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that-shamrock-vibe · 5 years

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Movie Review: Descendants 3 (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day the movie first airs in the U.S, I am not sure when it airs over here in the U.K. but I managed to see an early screening of it, so if you have not yet seen Descendants 3 don’t read on until you have.

General Reaction:

Okay, I am divided by what I think about this movie given that it is the third and most likely final instalment to the Descendants franchise.

On the positive side, having watched it days ago, Descendants 3 left me feeling happy with the overall movie and with a grin on my face as the first two instalments did.

On the other side, I do feel the promotional material for this movie, aside from the final TV spot, was either misleading or kept the main plot points hidden which may or may not deviate fans away from it.

Having said that, I had a positive outlook going into the movie and finished it with a positive outlook still. So I guess it depends on your outlook going into the movie is what you will end up getting out of it.

Now on a more serious note, I do have to say that Descendants 3 also carries the weight of being Cameron Boyce’s last film project since his tragic untimely passing a couple of weeks ago. For this reason Disney cancelled the premiere of the movie as a sign of respect and while it was too close to the movie first airing there was no time to add-in a special mention to him but for those that know there was a tinge of sadness with watching his performance.

On a more movie-related note though, as I said I felt the trailers and TV spots set up a trio of trouble for our heroes with the combined forces of Hades, Celia Facilier and Uma, however at the last minute the TV spots teased “a new mysterious villain” who everyone guessed as soon as they saw the promotional and it turns out she is the main villain of the movie.

I just feel that with Maleficent and Uma in the first two movies there were legitimate threats that weren’t redeemed in the movie, here it was a case of simply “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” and one of my favourite lines in the movie was from Hades saying “So one of yours turns bad and its just a misunderstanding, but one of us do something bad and we’re locked up”, because it makes sense.

I do get the moral of the movie with not judging a book by its cover which has really been the theme of the franchise, because the V.Ks end up being heroes and an Auradon kid becomes a V.K, albeit temporarily. But it does seem as if Disney are trying to push the fact that everyone can be redeemed and being evil is really just being misunderstood.

It does tie into the whole nature vs. nurture argument which is actually a concept in life that I am happy a movie franchise aimed at kids is attempting to teach, but rather than showing both sides they are simply showing that anyone can be redeemed, maybe with the exception of the main four’s parents.

Also the songs in this movie as a whole I don’t feel are as strong as the previous two movies, however the choreography in the musical numbers is on point.

Characters:

Alright so I am going to go through these characters in categories of the main five, the Auradon Citizens and the Inhabitants of the Isle.

As always, these will be ranked in order of my favourites.

Main Five:

Mal:

Once again the focus point was on Mal, I believe for good reason as she is the one who has shown the biggest struggle between her V.K. and Auradon sides.

Here this takes another step here as while in both the first two movies she is more leaning towards her V.K. side, here she seems to be wanting to turn her back on the Isle for the majority of the movie.

Not only does her decision to permanently close the barrier to the Isle after promising all the V.Ks still on the Isle that they would be back to bring them to Auradon kind of fly in the face of what she has believed up until now, but you could tell the decision she made was tough for her to make and Dove Cameron does sell that.

However, I do not understand why she then didn’t tell Evie that at least the plan was going ahead never mind the fact she came up with it, she just made it seem like it was a possibility that once she was queen she could overrule.

I was firmly on Evie, Uma and Celia’s side when they turned on her after she revealed that she lied because she effectively made empty promises to people (in Uma and Celia’s case anyway) who didn’t trust her because she had turned on the Isle but then promised to take down the barrier siding with the Isle only to reveal that she lied therefore siding against the Isle.

In regards to Mal’s outfit, I stated in my promo picture reveal that I thought her hair wasn’t as good as Descendants 2 and I didn’t understand why it changed colour again, I understood it from Descendants to Descendants 2 because she changed it with a hair spell and then Dizzy restyled it, but here it just seems like a longer thinner version of her first look.

However, I did blame the dark image for making her hair look blue, and I actually found it interesting that after the VKs left the Isle the magic of Auradon ignited Hades’ ember which seemed to not only give her back her magic but also her hair was noticeably blue, or at least highlighted, not as blue as Evie’s but still blue.

Speaking of her father, this is kind of why I want another Descendants movie because we now know Mal has two parents, but we don’t know who the father’s of Evie and Carlos are or the mother of Jay. I liked showing how, even though he was an absentee father, the rapport between Hades and Mal was still there.

For instance, while Maleficent is known for more formal wear and gowns, it’s interesting that Mal’s VK looks throughout the franchise are kind of similar to Hades’ style in terms of being very punk rocker. You could say that’s the same for all VKs but I saw more similarities in these two looks as father and daughter than I did in Mal and Maleficent’s styles aside from the fact they were purple.

Her relationship with Ben goes up a notch here as not only do they get engaged, which I guess was teased in Descendants 2, but also she takes on more queenly responsibilities such as deciding to close the barrier for good but then changing her mind and tearing it down.

Speaking of her dragon form, I loved seeing more of dragon Mal and the fact it seems so natural for her now since the battle with Uma in Descendants 2. Not only did I like the line of wishing she could fly over the sea to scout for Uma but also the fact she seems to use her dragon form for battle more openly now then her magic.

There was one point at the start of the climax in the movie when I thought Maleficent was going to return because when she started sing “My Once Upon a Time” you saw the archive footage of them in battle from the first Descendants which I thought may indicate her reviving her mother for help as she had lost all hope, but sadly not which I feel is a mistake.

Her being friends with Uma again I do kind of like, because even though fans of the movies who haven’t read the books don’t quite understand the extent of their history, the movies have done quite well in showing the aftermath between them and the fact they were friends and should be friends.

I did find it interesting that she kept the ember at the end of the movie, was that supposed to indicate her needing to use it again in the future or was it just Hades giving up the power?

Dove Cameron does a fabulous job as always in this role, she is definitely a leading lady and I feel deserves more recognition for what she does with the role as do the others in my opinion.

Carlos De Vil:

Carlos has been my favourite character throughout the franchise, it is his role in the first movie that pulled me back in to the Disney Channel Original Television Shows to watch Jessie.

While I do think his role could have been bigger here, the scenes he had did still move his character forward, particularly with his relationship with Jane.

I am still not a fan of the fact that Dude can talk, yes he ate that truth gummy thing but surely that should only allow the eater to tell the truth temporarily before it passes, for a dog’s digestive system not only should it have passed by the end of Descendants 2 but also technically it should have killed him.

I did really like how invested he was with his relationship with Jane, having his friends helping him organise her birthday party and being very protective over her birthday cake...which everyone seemed to eat before Jane even saw it.

I do think the script and Carlos both missed a trick with his birthday present of that Jarlos necklace. While Jarlos is the ship name that fans have used for them since they got together in Descendants 2, the pink bow on it I felt wasn’t right for Jane, maybe a blue magic sparkle or something to represent her being the Fairy Godmother’s daughter or even him being Cruella De Vil’s son.

When it came to the team-up between the V.Ks, the fact they kind of paired Carlos up with Harry I felt was apt. Not only because I feel both of the better guys of the respective teams, but also because I feel Cameron Boyce and Thomas Doherty are simply the better team-up.

I did like Carlos’ outfit in this movie, it was definitely in-line with the motorcycle-like attire that he had in the first movie. I did however feel like his hair wasn’t as good as the other V.Ks and sometimes seemed all over the place.

At the end of the movie when the Isle merged with Auradon, the fact both Jane and Dude were worried about meeting Cruella, yet Carlos was more concerned about revealing he plans to become a vet was great character growth for the potential future of the character.

Unfortunately, Cameron Boyce’s untimely passing I feel signals the end of the Desxendants movies because I don’t see how the movies can continue without Carlos. However, as I said Cameron has not only given a great interpretation of the son of my favourite Disney villain, but also revitalised by love of Disney.

Evie:

Evie was really trying to be the voice of reason again in this movie, but unlike in the second movie when she was trying to block out their history on the Isle, here she was wanting to give the V.K. kids on the Isle the same opportunity as they had.

I am not sure why she didn’t clock onto the fact that Mal was at least considering closing the barrier permanently, I mean you could tell from Mal’s face that it wasn’t good news and I know there is such a thing as blind loyalty and the two are like sisters but that’s what made the betrayal so personal when she did find out.

However, I will say that she got over it pretty quick, I know she was turned to stone so it wasn’t as quick in the context of the movie, but from the looks of things Evie and the boys were going to walk away from Mal before the stoning happened yet once they were freed there was no comeuppance or retribution.

I know it’s supposed to be a kids movie and I am probably looking for more depth than I should, but I don’t think it’s right to teach kids that if they lie about something they know will hurt their friends, that telling them will make it better but your friends will get upset first.

Also, as with Descendants 2 I don’t know if this is intentional, but I love how Kenny Ortega put a Michael Jackson spin not only on Evie’s singing and dance moves but also her outfit. If we’re talking Disney-related then it’s more Queen of Hearts than Evil Queen but also there are accents of Michael Jackson’s thriller outfit.

Evie also probably had my favourite song in the movie which was “One Kiss” just because it reminded me of Cinderella’s song “On the Steps of the Palace” from Into the Woods and I did almost want it to be in that slowed-down real-time setting.

Sofia Carson may be the one of the main four I knew least, and still do as I don’t think I’ve seen her in anything else, but she portrays the reformed daughter of the Evil Queen very well and has also matured in both her looks and acting throughout the three movies.

Ben:

Alright so in my past reviews I’ve been very indecisive over my thoughts on Ben and I have to say...I’m still not completely sold on him. I preferred him in this movie to the other two definitely and that was half Mitchell Hope’s performance and half the facial hair he gained after being cured of his beastly side.

Yes the trailers gave us a glimpse of him following in his father’s footsteps and the makeup on him was fantastic, it almost makes me want to see Beast as a beast again because I loved this short scene.

I did originally believe that Descendants 2 was foreshadowing him being able to transform into a beast as Mal can a dragon and Uma can an octopus but the fact it was a spell also made sense for the context of the movie.

Also I am very happy that Ben finally apologised to Audrey, because one thing to remember which is partly why I side with Audrey in her motivations, is that yes Mal enthralled Ben for her evil means but then after he was cured of that he should have at least shown some remorse for how he treated Audrey or at least at that cathedral apologised to her.

Again with that beard, I don’t know if Mitchell Hope grew that rather quickly in this movie or if it was fake, it looked real, but anyway I thought it suited the character rather well and I was actually sad when after they were freed from the stone spell that the beard went as well.

Also Ben was actually funny in this movie and not awkwardly forced funny but actually Mitchell Hope showed some comedy here, yes it was mostly reaction comedy but even the scene when he was playing catch up with Uma and her crew helping the good guys out and everyone was telling him to forget about it for now was funny.

Do I believe him as king? No because the only regal decisions made in this movie were by Mal and the only thing he did was tell his dad not to interfere, so I guess that’s why I’m undecided because I still don’t see him as a leader, I see Mal as a leader, I see Uma as a leader, but I don’t see him as one.

Also, I thought it was a little bit cowardly of Ben to let Mal take the full fallout when she confessed about lying about the barrier. Yes one could argue that it looked like he was going to try and reason with Evie before they turned to stone but he didn’t even stick up for her.

Overall though Mitchell Hope impressed me in this movie, his singing was better, including that little throwback to “Did I Mention” which when stripped back and sung by the actual actor actually sounds quite good.

Jay:

Yes Jay is last, I am sorry if it seems like I hate this character but someone has to be last and he didn’t actually do much in this movie.

I was positive about him in Descendants 2 because he had that great arc with Lonnie of accepting her on the fencing team and finding loopholes in the rules, but Lonnie wasn’t in this movie and Jay I feel doesn’t have anymore growth in him as a character.

I did find the bromance between him and Gil quite fitting but again I refer you back to my promo picture discussion where I stated they’ve styled the two rather similar, and in actual fact they are rather similar.

Both have a naivety about them that they make up for with being brawny. But Jay at least has a brain but it isn’t actually used here. The women are running the show and Jay’s only good idea in the entire movie was to get Carlos to calm down Ben beast.

There’s not really a lot more to say about him for the movie, his outfit was pretty much the same as the previous ones, I do not understand where his hat has gone because it was a distinct style choice.

Auradon Citizens:

Audrey:

You know what? Audrey’s plot in this movie actually makes her absence from Descendants 2 organic to her overall story arc. Not only does it make sense for her to want to get away from Auradon Prep after what happened in the first movie, but also to see Mal live her life after how she stole it would drive someone who is a teenager to do drastic things. Then when you throw in the fantasy magical element then you have the good girl gone bad story but with a more threatening turn.

I also understood her makeover in the movie as she was pretty much copying Mal’s villainous look to a degree. The dress and the cape and everything I also really liked.

Although, when the staff was calling to Audrey, did anyone else think it was Kristin Chenoweth’s voice? There were so many missed opportunities for Maleficent to return in this movie and all of them wasted.

But anyway, speaking of styling, when Audrey was in her normal appearance, I loved how her hair was blonde but highlighted with pink and blue in reference to Princess Aurora from the original animated movie whose three adoptive fairy aunts kept changing her dress from blue to pink.

I will say that I thought Audrey’s villainy started off very strong. Not only turning Mal into an old hag...yes slightly petty and not lasting but still, also bewitching the suits of armour which was a pretty good tactic.

I did however think that once Audrey retreated to the Fairy Cottage and was simply just watching the action from scrying through her scepter, that all she then did was grunt and scream...From her cottage she failed a couple times to either trap or defeat her foes and yet never approached them herself, it just seemed slightly odd.

Her rendition of “Happy Birthday” by the way while she put Jane’s party to sleep was very nice to listen to I have to say, and the effects of the purple smoke putting the kids to sleep made it that much more intriguing.

I get turning Ben into a beast because, without the water from the enchanted lake, the spell is I am guessing like the old hag spell and irreversable, but I didn’t get why she simply cursed him...why not turn him to stone? Why not bewitch him to love her as Mal did...she went from a teenage lovebird to a woman seeking power by any means.

Her holding Celia hostage to draw Mal out I thought was both a good and bad moment, firstly they’re both at least the same height so Celia should have easily overpowered her physically but also Celia is the daughter of the Voodoo man so Voodoo vs. Witchcraft.

Like I said before, I agree with Hades about how easy it is for the good guys to forgive Audrey whereas the actually villains they judge guilty without trial. Yes she showed remorse for what she did and she and Mal and Ben did make amends but she wasn’t exactly tricked into doing what she did and she either put the citizens of Auradon to sleep or turned them to stone.

Then there’s her relationship with Chad, I don’t like Chad but as a guy I felt very bad for him in this movie. Yes he’s a bit of a sap and a tool but at least in the first two movies he was simply vein who in the second movie was fawning over an absent Audrey, here he was exactly what he said he would be which is a lackey and the only reason he did that was to survive.

This resulted in Audrey locking him in a cupboard and then after she turns good again, she doesn’t apologise to Chad and even seems to move on to her next fella, this girl is supposed to be a teenager and yet she’s acting like a young adult half the time.

Overall though Sarah Jeffery did a great job at playing the villain, her singing/rapping was also rather surprising and I feel she did a lot to boost Audrey’s character development.

Jane:

Jane surprised me in this movie in just how smart she was, yes it was really only two scenes that she was intuitive in but for a supporting player to take on that responsibility, was great for her as a character.

Yes she has showed steady growth throughout the movies first going from timid “ugly” girl to friends with the popular kids and getting Carlos as a boyfriend, now...on her birthday, when Audrey arrives and tries to ruin everything, Jane has the insight to remember what the powers of the Enchanted Lake were like and so dove in to avoid Audrey’s sleeping curse.

She then equipped herself with the water most likely believing she’d need it again and uses it to cure Ben from his beastliness. I really enjoyed her character here.

Also I felt her relationship with Carlos progressed organically, there were different relationships on different levels here and because out of the core three they’re the newest it makes sense that they’re lowest on the developmental scale but you can tell they’re a good match.

So yeah Jane, I love Jane, it’s hard not to love Jane because she is a product of the Fairy Godmother’s goodness as well as her own life experiences. Brenna D'Amico I believe catches this very well and while she maybe isn’t a breakout star here I still think she has a good career ahead of her from this.

Doug:

What the hell was with Doug’s hair, I thought how he looked in the first movie was both very Dopey, even though the dwarfs are bald, but also very geeky which Doug’s character is supposed to be. However then they grew it out slightly in the second one which I thought was okay but here...he looks more like the Beast after turning back into a human than King Beast or Ben do.

I would love to know if that’s his actual hair, he looks more like a musketeer than the son of Dopey. It wasn’t so much a problem for the character, although it did seem to be one of two things that involved him in this movie, but particularly when he had it in that ponytail he just looked ridiculous.

It was very funny but also very cruel of Doug to be asleep I believe for the whole of Evie’s “One Kiss” song, even when she pulled him up and was dancing with his unconscious body he still remained asleep.

I did like the uncertainty Evie had over her love for Doug, even though it is very obvious that he has loved her since he first saw her, I don’t know why there was an uncertainty because like “Jarlos” I think these two are a very good match.

Zachary Gibson has been a great inclusion to this franchise, not only spotlighting one of the seven dwarfs with being the son of Dopey, but also helping Evie find her good side.

Chad Charming:

Like I said before, I actually felt sorry for Chad in this movie, but then I couldn’t feel that bad for him because he literally asked to be Audrey’s lackey...so what was he expecting when he disobeyed her.

Yes okay they could have pushed it further and shown he maybe has claustrophobia or has been psychologically scarred by the experience he went through, but really it was just played for comedy.

Jedidiah Goodacre was exactly how he has been the last two movies, I clump him and Gil together a lot with Jay just being slightly higher because the two of them really impact the movie in the same minor way.

Parents:

So I’m stretching the definition of parents here slightly and including Queen Leah who is Audrey’s grandmother.

Judith Maxie was once again a great addition here as she was in the first movie, she also showed some good character development both in being the strict grandmother who effectively pushed Audrey into her wicked ways but also showing she can be forgiving of Mal from their encounter in the first movie.

But on a negative, I do not understand why they couldn’t cast Princess Aurora herself because the fact that when Audrey was practically dying at the end of the movie, how can Aurora or Phillip not be there, even the three fairies. I loved this version of the Queen Mother but to see a race-bent Princess Aurora would have been interesting.

King Beast and Queen Belle actually got some comedy in here, I loved when Ben and Mal got engaged and Belle was elated to finally get a daughter, it’s interesting that the daughter of Maleficent is going to be the daughter-in-law of Belle but it’s a good match.

Fairy Godmother I think has run out of steam slightly as not only do I feel she was simply running through her greatest hits from the past two movies but also, she spent the most of the movie as a stone, so it’s hard to say she did anything impressive because she was just her.

Inhabitants of the Isle:

Uma:

I love China McClain as this character, her Carlos and Harry are probably my three favourite characters of the entire franchise. I love the way she’s styled, I love her attitude, her singing, her story, everything about her.

We all knew she was returning in this movie, and while it wasn’t a trio of terror as I thought it would be, she was still a rather prominent threat before she actually returned with Mal and the palace guards constantly on the lookout for her.

After the core four (plus Celia) escaped Hades and the Isle, when Uma emerged from the sea in her cecaelia form, I was so happy. Yes I know it was majorly green screen but she just looked amazing.

Then when she appeared on land, going from the pirate captain look she had in Descendants 2 to the Sea Witch styling she had here was a great progression and I loved her talk about what she’s seen since the end of Descendants 2.

This is why Uma is such a relatable character, because she represents people in run down neighbourhoods or communities who want to fight for their people to have a better life, because Uma wants overall is the the kids of the Isle to have he same privileges as the core four have.

Her relationship with Mal in this movie was elevated from Descendants 2, as it was a situational alliance to begin with but soon progressed into friendship because of the history between the two.

However, as I said before, I understood why Mal’s betrayal made Uma turn on her, not in a villainous way but in a hurt way because she was genuinely starting to see them as friends and Mal effectively was stringing them along.

But I did like it when Mal turned dragon to fight Audrey and Uma arrived to fight by her side and help her reignite Hades’ ember. The friendship was there and you could tell Uma wanted it but also to save face.

I also just loved the sassiness of the character, when Uma came up with a plan but Mal dismissed it because she was in charge but then later when she decided to go with her plan and Uma said “This sounds an awful lot like my plan, just saying” I loved it so much, even the little punk moments that she had were just organic to the character.

I don’t know what her relationship with Harry is supposed to be, I know it’s supposed to be the case that Harry dumped Mal for Uma but aside from being her first mate and obviously devoted to her, Harry’s never shown any romantic interest until the end of this movie.

Also, even though I don’t necessarily need a Descendants 4 for this, I love the idea of Uma potentially now being the Castilian of the Isle of the Lost, by which I mean that while Ben and Mal will be King and Queen of both Auradon and the Isle, Uma could still be the ruler of the Isle reporting to Mal.

As I said, I love China McClain in this role, you can tell she like everyone else enjoys what she’s doing and it shows, it shines through so well.

Harry Hook:

Harry is just completely nuts and I love him for it. I genuinely think that while it was established in Descendants 2 that Harry was a little bit of a wild card, here he was almost unhinged but in a good way. It was kind of like a teenage Joker type of character, think Jerome on Gotham.

When he and Gil escaped the Isle by diving through the barrier, I loved the relief they had when it actually worked, and when Uma arrived it was a relief for them because now not only did they have an ally but also effectively protection.

Harry really spent a lot of this movie in the background but he was so good in the background. Not only were his little comments made about the core four really funny but also his observations were just very laissez-faire.

I swear he flirted or tried coming on to every single female teen in this movie, even Uma who again I am not sure as to the nature of their relationship, but he flirted with Jane, Mal, Evie, and Audrey right at the end. I am not particularly happy with that last point but I digress.

Also, there has been a recurring underline theory since Descendants 2 that Harry and potentially Gil are LGBT characters, in Descendants 2 there was a photo released from the “What’s My Name?” performance where Harry and Gil are sharing a kiss on one of the tables. Well here, Harry refers to Jay as “gorgeous face”, so there is every chance Harry may be bisexual.

I’m not saying the franchise needs an LGBT character, but it would be very progressive particularly if a VK was said character.

I do like the fact that even though you can tell he likes being bad that he was at least open to the idea of being good, possibly the least open of all three pirates, but open nevertheless.

Also his styling I loved in this movie, yes it was kind of missing that Captain Hook vibe that his style had from the second movie, but interesting it had essence of Hook from Once Upon a Time.

Thomas Doherty was again brilliant in this movie, I love him as a villain, I love him as the character and his interactions with the other characters were on point.

Celia Facilier

I feel the same way about Jadah Marie as Celia Facilier here as I did when I first saw China McClain in her guest role on Wizards of Waverly Place.

I thought Celia was a fabulous and fierce addition to the cast, not only in the way she is styled but right from the start you could tell what her motivations were, money and power effectively, and the rest just fell into place rather easily.

She kind of became Mal’s protege particularly when they had to return to the Isle and faced Hades, because of Celia working for Hades, but also she definitely seemed to look up to Mal as a role model.

Also her friendship with Dizzy was very cute, not only are the daughters of Drizella Tremaine and Dr. Facilier an unlikely friendship but also it just made for a nice side-story of seeing the new VKs adjust to life in Auradon.

I would have loved to have seen more Voodoo from Celia, once she was in Auradon she would have had that power and I was really hoping she would use it. Aside from a couple of tarot card readings that she did at the start of the movie, there wasn’t a lot from Celia other than being Mal’s sidekick.

It was interesting to me also that, while she was promoted as a new threat in the movie which didn’t transpire at all, she did seemingly team up with Uma and her crew a lot. I get they’re all from the Isle and not very trusting of the core four but she and Mal seemed to have some connection so I just found that a tad weird but also it at least showed Uma care for her.

Also the line she had when talking to her dad saying “I’ve got friends on the other side” was brilliant as yes we didn’t get the shadow people here but Celia was referring to the other side being Auradon so it worked wonderfully.

Much like I knew China McClain had great potential when she appeared in Wizards of Waverly Place, I believe the same for Jadah Marie, I see her even following the same path as China McClain and hopefully she got some tips from her in this movie.

Hades:

Alright so this is the one I was the most nervous about because the original promo images, for me, did not work at all.

However, Cheyenne Jackson is so charismatic, so likeable and so good in anything he’s in that he makes a rock ‘n’ roll Hades work. From his first scene you could tell that not only did he enjoy being this character in this world but also he never really made it ridiculous.

The fohawk eventually grew on me. I think after being desensitised to the promo images and trailers it became more natural and also it is rather a creative way of not spending the movie’s budget on continuous blue flame hair. Also I did like the fact he could only light up his hair when he was holding the ember in Auradon.

His outfit I thought worked rather well for the world of Descendants and the fact these villains have all been redesigned with the grungy punk style. As I said when talking about Mal’s outfits as well, I feel their styling are more similar then with Maleficent’s.

Speaking again of Maleficent, it’s interesting to think of Hades and her being married at one time, it’s especially funny because if anyone remembers House of Mouse years ago, there was an episode where Hades spent the episode trying to get with Maleficent and eventually it worked...that could have easily been a prequel to this.

However, even though she was mentioned a couple of times by Hades and Mal, I want to actually know where she’s gone. At the end of the movie the core four run back to the Isle to see their parents but we don’t know if Maleficent is human again let alone back on the Isle.

Back to Hades though, and even though he wasn’t in the movie as much as I think fans thought he would be, the scenes he was in were great, I especially love the fact when Ben met him at the end he turned into the protective father threatening the daughter’s boyfriend which was hilarious.

There wasn’t a lot wrong with the character to be fair, Cheyenne played the part very well, his singing and dancing was very fitting for this version of the character and I thought him squaring up to Beast at the end was great.

I maybe would’ve liked to have seem him try and cut a deal for his freedom at the end after saving Audrey but things worked out anyway so it’s all good.

Gil:

Compared to Descendants 2 I thought Gil improved as a character here, I think maybe that’s because we saw him and Harry redeem themselves through spending time with Jay and Carlos.

As I said with Jay, their bromance was kind of expected as the two are very similar in character but I thought it actually helped both of them. I’m not sure how I feel about Jay taking a gap year for the two to go travelling but I guess if it’s something they want to do then more power to them.

Again, as with Harry, there is a question mark over Gil’s sexuality and I feel in this movie he does show so affection towards Jay. Whether or not that is simply in a bromance way or maybe he’s hoping for me I don’t know and I won’t judge, but the shippers I imagine will be going in hard with these two from this movie,

I did like that he volunteered to go with Jane and Doug as their protection because, let’s face it, he may not have brains but he certainly has brawn and this is where he is useful.

I also liked the comment he made when Ben was revealed as a Beast and Gil mentioned how Gaston told him that Beast didn’t handle pain very well...little bit of an understatement there because Gaston tried to kill him but I found the line funny.

Dylan Playfair I feel does a good job here, I like how he showed such child-like wonder with Auradon from the smallest thing like berries, I know Mal had the same thing with strawberries but that was rooted in the prequel novel, this was just Gil being Gil and I liked that.

Dizzy Tremaine:

I was a little bit disappointed with Dizzy, even though I thought she was still a great character I thought her arc from Descendants 2 was left out of continuation here, Yes okay, we know who Dizzy is and her connection to Evie in this movie from that movie, but she has less development here than Celia, who I get is a new character, but they teased Dizzy coming to Auradon at the end of Descendants 2 yet she is treated just as importantly as Celia and Smee’s sons.

Also, after leaving the Isle, she doesn’t really have anything to do. I mean yes she has those moments with Celia but her friendship with both Evie and Mal from the second movie is practically gone here because she is left on the bench.

I still think Anna Cathcart does a good job as the character and she is very likeable as a child actress, but from the first time we see her in Descendants 2 she is definitely not a VK in the traditional sense but simply a victim of circumstance.

Parents:

Then with the parents, all three are new, four if you count Hades, but I like all three as they seem accurate both to the original source material and their kids in the movie.

Jamal Sims pulls double duty here not only as co-choreographer with Kenny Ortega but also having an acting role as Dr. Facilier. I have to say, as much as I loved Daniel Francis in the final season of Once Upon a Time as this character, this is definitely closer to the animated version he is based on from The Princess and the Frog.

I was rather impressed that they seemingly race-bent the Tremaine family as Lady Tremaine being Asian, and by extension Dizzy of course, was not exactly a necessary change as these movies are quite diverse, but I feel a substitute for the movie not having Lonnie.

Smee did absolutely nothing really in this movie, he didn’t speak, he was barely in it, and really all he did was see his sons off to Auradon...who also did nothing by the way which is why they don’t get a section here.

Songs:

Alright now lets get to the songs of the movie. Overall I have to say this is probably my favourite soundtrack of the three movies, I genuinely believe both in seeing Descendants 2 and going into this, that I didn’t think they could stick a landing but surprisingly they get better and better.

As with the past two movies I am going to talk about them in order of my favourites.

My Once Upon a Time:

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the course of these three movies, it’s that Dove Cameron can sing. She may not have one of these power ballads every movie as in Descendants 2 she doesn’t but with both “If Only” in the first Descendants and now this, I just love slow but powerful vocals.

I also liked it that like “If Only” the song served as flashbacks but this time it was throughout the trilogy leading up to the beginning of the song. It’s the fact that the lyrics resonated so much with Mal’s story throughout the three movies.

It’s also a great message of Mal saying “Yes this is currently my story with my friends and fiancé hating me, but I want to take a new positive turn in my life”. It’s a great way to say that the individual is capable of changing their story if they want to.

I thought also that the fact the scene went straight from this empowerment song into a battle was quite apt as she has the motivation and has the drive to know what she has to do not only to save her loved ones but also to save Auradon.

I’m a sucker for the big emotional songs of a movie if they are sung well and the lyrics have a meaning to them and that is why this song for me is number 1 despite the fact that every song in this movie is so good that I often change my mind daily as to which is my favourite.

Do What You Gotta Do:

This is why you get Cheyenne Jackson, which is why I thought they gave Maleficent a song in the first movie because Kristin Chenoweth is also a broadway legend. However, while there are still some childish moments in the number at least it seems to fit this character.

I loved how this song laid out the dynamic between Hades and Mal as a father and daughter. I thought the rock-like style for Hades was very appropriate and although I have never heard Cheyenne sing before he was in his element here.

I found it funny that Celia was the backing vocals for the song and seen coming out from where she was apparently hiding almost every time she was singing.

I also thought the lyrics helped kind of progress the story with Hades defending being an absentee father and Mal trying to get him to hand over the ember.

My favourite line is when Mal sings about how Hades was a bad dad, Hades simply responds with “I steal souls, were you expecting flowers?” Because it makes absolute sense for the character.

Dove Cameron can sing anyway we know this from the last two movies, but combine her vocals with Cheyenne Jackson and somehow it works a better than Evil Like Me.

One Kiss:

Alright so, I said before that I would have loved this sequence to be like “On the Steps of the Palace” from Into the Woods sung by Anna Kendrick. In that sequence, everything around Cinderella becomes frozen while she sing-debates whether or not to flee from the prince or not. This was great because it was literally showing us what was going through Cinderella’s mind at the time.

Here, if they had done or even made it so it was that type of sequence, because if it had been then I would have felt better about Evie doing a 2 minute 30 song and dance number while they had Audrey as a pending threat to think about.

Also, it is hard to tell if Doug is actually under the curse or just faking so that Evie will kiss him and prove that she loves him. I did find it funny when he either faked it at the end because it at least gave him something to do but come on, she had his apparent unconscious body draped over him while she was dancing at one point before dropping him on the table.

Now while this wasn’t as much of a Michael Jackson tribute as “Chillin’ Like a Villain”, Sofia Carson still had the dance moves and this choreography, like a lot of the production numbers of the movie, was on point.

But also, as much as I love the lyrics of the conflict in Evie’s head, a lot like Anna Kendrick’s Cinderella, one of my favourite points in this number is the cut-backs to Mal and Uma who were chorus-lining much like Celia was doing during “Do What You Gotta Do” but the different looks both characters were giving during the lines “One Kiss” with Mal looking eager and Uma just going “Come on get on with it” to the point where at one point she’s just checking her manicure during one of the “haoo haoo!” moments before Evie runs outside before just going to Mal “should we go?”

Night Falls:

So this isn’t “It’s Going Down” but it is this movie’s version. Not only is it the song that has Mal, Evie and Uma all together in quite a harmonious riff throughout the latter half of the number, but also this is definitely the point of the movie where I lost my s%$t with the movie because you had a dancing suits of armour and at one point Dude jumping up in the air and apparently clapping.

I know it’s for kids but that is the point in the movie when I actually did not know what I was watching.

I did like the suits busting a move to be fair, especially as they were mirroring the VK on the podium.

It was also a great number to again show Mal and Uma’s rivalry, “This is my crew, but this is my squad” is each VK trying to take ownership of her respective team yet they are both trying to do the right thing for Auradon.

Don’t get me wrong, I do kind of wish the guys maybe got solo numbers and I know Ben did in the first movie which I did not like, but Mitchell Hope can sing, as proven here, Cameron Boyce and Thomas Doherty can also sing, so I do wish they had the chance to because here they were in the chorus only.

Good to Be Bad:

The opening numbers have all been high-energy VK power, and I loved how we started back on the Isle as opposed to Auradon like Descendants 2.

This is the only song I knew about going into the movie because it’s the only video I think they released and I wasn’t originally crazy about it, but it a grower I must say because after hearing it a couple of times on that video I was

Queen of Mean:

If you had told me that not only would the daughter of Sleeping Beauty be the movie’s villain but also basically wrapping during her transformation, I wouldn’t have believed you. But sure enough Sarah Jeffery does, which was I guess another insentive for her to return after skipping Descendants 2 because while she had a minor line in the final number of the first movie “Set It Off”, this is completely her number with no one else singing.

Again, a lot like “One Kiss”, it’s all about that inner conflict in Audrey’s head which leads her to taking obviously drastic measures as she literally says “Everyone loves Mal, Mal’s a villain, so if they want a villain as a queen, I’ll be the worst”.

I loved the reveal of her transformation when she did turn, but I don’t know exactly how she did. She hadn’t taken the staff yet and was in close proximity to it but didn’t touch it yet. So is the queen’s crown magical?

It is a great villain revealed song and a great match for the character of Audrey, as she is basically saying how she tried to be the good girl but that wasn’t enough for the kingdom so she is now going to be evil and rule with vengeance. It brilliantly sets up her story in the movie and it’s a great musical choice for the movie.

Break This Down:

This is probably my favourite ending group number, while “Set It Off” was very high energy and “You and Me” was very low energy, here was a perfect balance of the two.

I loved how it started with Mal and Uma basically singing to each other and then became about the Auradon VKs and the Isle VKs before simply becoming about everyone.

The song is very much about breaking down literal barriers that divide people which is obviously in reference to the barrier coming down.

The dancing on the bridge with everyone felt very much like a school disco it was that high energy, and I haven’t obviously attended school discos in 15 years but it reminded me of that feeling.

It was a very catchy number, I like how almost everyone got a chance to sing at least one verse. I think maybe Dylan Playfair and the supporting Auradon kids didn’t but otherwise all of the main kids did which was great.

Happy Birthday:

Alright so these next three are either minor songs to the movie or in the end-credits. “Happy Birthday” is obviously not an original song to the movie, but Sarah Jeffery delivers such a sultry performance and the visuals of her cursing Jane’s party flows with it so well that it is just a very nice scene.

Dig a Little Deeper:

Literally 30 seconds of this song is heard over the end credits, largely because “Bring This Down” plays over most of the credits. I have listened to the full version though and have to say, The Princess and the Frog is so underrated in terms of a movie, the songs and bringing that New Orleans vibe to Disney. While China McClain isn’t from New Orleans or even playing a character from that movie, I am glad she got the chance to perform it like she did “Poor Unfortunate Souls” in Descendants 2.

Did I Mention:

Everyone knows this is my least favourite song from the first movie, but fortunately it is only redone for one verse, stripped back with I believe Doug playing acoustic guitar.

Here’s the thing, J. Lewis is a great singer and the fact he got the role of Mitchell Hope’s singing voice after being a contestant on The Voice is a good gig. But Mitchell Hope singing this number is so organic and natural and sweet that. while I get Hope may not be the most confident singer which is why Lewis has stepped in for both Descendants and Descendants 2, I’m glad he was able to sing himself here.

Recommendation:

Alright so even though the movie has almost been out for a week, I will still say that I feel this movie and franchise has been a great escapism for people to just turn off their brains from the trials and tribulations of every day life.

Now yes, for kids who may not know what is to come in their respective futures, this is simply a great movie to enjoy. It’s fun, it’s colourful, it’s action-packed and it has great songs. But for adults who either enjoy the franchise or watch it with kids, they’ll be able to be drawn back into when they were kids growing up with Disney.

It’s been a great journey, as I say I don’t see it continuing due to the untimely and tragic passing of Cameron Boyce, but the trilogy we have I think is enough and a great legacy for him to leave behind.

Overall I rate this movie a 9/10, there are moments story-wise where I feel it could have been stronger and if Maleficent had returned it would have been a 10 for me but I’m not taking away too much from the greatness that this movie is.

So that’s my review of Descendants 3, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.

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