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 68th 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 31st July 2015, where it was viewed by 6.6 million people on the night. It didn’t reach the UK Disney Channel until 25th 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, 12th 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, 28th July 2015.
[4] Credit: Doug Marsh, ‘Disney Descendants Celebrate at Disneyland’, LaughingPlace.com, 22nd October 2015.