport teaches you about teamwork, as well as the importance of keeping fit and active.

I never liked sport and wasn’t any good at it since I’m only five foot tall now. I was even shorter whilst at school, so I was never going to excel in that area. Most of my P.E. teachers took pity on me, saw I was trying, and didn’t push me, which I was thankful for, but even in a game of rounders – the closest equivalent the British school system has to baseball – I couldn’t even run to first base before being told I was “out”. I showed some aptitude for cooking, however, I don’t like to touch raw meat, believing I’ll get e-coli or salmonella on the rare occasion I do, even if I wash my hands ten times in scalding hot water, so that avenue was blocked off to me as well.

With all that in mind, you’d think Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off wouldn’t interest me. Though the baseball portions of the film certainly don’t, I have always enjoyed Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off for its cooking scenes. Eddie Dogs, the lasagne, the soufflé, that weird purple barbeque sauce, all looked so good through the screen.

But Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off isn’t just about cooking and baseball. It has a much more important message at its heart and that is the importance of allowing people to be what they want to be.

PLOT

Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off begins with preparations being made for the new baseball season. The field is ready, the food vendors are ready, and the team, the Groundhogs, are warming up. It turns out the Groundhogs aren’t exactly the best team in their league though, as two twin players fight on the ground, another player trips on her untied shoelaces, and another hits a ball straight into a hot dog cart, destroying most of their food supplies. But the team has one hope: Eddie, the star player, who happens to be the coach’s son too. There is also Hannah, the best female player on the team, whose mother thinks she’s at the baseball field to be the Groundhogs’ cheerleader.

As expected, the Groundhogs lose their first game. But Eddie has perfected the best way to console the team after their defeats: by making his famous loaded hot dogs, Eddie Dogs. As Eddie and his friends, D.B. and Frankie, chow down, they are tormented by players from the rival team the Eagles. Eddie says they should do whatever it takes this season to finally beat them and win the playoffs.

At Eddie’s house, D.B. and Frankie plan to watch a baseball game on TV, but Eddie’s brothers want to make it difficult for them. As the others fight over the remote, Eddie becomes distracted by a cooking show. His father tells him that he needs to focus on baseball. A college scout has been spotted watching players from the Eagles so it’s only a matter of time before the scout comes to see Eddie. Eddie’s mother tells Eddie’s dad not to put so much pressure on him with his baseball career, and then slices her finger open as she’s making dinner. Eddie’s parents and brothers go to the hospital to get it taken care of, with Eddie being asked to put the food away. Instead, Eddie has the idea of cooking all of it, and, with the help of his reluctant friends, they successfully make fried chicken, surprising everyone when they get back. Despite the food looking strange – the fried chicken has sugary cereal on it and the gravy is pink – everyone loves it. But it’s not long before the teasing starts, with Eddie’s brothers calling him “Edwina” and “Eddie Crocker” …

The next day at school, Eddie’s year have to sign up for a new elective class. Eddie has been told by his brothers to sign up for Computer Science because it’s meant to be an easy class. It turns out that signing up for these classes isn’t going to be simple because the sign-up sheets are being crowded around. Eddie throws himself in to the sea of kids and grabs the Computer Science clipboard. He also grabs the Home Economics clipboard, having been amazed by the classroom earlier on. He covers up the class name and passes a clipboard to his friends to sign their names on. It turns out they’ve all signed up for Home Economics, much to Frankie and D.B.’s horror. To make matters worse, Hannah from the Groundhogs is also here, having chosen Home Economics to appease her mother.

Also in this class is the overly prepared and uptight Bridget, who takes cooking very seriously and warns the boys not to interfere with the class. Mrs. Hadley, the enthusiastic Home Economics teacher, welcomes the class and informs them all about the Million Dollar Scholastic Cook-Off, where students compete to win scholarships to culinary schools. Bridget is immediately interested and takes a flyer. Eddie appears interested but doesn’t take a flyer until after class when everyone has left. Hannah sees but says nothing.

That night, Eddie starts to come up with ideas for his Cook-Off recipe entry. After many attempts that all taste horrible, Eddie gets the idea of making a peanut butter and jelly smoothie, but the blender lid comes off and the mixture spills out everywhere. That’ll take forever to clean up… He’ll have to figure something else out another day instead.

In their next Home Economics class, Eddie tries to secretly talk to Bridget about the Cook-Off but is overheard by D.B. To change the subject, Eddie throws batter at D.B. which results in a food fight taking place. The principal comes in to give them all detention and the students are told to clean up the room. As they are doing this, Frankie, Eddie, D.B., and Hannah come across a bowl of purple sauce. Frankie immediately tastes it, disgusting the others, but apparently, it’s good. The others all try it and agree; it is good. This gives Eddie a new idea for his Cook-Off recipe, and that night, he recreates this sauce.

But just when Eddie thinks he’s got his recipe sorted, he hears Bridget stressing about the measurements in her Cook-Off recipe. It turns out the judges will need precise measurements, something Eddie hasn’t done. He rushes home to fix it, and his mother arrives home at the same time. He tells her all about the Cook-Off and she is happy to help him with the recipe, though they both agree to keep this a secret from Eddie’s father.

At school the next day, during Home Economics, Mrs. Hadley announces that both Bridget and Eddie are finalists in the Cook-Off. D.B. is annoyed that Eddie wouldn’t tell him, with Eddie lying to say he entered as a joke just to keep the peace. Eddie’s father and brothers both find out about the Cook-Off after Mrs. Hadley calls them to congratulate Eddie. The brothers tease Eddie and his father is clearly confused. At school, things don’t get better for Eddie as he is mocked by others in his year group. To make matters worse, he is also called into extra lessons with Mrs. Hadley and Bridget to prepare him for the Cook-Off, which takes him away from his baseball commitments, making him late to games, distracted during games, and even told to go home during a game by his dad.

Eddie later finds out that should the Groundhogs make it to the playoffs, he’ll have to choose between the game or the Cook-Off because both are on the same day. This leads to an argument with D.B., which causes another food fight, in the school cafeteria this time. Eddie then reaches breaking point; he’s sick of being made fun of and doesn’t want to waste his time in Cook-Off classes anymore, so he quits and rejoins his baseball team. At the same time, the team have revolted against their coach, Eddie’s dad, for his constant sexist remarks, with his jibes about the Eagles coach being a nurse, and telling the players not to run or hit “like girls”. Coach says he’ll change his ways. Good for them for speaking up!

The Groundhogs unexpectedly do make it to the playoffs but as the team celebrate at Eddie’s house, Mrs. Hadley arrives to try and convince Eddie to go to the Cook-Off tomorrow. He says he’s committed to the team, but clearly has some regrets about his decision as he stays up all night cooking because he can’t sleep. The next day, Eddie goes to the Cook-Off venue and meets Bobby Flay. Bobby tries to convince Eddie to stick around, promising to teach him how to crack eggs with one hand if he does, but Eddie has to go.

At the playoff game, the Groundhogs play well initially, however, Frankie decides to put the Cook-Off competition on his mini television that he has in the dug-out. This puts Eddie off the game, and irritates D.B. Frankie tells D.B. he shouldn’t have made Eddie choose between cooking and having friends, making D.B. feel guilty. He tells Eddie that they don’t need him in the game, and that they can win by themselves, leaving Eddie free to compete in his competition. His mum drives him there, but he only has about an hour of time left and no-one to help him; Eddie thinks he can manage.

Back at the game, Hannah’s mum arrives with the pom-poms that Hannah “forgot”. Hannah has to tell her mother that actually she isn’t a cheerleader, but a good baseball player. Hannah’s mum is completely onboard with this but tells Hannah she didn’t need to lie to her about it, as long as baseball makes her happy. Eddie’s dad overhears this and decides to get himself thrown out of the game. He then goes to help Eddie.

At the Cook-Off, Eddie is surprised to find his dad there to help, and even more surprised to learn he can crack eggs with one hand, a skill Eddie has yet to master. However, events do not go well. Some of Eddie’s dishes have been overcooked or not set properly. He rushes to get a plate of food up to the judges and manages with a second to go. The judging begins and the result is soon announced. The winner is… Bridget.

Eddie is devastated, but his dad is there to console him, telling him to keep working at it if cooking is what he wants to do. The Groundhogs then arrive with some better news – they finally beat the Eagles and won the playoffs, making Eddie feel a bit better. As they go off to have some celebratory Eddie Dogs, Bridget follows, saying she’s hungry too. Eddie has Bridget join them as evidence that Eddie is still more of a winner than Bridget, even without a trophy!

CHARACTERS & CAST

Eddie believes that he will be a Major League baseball player one day. Eddie never thought that cooking might make him reconsider this, but it does as Eddie finds he has a natural talent for it. This isn’t considered to be a “manly” profession though, despite many celebrity chefs being men, so Eddie is teased by his friends, his brothers, rival baseball teams, and spends much of the movie torn between what he wants to do, and what he feels he should do. He finally stands up for himself though, and says that he wants to see where he can go with his cooking. There wasn’t actually a reason why he couldn’t be interested in cooking and baseball; he never really needed to make a choice, other than on that one competition day. It’s a shame Eddie didn’t win the Cook-Off, but sadly, it did make sense having this “twist” ending. He didn’t have enough time, he didn’t make anything particularly impressive, and the use of the four “mystery” ingredients wasn’t anything special. It was also important to show that sometimes it’s worth working hard for something, and that it may take a few attempts to finally succeed at it.

Taylor Ball was chosen for the role of Eddie, after playing the part of Brian Miller in the sitcom Still Standing (2002-06). In recent years, Ball has stepped away from acting but seems to be a member of the band Tragic Forms.

For Eddie’s dad and baseball coach, Hank, Eddie’s love of cooking couldn’t come at a worse time. He believes that Eddie will be seen by a college scout soon, get a scholarship, and then have a long baseball career, however, Eddie soon becomes distracted from baseball. Hank doesn’t think it’s normal for a teenage boy to be interested in cooking and tries his hardest to steer him back to their baseball plan. It does take a while for Hank to be convinced that perhaps letting Eddie choose for himself is the best thing for him. Eventually, he sees that cooking makes Eddie happy and Hank wants to support that.

Hank Ogden was played by Mark L. Taylor, who may look familiar to DCOM fans as he played Mr. Fulton, manager of the Lava Springs Country Club, in High School Musical 2 (2007) and was also the dad in The Other Me (2000). Outside of this, Taylor was cast as Don Forrester in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) and as Dr. Niles in Innerspace (1987).

On the opposite side, Eddie’s mother, Sarah, is supportive of Eddie’s love of cooking and even helps him properly measure out the ingredients for “Eddie’s Incredible Edible Barbeque Sauce” for the competition. Her and Eddie decide to keep this a secret from Eddie’s father as they don’t believe he’d be very understanding of it. It turns out they were right, and in fact, he seems annoyed that his wife wouldn’t tell him about Eddie’s cooking. Eddie’s mother is proud of Eddie regardless of what he’s doing and doesn’t like how much pressure Hank was putting on him to be a professional baseball player. To be honest, she probably liked being able to talk about something other than baseball at home! Susan Brady was cast as Sarah Ogden, having previously played the part of Astrid Kar, Zenon’s mother, in the DCOM Zenon: The Zequel (2001).

Eddie has three best friends in this movie: Frankie, D.B., and Hannah. They all go to school together and they all play baseball together as part of the Groundhogs. D.B. is the one who is the most against Eddie for liking to cook; he seems to find it weird and thinks cooking is “for girls”. D.B. takes the longest to come round but does eventually realise that he’s been an idiot, basically making it seem like he won’t be Eddie’s friend anymore if he keeps up with his cooking. Frankie, although he hates Home Economics, actually doesn’t seem to care that Eddie likes cooking; he accepts it quite quickly. Frankie likes to eat, so he is probably just looking forward to getting to be the chief taste-tester of Eddie’s new recipes!

Reiley McClendon was cast as D.B., having previously appeared in Disney’s The Kid (2000). McClendon went on to play one of the leads in the DCOM Buffalo Dreams (2005). The part of Frankie went to Orlando Brown, who had a long career with Disney Channel as a child and teen actor, being cast as Eddie in That’s So Raven (2003-07) and voicing the roles of Sticky Webb in The Proud Family (2001-05) and Cornelius Fillmore in Fillmore! (2002-04). In recent years, Brown was cast in Season 2 of the reality show Bad Boys (2022-23).

Hannah is the most accepting of Eddie throughout the movie and that’s because she has a similar problem with her mother that Eddie has with his dad. Hannah lies to her mother that she is a cheerleader because her mother was a cheerleader and Hannah doesn’t want to disappoint or upset her by saying that she is a baseball player. Hannah also says that she only took the Home Economics class so that her mother didn’t get annoyed that she’d chosen Field Hockey yet again. Hannah seems to have decided that her mother wouldn’t be accepting of her without even talking to her about it. It turns out her mum just wants her to be happy, so she had it a little bit easier than Eddie, whose dad basically wanted to disown him for choosing baseball over cooking!

Hannah is played by none other than Rose McIver who, since her teen acting days where she also appeared in the DCOM Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board (2007), has gone on to have a very successful acting career. McIver was cast in the recurring role of Tinker Bell in the ABC series Once Upon a Time (2011-18) and went on to star as Liv Moore in the series iZombie (2015-19). McIver also starred in the Netflix Christmas movie trilogy A Christmas Prince (2017-19) as Amber Moore. Currently, McIver is playing the lead role of Sam Arondekar in the US version of the British sitcom Ghosts (2021-present).

Finally, we have the characters of Bridget and Mrs. Hadley. Bridget is, honestly, quite irritating and full of herself. She thinks she’s the best Home Economics student there has ever been and even has her own cooking utensils. She’d rather have all of Mrs. Hadley’s attention on her but she has to share it with Eddie. Bridget is not a nice girl, saying that Eddie’s baseball career is over and not being at all supportive during these after-school cooking lessons they have together, despite the fact Bridget clearly has more knowledge than Eddie does. She’d just rather keep it to herself because she feels threatened by Eddie. I am shocked at the end of the movie when Bridget thinks she should be invited to have Eddie Dogs with the Groundhogs just because she won the Cook-Off – hello, you weren’t nice to any of them so why should they be nice to you? But Eddie takes pity on her, clearly. Mrs. Hadley also has one of the best lines in this movie that knocks Bridget down a peg. Bridget asks Mrs. Hadley if she’s bullied by other kids because she likes to cook. Mrs. Hadley says “oh no, there are plenty of other reasons”, which is so true.

Mrs. Hadley was played by Nancy Lenehan who had roles in movies such as Catch Me If You Can (2002) as Carol Strong and Battle of the Sexes (2017) as Billie Jean King’s mother. Lenehan has had various roles in television series, including recurring roles in series like Veep (2012-19), as Mrs. Ryan, and Bless This Mess (2019-20), as Deb, as well as a main role, Sandy Kelly, in the sitcom Married to the Kellys (2003-04). Bridget was played by Kylie Leydon, who seems to have moved away from acting, but did appear as herself in the miniseries Ben & Kylie’s Brave New Build (2014-15), building a house with her partner.

There is also a cameo appearance by chef Bobby Flay, who first appears on television and then in person when he turns out to be the host of the Scholastic Cook-Off. Flay is a well-known American celebrity chef, restaurateur and food writer, yet I first heard of him from watching Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off because I’m British; we have Gordon Ramsay, Delia Smith, Mary Berry, Jamie Oliver, people like that on our screens. I think I saw Bobby Flay randomly on a Food Network show or something years later and was like “that’s the guy from Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off”! I’m sure it’s one of Bobby Flay’s proudest TV moments still to this day…

MUSIC

Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off is not a Disney Channel musical, but that doesn’t mean that it is devoid of music; you just might not have heard of the songs before.

One piece that should be recognisable to most is an excerpt from Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite”, specifically “Waltz of the Flowers”, which randomly appears during the first food fight scene in the Home Economics class. I guess the pretty music is meant to be in contrast to the absolute mess the kids are making in the room!

Outside of this, I personally had not heard of the other four songs that appear during Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off outside of watching the film, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like them. In fact, I very much like the song “Grow”, performed by April Start. This song appears when Eddie is struggling to balance his new Cook-Off classes and baseball games. I think “Grow” has a nice message about not giving up on your dreams and to keep going even when things get tough. This song was popularised because of its inclusion in this film.

Then there is the song “Soul Food”, performed by Leon Russell and Marc Benno. This takes place during the scenes of Eddie waiting for his response from the Cook-Off people to see if he got in. It’s got a bit of a country feel to it that I don’t like so much. This track featured on the 1990 CD re-release of Russell and Benno’s album Asylum Choir II.

“Centerfield” is quite rightly used during the scenes of the Groundhogs successfully winning their games so that they can get to the playoffs. This song is all about baseball so it fits in great with Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off. Again, this song is a bit too country for my tastes but I don’t dislike it. This track featured on singer John Fogerty’s third solo album, released in 1985 and titled Centerfield.

One more song is listed in the End Credits of this film and that is “Now We’re Cookin’”, performed by GBonafide and J-Hi, however, I cannot find this song anywhere online and I’m not sure where it appears in the movie. It’s possible it is the music that plays as Eddie makes that fried chicken meal early on in the story, but I’m not sure. There is also a song that is played during the scenes of Eddie being teased at school after getting in to the final of the Scholastic Cook-Off, but I’m not sure what song it is. It has lyrics like “I’m left on the outside, wondering why…”, but I can’t find it anywhere. This is just one of the difficulties of looking into a barely talked about Disney Channel movie; research is hard to do.

I also quite like some of the score within Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off, particularly the music that appears during the opening scene, the Cook-Off scene, and some of the scenes of Eddie’s late-night cooking at home. Since Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off did not have a CD soundtrack released, and the score has not been split into named tracks, I cannot be any more specific than that with this music. David Kitay is credited as the composer of the music here though. At Disney Channel, Kitay also composed the music for other DCOMs, like Cadet Kelly (2002) and Camp Rock (2008), and co-composed for Stuck in the Suburbs (2004) with Jeff Vincent. Away from Disney, Kitay has worked on the music for such non-Disney movies as Clueless (1995); Scary Movie (2000); and Over Her Dead Body (2008).

PRODUCTION

I was surprised to learn that Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off was filmed in New Zealand, specifically West Auckland, not in the US or even in Canada, as many Disney Channel movies seem to be made. I’m not wrong that not too many DCOMs have been filmed in New Zealand, but there have been a few others, such as Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006); Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board (2007); and even Zenon: The Zequel (2001). ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires (2025) was also filmed in New Zealand.

I’m not a producer, I’m not a director, I’m not an actor, so I don’t know why New Zealand specifically was chosen as the primary filming location of Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off. California must have decent enough weather to accommodate the filming schedules, and there are no special sets here, just school buildings and baseball fields. It was most likely for budgetary reasons but who knows. The good thing about filming in New Zealand, or outside of the US generally, is that it can open up the casting pool. In this case, Kylie Leydon and Rose McIver are both actresses from New Zealand, as is Susan Brady.

Some of the most memorable and enticing scenes within Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off obviously involve baseball. I’m just kidding, baseball’s boring. Some have commented that the baseball scenes here aren’t even very realistic. As I know nothing about baseball, I have no further input on that, but I can judge the food and cooking scenes. They are the best scenes in the film. For some reason, I can’t get enough of seeing people throw random condiments on hot dogs, or layer lasagnes – Eddie even makes his own pasta from scratch -or see blenders explode all over the kitchen! If you’re a fan of cooking shows, but don’t want to hear any of the instructions for how to cook it yourself, then Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off is perfect. But no problem if you do want to know how to cook some of these dishes for yourself because there are recipes online for Eddie Dogs and the barbeque sauce.

In amongst these beautiful culinary creations though, we get lots of wasted food as Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off has not one, but two food fights. I love how American TV likes to use food fights as key moments in children’s series and films because apparently it almost never happens in real-life! Yet all of us outside the US have been brought up to believe that these are regular occurrences. Some kids seem to love food fights, others hate them. Bridget and Mrs. Hadley seem to be the only two not having fun in the movie, but in behind-the-scenes footage, it looks like nobody is! The actors were excited to film the scenes initially, but by the time they’d filmed it and were covered in food, they said they just felt gross as the food stuck to their clothes and skin. It sounds disgusting. All the cameras and crew members got to be covered up in boiler suits so they were the lucky ones here[1].

Paul Hoen directed Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off. Hoen began his over two-decade career with Disney Channel by directing The Luck of the Irish (2001) back when Disney Channel were experimenting with their new way of making television movies. After Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off, Hoen went on to direct many more musical and non-musical DCOMs, including Jump In! (2007), Cloud 9 (2014), and all of the ZOMBIES movies[2].

Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off’s teleplay came from Dan Berendsen, who had previously written the teleplays for the movies Sabrina Down Under (1999) and Sabrina Goes to Rome (1998), movies that add to the series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1996-2003). For Disney Channel, much like Hoen, Berendsen has a long history of writing for their movies. Some of his other Disney writing credits include Twitches (2005) and its 2007 sequel, Stuck in the Suburbs (2004), and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010).

RECEPTION

Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off first aired on Disney Channel on 18^th July 2003, as one of their regular Friday Night Premieres. In the realm of Disney Channel fans, Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off is generally considered to be one of their better non-musical movies. Some call this movie “wholesome” and “heart-warming”, which I certainly agree with. Taylor Ball and the performances of many of the young actors has also been praised by audiences. Many say this movie is underrated.

Others, though, do not enjoy this movie, saying that it is cheesy and clichéd, dismissing it because it is a Disney Channel movie. That could be because these particular people watched it when they were not the target audience. Sometimes adults watching movies intended for children and teenagers take them too seriously and look at them too critically so their opinions are biased to some extent. Some also said that they knew plenty of boys at school that were interested in cooking and were not teased. I’d say those people were very lucky, because I knew boys at school who were teased for this interest or for being interested in music. There were also girls I knew who were teased for wanting to play rugby, showing that harmful stereotyping goes both ways.

There were plenty of comments on the message within Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off. Looking into it, there are two schools of thought on it. The first is that this is in fact a “coming out” story, all about Eddie feeling confused about his identity. Director Paul Hoen stated this was the case[3]. I like that idea if you purely use Eddie’s story as a metaphor. The trouble comes if you take that metaphor and apply it literally to the events of the movie, because then I feel like the messaging gets confused. What this coming out story would seem to say, in this literal case, is that sure, men can like cooking, but straight men don’t. That’s not the case or the point of Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off.

That brings me to the other way of looking at this movie and that is all about challenging gender stereotypes. This is not only seen with Eddie’s love of cooking, but also with Hannah’s love of baseball instead of cheerleading. It is also shown when the Groundhogs rise up against their coach and tell him to stop making sexist remarks, about the Eagles coach being a nurse, this being an honourable profession regardless of gender, and that using the term “you run like a girl” is not helpful, when you could just say that someone is running badly. I sit within this opinion more so than the coming out story and that is just because I feel it is important for everyone to feel comfortable to pursue the hobbies or activities that interest them without fear that their sexuality will be questioned.

LEGACY

Unfortunately, since Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off is over twenty years old, and is unlikely to be popular enough now to be re-run on Disney Channel particularly frequently, it exists only in the minds of people who have already seen it, for the most part. Of course, there are always people that want to watch movies they missed out on during their childhoods and will go back and see though – thank you, streaming.

With those who do remember Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off, many of them continue to love it and it has since made many lists ranking the Disney Channel Original movies. For example, it was ranked at No. 16 on The Ringer’s list of Top 40 Disney Channel Original Movies[4]. It also reached No. 32 on Vulture’s ranking of all the DCOMs that had been released at the time[5].

FINAL THOUGHTS

This shows that Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off may only have a place in the hearts of a few Disney fans, but that it continues to be one of the more popular ones because of its important message.

Eddie is bullied by his peers and disappoints his own father for his love of cooking. Although this is quite a specific example, pretty much everyone will have been bullied or felt weird just for liking something that perhaps other people of the same age did not. When I was at university, I was mocked by my flatmates for liking Disney because it wasn’t “normal” for adults to still be interested in Disney movies. It hurt a bit, and I did keep quiet about it around these few people for a while, but in the end, I decided I didn’t need to change myself – I didn’t have anything in common with them and knew that once I graduated, I wouldn’t be keeping in touch.

Nobody needs people like that in their life and if Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off taught me anything, it’s to never change yourself for anybody and feel free to like what you like. The ones judging you are the weird ones.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Behind the Scenes DCOM: Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-off’, Meredith_Vintage YouTube Channel, 28^th February 2023.

[2] Credit: DCOMers!, ‘A Conversation with the Disney Channel’s Paul Hoen’, Medium.com, 24^th July 2020.

[3] Credit: DCOMers!, ‘A Conversation with the Disney Channel’s Paul Hoen’, Medium.com, 24^th July 2020.

[4] Credit: The Ringer Staff, ‘The 40 Best Disney Channel Original Movies’, TheRinger.com, 18^th April 2023.

[5] Credit: Rebecca Alter, ‘All 105 Disney Channel Original Movies, Ranked’, Vulture.com, 4^th May 2020.

2nd Aug 202429th Sep 2025 by The Disney Purist

Descendants: The Rise of Red (2024)

BACKGROUND

For anyone who stopped watching the Descendants series after Descendants 3 (2019), you can be forgiven for assuming that this whole Disney movie series was done, completed, and finished. For those who stuck with it and watched the animated short film Descendants: The Royal Wedding (2021), you’ll have noticed that Disney were toying with the idea of expanding the series, looking to Alice in Wonderland (1951) for inspiration.

I did watch Descendants: The Royal Wedding, but I didn’t think they would be making another movie based on Wonderland and its characters. I thought it was just there to say “look what we can do”, assuming that not many people were going to be asking for a further movie, so it wouldn’t be made. I was wrong.

I forgot that Descendants as a franchise was a big property for The Walt Disney Company and that, to them, it would make perfect sense to make a fourth Descendants movie. To the rest of us, maybe a “Descendants 4” didn’t make sense.

Without a key member of the cast, Cameron Boyce, as well as seeing the effect his passing had on the rest of the cast and crew, it seemed unthinkable for Descendants to go on without him. I wasn’t happy with the idea of this new movie; others felt the same way.

I can’t say I kept up with any further news, other than to hear that Descendants 4 was in the works. I didn’t know when the release date was, I didn’t know who the cast were, I didn’t know what the plot was, and frankly, I didn’t care. As 2024 began, and trailers and interviews started popping up online, I paid a slight bit of attention. I knew that if I wanted to review the Descendants original trilogy, I couldn’t just ignore Descendants 4 – which came to be known as Descendants: The Rise of Red, to distance itself from the original films.

It is only fitting for Descendants: The Rise of Red to not be numbered, as it is not a sequel to Descendants, but a spin-off, with just two original cast members returning: Fairy Godmother, and, thankfully, Uma. When I heard Uma was back, I was vaguely intrigued.

Yet I still wasn’t excited. I only watched the movie this week, not being enough of a fan to watch it on its premiere date or even its premiere weekend, so by the time I got round to watching Descendants: The Rise of Red, the reviews were already circulating and the results were mixed.

After watching Descendants: The Rise of Red, I felt that the music was comparable to Descendants, as was the talent of the main cast, however, what really let it down was the story. Ten minutes before the end, I felt like the plot was leading up to something, and then – nothing happened. It was disappointing, because I thought so much more could’ve been done with the storyline, but the character development did not allow it to happen in the way I’d hoped it would. More on that later. On a more positive note, if you disregard the Descendants trilogy, which you can do here, Descendants: The Rise of Red is a pleasant enough movie, still full of colour and clever ideas. In the context of the Descendants series though, it fell a bit flat for me.

PLOT

Descendants: The Rise of Red begins with a voiceover from the one and only Uma, who says that Ben and Mal, now King and Queen of Auradon, along with Evie and Jay, have sailed away to other realms to promote harmony and peaceful relations with Auradon. Mal has named Uma as Principal of Auradon Prep in their absence.

Uma arrives at Auradon Prep and is welcomed by Fairy Godmother, who is also moving on to a new role as President of Auradon University. As her first order of business, Uma says she plans to invite Red, daughter of the Queen of Hearts, to come from her home of Wonderland to Auradon Prep, as part of the Villain Kid initiative that Ben started all those years ago. Fairy Godmother is uncertain by this addition to the school, as Wonderland is a hostile land, and its leader never wanted to join Auradon, therefore, the rabbit hole, the portal to Wonderland, was walled off, so no-one could enter Auradon from there. Uma says that the VKs would’ve wanted this, especially Carlos, who is no longer with them but had always believed other VKs would get their second chance in Auradon like he had. The invite is sent.

In Wonderland, we see that Red is actually quite the rebel. She doesn’t like her mother’s tyrannical way of ruling, has no desire to grow up to be like her, and just wants to get out of there – except the Queen of Hearts won’t allow it. Dodging the guards after vandalising the Wonderland Plaza, Red is rescued by her friend Maddox Hatter, son of the Mad Hatter. He tells her that perhaps someday she’ll be able to have a new life somewhere else, showing her a project he’s been working on: a pocket watch, which is actually a time machine. But Maddox quickly pulls it away from Red, telling her it’s much too dangerous; altering the fabric of time can lead to disastrous consequences. Red is then sent back home, sneakily taking the pocket watch with her. The next day, Red meets with her mother, the Queen, who is just about to punish her Army Captain, the Jack of Diamonds, for not finding the criminal who vandalised her plaza – not realising that the criminal was in fact her daughter! The Queen then tells Red to decide how the Captain should be punished. She isn’t able to do it, disappointing the Queen of Hearts, but the disappointment is short-lived, as Maddox arrives with a letter. It’s the letter from Auradon. Red doesn’t believe her mother would ever let her go to Auradon Prep, since the Queen despises Auradon, but surprisingly, the Queen readily accepts the invitation, telling Red to pack. She obviously has a plan…

Back in Auradon, we meet Cinderella and King Charming’s daughter, Chloe, sister of Chad Charming, who is practising for the Auradon Swords and Shields team with her dad. She is very excited to be heading to Auradon Prep, and her parents are very proud of her, so much so that she gets a gift of glass sneakers. Chloe and Cinderella head to the welcoming ceremony at Auradon Prep for the new students, with King Charming going to see Chad at college instead.

The Queen of Hearts drives Red through the rabbit hole over to Auradon for this same welcoming ceremony. Their car is thoroughly inspected by security and they able to proceed inside the castle. The two soon come face-to-face with Cinderella and Chloe. The Queen of Hearts and Cinderella clearly have some bad blood between them, with Cinderella referencing some sort of prank that happened to the Queen when they were at school together. We also learn that the Queen’s name is apparently Bridget. Chloe tries to be nice to Red, but Red has no time for “goody-goodies”.

At the welcoming ceremony, Fairy Godmother introduces Uma as the new principal of the school, but as Uma is giving her speech to the new students, she becomes distracted by the Queen of Hearts shuffling a deck of cards. Uma asks her to stop, but the Queen refuses, throwing the cards into the air. The cards then transform into soldiers from her army. Uma is captured, Fairy Godmother’s wand is broken, and everyone runs in terror – though the Queen of course blocks off all the exits. The people have no choice put to bow to the Queen of Hearts, the new ruler of Auradon. Except Cinderella will not kneel to the Queen. The Queen of Hearts tells her daughter to punish Cinderella for this act of treason, reiterating to Red that her plan is for the two to rule side-by-side, with the Queen’s hand-held looking glass even showing this future. Red, in a moment of weakness, sentences Cinderella to be beheaded. Seeing what she’s done, Red then pulls out Maddox’s time machine/pocket watch and plans to go back in time to fix this, except Chloe tries to attack Red at the same time, to stop her mother being taken away, and touches the pocket watch. The two go back in time together.

Confused as to where – and when – they are, since Red was never given instructions on how to use this pocket watch, Chloe and Red find themselves in an empty part of what they assume is still Auradon Prep. It’s not. It turns out instead of going back two minutes, like Red planned to just take her mother’s cards off her to stop the coup, they have actually gone back two decades, and this isn’t Auradon – it’s Merlin Academy, the school that existed prior to Belle and Beast’s creation of the United States of Auradon. Red and Chloe come up with a new plan to stop the Queen of Hearts’ takeover of Auradon; perhaps they can stop the prank that made the Queen so bitter in the first place.

Merlin, the Headmaster of Merlin Academy, obviously, finds the two girls and assumes they are transfer students, immediately taking them to his Alchemy class. The security here is much more lax than at Auradon Prep; apparently, anyone can just walk in! At Alchemy class, Red and Chloe are assigned mentors – their mothers. Well, the teenage versions of their mothers, known here as Bridget and Ella. Bridget and Ella don’t exactly fit in with the rest of the students, but Bridget tries to be kind to everyone – even the Villain Kids. Yes, more VKs – and some of these happen to be the teenage versions of the VK parents from the first three Descendants films! The leader of this VK group, which includes Captain Hook, Maleficent, and Hades, is actually Uliana, Ursula’s younger sister, so Uma’s aunt. She doesn’t like Bridget or Ella, tormenting them constantly. But as Bridget hands out cupcakes to everyone, complete with flamingo feathers, Uliana decides she wants some of the feathers and starts to eat them. Bridget warns her she shouldn’t have too many, but Uliana doesn’t listen and promptly turns into a flamingo. Despite falling into water and the spell wearing off, Uliana wants revenge on Bridget and starts to plan with her evil sidekicks.

Red and Chloe know that this act of revenge is due to take place at the Castlecoming dance – see what they did there? – and follow the VKs to find out exactly what it will be. They go to Ella’s house to get some advice, and find that she is being used as a servant by her stepmother. Ella informs them that Uliana is trying to live up to her sister’s meanness and that she picks on Bridget because she’s weak and won’t stop trying to be friends with them. Ella then tells Red and Chloe that the VKs normally hang out at the Black Lagoon. Red and Chloe go there, where they overhear their plan: to make a cupcake from the Sorcerer’s Cookbook that will turn Bridget into a monster in front of the whole school. No, there aren’t any buckets of pig blood here like in that infamous prom scene from Carrie (1976), so if that’s what you were hoping for, well, then you’ve got some major issues!

Since Bridget is a keen baker, Red and Chloe ask if she happens to own the Sorcerer’s Cookbook, but she does not, saying it is likely banned for student use, with Merlin probably having the only copy hidden in his office. Red knows to stop the prank they have to get that book before the VKs do; Chloe thinks they should just tell Merlin. Red goes alone to steal the book, with Chloe going to Ella for more help. Ella tells her that sometimes you have to cross that line between “good” and “bad” to do what’s right. Chloe goes to Merlin’s office to help Red. The VKs see the two go into the office and watch them. Red and Chloe fight off the magical defence systems in Merlin’s office, with some struggles, but the VKs enter at the last moment and grab the book. They are then frozen because the book can’t fall into the wrong hands, i.e., a villain cannot open it. Chloe tells Red to open it, to prove that she isn’t evil, and sure enough, the book opens for her. They hear Merlin coming to the office and escape through a window. Merlin sees the frozen VKs and gives them detention.

Red and Chloe hide the book, stopping the prank on Bridget. They then go back to the present, though Red is scared they haven’t done enough to change events. As they approach the ceremony in Auradon again, Red hears the Queen of Hearts refuse to stop playing with her cards during Uma’s speech, just like the first time. Red braces herself for the coup all over again, but it turns out the Queen is actually just excited for her daughter to be in Auradon and throws heart-shaped bubbles into the air. She is also wearing a white and red dress, not just red, as more evidence that she has changed.

And that’s the end of the story. Or is it? In typical Descendants fashion, we are then told by Uma that this isn’t the end of the story, and that we’ll have to wait and see whether Red and Chloe’s time-travelling escapades have actually done more harm than good…

CHARACTERS & CAST

Naturally, Descendants: The Rise of Red focuses on the new Villain Kid, Red. Although she is the daughter of the oppressive Queen of Hearts, Red is not evil. She doesn’t want to rule Wonderland, or want to be remotely like her mother. The only thing Red really wants is to get out of Wonderland and live her own life, where she doesn’t have to feel like a big disappointment. Red is a bit of a rebel though, even if not villainous, and doesn’t spend her time being sweet and kind to everyone. She breaks the rules, pushes the boundaries, and yet, she is still caring. She wants to change her mother’s past so that she doesn’t need to feel angry and hateful towards everyone. She is devoted to her mother both in the past and the present, despite herself, protecting Bridget from bullies in the past, and relenting to her mother’s wish for Red to be a strict ruler at times. Red is a complicated girl, figuring out everything as she goes along, but her heart is in the right place most of the time.

Kylie Cantrall was cast in the role of Red. Cantrall began her career online, singing and performing on YouTube, later releasing her own music. She gained a presence in acting from Disney Channel roles, like Raven’s Home (2017-23), in the role of Jasmine in 2018, and the lead of Gabby in Gabby Duran & the Unsittables (2019-21). In 2023, Cantrall was cast as Dani in Season 4 of the Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019-23). She also provided the voice of Savannah in the movie Ron’s Gone Wrong (2021). Cantrall had a link to Descendants prior to her role as Red, appearing alongside Cheyenne Jackson in the TV special Descendants Remix Dance Party (2020).

Chloe is the daughter of Cinderella and King Charming, so she has been brought up to be kind, selfless, hard-working, and loyal – which is quite amusing since her brother, Chad, turned out to be a bit of a jerk! Chloe is intelligent and athletic, so would easily thrive in a school like Auradon Prep. She behaves like a princess should, however, she soon finds that this annoys Red, who isn’t your typical princess, villain or hero, and learns through their time-travelling journey together that it isn’t always so easy to determine what a “good” person or a “bad” person is, realising that she needs to decide what are the right and wrong actions for her, not just fitting everything and everyone into a simple category.

The part of Chloe went to Malia Baker. She began her acting career with a few small roles in series like The Flash (2014-23) and The Twilight Zone (2019-20), before starring as Mary Anne Spier in the Netflix series The Baby-Sitters Club (2020-21). After this, she appeared in the second revival series of Are You Afraid of the Dark? (2019-22), in the role of Gabby Lewis for its second season.

For their parents, we have the Queen of Hearts and Cinderella. In the present day, the Queen of Hearts is hard-to-please, easy-to-anger, and generally unlikeable. She rules Wonderland with an iron fist, everything being exactly to her satisfaction. On the other side of that, we have Cinderella. She is kind, caring, and the epitome of goodness. Despite her difficult upbringing, she has come out of it unscathed and unresentful, whereas the Queen of Hearts seems to blame everyone else for how she is feeling, turning her back on anyone who was cruel to her. They are the polar opposites of each other at this stage, with Cinderella trying to get the Queen to forget whatever prank was played on her at school, when they used to be friends, and let go of some of that hatred. It doesn’t work.

The Queen of Hearts was played by Rita Ora here. Rita Ora is best known for her singing career, where she has had such hits as “How We Do (Party)”, “R.I.P.”, “Anywhere”, and “Lonely Together”. She has also featured as a judge and host on talent shows such as The Masked Singer and The Voice. On screen, Ora was cast as Mia Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and its two sequels, and later appeared as Dr. Laurent in Detective Pikachu (2019). She also voiced the character of Sir Luthera/Wandering Blade in the animated series Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight (2022-23).

Making a surprise appearance as Cinderella in Descendants: The Rise of Red was actually Brandy Norwood, who was cast in this same role for the 1997 live-action television movie Cinderella, which was produced by Disney but was based on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical, not their animated movie. Although an unexpected casting choice, it was welcomed by many fans of the 1997 movie. Paolo Montalban, Brandy’s co-star, also returned to his role of Prince Charming, though now a king, for this Descendants movie. Brandy was originally known for her singing career though, releasing her debut album in 1993. She won an American Music Award in 1996 for Favorite Soul/R&B New Artist, a Grammy for her song “The Boy Is Mine” in 1999 for Best R&B Performance, a Teen Choice Award in 1999 for Choice Female Artist, and a Kids’ Choice Award in 1996 for Favorite Singer, amongst many accolades. Brandy was also a judge on the first season of America’s Got Talent (2006-present), was a contestant on Season 11 of Dancing with the Stars (2005-present), and has acted on various series including Zoe Ever After (2016) in the lead role, and Queens (2021-22) as Naomi Harris-Jones. Rita Ora was a big fan of Brandy when she was younger, so was so excited to be acting alongside her[1].

We also get to see the teenage versions of the Queen of Hearts and Cinderella, and their characters might surprise you. In actual fact, the Queen of Hearts, or Bridget as she is known at this point in time, is very kind, wanting to be friends with everyone, even the villains. It’s quite a shock for Red when she finds out that her mother changed so much just because of something that happened to her at school. Cinderella, or Ella as she is known, is not as nice and sweet as you might expect either. She is best friends with Bridget, and has a crush on Prince Charming, but despite Cinderella in many adaptations of the story not being angry with the fact she is treated as a servant and not seen to match up to people’s ideas of royalty, in this movie, Ella does seem to feel she has been treated unfairly and holds a grudge against the princesses, as we see in some of the scenes of Ella talking to Chloe. Ella tells Chloe “her princess is showing”, which isn’t the kindest thing to say to someone who has lived quite a sheltered life; there are better ways of voicing this! It’s also odd to hear Ella say her best friend is “weak”, when she talks to Red and Chloe about why the VKs pick on Bridget. It’s a very strange take on the character, but I guess it is more layered than many other versions. It is just at odds with Brandy’s portrayal of Cinderella, I think.

Bridget was played by Ruby Rose Turner, with Ella being portrayed by Morgan Dudley. Ruby Rose Turner had previously been cast as Cami in the series Coop & Cami Ask the World (2018-20) for Disney Channel before Descendants: The Rise of Red. Morgan Dudley recently appeared in the Netflix movie A Tourist’s Guide to Love (2023) as Robin.

Now, for the VKs. The leader of this new group is Uliana. As Ella says to Chloe and Red, she is trying to “out-mean” her older sister, Ursula, by bullying many of the royals. She has a group of sidekicks around her, including the mistress of all evil, Maleficent, and God of the Underworld, Hades, which is a little bit weird, seeing as I highly doubt those two would be anyone’s sidekick, but never mind. To be honest, I find the whole concept of these particular villains being at school odd, and it’s very hard not to get confused by all the multiple storylines from the animated films, as well as those in Descendants. Even though Descendants clearly has its own story, and is not related to the animated films, I can’t forget the canon of the animated films when it comes to the villain parents in Descendants.

Anyway, Dara Reneé was cast as Uliana, having been cast as Kourtney Greene in the Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. She had also appeared in the Disney Channel Original Movie Freaky Friday (2018), and, alongside Kylie Cantrall and Cheyenne Jackson, was a part of the TV special Descendants Remix Dance Party (2020). Reneé is very much the star here, with the rest of VKs not making a big impression on me.

There are only two returning characters and cast members for Descendants: The Rise of Red, and they are China Anne McClain, returning in the role of Uma, and Melanie Paxson, returning as Fairy Godmother. Although the movie does not revolve around them, and they are minor, supporting roles this time around, it felt comforting to have these two back. It made me settle into the story a bit easier, knowing those two were there, even if Mal, Jay, Evie, and Ben were not.

MUSIC

The music of Descendants: The Rise of Red, on the whole, is decent. I do like the first song of “Red”, performed by Kylie Cantrall. This is our first introduction to the character of Red, and it’s a strong, powerful song, where we see that she is not her mother’s daughter and wants nothing more than to escape her. She also gets a kick out of destroying her mother’s castle grounds and dodging her guards apparently! On 21^st June 2024, “Red” was released as the second single from the movie, and it was performed by Cantrall as part of “NerdNite” at Vidcon in Anaheim on 28^th June[2]. Alex Boniello also performs on this song as the Jack of Diamonds, Head of the Queen of Hearts’ army. Boniello had previously performed the roles of Moritz and Connor Murphy in the Broadway productions of Spring Awakening, from 2015 to 2016, and Dear Evan Hansen, from 2018 to 2020, respectively.

Red then gets a duet with her mother, performed by Rita Ora, called “Love Ain’t It”, when they arrive at Auradon, as the Queen of Hearts tries to convince her daughter to rule Wonderland just like she does. This is also when we see the hostility between the Queen of Hearts and Cinderella. Honestly, I didn’t like this song much at all, and probably even found it worse than the duet Mal has with Hades in Descendants 3. It doesn’t match my style or taste in music and is nothing to do with the singers. I’m a big fan of Rita Ora’s music normally. Malia Baker, as Chloe, also gets to have a duet with Cantrall as Red, and that is “Fight of Our Lives”, when the two figure out how to work alongside each other, despite their differences, so they can fix everything and get back to Auradon. I don’t mind the chorus too much on this one, but I don’t love the rap portions particularly.

Chloe later has a duet with her mother, performed by Morgan Dudley, but when she’s younger. This is the song “Get Your Hands Dirty”. They are actually cleaning up Lady Tremaine’s courtyard together, though this is all about Ella telling Chloe that life isn’t always “black and white”, when Chloe isn’t sure what to do about stopping the villains; she knows breaking into Merlin’s office is wrong, but should she do it anyway “for the greater good”, to stop the VKs? This is quite a pleasant song, and I like the melody.

Now for the big group numbers. There are two of these. The first one is “Life Is Sweeter”, where Red and Chloe are introduced to all the students at Merlin Academy, as Bridget hands out cupcakes to everyone. This is my second favourite song in the soundtrack, after “Red”. It’s a hopeful, positive song with all the heroes, showing everyone in harmony – until the VKs come along. But that makes it all the more fun! It also gets a reprise at the end of the movie, performed by Ora and Cantrall. The other group number is just for the villains, and it’s called “Perfect Revenge”, whilst they are discussing the best revenge plan for Bridget. Again, it’s a bit too “rappy” for me, but Dara Renée is very good here as Uliana. I also liked the “poor unfortunate soul” line. Clever.

We also have three shorter songs that appear in the movie. One of these is “Shuffle of Love”, performed by Ruby Rose Turner as Bridget. The full version of the song appears on the soundtrack, but it only appears briefly in Descendants: The Rise of Red, when Red and Chloe are talking to Bridget in her room, and she mentions a new dance she’s created. It would’ve been a good song to use if they’d had the Castlecoming dance scene… It is played during the End Credits too. Then there is a brief version of Cinderella and Charming, performed by Brandy and Pablo Montalban, singing “So This Is Love” from Cinderella (1950). But the best one is “What’s My Name (Red Version)”. Uma performs this during the Welcoming Ceremony at Auradon Prep, just her and her pirates, which I very much enjoyed. The full version was actually the first single from the soundtrack to be released, on 26^th April 2024, and features Kylie Cantrall as Red too.

Another song that appears on the soundtrack is a remix of “Life Is Sweeter”. Finally, a cover of Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” is also listed on the soundtrack, performed by Cantrall, along with “Descendants: The Rise of Red Score Suite instrumental”, composed by Torin Borrowdale. The song “Bad Reputation” might sound familiar to anyone who likes 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Shrek (2001), or Red, White & Royal Blue (2023).

Much like its predecessors, the soundtrack for Descendants: The Rise of Red topped the US Billboard Kid Albums and US Soundtrack Albums charts, however, it has so far only peaked at No. 60 on the Billboard 200 chart, whereas the previous three Descendants soundtracks had reached No. 1, No. 6, and No. 7 respectively on that same chart.

PRODUCTION

Although a potential new Descendants movie exploring the realm of Wonderland was teased at the end of the animated short film Descendants: The Royal Wedding in 2021, it wasn’t for another year that this movie would be announced.

At the D23 Expo in September 2022, a new Descendants film was officially confirmed as being in production, under the working title Descendants: The Pocketwatch, clearly referencing the pocket watch that Red uses to go back in time. This title was perhaps a bit too “on the nose” so in March 2023, the official movie name was announced as Descendants: The Rise of Red. It would also seem that Disney were careful not to refer to it as Descendants 4, not wanting to annoy original Descendants fans any more than they already had! It also makes it clearer that this was going to be a spin-off, not a sequel. It was also said that Descendants: The Rise of Red would premiere on Disney+.

In March 2023, it was also confirmed that the original VKs would not be returning but that Uma and Fairy Godmother would be. Other casting news at this time was that Brandy and Paolo Montalban would be reprising their roles of Cinderella and Prince Charming from Disney’s live-action 1997 film Cinderella. Rita Ora was named as the Queen of Hearts, Kylie Cantrall was named as Red, her daughter, and Malia Baker was cast as Chloe, Cinderella’s daughter, alongside a list of teen actors who would be portraying students at Merlin’s Academy, like Villain Kids and Princes and Princesses. One of these was going to be a younger version of Rapunzel, named Zellie, whose scenes ended up being cut for time.

It was also believed at this time that the basic plot would be that Chloe and Red would be using the magical pocket watch to go back in time after chaos breaks out during the celebration of a new royal baby. This got fans very excited over the possibility of this being the announcement of Mal and Ben’s baby, even though they weren’t scheduled to return, as well as speculation over who else in Auradon might be having a baby[3]. This storyline was still being written in articles talking about Descendants: The Rise of Red as close to the premiere date as May 2024. This idea was clearly scrapped, for unknown reasons. All I can say is that I’m glad Disney couldn’t write a storyline of Mal and Ben having a baby, despite some fans clearly wanting this. Ben and Mal must still be in their early-20s at this stage. Come on, give them a chance to live their own lives first!

This new movie meant new characters to the Descendants franchise, and as per usual, their costuming did not disappoint. Much like the earlier Descendants films, there is still the same emphasis on characters having signature colours. In this case, Red and the Queen of Hearts, obviously, wear red, with Chloe and Cinderella wearing the expected blue. Bridget, a kinder version of the Queen of Hearts, wears pink, and Ella actually has more turquoise than blue in her costume, probably to distinguish between her and Chloe. Because Ella has turquoise in her clothes, it means that Uliana has a mixture of colours, like purple, to reference Ursula, and turquoise, to reference Uma, so the family colour chart is still the same. Unlike the Descendants trilogy though, we don’t see nearly as many princes and princesses wearing pretty dresses and tailored suits. The “VK look” of leather trousers, boots, and jackets certainly seems to have caught on, even in the past! Chloe isn’t even wearing a dress in present day Auradon, whereas Audrey, Mulan, Chad, and Ben are all costumed in typical royal and aristocratic fashion in their pastels and soft fabrics in the earlier movies. Tony Award-nominated costume designer Emilio Sosa took over the costume designs from Kara Saun for Descendants: The Rise of Red. Like Saun, Sosa was also on Project Runway, becoming the runner-up in Season 7. He went on to design costumes for various musicals and plays, such as Porgy and Bess, for which he received his Tony Award nomination in 2012, Sweeney Todd, and Annie Live! (2021).

There were also all new sets, like Wonderland. Wonderland is set in picture-perfect landscaping, with perfectly manicured gardens, a huge red castle, and many references to their “wonderful” queen. It is a much better version of Wonderland than what we see in the ABC spin-off series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (2013-14); also Disney, also live-action, but with the benefit of ten more years of CGI development. Anyone who has seen this series will know exactly what I’m talking about! Later, we get a brief look at the Villains’ hangout of the Black Lagoon, where they actually go inside an old, dead anglerfish… Eww. It might not even be dead, which makes it even more gross!

Again, similarly to the Descendants trilogy, the cast were put through tough training schedules, for dancing and sword-fighting. The dance routines aren’t quite as big as those in the first three Descendants movie. Although there are some ensemble dances, they don’t open and close the movie, and don’t feel like big celebratory moments with all the young cast, but the choreography is just as complicated and contemporary as you’d expect.

RECEPTION

Descendants: The Rise of Red held its red carpet on 10^th July 2024 at the Disney Studios in Burbank, which the cast attended, before premiering on screen on 12^th July; however, this was not on Disney Channel as you might expect. It was first shown on Disney+.

After Disney’s streaming service became such a huge success on its debut in the US and Canada in November 2019, before hitting the global markets in 2020, it was decided that Disney Channel would shut down in certain countries, the UK included, in the early 2020s, with content moving online instead, although Disney Channel does remain in America. Descendants: The Rise of Red will have a Disney Channel premiere on 9^th August.

Luckily, having its release on Disney+ only increases a movie’s chances of having high viewing figures, and Descendants: The Rise of Red was no different. It became the most viewed Disney Channel Original Movie premiere in Disney+ history – though in all fairness, I don’t think there have been too many of those so far – having 6.7 million views in its first three days on the platform. This is comparable to Descendants 3, which was viewed by 8 million total in the three days after its premiere date[4].

However, high viewership does not always correlate with audience reaction. In this case, Descendants: The Rise of Red suffered more negative reviews than those within the original Descendants trilogy. Some of these opinions were established from the point that production of Descendants: The Rise of Red was confirmed, due to the fact that making a new Descendants movie without Cameron Boyce was seen as an insult to his memory by a small proportion of fans. The fact that some of the original cast members confirmed they would not be returning to this “sequel” as well, having moved on to other projects since, made this original opinion even stronger, as these fans felt that the original cast were also against a new Descendants film. Some of these fans even debated “boycotting” Descendants: The Rise of Red for this reason, but whether they did or not, I don’t know.

Others were excited by this movie, and were quick to point out that Descendants: The Rise of Red was not being promoted as a sequel, and is in fact a spin-off. These fans liked the idea of new universes being explored outside of Mal and her friends in Auradon.

This was prior to the movie’s premiere, and yet even after the premiere, the reviews seem to fit into two different camps once again. The more positive camp say that the movie does feel like an extension of the Descendants franchise, with some great music, costuming, and set pieces, and just said that it was not better than the original trilogy because it was different, so perhaps shouldn’t be compared to the original movies anyway. It was deemed “good enough” but not exactly special.

The more negative side said that there was some confusion over the characters, especially as the original actors from the 1997 Cinderella film were brought back for Descendants: The Rise of Red, even though their backstory wasn’t going to be the same as the 1997 film. I will admit this did take a bit of time for me to get my head around. I had to basically forget everything that I had seen in Cinderella (1997) and adjust to the fact that Cinderella and Prince Charming actually met at school here. I have only recently watched Cinderella, so it wasn’t too difficult for me to do, but had you been a huge fan of that movie, watching it multiple times throughout your life, I can understand this new backstory being too much to get on board with. Others also felt that the story was rushed, and full of plot holes, which is a typical comment with many time-travel-based movies; everyone gets confused.

So, what did I think of Descendants: The Rise of Red? I thought it was alright, but I won’t be rushing back to watch it. Some of the music did feel similar to the Descendants trilogy; I liked Uma returning, if only for a few brief scenes; and I found many of the new characters quite likeable and well-acted, such as Red, Chloe, and Bridget. But parts of the story did confuse me. The biggest issue I had was that it felt to me like the story had been leading us in a new direction, a big twist, which never came to pass. Instead, we got the ending we’d all been expecting, which isn’t new or exciting. This relates to the “prank” that is played on Bridget. Although Red and Chloe believe the VKs would be carrying out this prank on Bridget, I thought that this was going to be red herring, and that Ella was going to have played the prank on her. I felt this because Ella wasn’t overly nice about Bridget, saying she was “weak”, and not accepting Bridget for the nice, sweet person she was. I wondered if maybe Red and Chloe would have stopped the VKs in their tracks, but then at the dance would come to find that Ella, Chloe’s mother, had actually done something to hurt or embarrass Bridget there, perhaps to try and impress her Prince Charming. This might have explained why Cinderella seemed to feel guilty over Bridget’s past in the present time, and why she became so kind and good, as a way of righting her past wrongs. This would have also fixed the “plot hole” of the VKs being frozen by touching the Sorcerer’s Cookbook, which would have surely happened in the original timeline, since Chloe and Red didn’t put magic on it, so they couldn’t have even carried out their plan. Anyway, we got what we got, and it was a predictable ending, which felt like a big let-down and a missed opportunity.

LEGACY

Much like the first three Descendants movies, clothing, novels, and toys were available to purchase around the time of Descendants: The Rise of Red’s release date. Some of these toys included dolls, produced by Mattel, of the new characters, like Uliana, Red, Chloe, and Bridget. Some of these dolls were also produced with a version of the Sorcerer’s Cookbook[5].

It would also seem like Descendants: The Rise of Red was made with a sequel already in mind. Uma’s voiceover at the end of the movie suggests that Chloe and Red have messed up the timeline by going back in time, and that the consequences of this have yet to be discovered. This turned out to be exactly the set-up for another movie that it intended to be, with “Descendants 5” first announced in February 2025. An official title for the movie was announced on 6^th May 2025: Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, signalling that this movie will take place in Wonderland.

Furthermore, at the D23 Expo in August 2024, it was announced that some of the cast of Descendants: The Rise of Red would be reuniting for a concert tour in Summer 2025. But this isn’t just a concert for Descendants fans, because this concert tour also involves cast members from the ZOMBIES franchise, making this the Descendants/ZOMBIES: Worlds Collide Tour. From Descendants: The Rise of Red, fans can look forward to seeing Kylie Cantrall, Dara Reneé, Malia Baker, and Joshua Colley on stage, alongside stars of ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires Freya Skye, Malachi Burton, and Mekonnen Knife. The tour kicked off in San Diego on 17^th July 2025, and will end in Fort Worth, Texas on 16^th September 2025.

Within the Disney Parks, costumes and props from Descendants: The Rise of Red have been spotted at the attraction Walt Disney Presents at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort. Costumes of Red, Chloe, Bridget, and the Queen of Hearts, along with a replica of the Sorcerer’s Cookbook, are currently on show in one of the exhibits, as promotion for the new film. These exhibits swap out constantly, so it will likely only be around until hype for the film has died down.

This Halloween season, a new version of the DescenDANCE party that first debuted in 2019 after the release of Descendants 3 played at the Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween parties in 2024 at Rockettower Plaza Stage in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, this time using music from Descendants: The Rise of Red[6].

FINAL THOUGHTS

Descendants: The Rise of Red received mixed reviews on its release. This may have surprised those at Disney, but it really shouldn’t have done. It was always going to be difficult to follow something as popular as the first three Descendants films, especially when Descendants 3 and Descendants: The Royal Wedding tied up everything pretty well. Without Cameron Boyce, it didn’t seem right to some fans to continue the franchise, so selling Descendants: The Rise of Red on this loyal group had to be tough.

I didn’t think Descendants: The Rise of Red was a bad movie, and if it hadn’t been linked to the Descendants franchise, I might have liked it more. It reminded me a little bit of The School for Good and Evil (2022), which I very much did like, probably more so because it wasn’t linked to Disney animated films. Having characters go back in time to see these great villains of Disney Animation just seemed strange; seeing them in the future is much easier to accept than seeing them in the past, when we already think we know what they’ve done from some of the best Disney animated movies ever made. It didn’t work so well.

The time-travel angle does give Disney some scope to rectify some of the viewer complaints and comments, such as around character development and predictable storylines, but it remains to be seen whether Disney can live up to this potential.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Entertainment Tonight, ‘Descendants: Rise of Red: Go Behind the Scenes of Brandy’s Cinderella Return! (Exclusive)’, Entertainment Tonight YouTube Channel, 7^th July 2024.

[2] Credit: Disney, ‘Kylie Cantrall Paints Wonderland “Red” In New Music Video From “Descendants: The Rise of Red”’, DisneyPlus.com, 21^st June 2024.

[3] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Descendants 4: The Rise of Red – what we know about the new Disney film’, BBC.co.uk, 27^th March 2023.

[4] Credit: Phil Wood, ‘‘Descendants: The Rise of Red’ Breaks Three-Day Disney+ Viewership Record’, WDWNT.com, 17^th July 2024.

[5] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Celebrate the Release of Descendants: The Rise of Red with New Products and Soundtrack!’, D23.com, 12^th July 2024.

[6] Credit: Cade Handley, ‘New ‘Descendants: The Rise of Red’ Exhibit at Disney’s Hollywood Studios’, WDWNT.com, 12^th July 2024.

26th Jul 202416th Jan 2026 by The Disney Purist

Descendants 3 (2019)

BACKGROUND

Descendants had become a huge entertainment property for The Walt Disney Company in the space of just a couple of years. With two movies, a few television spin-offs, a series of novels, costumes, and merchandising, Descendants was great for business.

So, it made sense for the Descendants franchise to increase its potential with one more movie, to create a trilogy. Uma had told us at the end of Descendants 2 (2017) that the story still wasn’t over after all, so a “threequel” just made sense.

Disney film trilogies aren’t actually all that common. No Disney animated film has currently stretched to three movies, with sequels even being relatively rare, although it has been said that Frozen III is in the works. Only Pixar’s Cars and Toy Story franchises have gone as far as three movies, although Toy Story has of course reached four, with a fifth apparently in development.

In Disney Channel movie history, Descendants became the fifth franchise to reach at least three films, after Zenon, Halloweentown, The Cheetah Girls, and High School Musical, but making Descendants 3 was still a big deal. The identity of Mal’s father was being teased; Uma was going to make a return and she wasn’t going to be happy; plus, Descendants 2 talked about a whole new generation of Villain Kids making their way to Auradon. A lot was going to happen and the fans were excited about where Descendants 3 would take them.

Little did we know that the hype train was about to come to a crushing stop.

On 6th July 2019, the news broke that Cameron Boyce, the actor who played Carlos, had suddenly passed away, at the age of just 20, a month before Descendants 3 would be released. I remember where I was when I found out, because I was away on holiday. My thoughts instantly turned to Cameron’s family, and to the cast of Descendants, who I knew would be absolutely devastated to lose one of their closest friends, and someone they had been working alongside for four years. Promoting this movie was going to be a struggle for them, and watching the movie was going to be difficult for the fans.

I was in my late-20s when I watched Descendants 3 and I was not looking forward to it. I knew it would be difficult to watch, even for me, someone who hadn’t grown up watching this cast. They were a similar age to me, so I was just devastated for them. I can’t imagine how the young fans of the franchise must have felt at this news. It might have felt to them like a close friend had suddenly gone from their lives and they didn’t know how to handle it.

Before this week, I had only watched Descendants 3 once, on its premiere date in the UK. After that, I had bought the DVD but I hadn’t watched it again. In all honesty, I wasn’t a fan of the story or the music. I was not sure whether or not the news of Cameron’s passing had been the main factor in me not enjoying Descendants 3. On re-watching it this week, I found my opinion had only changed slightly. It is most definitely my least favourite of the three, although I did like the ending and felt that the finality of it was fitting, as well as ending the series on a high note, especially in light of the tragic news.

PLOT

Descendants 3 begins with Mal giving us all a brief recap about the journey of the VKs in Auradon so far. We then find that the four VKs, Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos, are at the Isle of the Lost to announce the new VKs that have been selected to come to Auradon, to study at Auradon Prep as they did. At a ceremony for “VK Day”, it is confirmed that Dizzy, daughter of Drizella; Celia, daughter of Dr. Facilier; and Squirmy and Squeaky, twin sons of Mr. Smee, will be the next four to go to Auradon. They will be picked up and brought to Auradon soon.

Back in Auradon, Mal has been keeping watch for Uma as she is worried about her return and what threat she may bring to Auradon when she does. Ben tells her not to worry and that they’d better get going to pick up the new VKs. They go outside, where many other Auradon residents are, supposedly to watch the new VKs journey to Auradon on television. It then turns out that this is a surprise proposal, with Ben proposing to Mal. She happily accepts, and everyone is so happy for them both. All except Audrey, Aurora’s daughter, who has returned to Auradon. Her grandmother, Queen Leah, is furious with Audrey for ruining their family’s legacy by not becoming Ben’s queen. But there’s no time for bad vibes, because Mal, Ben, Carlos, Jay, and Evie have to get to the Isle to collect the new VKs.

As the group are about to leave the Isle through the barrier, disaster strikes. Hades rushes towards the closing barrier and tries to pull himself through. Mal transforms into her dragon form to try and fight him off, but Hades attacks her, using his “ember” to drain her of her magic. Using the last bit of strength she has, Mal successfully pushes Hades back through the barrier, and they return to Auradon. But that’s not all. Audrey, angry at Mal for “ruining her life”, goes to the Museum of Cultural History to steal the Queen of Auradon’s crown. At the same time, she is drawn to Maleficent’s sceptre, which also resides there as an exhibit. Audrey takes both the sceptre and the crown and becomes a villain.

With all this happening, Belle and Beast, and Fairy Godmother, are concerned about the safety of Auradon. Mal proposes that the best solution is to close the barrier forever. Ben is not happy with this solution, as it ruins his whole plan to unite Auradon and the Isle of the Lost eventually. Mal says it is their only choice and he reluctantly agrees to it. Mal goes to talk this all through with Evie, however, Mal does not mention that it was actually her idea to close the barrier and Evie believes Mal won’t let that happen, pleased that Mal is soon to be an official royal and she can make important decisions like that. At Evie’s house or company headquarters, because she’s now a big-time fashion designer, Audrey arrives, showing that she was the one who stole the artefacts. Mal tells Audrey not to use Maleficent’s sceptre, because the magic is too dangerous and too powerful. Audrey doesn’t care, having gone full villain at this point, and turns Mal into an old hag. Evie, Carlos, and Jay see what has happened and ask if Mal’s magic can reverse the spell on her. Mal says that there is only one thing that can reverse the magic of the sceptre; Hades’ ember.

The four VKs, and Celia, because she knows where Hades’ lair is, head to the Isle on their scooters, using the same magic spell that Mal used in Descendants 2 to get across the water without opening the barrier. Meanwhile, at a birthday party for Jane, Carlos’ girlfriend and Fairy Godmother’s daughter, Audrey has arrived and puts a sleeping curse on the gathering. Jane avoids the spell by jumping into the Enchanted Lake, whose waters can reverse magic spells, until it dissipates. She then calls Ben to tell him what has happened to the others. When the VKs arrive on the Isle, Mal is freed from the “old hag” spell, since there is no magic on the Isle. They go to Dr. Facilier’s Voodoo Arcade where Carlos sees a news report on television saying that all of Auradon is under a sleeping curse. This further motivates Mal to get Hades’ ember. The others try to retrieve their scooters from Harry and Gil, who have stolen them, whilst Mal and Celia rush over to Hades’ lair, where we learn that Hades is in fact Mal’s father. Hades naturally does not want to part with the ember, but after some persuasion, he hands it over to Mal, warning her that she is only “half Hades” so its powers won’t work in the same way. Mal says she’ll take her chances and leaves with it, being told not to get it wet. Who knew magic embers were like gremlins?

Back in Auradon, Audrey appears to Ben, saying she’ll reverse the curse if he makes her his queen. Obviously, Ben refuses this, so instead of putting Ben to sleep, Audrey curses him with something else, and then she starts turning some of the Auradon residents to stone.

The VKs then leave the Isle – via the barrier that Jay has the remote control for. Which is odd, because they arrived on their magic scooters over the water; why didn’t they just drive on the road to the Isle? Anyway, they couldn’t retrieve the scooters, so I guess they are walking now, but just as the barrier is about to close, Harry and Gil jump through it. The ember is knocked out of Mal’s hand, but luckily, Uma appears in the water and catches it. She turns into her human self again, and says that she’s been looking for a hole in the barrier, but couldn’t find one, though she did get to see from afar all the wonderful things that Auradon has that the Isle does not. Uma says she’ll drop the ember in the ocean unless Mal agrees that all the VKs on the Isle be given the chance to go to Auradon. Mal agrees through desperation. Uma, Harry, and Gil then join the others on the quest to lift the curse.

In Auradon, Carlos’ dog, Dude, still talking after the events of Descendants 2, tells them that Audrey put some of the residents to sleep and others turned to stone. The group go to the castle to find Ben, but Audrey has been watching them through the sceptre and curses the suits of armour to attack them. Luckily, the VKs outsmart the spell and move on. They then go to Audrey’s school dorm room to try and find her. She’s not there, but Uma reads her diary and discovers that she spends a lot of time at Fairy Cottage. The team then split up, with the boys going to find Ben, and the girls going to Evie’s house.

At the house, they find Doug, Evie’s boyfriend, asleep, and she wakes him with true love’s kiss. But Audrey tries to use magic to trap them in the house. Using both their magic powers combined, Uma and Mal manage to defeat the spell, showing that they actually make a good team. Meanwhile, the boys discover that Ben has been turned into a beast. Carlos gets him to calm down by removing a thorn from his paw, and then Jane comes along and shoots him with water from the Enchanted Lake to – mostly – remove the curse. It seems the water is not all-powerful though and leaves Ben with fangs and some grizzly facial hair!

They then meet the others at Evie’s house, before heading out to Fairy Cottage, with Ben leading the way since Audrey had taken him there before. Only a traumatised Chad, Cinderella’s son, is found, as he had been helping Audrey until she went a bit too evil. Afterwards, Ben wonders why Uma is helping them, to which Evie says it’s because Mal promised to let all the VKs leave the Isle. Mal then confesses that her plan was, and still is, to close the barrier to the Isle – forever. Celia is angry that she will have to choose between her new life and seeing her father again, and snatches the ember, throwing it into some water. Uma and Harry angrily leave, and Evie tells Mal how disappointed she is in her, for getting her “happy ending” but not letting anyone else get theirs. Evie, Jay, Carlos, and Ben are then turned to stone by Audrey. Mal seems lost about what to do next.

She hears Celia calling for help and follows the sound, to see Audrey holding her hostage at the top of a tower. Mal still has the unlit ember and using her dragon form tries to relight it, but it doesn’t work. Uma sees Mal struggling and uses her magic to help relight the ember. It works and Mal battles Audrey. The ember breaks all the spells, but wounds Audrey.

An unconscious Audrey is being watched over by Leah, as Ben, Mal, and his parents discuss what to do next. Mal knows that only Hades can revive her with the ember, but Ben doesn’t believe he’ll ever do that for them. Mal tells Ben that Hades is in fact her father, so he should help. Ben orders his guards to bring Hades to them. Hades then arrives handcuffed. He is reluctant to do anything for them, since Audrey is a villain, and why should she be helped just because she’s “one of them”? She went evil and should be treated as all the other villains have been. Mal eventually convinces him to use his ember to help Audrey and she is revived. Audrey is very apologetic about what she’s done, with Leah saying sorry for putting pressure on her, and Ben and Mal apologising for how they hurt her. Hades then hands the ember over to Mal to keep.

Later, there is an engagement party for Mal and Ben in Auradon. Mal gets up to give a speech, but says that she does not want to be Queen of Auradon because it is not a united realm. She tells everyone that without the help of “the villains”, Auradon would be in ruins. Good and bad can come from anywhere, regardless of who your parents are, so fear of the villains doesn’t help deal with anything. Mal proposes that they do finally unite the Isle and Auradon, by destroying the barrier once and for all. Ben and Fairy Godmother approve, and with the wand, the barrier is replaced with a bridge. All the residents from both the Isle and Auradon come together to celebrate, in a display of unity.

The movie then ends with Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos walking across the bridge to the Isle to finally see their parents again.

CHARACTERS & CAST

There is plenty of action in Descendants 3, but unlike in the other two movies, quite a few of the main characters aren’t really used, sadly. At least not to their fullest. The movie is instead mostly about Mal and Audrey, or about Mal and Uma, with Evie, Jay, Carlos, Ben, and the others only being used as sidekicks, in my opinion anyway. I think this is why I struggled with the film in part, because I feel like this movie is too plot-driven, and not character-driven.

Mal seems to have settled in very comfortably to her new royal role. Her and Ben are making serious decisions about Auradon together, and the thought of becoming queen after the two of them get engaged doesn’t faze her one bit, which is quite the transition from how she was in Descendants 2. It’s also a surprise that she would want to take down the barrier between the Isle and Auradon forever, since she was set on staying there in the previous movie when she was having a crisis of confidence. It just seems like Mal’s whole behaviour has changed so much between Descendants 2 and Descendants 3, and I couldn’t get on board with it. She’s no longer Mal, she’s Queen Mal, which is fine; I get that royal life would change a person, but I thought Mal didn’t want to change herself…

I also struggled with her and Ben’s engagement. It seems to me that between each of the Descendants movies, only a few months can have passed, despite the movie’s being made two years apart. Supposedly, Descendants 3 is set after they have graduated from Auradon Prep, though it is not mentioned[1], so, in my mind, I’m watching two 18-year-olds get engaged, which seems odd to me to put in a Disney Channel movie. I understand that in fairy tales and Disney’s animated movies many of the princes and princesses get married when they are young, but Descendants feels too much like real-life to me that this doesn’t feel overly appropriate. Obviously, they are in love and they are a cute couple, but I just don’t think this plot point was necessary to the overall story. She didn’t need to get engaged to Ben to be able to get her opinions across on Auradon matters; Ben would’ve wanted to hear them regardless of whether she was an “official royal” or not. It is possible these two are 20-years-old at the time of Descendants 3, because four years passed between the making of the movies, but I find it hard to believe that Dizzy has waited two years since her official invitation from King Ben to join Auradon Prep before actually being confirmed as coming over. I get that they’d need to do health and safety assessments, and educational plans, and emergency contact forms, and all that paperwork, but two years is just ridiculous!

As for Evie, Jay, and Carlos, they unfortunately don’t seem to have much to do in Descendants 3. Evie’s biggest plot point is around her having her first kiss with Doug and worrying that it may not be true love as she tries to wake him from the curse, but this is all resolved in one song. She’s got her fashion business empire now, and a house, and she seems to be the mentor for the new VKs, but that’s about it. Jay has no sports team to be involved with here, so his main story is about his blossoming bromance with Gil as they plan to travel the world together at the end of the movie. Carlos is concerned about missing Jane’s birthday party at the start of Descendants 3, and then not much else happens. They just seem to be helping hands, and it’s a shame that they didn’t get to do more, whereas in Descendants 2, they had a lot of time together to talk as a group, about how they were feeling, and each one had an important emotional breakthrough in one way or another.

Dove Cameron, Mitchell Hope, Sofia Carson, Booboo Stewart, and Cameron Boyce all returned to reprise their roles of Mal, Ben, Evie, Jay, and Carlos, respectively. Dove Cameron received the Kids’ Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actress for her role as Mal in 2020, and since Descendants, Dove Cameron has continued to act on screen, for example in the musical comedy series Schmigadoon! (2021-23), and having a voice role in the animated series Big Nate (2022-present). She released her debut album Alchemical: Volume 1 in December 2023 and her song “Boyfriend” was a viral sensation in 2022. Mitchell Hope continues to appear in films, such as Let It Snow (2019) and the Prime Video film Don’t Make Me Go (2022).

After receiving a main role in Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists (2019) – which was great and definitely deserved a second season – Sofia Carson went on to appear in multiple Netflix films including Feel the Beat (2020) and Purple Hearts (2022), where she also wrote for and performed on the soundtrack. Carson also performed at the Oscars in 2023 alongside Diane Warren, singing the song “Applause” from the movie Tell It Like a Woman (2022), which was up for Best Original Song that year.

After Descendants, Booboo Stewart was cast in Season 4 and 5 of the series Good Trouble (2022-24), and is a member of the band That Band Honey, as well as being a mixed media artist. The world lost a very gifted actor when Cameron Boyce passed away due to complications from epilepsy in July 2019. He would’ve gone on to have a successful career. Boyce was set to co-star in Adam Sandler’s Hubie Halloween (2020) at the time of his death.

Uma, Harry, and Gil also returned to Descendants 3, and I must say, I wasn’t enjoying the movie all that much until Uma came back. She gave some much-needed energy to the film. Uma and Mal learning to get along and using their magic together is very touching, as is seeing them reconcile when the barrier goes down, since you can see how much that means to Uma, and how upset she was when it seemed that Mal was going to go back on her word just to get Uma to help her fix Auradon. Harry and Gil don’t add too much to the overall story, but they gave a much-needed injection of humour, from how they find Auradon to be a weird but wonderful place, stealing people’s money and eating too much fruit! At the end of the movie, Harry is rejected by Uma as he’ll flirt with anything that moves, so randomly, he seems to get together with Audrey, which is an amusing twist.

China Anne McClain, Thomas Doherty, and Dylan Playfair returned to portray their characters of Uma, Harry, and Gil, respectively. After Descendants, China Anne McClain was cast in Hubie Halloween (2020) and returned to Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (2006-present) where she plays the character Jazmine Payne. Doherty went on to star as Max Wolfe in the reboot of Gossip Girl (2021-23) and appeared in the horror film The Invitation (2022). Playfair continued to appear in the sitcom Letterkenny (2016-23) as Reilly, and then played Coach T in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (2021-22).

After missing out on Descendants 2, Audrey made her return to Auradon for Descendants 3. She was the resident mean girl of Auradon back in the first movie, but things certainly take a turn here, as she becomes a full villain, thanks to Maleficent’s magic, which is ironic given her family’s history with her! Audrey uses magic to try and “fix” her life, by convincing Ben to make her queen. It’s not the most tragic backstory for a villain, but it’s not the worst. She does have a lot of pressure from her grandmother to marry a king and become a queen, so it wasn’t entirely her fault that she went off the rails. For me, Audrey wasn’t an entirely convincing villain, as she seemed more crazed and hysterical than evil, though I did like her menacing singing of “Happy Birthday” as she cursed Jane’s birthday party. Sarah Jeffery returned to play Audrey. She had provided the worse of Audrey in the animated series Descendants: Wicked World (2015-17), despite missing out on Descendants 2. Jeffery went on to appear as Cristina Santos in crime drama Shades of Blue (2016-18) and was later cast as Maggie Vera in the reboot of the series Charmed (2018-22).

There is also the new VK, Celia. She seems to be close friends with Dizzy, another VK who is getting the chance to go to Auradon, but since Dizzy spends much of her time asleep, it is Celia’s opportunity to bond with the original VKs; Dizzy got to do that in Descendants 2. Celia is a trickster, like her father, Dr. Facilier, but wants to go to Auradon, and is very excited about the opportunity she’s being given. She is an immense help to the VKs as they look to find Hades, as she used to run errands for him so knows where he spends much of his time – which is how she avoids that pesky sleeping curse. Jadah Marie was cast in this new role of Celia, younger sister of Freddie, who appeared in the animated series. Before her casting in Descendants, she had appeared as Tasha in the sitcom Mann & Wife (2015-17). She also sang alongside Sarah Jeffery for the Christmas song “Audrey’s Christmas Rewind”, released in December 2019, and appeared in the Netflix series Julie and the Phantoms (2020), which was partly directed by Kenny Ortega.

Now to the last new character to mention: Hades. I’ve already said my bit about the Descendants’ villain portrayals being a bit weak for the parents. I can’t exactly say that for Hades, because he looks like a rock ‘n’ roll singer crossed with a biker, and he certainly is not flamboyant. He can indeed be menacing, but these moments do not last long, since he doesn’t want to be too mean to his own daughter. I can, however, say that I did not like this portrayal of Hades, although I know the majority of Descendants 3 viewers and critics did enjoy it. This Hades is nothing at all like the Hades that James Woods voiced for Hercules (1997). That was apparently the point, since Cheyenne Jackson, the actor who was cast as Hades for Descendants 3, did not want to use anything of Woods’ interpretation of the character[2]. This disappoints, but does not surprise, me. Kenny Ortega did want the actors to have their own take on these famous Disney villains, so it fits for the movie. The character himself is not actually that bad, much like how I felt about Kristin Chenoweth’s Maleficent, but they aren’t my Maleficent or Hades. The reveal of Hades as Mal’s father put an end to months of speculation. This couple pairing did please me though, as it makes quite a bit of sense, because, going back to the animated series House of Mouse (2001-03), there was an episode where Hades was trying to ask Maleficent out on a date.

Cheyenne Jackson began his career on the stage, appearing on Broadway in musicals such as understudy roles for Thoroughly Modern Millie and Aida in the early 2000s and later in Xanadu as Sonny from 2007 to 2008. More recently, Jackson played The Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods on Broadway in 2022. On screen, he has had roles in the anthology series American Horror Story from 2015 to 2018. He also had a recurring role in the series Julie and the Phantoms (2020), alongside Jadah Marie and Booboo Stewart, and was cast as Max in the sitcom Call Me Kat (2021-23), with Mayim Bialik. Jackson also came third in Season 7 of The Masked Singer (2019-present).

MUSIC

Unlike Descendants and Descendants 2, there are more songs on this soundtrack that I don’t like than I do like. There is actually only one that I really like and unsurprisingly, that is “My Once Upon a Time”; I always like the big emotional songs. It’s a bit of a power ballad, with Mal knowing that she has made a mess of things with her plans for the barrier, upsetting her friends, and that she’ll have to find a way to fix them without the support of Evie, Jay, Carlos, and Ben who have been turned to stone. It’s a lovely song, and Dove Cameron’s vocals are stunning. The only problem is that in the movie, the song is not its full length and it is broken up with a scene of Mal pleading with Uma to help her, which kind of spoils it a bit.

There is one other song that I don’t mind too much and that is “Night Falls”, performed as the group battle the suits of armour. It has some great harmonies, and it has a good beat to it, but when they, in true Disney fashion, defeat them with a dance battle, it gets a bit weird for me! It charted at No. 84 on the Billboard Hot 100. I also have mixed feelings about “Queen of Mean”, Audrey’s solo about how she’s going to get what she wants once and for all. I don’t like the rap portions, but the more melodic sections are quite nice. “Queen of Mean” reached No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and spent eight consecutive weeks in that chart, making it the longest charting Descendants song. I know it was definitely the most popular song when the film came out.

Then we’ve got the two big production numbers, one to open the movie, and another to close, as per the first two Descendants movies. The opening number is “Good to Be Bad”, a hip-hop number with street dance choreography to match. It’s not about being evil or mean, unlike “Rotten to the Core” and “Ways to Be Wicked”, but instead it’s a celebration about the new VKs getting their chance to go to Auradon, as well as the original VKs recognising the importance of the Isle in their upbringing. It’s a catchy number, but I don’t prefer it to the other two opening songs. “Break This Down”, the final song, I also don’t prefer to “Set It Off” from Descendants, or “You and Me” from Descendants 2, but it is a cheerful song all about unity, and it is nice to see residents from the Isle and Auradon dance together.

So, for two songs that I unfortunately don’t like at all. The first is the rock ‘n’ roll duet between Mal and Hades, “Do What You Gotta Do”. She’d already had a duet with her mother in the first film, so I suppose it made sense for her to have a duet with her father, but this is odd. The two are mostly just trading barbs with each other, about how Hades wasn’t there for her as a child. It’s a strange song, I think, and it doesn’t move any of the plot forward. “Evil Like Me” at least showed the power Maleficent had over Mal, and how she felt she had to follow in her mother’s footsteps to make her happy.

The other is “One Kiss”, performed by Sofia Carson as Evie when she is readying herself to kiss Doug and wake him from the sleeping curse. Sofia Carson has a beautiful singing voice, and she hadn’t had a solo in Descendants prior to this, so it was nice to see that. However, again, this song felt like an unnecessary addition to the soundtrack, other than to showcase Sofia. I felt very much like Mal and Uma, thinking just kiss him already!

There are a few other songs on the soundtrack that vaguely appear in the main movie. One of these is China Anne McClain’s cover of “Dig a Little Deeper” from The Princess and the Frog (2009) in the End Credits. This matches the two The Little Mermaid (1989) covers that appeared on Descendants 2, to show that the new VK is the child of that film’s villain. Another is Audrey’s sinister version of “Happy Birthday”, which I very much like, and Ben’s reprise of “Did I Mention” from the first film which he sings as he proposes to Mal.

Outside of this, there are also two other songs that are additional to the movie. One is “Rotten to the Core” (D3 Remix), which features other VKs other than the original four, including Harry, Uma, Audrey, and Celia. I’ve never really liked remixes, but it’s good to update the original song with these other VKs to give them a chance to shine too. The other is “VK Mashup”, which is, as you’d expect, a mashup of some of the big VKs songs from all three movies. An excerpt of the Descendants 3 score, composed by David Lawrence once more, also features on the soundtrack. All cast sing for their characters in Descendants 3.

The Descendants 3 soundtrack peaked at No. 7 on the US Billboard 200 album chart, in a lower position than either of the two movies before it. It did, however, still top the US Kid Albums and US Soundtrack Albums charts. It was also nominated for Top Soundtrack at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards, but lost out to the soundtrack of Frozen II (2019).

PRODUCTION

Descendants 3 begins in a different place emotionally to the first two films. In the first movie, the Villain Kids only know the Isle and how to be evil or mean. In the second movie, they are adjusting to their new lives in Auradon, some quicker than others. Descendants 3 already feels more like there is unity between the Isle and Auradon, as the VKs are no longer ashamed of their past in the Isle, and know that the young VKs who still remain there should be able to choose their own path, which is why they are letting more attend Auradon Prep.

With this in mind, we see that the Isle of the Lost is actually cleaner, brighter, and the residents are much happier, because they know that Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos are now championing their rights over in Auradon. I did say that the villains would clean up the place if they felt properly motivated! Unless the residents of Auradon did it as some sort of community project, or by way of apology for twenty years of banishment and neglect… Either way, it looks pretty good and to properly pay tribute to their four “success stories”, each one now has an area of the Isle named after them: Carlos’ House, Evie’s Alley, Jay’s Way, and Mal’s Court.

There are also new sets featured on the Isle again. One of these is Hades’ Cave, which looks like a typical “man cave”. It’s dark, there is stuff all over the place, and he must’ve taken some interior design tips from Gaston, because there are sheep-skin rugs everywhere. This is the place where Hades wants to sit and be angry by himself, so naturally, the front entrance has a big sign saying “GET LOST” across it. Another new set on the Isle is Dr. Facilier’s Voodoo Arcade, which is huge, brightly lit, and features lots of games and stands, like a carnival would look. There are also references to Dr. Facilier’s “friends on the other side”, with a giant picture of one on the entrance way. The actor who played Dr. Facilier in Descendants 3 in a few brief scenes was Jamal Sims, who happened to be the choreographer on this movie. Sims had previously worked with Miley Cyrus, on the choreography of her song “Hoedown Throwdown” from Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) and on her Wonder World Tour in 2009. He has also regularly appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009-present) as a choreographer and guest judge.

The costumes for Descendants 3 were made to feel more couture and be more finessed this time around, though there is still plenty of leather and high-heeled boots in the characters’ outfits. There are less cutesy dresses and suits though, probably because the characters spend more time on the Isle and battling evil in this story. There is also a layer of added sophistication to some of the characters, such as Uma, Harry, and Gil. In Descendants 2, their costumes were a little bit tatty, because of their difficult time on the Isle and the lack of access to high-quality fabrics, I guess. This time, they look more stylish and classier than in Descendants 2. China Anne McClain stated in a behind-the-scenes video that Uma’s costume was made to look like it was glistening; to reference the fact she had been in the ocean for a long time as she tried to find a way into Auradon.

Audrey also got a new look. She is wearing a pink dress reminiscent of her mother, Aurora’s, at the start of the movie, and has pink and blue streaks in her hair, to reference the Good Fairies’ fight over what colour Aurora’s dress should be in Sleeping Beauty (1959). I don’t particularly like that look. Her evil villainess look seems to suit her much better. She looks like a younger, brighter, more modern version of Maleficent.

As for Hades, gone are the flowing robes that we are used to, and instead we get a biker, rock ‘n’ roll outfit for the character, which matches Cheyenne Jackson’s choices for his portrayal of Hades, but not Disney Animation’s. We also got to see Ben briefly made up like the Beast. It apparently took five or six hours to put all the prosthetics on, which must have been a pain, but luckily, I doubt it took more than a day or two to film those scenes[3]!

As the premiere date came closer and closer, the cast obviously went out to promote the movie. At Disney Channel Fan Fest at Disney California Adventure Park at Disneyland on 27^th April 2019, Booboo Stewart, Sofia Carson, Dove Cameron, Cheyenne Jackson, Anna Cathcart and Jadah Marie came on stage to talk about their new movie. A video introducing the character of Hades was shown as well as some teaser trailers. It was also confirmed that Descendants 3 would air in August.

Following on from that, there were the usual interviews and behind-the-scenes videos released on Disney Channel to hype up the new movie. Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Cheyenne Jackson, Booboo Stewart, and Kenny Ortega even appeared on Celebrity Family Feud, on 28^th July 2019, where they won $10,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

A fan dance party event was also held at the Marketplace Stage at Disney Springs at the Walt Disney World Resort from 26^th July to 11^th August 2019, showcasing some of the music from the movies. This was then moved to Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café at Magic Kingdom for the Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween parties. It seemed to just be a single DJ hosting the event there, however when it came to Disneyland for the Oogie Boogie Bash that same year, there were a group of dancers teaching guests specific dance routines to go along with music from Descendants[4].

There was also an addition to the A Descendants Short Story series and that was Audrey’s Royal Return, which aired on 5^th July 2019. It sees Audrey going to a spa and recapping the events of Descendants and Descendants 2 from her point of view, basically saying how Mal coming to Auradon has put everyone in danger, and that is why she stayed away from Auradon for a while, taking a break from it all at Fairy Cottage in the forest. But she misses Auradon and wanted to make a big entrance, so she has had a makeover at the spa to get her ready for that day. If this biased recap of events wasn’t enough for you, a more factual “Story So Far” video was also shown on Disney Channel.

RECEPTION

After all that build-up, everyone was ready for Descendants 3, however, in light of Cameron Boyce’s death, the red-carpet premiere that was scheduled for 22^nd July 2019 was cancelled. The Walt Disney Company instead made a donation to the Thirst Project, a charity organisation that Cameron supported. He had received the Pioneering Spirit Award in April 2019 for raising $30,000 for the Thirst Project, which aims to bring awareness and aid for the global water crisis. It was also announced at this time that Disney Channel would dedicate the telecast of Descendants 3 in Cameron’s memory[5].

Descendants 3 aired on Disney Channel in the US on 2^nd August 2019, where it was watched by around 4.5 million viewers on the night. It came to other Disney Channels worldwide in October that year. Most viewers liked the positive message of the movie, that good and evil aren’t destined, and that it’s the choices you make that define you, not where you’ve come from. This is basically what the whole series had been leading up to, as they could be seen as a discussion around what heroes and villains are. It was also appreciated that a three-minute tribute video to Cameron Boyce had been included in the original premiere. It showed behind-the-scenes moments from his career, such as making Michelle Obama laugh on the set of the series Jessie (2011-15), as well as some advice to the young viewers on how they can cope with grief.

Outside of that, there are some quite conflicting views. Many agreed that the film was tinged with melancholy as we all knew that this would be the last time all four of the VKs would ever be seen on screen together. It also made some of the lines that the characters speak even more poignant. Some absolutely loved the music and the film, claiming Descendants 3 as the best movie in the trilogy. Others didn’t agree with that statement, but did still find it to be a satisfying ending to the series.

That is my overall opinion on Descendants 3, but I also have some gripes about it too. One of these is around the music. I felt that some of the songs seemed to be shoe-horned into the movie, with very little purpose or story progression. I think some of the main cast were sidelined in Descendants 3 as well, with this story being about the fight between Mal and Audrey, with a little Uma thrown in, but not much from anyone else, which was disappointing, since the VKs friendship had been a key part of both Descendants and Descendants 2. The plot was also quite simplistic with many easy resolutions, such as Mal only needing to ask Hades twice to hand over the ember, despite that being the only piece of magic he has and the fact that he hadn’t spent much time with his daughter at all in her life up until that point, and the final battle between Mal and Audrey being underwhelming to say the least. It just seemed that every moment of peril or conflict was over within a few seconds.

LEGACY

Descendants 3 seemed to put an end to the story as the realms of Auradon and the Isle of the Lost were finally combined, but that wasn’t quite the full finale.

In October 2019, for the Halloween season, a stop-motion short was released titled Wicked Woods: A Descendants Halloween story. In this five-minute short film, the four VKs, Uma, and Audrey are being hunted by the Headless Horseman from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on Halloween night in the forest around Auradon, as the Horseman searches for a new head. It turns out he just wanted some candy and leaves the group alone once he’s got some! There was a song written for this short, “Keep Your Head on Halloween”, and the original cast returned to voice their characters, so it must’ve been recorded before Cameron Boyce’s passing as Carlos is a part of this story.

After that, in August 2020, an animated series of shorts aired on Disney Channel that followed Evie and Mal’s preparations for Mal and Ben’s upcoming wedding, titled The Planning of the Royal Wedding. These episodes are only a few minutes long, and look at typical wedding planning activities, such as cake tasting and seeing the wedding dress. This series was made to build anticipation for the 20-minute-long Descendants: The Royal Wedding that would air the following year. Sofia Carson and Dove Cameron returned to reprise their characters here.

On 13^th August 2021, Descendants: The Royal Wedding aired on Disney Channel. Much like the series of shorts around the planning of the wedding, but unlike the three main films in the series, Descendants: The Royal Wedding is an animated short film. Naturally, it centres around the wedding of Ben and Mal. Everything is seemingly going to plan, however, Hades accidentally sets fire to all of the decorations at the church and goes off back to the Isle. Mal, Jay, Evie, Ben – and Audrey, who has turned nice for once and become the official wedding planner – go to speak with him as Mal needs her father at her wedding. Whilst in the Isle, Fairy Godmother and Ben’s parents magic themselves there, and Ben and Mal decide that, as all the people they love are here, they should have a small ceremony in the forest. After this ceremony, everyone is reunited at the wedding reception at the castle. All the cast members return to voice their character roles, although a few characters are missing such as Jane, Harry, and Gil for unknown reasons. Carlos is also not here, however, there is a touching tribute made to him. Jay and Evie give Mal a wedding gift of a charm bracelet featuring charms that reference each of the four VKs, which is sweet. I personally didn’t need this entry in the Descendants series, and I don’t like the animation style, but I understand that many viewers would’ve wanted to see this to fully complete the storyline. The short film does also end with a reference to new stories beginning. A rabbit hole, as well as painted red roses, are shown at the very end of the special, hinting at a new Descendants story potentially coming.

So, those were the official Descendants entries that specifically tie up the stories of Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos. Aside from those, sing-along editions of all three Descendants movies later aired on Disney Channel. There was also another television special, Descendants Remix Dance Party, that was shown on Disney Channel on 20^th March 2020. It was a one-night only dance party hosted by Cheyenne Jackson as Hades, set in his “Club Ember”, where songs from all three movies were featured. Disney’s Descendants: The Musical also became available for licensing for local productions to stage in 2020, following in the legacy of other Disney Channel Original Movies, like High School Musical (2006) and Camp Rock (2008)[6].

FINAL THOUGHTS

By making Descendants 3 and then the animated short film Descendants: The Royal Wedding, Disney successfully brought the stories of Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos to a close. It made sense to make three feature-length movies because Descendants was one of few Disney franchises that had matched the popularity of High School Musical on any level.

Yet, all good series must come to an end and it was only right that Descendants ended in the way it did for the four original VKs. There was an air of finality to the series, and I was happy with how it finished. Even though I am not a fan of Descendants: The Royal Wedding, with its creation, viewers did not have to feel cheated of seeing Mal get her “happily ever after” with Ben.

Some time has passed since these features were released, and the actors have moved on to other projects. Not having Cameron Boyce and Carlos involved in feature Descendants projects would make any look back on these VKs quite unlikely.

However, Descendants has remained a popular franchise and with its fairy tale setting, similarly to the ABC series Once Upon a Time (2011-18), there are opportunities to explore other characters. Rightly or wrongly, Disney Channel have done just that with their most recent Descendants entry: Descendants: The Rise of Red (2024).

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Alex Reif, ‘Film Review: “Descendants 3” (Disney Channel)’, LaughingPlace.com, 25^th July 2019.

[2] Credit: Zach Johnson, ‘Bringing Down the Barrier: Behind the Scenes of Descendants 3’, D23.com, 2^nd August 2019.

[3] Credit: Disney, ‘Behind the Scenes of Descendants 3! Compilation: Road to Auradon: Descendants 3’, Disney Descendants YouTube Channel, 6^th September 2019.

[4] Credit: Sieera Vieregge, ‘Just Announced! The DescenDANCE Party Is Coming to Walt Disney World!’, DisneyFoodBlog.com, date unknown.

[5] Credit: Denise Petski, ‘‘Descendants 3’ Red Carpet Premiere Event Canceled In Wake Of Cameron Boyce’s Death’, Deadline.com, 11^th July 2019.

[6] Credit: Logan Culwell-Block, ‘Stage Adaptation of Disney Channel’s Descendants Now Available for Licensing’, Playbill.com, 5^th March 2020.

19th Jul 202429th Sep 2025 by The Disney Purist

Descendants 2 (2017)

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 24^th 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 13^th April 2017, a day before it became available to purchase online. Shortly after, the premiere date was revealed: 21^st 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 14^th 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 21^st 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 16^th 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 28^th 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, 21^st July 2017.

[2] Credit: Melinda Newman, ‘Disney Channel’s ‘Descendants 2’ Soundtrack Strikes a New Wicked Chord After Original Hit’, Billboard.com, 2^nd August 2017.

[3] Credit: Kimberly Nordyke, ‘Sword Training, 1,500 Costumes and Water-Filled Dance Numbers: Behind the Scenes of ‘Descendants 2’’, HollywoodReporter.com, 21^st July 2017.

[4] Credit: Beth Deitchman, ‘The Villain Kids are Dressed to Thrill in Descendants 2’, D23.com, 21^st July 2017.

[5] Credit: Disney ‘‘Descendants 2’ Premiere Reaches 13 Million Total Viewers’, TheWaltDisneyCompany,com, 24^th July 2017.

[6] Credit: Noelle Devoe, ‘Thomas Doherty Shares the Surprising Kissing Scene That Was Cut From ‘Descendants 2’’, Seventeen.com, 25^th July 2017.

12th Jul 202416th Jan 2026 by The Disney Purist

Descendants (2015)

BACKGROUND

Despite Disney Channel continuing to dish out new original movies to hordes of eager tweens and teens on a regular basis, nothing had captured anyone’s attention quite like the High School Musical trilogy.

That wasn’t for lack of trying though. Disney Channel have always made good movies, with their musicals generally being their most successful films, and in the years after the release of High School Musical (2006), we were given some great ones, including Camp Rock (2008) and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010), as well as Lemonade Mouth (2011) and StarStruck (2010).

Although the reception to all of these was positive on the whole, they hadn’t matched the fame of the High School Musical franchise. Disney Channel knew they needed something bigger, something more marketable, something more familiar. And so, with that in mind, they went back to the Disney animated movies to find their inspiration.

So, were given Descendants, a movie that used some of the most adored Disney Villains of all time as its basis, but there’s always a twist, especially in Disney – and that twist was that Descendants was going to be about… the villains’ kids? Who saw that coming?

As a hardcore fan of the Disney Villains, I was concerned when I heard about Descendants. I wasn’t watching Disney Channel much at the time – I was “too old” for that – but there was such a buzz around the announcement of Descendants that I must’ve just heard about it online. I had never considered the possibility of the Disney Villains having children, with many of them seeming to have died in their respective movies, but let’s not worry about canon here; it all gets very complicated if you do.

In a way, I was right to be concerned. I first watched Descendants on DVD, having received it as a Christmas present in 2015, and seeing the over-the-top, flamboyant, and might I say weak, portrayals of some of my favourite villains was not what I had wanted to see, although I was not overly surprised to see this change in these characters – this is a Disney Channel movie after all. However, in another way, I wasn’t right to be concerned, because luckily, Descendants isn’t about the classic Disney villains, it’s about the kids, and the four main characters were instantly likeable and their star quality amazed me.

As the movie went on, I liked Descendants more and more, and forgot about the villain parents. I ended up being very impressed, surprising myself as I had only wanted to watch it so I could be bitter about the villain portrayals. My pettiness is disappointing, I know.

PLOT

The story of Descendants begins with a classic storybook opening, except this is 2015 so the story is actually on a tablet, because no young person reads actual books anymore, do they? Anyway, this backstory tells us that when the Beast and Belle married, Beast decided to unite all the neighbouring kingdoms, naming them the United States of Auradon and he became king of all of the realm, seemingly by his own decision, with no election held so that the people could decide who might be ruler of Auradon. I guess democracy is dead in fairy tale world! To stop any further evil from disrupting everyone’s “happily ever afters”, all the villains and bad guys were banished to the Isle of the Lost and refused entry to Auradon.

Around twenty years later, Belle and Beast’s son, Prince Ben, soon-to-be crowned King Ben at the young age of 16, states that as his first official proclamation, he has ordered that some of the villain children from the Isle be allowed to start a new life in Auradon, as they should not be punished for their parents’ mistakes. The four kids who will test out this new idea are the children of Cruella De Vil from One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), Jafar from Aladdin (1992), the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), and of course, the mistress of all evil, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (1959).

A limo comes to collect the four teens, Carlos, Jay, Evie, and Mal, but they are uncertain about going to a boarding school full of “prissy princesses and perfect princes”. Maleficent is eager for them to go though, as she has never given up hope of escaping the Isle and ruling over Auradon. She pushes her daughter, Mal, to agree to her plan, to find Fairy Godmother’s wand and break the barrier between the two lands so that she can storm Auradon and usurp the throne. They agree and head to Auradon in their fancy limo, although they initially believe it to be a trick as they are driven towards a huge ocean, but there’s an invisible road that appears with the click of a button. How lucky is that!

At Auradon Prep, the four villain kids, or VKs, receive a mixed reception, with many suspicious of their intentions. The most suspicious of these is Audrey, Ben’s girlfriend and the daughter of Princess Aurora, so yeah, there’s bad blood between her and Mal already. Ben is still sure of his plan and welcomes them all warmly. The four are led to their dorm rooms and they begin to settle in to their surroundings before their first day of school the next day. Except Mal just wants to get this wand for her mother and get out of here, so she gets the other three to focus on their actual mission. Evie discovers, via her magic compact mirror, that Fairy Godmother’s wand is housed in The Museum of Cultural History and it’s just a short walk away. After breaking into the museum that night, using Maleficent’s spell book that she gave to Mal, which can only work in Auradon, not in the Isle, they find the wand, but Jay tries to grab the wand and the alarm goes off. They run back to school and are not caught, although Mal is annoyed; they actually have to go to class tomorrow now!

During the school day, the four VKs struggle with their class Remedial Goodness, a new class just for them, of course, and find that many of the students and teachers are scared of them. Evie just wants Chad, son of Cinderella and Prince Charming, to fall for her, despite Doug, Dopey’s son, being interested in her; Jay finds that he’s good at Tourney, a sport that seems to be a medieval version of lacrosse; and Carlos learns that dogs can actually be friendly, despite his mother telling him that dogs are vicious pack animals that will hunt him down and attack him. Mal, however, is intent on completing her mother’s wish and goes to Fairy Godmother’s daughter, Jane, for information. Now that Fairy Godmother is a teacher, she apparently never uses her wand anymore, much to Jane’s annoyance as she wants to use it to make herself beautiful. Mal tries to get Jane to like her by magically changing her hair style and telling Jane she should tell her mother how she feels. This doesn’t work, but Evie says that the wand will be used at Ben’s Coronation later in the week. Mal asks Ben if she can sit in the front row for the ceremony but he tells her those seats are only for his parents and his girlfriend. That gives her an idea.

With Maleficent’s spell book, Mal and the rest of the VKs are able to make cookies that contain a love spell. Using some clever reverse psychology and emotional blackmail, Mal convinces Ben to eat one of the cookies and he falls in love with her instantly. After Auradon Prep win their Tourney game, Ben declares his love for Mal, much to Audrey’s dismay who starts to date Chad, which upsets Evie as she wanted to be his girlfriend, and was willing to do his homework for him just to get him to like her. Mal tells her she can do so much better than him, which is mostly definitely true! Evie decides that with Doug’s tutoring, she’ll focus on her school work, and she begins to like Doug instead.

Later on, Mal tells Evie that Ben has asked her out on a date and helps get her ready. Ben takes Mal for a cute picnic by the Enchanted Lake. Despite Mal believing the two of them are very different, they end up bonding over their struggles to deal with their parents’ expectations of them, and how they just want to choose what they want to do with their lives. Mal realises that actually, she does like Ben and now feels guilty for the spell.

The next day, as Family Day is coming up and the VKs parents cannot come to visit, a special video call is set up for them. Mal tells her mother about the Coronation and that gives Maleficent the date for her revenge plan to take place. The four teens now aren’t sure about this plan, but on Family Day, tensions run high as Mal runs into Queen Leah, Aurora’s mother and Audrey’s grandmother, and the teens realise that nobody wants them here, giving them motivation to carry out the plan to steal Fairy Godmother’s wand. Mal doesn’t want to keep Ben under the love spell though and makes something to reverse it.

On Coronation Day, Ben and Mal arrive together in a carriage. During the ride to the cathedral, Mal gives him the brownie and tells him to eat it later in the day, but he doesn’t listen and takes a bite right there. He says he doesn’t feel any different and reveals to Mal that he knew about her love spell and that it washed off after he went swimming in the Enchanted Lake during their date. Surprisingly, Ben is not angry and thinks it’s cute that Mal put him under a spell just because she was jealous of Audrey and didn’t think Ben would like her without a spell. Ok Ben, you just keep believing that delusion if it makes you feel better!

During the ceremony, the wand is stolen and the barrier between Auradon and the Isle of the Lost is broken. Maleficent is overjoyed and magics herself to the cathedral. In a shocking discovery, it was actually Jane stealing her mother’s wand, wanting to make herself beautiful like Cinderella. Mal takes the wand from her in a seemingly selfless act, but she refuses to return it, not wanting to disappoint her mother. She says that she just wants to be good, and doesn’t want to go through with this, giving the wand back, but as her, Evie, Carlos, and Jay vow to each other that they’ll choose good over evil, Maleficent arrives and freezes everyone except the four. She takes the wand from Fairy Godmother’s hand, but the VKs fight back and retrieve it. Maleficent then transforms into a dragon and attacks them. Mal uses a counterspell which turns Maleficent’s dragon into a lizard. Everyone is unfrozen and Mal returns the wand to Fairy Godmother, who tells Mal that Maleficent was shrunk so that she would become the size of the love in her heart, which, naturally, is quite small!

After all that mess, it’s time to party and celebrate Ben’s Coronation Day. The students do this with a dance number and fireworks outside of Auradon Prep, which are being watched from afar by the other villain parents. As we continue watching all the students partying together as friends, we see Mal’s eyes flash green, and hear her say that the story isn’t over yet.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Mal is Maleficent’s daughter. She seems to be the villain kid who is most inclined towards being evil, compared with the other three, and that is because her mother is one of the most evil villains of them all. Maleficent is also the only villain who thinks they can get off the Isle, so all that scheming and wickedness would’ve rubbed off on her daughter! But Mal actually doesn’t want to be evil like her mother. After getting to Auradon, she realises that she wants to be a good person and that she likes Ben, and that he makes her happy, whereas being mean and cruel doesn’t. Mal stands up to her mother, which must’ve been incredibly difficult for her, and is ultimately the one who outsmarts and defeats her. Mal was played brilliantly by Dove Cameron. At the time of Descendants, Cameron was performing the dual role of both Liv Rooney and Maddie Rooney in the Disney Channel series Liv and Maddie (2013-17), for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children’s Programming in 2018. She had also starred in the Disney Channel movie Cloud 9 (2014).

Evie is the daughter of the Evil Queen. She has been brought up to believe that beauty and money are the most important things in the world, so all Evie needs to do is stay young and stunning and bag herself a rich prince – according to her mother. Although Evie attempts to do this by flirting with Chad, it doesn’t work out for her, and she learns that actually she is intelligent, creative, and independent; she doesn’t need a guy to give her life meaning and she can be successful on her own terms and with her own talent. Though I like Mal, I also really like Evie, because she’s very optimistic and level-headed. Sofia Carson was cast as Evie, who had first appeared on Disney Channel in a guest role on the series Austin & Ally in 2014. After Descendants, Carson starred in a different Disney Channel movie, Adventures in Babysitting (2016).

Carlos is the son of Cruella de Vil. His mother taught him to be scared of dogs, after all her traumatic backstory with them, I suppose. She also seems to treat her son like her own personal slave, not wanting him to go to Auradon so he can do her hair… Carlos is funny, helpful, kind, and a complete scene-stealer. Carlos is one of the first to stand up to their parents, as he shows his mother that she was wrong about dogs by getting himself a pet, the school mascot, Dude. Even in Descendants, you can see that Carlos is being set up to be the one that holds the four of them together, despite the difficulties they’ll face. The very talented Cameron Boyce played the part of Carlos. Prior to Descendants, Boyce had been cast as one of the kids in the Adam Sandler film Grown Ups (2010) and its 2013 sequel. He was famous on Disney Channel for his role as Luke Ross in the series Jessie (2011-15), where Debbie Ryan played the title character. Boyce also voiced Jake in the animated series Jake and the Never Land Pirates from 2012 to 2014.

Jay is the son of Jafar, and due to there not being any magic on the Isle of the Lost, Jafar and Jay make their living by stealing from others. Jay does the exact same thing when he gets to Auradon but he soon learns that he doesn’t need to be doing that because he has his own skill – and that is being a great Tourney player, which automatically makes him a jock and part of a team. He is the most confident one of the four, but he can be a bit hot-headed, easy to anger if someone disrespects him. Booboo Stewart, who played Seth Clearwater in The Twilight Saga (2008-12), was cast as Jay. Stewart had also played Warpath in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) before his role in Descendants.

Before we get to the “heroes”, it’s probably worth briefly mentioning the villain parents. Although not as menacing or as wicked as their animated counterparts, the villain parents are much more kid-friendly in Descendants and I guess it makes sense that they aren’t particularly strong or confident now because they have been banished to the Isle for twenty years and can no longer practise magic or make big evil plans. Stand-up comedian Maz Jobrani portrayed Jafar here, and Wendy Raquel Robinson, who had roles in The Steve Harvey Show (1996-2002) as Regina, and The Game (2006-23), as Tasha, played Cruella de Vil. Kathy Najimy, who starred as Mary Sanderson in Hocus Pocus (1993) and its 2022 sequel, as well as Sister Mary Patrick in Sister Act (1992) and its 1993 sequel, was cast as the Evil Queen, and the fabulous Kristin Chenoweth got the almighty task of playing Maleficent. Chenoweth is known for numerous roles, including originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked, as well as her screen credits, like Mary Jo Gornicke in RV (2006), Olive Snook in Pushing Daisies (2007-09), and Mildred/Miss Codwell in Schmigadoon! (2021-23). Chenoweth was also cast as Velma Von Tussle in Hairspray Live! (2016) with Dove Cameron playing her on-screen daughter, Amber.

For the heroes, obviously the main one is Ben. Ben is one of the few residents of Auradon to welcome the Villain Kids to Auradon Prep, but that’s probably because it was his idea to bring them there. If you don’t stand up for your own decree, no-one else will! Ben is very kind and understanding; he should be since his mother is Belle. Ben is played by Mitchell Hope, with Descendants being his breakout role. I actually very much like this character and think Hope portrayed the charm and sincerity of Ben well.

His parents, King Beast – the man still isn’t allowed a name? – and Belle were played by Dan Payne, who has appeared in many Hallmark holiday movies, and Keegan Connor Tracy, respectively, who was cast in the role of the Blue Fairy in the ABC series Once Upon a Time (2011-18). Then there is Fairy Godmother, the kind and fair headmistress of Auradon Prep. She is determined to teach the VKs how to be good, no matter how they behave. Melanie Paxson was chosen to play the part of Fairy Godmother. Fans of the Nickelodeon show True Jackson, VP may know her as Doris Aden, but prior to that, she had appeared in sitcoms such as Notes from the Underbelly (2007-08) and Happy Family (2003-04).

Descendants benefits from a large and varied supporting cast, with many other “royal children” who have not been mentioned, simply because it would take too long to write about all of them! Some of these characters do become more involved in later stories.

MUSIC

The soundtrack of Descendants features a lot of big, show-stopping ensemble numbers. The one song in the movie that goes against this is “If Only”, my favourite song in the movie. It’s an emotional, heartfelt solo performed by Mal, as she thinks about what she really wants from life. It’s a calm moment of meditation in amongst a story that is full to the brim with action and conflict. There is also a reprise of “If Only” later on, as Mal tearfully makes the antidote for her love spell for Ben the night before the Coronation.

“Rotten to the Core” is a huge production number with complicated choreography and a little bit of parkour that sets up the movie to focus on these four villain kids. It shows them in their natural habitat of the Isle of the Lost. It immediately grabbed my attention when I watched the movie for the first time and kept me interested in what was still to come. Another big dance number is featured at the end of the movie with “Set It Off”. After Ben’s Coronation, it’s time to party and the Auradon Prep students show us how it’s done. It’s a positive, happy ending to the movie, showing that they are “all in this together”.

So those are the songs that I do like in Descendants. Now for the ones I don’t like so much. The first one is “Did I Mention”, which is the song that Ben sings in front of all the Auradon Prep students, publicly declaring his love for Mal thanks to the love spell she put on him. It’s not that I don’t like the music, I actually do because it’s very catchy, and it’s hilarious to see Ben acting so earnestly when it almost feels embarrassing for the onlooker! The only issue I have is the dance moves. Mitchell Hope doesn’t seem to be the most natural dancer, and seeing the backing dancers next to him makes it all look a little bit awkward. Not that I’m one to judge. My dance abilities go about as far as the Macarena and the Cha-Cha Slide! Maybe it’s just the shoulder pads on Ben’s Tourney uniform throwing him off balance! Singer-songwriter Jeff Lewis, who was a contestant on The Voice Season 4, is credited as Ben’s singing voice in this movie, although the soundtrack lists Mitchell Hope as an artist as well.

Another number is “Evil Like Me”. Mal is trying to live up to her mother’s legacy and struggling to find the motivation to follow in her footsteps, so it’s a duet between the two, all happening only in Mal’s mind. It feels very Broadway, very showy. Again, it’s not so much the song that bothers me, but the idea behind it. To see Maleficent, one of the most devious female Disney villains of all time, dancing around and saying things about being “finger lickin’ evil to the bone” does not compute in my mind. If I forget it’s meant to be the Maleficent, it’s fine though, and Dove Cameron and Kristin Chenoweth really pull it off.

The musical piece I dislike the most is “Be Our Guest”. It’s an odd hip-hop/rap version of the classic song from Beauty and the Beast (1991) that the Auradon Prep students perform to welcome their families to Family Fun Day. I personally found it cringey to sit through because I’m so familiar with the actual song, and didn’t feel it needed to be updated. They also mention fine dining and eating “the grey stuff” still, but the only food I can see is this scene is a chocolate fountain, so that’s false advertising in my book.

On the soundtrack, “Believe” by Shawn Mendes is the final song, featuring in the End Credits. It’s ok but not something I’ll rush back to listen to again. “Believe” was nominated for Choice Movie TV Song at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards. There is also the score composed by David Lawrence, who composed the scores for other Disney Channel Original Movies, including High School Music (2006). “Descendants Score Suite”, featuring excerpts from the score, was included on the official soundtrack. Lawrence was nominated for Outstanding Music Composition at the 68^th Primetime Emmy Awards. Descendants’ soundtrack topped the US Billboard 200, US Kid Albums and US Soundtrack Albums charts on its release.

PRODUCTION

Talk about Descendants started quite early on in production. In December 2013, the basic plot outline, i.e., four children of Disney villains being allowed to attend school at Auradon, was already known, as well as the names of the villain kids, and who their famous parents are. Kenny Ortega had also been named as director, which would have added to the excitement around the film, since he was well-known for being the director of the High School Musical trilogy – and we all know how well those did[1]. Ortega was the choreographer on many movies including Xanadu (1980) and Dirty Dancing (1987), and went on to direct Newsies (1992) and Hocus Pocus (1993), both for Disney. Casting and photos from shooting were later revealed in 2014, with a release date confirmed as being Summer 2015.

Kenny Ortega later stated in an interview that it took five months of auditioning before they found the four actors who would become Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay. He stated how impressed he was with them, and the fact that they took their roles seriously. Ortega also said how he liked that they were able to refresh these classic characters from Disney Animation, as well as be able to create new characters that would resonate with a new generation of Disney watchers[2].

Not only did the team on Descendants create new characters but they also had to create two new worlds. Auradon became the new magical kingdom, with its grand architecture, beautiful landscaping, and of course, its beautiful castle, which you can see during the “storybook opening” and coincidentally looks pretty similar to Cinderella Castle from the Disney Parks. This is the complete opposite of the Isle of the Lost. The Isle’s buildings are derelict, covered in grim and graffiti, and it looks like a dark, dismal junkyard. I’m sure if the villains hadn’t been condemned to a life there, banished from civilisation, they might have been a bit more motivated to clean the place up. As it is, that was not the case!

Descendants is also known for its stunning costumes. Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay begin their story in heavy leather outfits. The steampunk look of the Isle of the Lost is in sharp contrast to Auradon, where the princes all wear suits, and the princesses wear pretty dresses. Evie, being such a fashionista, is inspired by these clothes and makes new creations for the four. Although they wear dresses and suits, especially at the Coronation where it is a given, they still manage to retain some of that steampunk style, with leather incorporated into many of their outfits, perhaps as a way of complementing their journey to goodness without forgetting their roots.

RECEPTION

Since there was such a buzz around the release of Descendants, it is only natural that there was some serious promotion for the movie, not just on Disney Channel, but outside of it, with the four main cast members being interviewed by news outlets and media channels in the days and weeks leading up to the release date, saying how honoured they were to be cast as these famous villains’ children and how proud they were of the movie.

On Disney Channel, a 23-episode series of short clips were shown every day prior to Descendants’ premiere date. This series was called Descendants: School of Secrets, and showed a mysterious and unnamed student using a hidden camera to show footage from inside the world of Auradon Prep, revealing the mixed reaction of the students after the announcement that four villain children would be attending their school soon.

After all that press, Descendants finally premiered on Disney Channel on 31^st July 2015, where it was viewed by 6.6 million people on the night. It didn’t reach the UK Disney Channel until 25^th September 2015, by which point the reviews were already out.

Many of these reviews were positive, likening Descendants to High School Musical, albeit not regarding Descendants quite as highly. The soundtrack was generally regarded as being just as strong as that of High School Musical, and some praised the costumes and the message of being yourself, and good overcoming evil. The performance of the four lead actors was also considered to be very strong on the whole. The best description of Descendants that I read in any review was ‘High School Musical meets Once Upon a Time’, which I feel is a very accurate description of this movie[3]. On the more negative side, some complained over the auto-tune sound to some of the music, which I’ll admit you can hear in places, such as during “Rotten to the Core”, as well as the original villain characters not being accurate to their animated counterparts, which I’ve already had my say on.

Kenny Ortega won the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Children’s Program from the 2016 Directors Guild of America Awards for Descendants, and the screenwriters, Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott, won the Writers Guild of America Award for Children’s Longform Program. I think these awards are a testament to how well Descendants was received not just by children or teenagers, the target audience of the movie, but by the movie-making industry itself. Descendants was big news.

LEGACY

Right after Descendants had aired, a new animated series was announced, titled Descendants: Wicked World. The series ran for two seasons, from September 2015 to March 2017, with many of the original cast reprising their characters in these voice roles. The events of this series took place after Descendants. New characters, both from Auradon and the Isle of the Lost, were also introduced, including Freddie, the daughter of Dr. Facilier, who was voiced by China Anne McClain, which might sound confusing if you have already seen Descendants 2. More on that another time.

Descendants: Wicked World was apparently the first Disney Channel Original Series to be based on a Disney Channel Original Movie. It is also worth noting that three songs from this series appear on the Descendants movie soundtrack, released before this animated series aired. Descendants: Wicked World was nominated for Choice Animated TV Show at the 2016 Teen Choice Awards.

Despite some of the cast and Kenny Ortega attending the D23 Expo in August 2015, as well as being interviewed about the success of Descendants, they refused to confirm whether a sequel was in the works, even though Mal implies at the end of the movie that there is more to come. Fans didn’t need to wait too much longer for confirmation, because in October 2015 on Instagram, Disney Channel confirmed that Descendants 2 was in production. No air date was given at this time, though many assumed it would be released in Summer 2017. To celebrate the news of this sequel, Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart, and Kenny Ortega went to Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort to perform on stage for fans.

As well as these on-screen continuations, the world of Descendants gave more opportunities for Disney merchandising, as novels, costumes, clothing, and toys were released shortly after to cope with the success of the movie and its new fans[4].

For the 2015 Disney Parks Unforgettable Christmas Celebration taping at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, the four VKs performed the song “Rotten to the Core”, cementing them as a major entertainment property within the Disney Company. Not just anyone gets invited to these kinds of Disney Holiday shows! In 2016, they returned again for 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 “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.

FINAL THOUGHTS

After much anticipation prior to the release of Descendants, it did not disappoint. It received positive reviews, and many liked the new take on a classic Disney story of heroes and villains, where the villains’ children realise that they do not have to follow in their parents’ footsteps, and that they can choose their own path.

Though I was initially disappointed by the portrayal of these devious Disney villains, I found myself completely absorbed in the story that was being told to me. It wasn’t even about those villains; it was about Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos.

The success of Descendants, almost ten years after High School Musical premiered on Disney Channel in 2006, showed that Disney Channel yet again had another musical hit. And, much like High School Musical, there was more story to come.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Marc Snetiker, ‘Disney plans live-action movie ‘Descendants’ featuring villains’ kids’, EW,com, 12^th December 2013.

[2] Credit: D23, ‘Talking Disney’s Descendants with Kenny Ortega’, D23.com, date unknown.

[3] Credit: Amy Amatangelo, ‘‘Descendants’: TV Review’, HollywoodReporter.com, 28^th July 2015.

[4] Credit: Doug Marsh, ‘Disney Descendants Celebrate at Disneyland’, LaughingPlace.com, 22^nd October 2015.

5th Jul 202423rd Jan 2026 by The Disney Purist

StarStruck (2010)

BACKGROUND

Everyone remembers their first celebrity crush.

For me, there have been many. Some fleeting, some with more staying power. I know, I need help, it’s just so hard to find good support groups these days.

I’m not even talking about my first celebrity crush here, but I am talking about my first Disney Channel crush. Ethan Craft from Lizzie McGuire didn’t interest me, nor did Jake Ryan in Hannah Montana. Zac Efron did to a point, but it wasn’t until I was sixteen and I watched Sonny with a Chance for the first time, on a family holiday to Walt Disney World of all places, that I first saw him: Sterling Knight, playing the obnoxious but charming Chad Dylan Cooper. With that blond hair and those blue, blue eyes, I was hooked.

So, imagine how pleased I was to find that in 2010, just a few months later, that I’d get to see him in his very own Disney Channel movie, StarStruck, where he would be singing and playing the guitar. All my fangirl dreams had come true.

StarStruck followed in the footsteps of highly successful Disney Channel musical films, like the High School Musical and Cheetah Girls franchises. Sadly, StarStruck never quite hit those heights, but I loved it, and I know some friends of mine who didn’t even particularly watch Disney Channel at the time, because we were probably considered to be “too old” to be watching it, also quite liked it.

My love for Sterling Knight only lasted about a year and a half, and he soon graduated from Disney, moving on to new projects. I moved on too, to university…and the band Big Time Rush. Please, judge me quietly. But I never forgot about StarStruck and every time I rewatch it, it’s a real blast from the past. I can still remember the songs and many moments from the film, even after all these years.

That was a window into my awkward teenage years. I’m very sorry if it was embarrassing to read. I did say judge me quietly.

Now, let’s get to the story of StarStruck.

PLOT

StarStruck begins with a nighttime aerial view of Los Angeles, moving inside the Staples Center where teen heartthrob and singing sensation Christopher Wilde is performing a concert to crowds of adoring fans.

We then see that this is just a news report on the concert which is being watched by a teenage girl called Sara, as her parents and sister talk about packing for their upcoming trip to Los Angeles to visit their grandmother. Sara is a huge fan of Christopher Wilde. She’s hoping to meet him whilst in L.A., having researched all of his usual hang outs. You’d be forgiven for thinking that StarStruck is about Sara, but it’s not. It’s actually all about the sister, Jessica, who hates celebrities and the shallowness of fame. Shock horror – she doesn’t even like Christopher Wilde and has no desire to go to L.A!

On this lovely family holiday to L.A. from Kalamazoo, Michigan – the first time I’d ever heard of this place – Sara ends up dragging Jessica to an Under-21s club, where she’s heard a rumour that Christopher Wilde is due to sing there. Jessica is ordered to stay in their grandmother’s bright pink car and wait for her.

Meanwhile, Christopher Wilde’s parents/managers want him to move into acting as well as keep up with all of his singing commitments. A director, Alan Smith, comes to visit them and says that he doesn’t like how Christopher is portrayed in the media, looking like some sort of spoilt punk, so he tells him to stay home this weekend and keep out of the tabloids, or he won’t get the movie deal. Only, Christopher promised his girlfriend, starlet Alexis Bender, that he would sing at the club for her birthday. His friend, assistant, and chauffeur, Stubby, sneaks him in through the back, and he does perform, before quickly exiting the club. Jessica has got bored of waiting for Sara and tries to find her. She goes to the back entrance to the club – and is hit on the head by the door that Christopher Wilde is leaving from. Horrified that this girl might threaten his efforts to stay out of the press, Christopher bundles Jessica into his car and drives her to the hospital to get checked out.

It turns out Jessica is fine and just wants to go home. Christopher then gets a call to say that the director is at his house, and his parents tell him to get back quickly. Using a doctor’s car to avoid the paparazzi, he takes Jessica to his house and hides her upstairs, telling her to wait for him to return. Christopher meets with Alan and his daughters, who ask him to perform for them. After he does this, Jessica has got bored of waiting (again) and heads to his garage; Christopher follows. She orders him to take her home now. Once they get to Jessica’s grandmother’s house, Christopher finds he has been followed there by the paparazzi. He asks Jessica if he can stay in her grandmother’s garage. Jessica doesn’t want anything more to do with him, but lets him stay there anyway as he seems desperate.

The next morning, Jessica finds that, thankfully, Christopher has left before anyone could accidentally discover him in the garage. Sara hears a news report about Christopher Wilde, saying that he was spotted at his house party with a different girl, not his girlfriend, Alexis – gasp! Sara and Jessica argue about the authenticity of this piece of gossip, at which point Grandma tells them to take the car and go to the beach.

The two end up at Malibu Beach, because Christopher Wilde surfs in Malibu, you know. Jessica then sees Christopher sat on the beach. She goes over to him and asks why he is here and not at home. He tells her that his house is surrounded by photographers and needs a different car to get back. Jessica swaps keys with Christopher, but as he is about to leave in “Petunia”, Grandma’s pink car, the paparazzi swarm the car park, so the two get in the car, don (bad) disguises, and leave. They then decide to go sightseeing for the day.

As their perfect day together comes to an end, the photographers begin following Christopher again. Jessica sends them down a back road and they get lost. They argue about Jessica’s terrible navigational skills and Christopher’s bad driving, before realising that the car isn’t moving anymore. And that is because they’ve landed in mud or quicksand. The car sinks into the muddy pool. Christopher and Jessica get to solid land, but they’re still arguing, even more so now that Jessica will have to explain what happened to Petunia.

Christopher gets annoyed at Jessica for ruining his perfect day with her grumpiness, and she tells him that he is acting like a spoilt brat and doesn’t understand how he can have any real friends. The conflict ends when Christopher pulls Jessica into a lake, and the two start to get along, having a heart-to-heart about how Christopher feels pushed into doing things to further his career by his parents, but all he wants to do is sing. Jessica tells him he should do whatever makes him happy.

As they finally return to the beach and are about to kiss, Christopher realises they are back in the real world and tells Jessica she can’t tell anyone about their day together, and asks for her camera so that none of the photos from the day can get out to the press. Jessica is both angry and heartbroken, and leaves, just as Christopher is surrounded by fans. But an eagle-eyed photographer notices something between the two of them and takes a photo of Jessica, for further research. Jessica is upset for the rest of her family’s L.A. visit, and as they leave, her grandmother tells her that life has a way of working itself out.

Christopher is told by Director Alan that the story has got out and he must deny knowing Jessica if he wants this movie deal. He goes on the celeb news programme “StarStruck” and says he never met her. That doesn’t stop the press camping outside Jessica’s family home in Michigan though, as they wait for her side of the story. Her parents now know something has happened to Jessica in L.A., but she can’t talk about it. Eventually, Jessica realises that the only way the press will leave is if she talks. She gives a brilliant speech about how the media build people up into celebrities, only so that they can tear them down again, to sell papers and magazines. This is incredibly accurate even today in the social media age and sounds all too familiar. I love this speech. Jessica also says that she never met Christopher Wilde, so now everyone thinks she lied about meeting him.

Christopher gets his movie deal, but after seeing Jessica on television giving this speech, and after a few harsh words from Stubby, he realises that he has been an idiot and goes to make amends. He tells Alan that he doesn’t want to be involved in his movie anymore, and fires his parents as his managers.

At Jessica’s school dance later, only Sara seems to believe that she really did meet Christopher Wilde and the other students ignore her or talk about how crazy she is. That is until Christopher appears on the stage. He sings to Jessica and apologies for treating her the way he did. Jessica isn’t entirely convinced, until reporter Libby Lam comes into the dance and Christopher tells the whole world that he was the one who lied: he does know Jessica and he thinks she’s the most amazing girl he’s ever met. He then promptly tells the reporter to leave them all alone. This works on Jessica and she forgives him. Christopher asks her to go on a real date with him, and they hold hands, and dance the night away together. Oh yeah, and Sara is finally given the opportunity to meet Christopher Wilde – and instead, faints in Stubby’s arms… That’s obsessive fans for you!

CHARACTERS & CAST

Christopher Wilde is a teenage superstar. He’s known for being a singer, but his parents/managers want him to take advantage of that star quality and go into acting as well. Christopher doesn’t necessarily want to do this, but he feels he has no choice but to go along with it, even if that means ignoring the people he wants to be with the most, and forgetting about what he wants to do with his life. Jessica tries to encourage Christopher to make his own choices, but he struggles to accept that he has the power to do that and ends up hurting her instead. It takes Christopher a while to figure out how to regain balance over his life, but he does so eventually and manages to regain Jessica’s trust too.

Sterling Knight was cast as Christopher Wilde. Knight made his film debut starring alongside Zac Efron in the romantic comedy film 17 Again. His famous Disney Channel role is playing Chad Dylan Cooper in the series Sonny with a Chance (2009-11), alongside Demi Lovato. He then returned to the spin-off series So Random! (2011-12), the sketch comedy show-within-a-show that Sonny and her friends perform on. It’s odd that Chad Dylan Cooper would choose to perform on So Random! since the character supposedly hated the show. Maybe Mackenzie Falls was cancelled or went on hiatus or something? He was a fan-favourite character though, so it wouldn’t have been right to leave him out of the spin-off. After this, Knight went on to have a recurring role in the sitcom Melissa & Joey (2010-15). Recently, Sterling Knight seems to have stepped away from the spotlight. I can only hope that he is doing well and living his best life.

Jessica Olson perhaps is not the most likeable lead character of a Disney Channel movie. She is very opinionated and stubborn, thinking her views on life are superior to her sister’s, with Jessica believing that Sara is just delusional and celebrity-obsessed – which isn’t wrong, but Jessica doesn’t need to be quite so aggressive with her words! I will admit that I struggled to like Jessica when I first saw the movie. She doesn’t come across well and she’s mean to Christopher Wilde, which is just so wrong. It’s not until Christopher tells Jessica that they can’t see each other again, and he doesn’t let her down gently either, that I started to side with Jessica and not Christopher. She also gives that amazing speech talking about the toxic methods of the press in their pursuit of celebrities, so that’s the point where I started to like the character a lot more.

Danielle Campbell was chosen to play the role of Jessica, having had a guest role in the series Prison Break (2005-17) when she was just ten years old prior to her Disney casting. She was actually “spotted” when she was having her hair cut in her hometown of Chicago and was asked to audition for an agency[1]. After StarStruck, she appeared in the movie Prom (2011) and was part of the main cast of the fantasy drama series The Originals (2013-18) as Davina Claire. More recently, Campbell was cast in the thriller anthology series Tell Me a Story (2018-20) in the roles of Kayla Powell and Olivia Moon, and had a guest part in The Rookie (2018-present) in 2024.

Stubby, or Albert J. Stubbins to use his full name, is Christopher Wilde’s very cool, fun-loving friend. He also seems to act as Christopher’s personal assistant and chauffeur, which might not seem great to hire your friends as your “help”, but hey, let’s just hope he gets paid for it! Stubby doesn’t get nearly enough screen time in StarStruck, but his loyalty to Christopher is clear, when he tries to convince him to stay home and not perform at his girlfriend’s birthday party, and again when he tells Christopher that lying about Jessica is not right and that he seems to have changed, not for the better either.

Brandon Mychal Smith was cast as Stubby. He was another cast member from Sonny with a Chance (2009-11) and its spin-off So Random! (2011-12), playing Nico Harris. Prior to that, he also had roles in other Disney Channel and Nickelodeon series, including Phil of the Future (2004-06) and Unfabulous (2004-07). In more recent years, Brandon Mychal Smith was a series regular in the Hulu miniseries Four Weddings and a Funeral (2019), cast as Craig Thompson, and voiced Michelangelo in the animated series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018-20).

Sara Olson is Jessica’s older sister. She is an original member of Christopher Wilde’s fan club and, with her friend AJ, they tracked Christopher Wilde’s locations over an eighteen-month period in preparation for her family’s trip to L.A. She also claims to text him every day, and during the film, she finds his address from documents in his car and then proceeds to drive to his house… There’s a fine line between a dedicated, loyal fan, and an obsessive stalker. Unfortunately, I think Sara crosses that line more times than she stays behind it! Sara should not be a role model for anyone, and you should not be impressed by the lengths she’ll go to meet Christopher. But Sara is funny, and the contrast between her love for Christopher and Jessica’s initial hatred of him is what gives us the conflict that we’d expect from these two very different sisters. I am impressed that Sara doesn’t seem to be at all jealous of her sister’s relationship with Christopher though. If that were me, I’d be fuming!

Maggie Castle was cast as Sara. Just before StarStruck, Castle had appeared in The Time Traveler’s Wife, alongside Rachel McAdams, playing the sister of McAdams’ character. She then played Jenny in the comedy horror series Todd and the Book of Pure Evil (2010-12) and its 2017 animated film.

So those are the four main characters, but there are two more that I’d like to mention. These are “the fantabulous, fabulous” Alexis Bender and Director Alan. Alexis is an up-and-coming actress who is in a “relationship” with Christopher Wilde, though this all seems to be for publicity to help further both of their careers. Alexis is fame-obsessed and just wants to be a big star, which you can’t blame her for if that’s what she wants from life. She dumps Christopher when she finds out about Jessica, but bounces back quickly, announcing she has a date with some guy called Zack.

Alexis Bender will look familiar to Disney fans as she was played by Chelsea Staub, or Chelsea Kane as she is known today. Chelsea Kane had been cast as Stephanie in the Disney Channel movie Minutemen (2008) and went on to star as Stella Malone, alongside the Jonas Brothers, in the Disney series Jonas (2009-10). Also for Disney, she voiced the character of Bea Goldfishberg in Fish Hooks (2010-14). Outside of Disney, Kane placed third in Season 12 of Dancing with the Stars and played the part of Riley in the ABC series Baby Daddy (2012-17). She returned to voice acting again in 2019 to voice the character of Loy for the series Archibald’s Next Big Thing (2019-21).

Finally, the only reason I want to mention the director is because of the actor who played him. That actor is Matt Winston, and I know him from the Mary-Kate and Ashley film Passport to Paris (1999), where he was cast as the girls’ chaperone Jeremy Bluff. When I first watched StarStruck, I recognised him instantly from that film – which says more about me than it does anything else. Winston also had guest roles in a couple of Disney Channel series before StarStruck including Hannah Montana (2006-11) and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08).

PRODUCTION

Considering StarStruck is set in Los Angeles, it makes the most sense for the movie to be filmed there and to feature a lot of big tourist attractions, especially within the scenes of Christopher and Jessica sightseeing.

Some of these spots include Malibu Beach and Venice Beach; the Hollywood Sign; the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre; the Sunset Strip; and Griffith Observatory, although this seems to just be an aerial shot, much like the Staples Center at the start of the movie. The Club Under-21 scene, where Christopher Wilde is performing “Shades” for Alexis’ birthday, was filmed at the Key Club on the Sunset Strip. It was a concert venue which closed in 2013[2].

Since Christopher Wilde is such a big star, naturally Disney wanted to show just where he spends all that money. Well, Christopher Wilde is apparently a collector of fast supercars. If you’re a supercar fan, then you’ll have lots of fun spotting the makes and models of them. Some luxury car brands that are seen in StarStruck include Ferrari, Chrysler, Pontiac, Mercedes, and Porsche. But if you’re anything like me and have very little interest in cars, then you’ll probably only notice the colour!

Christopher Wilde is meant to be a teenage popstar, so about 17 years old. Jessica Olson is a 15-year-old high school girl. Danielle Campbell’s age just about matched her character – she was 14 at the time of filming – but Sterling Knight was 20 when he filmed StarStruck. This led to some speculation about why the two characters did not kiss in the film. Instead, the movie ends with the two holding hands, wearing sunglasses, dancing slowly, and a bit awkwardly, I think, as Stubby’s dance number “Party Up” lights up the school dance. Many thought a kiss would’ve been appropriate at this point, and Jessica and Christopher lean in as though they are about to, before being interrupted by Sara.

Rumours abound that the two did not kiss in the movie because of the age gap between the two actors. This might have contributed to the decision; however, it is worth noting that in many Disney Channel movies, the lead couple does not usually kiss in their first movie. One example of this is Troy and Gabriella from High School Musical; their first kiss takes place at the very end of High School Musical 2 (2007). Another example of this is within the ZOMBIES franchise, with Addison and Zed’s first kiss also happening at the end of their second movie, ZOMBIES 2 (2020). So, it’s not actually that unusual for Jessica and Christopher to have not kissed in StarStruck.

The screenplay for StarStruck was written by Barbara Johns and Annie DeYoung. DeYoung had previously written the Disney Channel co-production 16 Wishes (2010), as well as the Disney Channel Original Movies Princess Protection Program (2009) and Return to Halloweentown (2006), going on to work on a further DCOM, Girl vs. Monster (2012). Johns went on to work on the drama series Firefly Lane (2021-23).

Michael Grossman directed StarStruck, having previously directed episodes of the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101 (2005-08) and the Nickelodeon TV movie Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008). Grossman went on to direct episodes of other series such as Pretty Little Liars (2010-17) and Drop Dead Diva (2009-14).

MUSIC

Another element of StarStruck that led to some misinformation was around its soundtrack and whether or not Sterling Knight sang the songs.

Sterling Knight addressed this in a Twitter post back in February 2010, seemingly before the movie’s premiere date. He stated that he had wanted to sing all the songs for StarStruck, but only showed up one week before shooting began, so he simply did not have enough time to record all the soundtrack. The only song that Knight does sing is the title number “StarStruck”. It’s a great song for the opening concert scene and starts the soundtrack off with a bang. Drew Ryan Scott finished up the vocals on the rest of Christopher Wilde’s songs[3]. He is a singer-songwriter who has written songs for artists including Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, and Selena Gomez. It is unclear why Sterling Knight was cast late for StarStruck, and who – if anyone – was scheduled to portray Christopher Wilde instead of Knight.

Although Knight did not sing much of Christopher Wilde’s music for StarStruck, he has sung for other Disney Channel projects, including for the Sonny with a Chance CD, so he absolutely would’ve been capable of singing all the songs if he’d had time. Knight can also play the guitar so it would seem to me that he does play the guitar live in the movie.

The soundtrack of StarStruck involves a mixture of romantic songs, as well as some pop songs. There is also a song that only appears on the soundtrack and in the “Extended Edition” of the movie, “Got to Believe”. The song itself is alright, but I don’t feel that it adds anything to the overall story, which is obviously why it did not make the final cut.

My least favourite song is “Shades” and that is mostly for the awkward dancing involved in the performance of the song at the club. It pains me to say it because I can see that Sterling Knight was trying so hard to look like a natural performer, but it just doesn’t come across here. This is in complete contrast to Brandon Mychal Smith who looks incredibly confident in his rapping and performing skills, both in “Shades” and “Party Up”, the song that wraps up the movie, which I do really like[4].

My favourite songs in StarStruck are “Hero” and “Something About the Sunshine”. “Hero” is the main love ballad of the film, with it being performed as a slower, acoustic version during Christopher Wilde’s party, as well as in one of his recording sessions. I like the slower version the best, with just the guitar in the background. It’s a really cute song. For “Something About the Sunshine”, this sounds like a summer road-trip song. It entirely matches the picture-perfect day that Jessica and Christopher have together, because it’s cute, bright, and cheerful, like everything is perfect and it’s just those two in the world. Anna Margaret features as the female vocalist in this song. She went on to perform songs for the Disney Channel movie Den Brother (2010) and for the Shake It Up: Break It Down album.

The final song to mention is “What You Mean to Me”. It’s another sweet, romantic song, as Christopher tells Jessica that he is sorry for trying to pretend she never existed just to keep his career on track. It would have to be quite a song to make up for all the humiliation that Jessica has faced – and luckily, it is. To perform it in front of a crowd of high school students is another step up too.

There are three songs within the soundtrack that are not performed by any of the characters in the movie and are only there for background noise. All three of these songs are actually very good, considering they are just meant to be creating an atmosphere and are not supposed to pull focus from the main action.

One of these is played during Christopher’s house party: “Welcome to Hollywood” by Mitchel Musso, who was cast as Oliver in Hannah Montana (2006-11) at this time. I used to really like Mitchel Musso’s music, and bought the CD of his debut album. “Make a Movie” by singer Jasmine Sagginario, who won Radio Disney’s 2009 N.B.T. (Next Big Thing) competition, and “New Boyfriend” by Anna Margaret can both be heard during the high-school dance, on either side of “What You Mean to Me”.

David Lawrence is credited as the composer of StarStruck’s score. He has composed the music for various other Disney Channel Original Movies, including the first three Descendants films; Teen Beach Movie (2013) and Teen Beach 2 (2015); Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas (2011); and the High School Musical trilogy.

RECEPTION

To promote the release of StarStruck, Disney Channel released numerous promotional videos to air between their programming over the months leading up to the premiere date. These included behind-the-scenes clips and interviews with the cast, and music videos. There was also a tour bus with a StarStruck poster pasted to the side of it being driven around Hollywood. This was used for a “StarStruck Tour” series of videos, “hosted” by “tour guide” Saralou, who just so happened to be Tiffany Thornton, the actress who played Tawni in Sonny with a Chance (2009-11), taking the five main cast members on a tour of L.A. It included a few facts about Hollywood and L.A., as well as some funny moments between “Saralou”, Sterling Knight, and Brandon Mychal Smith, who were all working together on Sonny with a Chance at the time[5].

StarStruck premiered on Disney Channel in the US on 14^th February 2010, so Valentine’s Day. The premiere generated 6 million viewers. StarStruck was the first Disney Channel Original Movie to debut on a Sunday night. Oh, how nice for all those American Sterling Knight fans to have been able to watch his new movie on Valentine’s Day… That was not the case for me as I’m British, so I had to wait until 14^th May 2010 – a whole three months later – for StarStruck to premiere in the UK and Ireland. That has always been quite normal, albeit quite irritating, with many Disney Channel Original Movies premiering in the UK anything between a week or two after the US premiere up to a few months later. Thankfully with Disney+, US and UK release dates for new Disney movies are much closer together, usually just a day or so apart.

As many TV movies do, StarStruck received mixed reviews. Some of the more negative reviews said the plot was predictable and unrealistic, disliking the clichéd storyline of a famous person falling in love with a normal person. Some also found the character of Jessica to be unlikeable, which I agree with to a point. Others felt the movie was ok, but nothing in comparison to High School Musical (2006). But many viewers were very positive about StarStruck, enjoying the movie’s soundtrack, saying it was sweet and that Sterling Knight was perfectly cast as Christopher Wilde. This is the side of the fence that I sit on.

In recent years, there are plenty of Disney fans who say that StarStruck is underrated and that, in a way, it was quite progressive by dealing with real-life issues such as addressing the difficulties of coping with fame, especially as a child or teenager, even if the role of the paparazzi in StarStruck perhaps comes across as a bit over-the-top[6].

Michael Grossman, director of StarStruck, was nominated at the Directors Guild of America Awards, in the category of Outstanding Directing – Children’s Program, for the movie, but lost out to Nickelodeon’s The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (2010).

LEGACY

StarStruck, unlike some other Disney Channel musicals, did not span any further movies or any spin-offs. The time for making a sequel has most definitely passed now, and the only likely plot they could’ve come up with for StarStruck 2 was for us to see Jessica and Christopher navigating their new relationship whilst Christopher went on his world tour. It’s not a particularly unique concept, so it’s understandable that Disney didn’t feel the need to make this sequel, though it would’ve been nice to have explored Sara and Stubby’s relationship a bit more as they are thrown together multiple times in StarStruck, but nothing ever comes of it.

StarStruck was released on DVD as an “Extended Edition”, which involved the song “Got to Believe” and a brief scene before the song showing that the Internet hates Jessica for being in an assumed relationship with someone famous – and that was before social media became such a big thing. It may have been years since StarStruck first came out, but the world has not changed. If anything, these kinds of incidents have gotten worse.

You could also buy the soundtrack for StarStruck on CD at the time, as well as online. Being such a big fan of Sterling Knight, I obviously got both the CD and the DVD when they were released, and still have them to this day.

At the US Disney Parks, StarStruck was a small part of the short stage show Disney Channel Rocks, which ran at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World from 2010 to 2013. This show had performers singing some of the best songs from many Disney Channel musicals including The Cheetah Girls, Camp Rock (2008), Jump In! (2007), and of course, High School Musical. From StarStruck, the song “Party Up” was performed.

FINAL THOUGHTS

StarStruck may have a few clunky lines and some awkward dance moves – specifically within the whole “Shades” scene in the club – but that’s my opinion from watching StarStruck as an adult. As a teenager, I absolutely adored this film, and any time that Sterling Knight was on screen, I didn’t really care what was happening; I just wanted to look at him.

Even now, I enjoy going back and watching some of my childhood favourite movies, as I know many adults do – though they may not like to admit it. I know I’m not alone in enjoying that feeling of nostalgia, remembering simpler times in life. It reminds me of less complicated times, when the pressures and struggles of being an adult hadn’t hit me yet.

StarStruck may not have been the best DCOM for some, but to me, it had everything I was looking for, and it’s one of the best Disney Channel musicals in my opinion, even now.

It’s a movie perfect for anyone who is prone to celebrity crushes. They aren’t realistic, but they are fun, and if watching StarStruck lets someone dream that perhaps one day, something like this might just happen to them, then that is perfect escapism.

Just don’t turn into Sara and become an obsessive stalker. That is a step too far.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Radio Disney, “Radio Disney’s Celebrity Take with Jake: Behind the Scenes of StarStruck”, Radio Disney YouTube Channel, 18^th February 2010.

[2] Credit: Radio Disney, “Radio Disney’s Celebrity Take with Jake: Behind the Scenes of StarStruck”, Radio Disney YouTube Channel, 17^th February 2010.

[3] Credit: Chip, ‘Sterling Knight Addresses Rumors that he didn’t sing in Disney’s “StarStruck”’, ChipandCo.com, 12^th February 2010.

[4] Credit: Disney Channel, “StarStruck DCOM Extra: Making Music”, Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 2^nd February 2010.

[5] Credit: Disney Channel, “StarStruck Tour”, Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 12^th February 2010.

[6] Credit: Nicholas Howe, ‘DCOMs: 5 Things That Made StarStruck Great (& 5 Things It Needed To Fix’, ScreenRant.com, 10^th May 2020.