Nature vs nurture dilemma fuels Disney’s ‘Descendants’
JAFAR, the Evil Queen, Maleficent, Cruella de Vil and their children take center stage: Can poison apples fall far from the tree?
What happens to villains like Maleficent (“Sleeping Beauty”), the Evil Queen (“Snow White”), Jafar (“Aladdin”) and Cruella de Vil (“101 Dalmatians”) after they get their much-deserved comeuppance in those fairy tales? None of them lives happily ever after, naturally—but, should their children similarly suffer their parents’ ignominious fates?
In the Disney channel’s teenage musical, “Descendants,” which became the most-watched cable TV movie of the year after its July 31 premiere, Maleficent and company get a rare shot at avenging their embarrassing defeats—through their kids, Mal (Dove Cameron), Evie (Sofia Carson), Jay (Booboo Stewart) and Carlos (Cameron Boyce)! But, can they live up to their parents’ expectations?
The TV movie incorporates and expands their respective mythologies in an inventively appealing scenario that has King Beast (Dan Payne) and Queen Belle (Keegan Tracy) uniting all the fairy-tale kingdoms into the United States of “Auradon,” where all the villains and their zany underlings are imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost, living a hardscrabble existence in a Wi-Fi-free zone that outlaws the use of magic!
Magic wand
Like their infamous folks, Mal and her pals are perceived to be “rotten to the core”—but, as teenage Prince Ben (Mitchell Hope) prepares to ascend the throne, he allows the villainous quartet to attend Auradon Prep as an act of good faith, alongside the children of other fairy tale heroes, like Mulan, Dopey and the Fairy Godmother—whose magic wand they’re tasked to steal!
To get her hands on the elusive wand, Mal casts a love spell on Prince Ben, but his demanding girlfriend, Princess Audrey (Sarah Jeffery), the popular but annoying daughter of Prince Phillip and Aurora (of “Sleeping Beauty”), gets in the way.
Worse, Mal is finding it hard to resist Ben’s princely charm—and be as “bad” as she is wired to be!
Can poison apples fall far from the tree? Mal isn’t the only one going through this “nature versus nurture” dilemma: Evie, who has become infatuated with Chad Charming (Jedidiah Goodacre), the dashing but insincere son of Cinderella and Prince Charming, must prove to herself that she can get high grades, even without using her mother’s magic mirror!
For his part, Jay is discovering the thrill of being a sports jock, while Cruella’s cynophobic (canine-fearing) offspring, Carlos, is belatedly learning why dogs are called man’s best friends.
Deliriously wicked
Moreover, the scene-stealing, scenery-chewing performance of golden-voiced Kristin Chenoweth, as the deliriously wicked (no pun intended) Maleficent, is not to be missed.
Like the “High School Musical” series, “Descendants” is as significant for its coming-of-age tales, “relatable” themes and engaging portrayals of its young cast as much as its catchy pop songs-enlivened soundtrack (including a hip-hop-garnished revival of “Be Our Guest”)—which is this week’s No. 1 on the Billboard 200!
Are its “naughty but nice” protagonists guilty by affinity—or, are they as worthy of their own Happily Ever Afters?
