Two years following the original ‘Descendants’ movie, the sequel was released with a very similar Disney Channel TV movie formula. Along with the original villain teens (Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay), we are introduced to three more: daughter of Ursula, Uma (China Anne McClain); son of Hook, Harry (Thomas Doherty); son of Gaston, Gil (Dylan Playfair). If I’m completely honest, I still love this idea of children of well-known Disney villains driving the plot, so I do get excited to see would pop up next.
Once again I can’t help but fall into a ‘High School Musical’ reminiscence. I just love the songs and performances. Yes the acting isn’t always great, but I just can’t help but get swept away in all the rest. The dancing and choreography is excellent, it’s all so in sync! I very much enjoyed ‘Chillin’ Like a Villain’, the entire performance of this song was just joyful to watch. ‘Space Between’ is another which is just a beautiful song.
‘Descendants 2’ so overly dramatic, it’s hilarious: but it has to be to be a Disney Channel TV movie! The special effects and the fight scenes are particularly the worst. At the pinnacle of the movie, I wasn’t exactly anxious in anticipation of what might happen… I laughed. But that is because it’s a film embedded into a cheesy moral as all Disney Channel movies are. Yet I still love it.
So here I am, once again finding a cheesy teen movie joyful to watch. ‘Descendants 2’ had the cheesiness and drama down to a T, yet still contained a plot that did make sense and was easy to follow. It had fun performances to watch, new characters to learn and the moral of love threaded throughout. I have to mention Cameron Boyce, as he was especially excellent in this movie. Overall, I really enjoyed the terribleness of this movie, however I think I preferred the original. But as sequels go, this one wasn’t too bad!
Striking Film Reviews 