For over 70 years, we’ve been watching one Disney villain after another create havoc for some of the most beloved heroes of fiction, and now it’s time for those ruffians to pass the torch. Enter the new Disney Channel original movie Descendants, which will center on four antagonistic offspring seeking potential retribution in a trouble-free kingdom. Check out the very first trailer for the highly anticipated project below.
Okay, so we’re not exactly dealing with the most adult-oriented material here, but this looks like it might be fun for teens and anyone else who grew up in a Disneyfied household. Who hasn’t questioned what happened to all of the bad guys and gals after the films’ credits rolled? Apparently the answer is “they got busy and had kids of equal morally unstable character.”
The story of Descendants kicks off with all of Disney’s most villainous beings, along with their children and sidekicks, living together on an island in exile. Meanwhile in the kingdom, Beauty and the Beast’s King Beast (Dan Payne) and Queen Belle (Keegan Connor Tracy) are handing the throne to their son Prince Ben (Mitchell Hope), and his first order of business is to offer four islander teens a chance to made good in the kingdom. We have Mal (Dove Cameron), daughter of Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent (Kristin Chenowith); Evvie (Sofia Carson), daughter of Snow White’s Evil Queen (Kathy Najimy); Jayden (Booboo Stewart), son of Aladdin’s Jafar (Maz Jobrani); and Carlos De Vil, son of 101 Dalmations’ Cruella De Vil (Cameron Boyce).
The teens are required to go to a prep school with the offspring of the kingdom’s more benevolent characters, such as Cinderella, Rapunzel and Aurora. Even Dopey’s son Doug (Zachary Gibson) is there. But instead of homework and dating, the central foursome’s biggest problems involve figuring out whether to take the bait to be more kindhearted or to follow their genetic footprints to evildoing. I’m pretty sure we can all guess where things go, given this is a Disney movie, but it’ll hopefully be a fun journey to that outcome.
It’s somewhat surprising that there weren’t any musical numbers in this preview. Descendants was directed by Kenny Ortega, who was behind such films as Newsies, Michael Jackson’s This is It and the High School Musical franchise. Plus, it’s got Kristen Chenowith, an actress who seems to sing every chance she can get. But I do love the way she looks as Maleficent.
Disney’s Descendants will air on Disney Channel at some point this summer.
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