Descendants is a Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered on July 31, 2015. It is the first installment in the Descendants trilogy.
Plot[]
Belle and Beast have married and become king and queen. Following the establishment of the United States of Auradon, they have created a prosperous new nation from the surrounding kingdoms, and banished the villains to the Isle of the Lost, an island slum surrounded by a barrier where magic is suspended. Now, twenty years later, their son, Prince Ben, who will soon be crowned king, announces that his first proclamation is to give four selected children from the Isle of the Lost the chance to live in Auradon, away from the influence of their villainous parents: Carlos, son of Cruella de Vil; Jay, son of Jafar; Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen; and Mal, daughter of Maleficent, despite his father's protests. On the island, Maleficent instructs the quartet to steal the Fairy Godmother's magic wand to release the barrier so she can take over Auradon and the world.
Traveling to Auradon Preparatory, the four meet Ben and his self-proclaimed girlfriend Audrey, daughter of Princess Aurora. They also meet the Fairy Godmother, the school's headmistress. Evie uses her mother's pocket-sized magic mirror to locate the wand in a nearby museum, and Mal uses her mother's spinning wheel from the museum to put the security guard to sleep, but they fail to steal the wand due to a barrier around it. The four have no choice but to attend classes, but start to fit in with the students. Jay is recruited into the school's "tourney" (a sport similar to field hockey, hurling and lacrosse) team, while Carlos overcomes his fear of dogs by befriending the school's dog, Dude. Evie, though intelligent, acts vain and dumb to impress Chad, Cinderella's son, but ends up doing his homework for him. Dopey's son, Doug, encourages her not to pander to others and be herself. Mal becomes popular, using Maleficent's spell book to improve the looks of Jane and Lonnie, the daughters of the Fairy Godmother and Mulan, respectively. Jane in particular dislikes her looks, especially because her mother won't use her own magic to change them.
Learning that Ben's "girlfriend" will be seated close to the wand during his coronation, which is used during the ceremony, Mal bakes a cookie laced with a love potion and gives it to Ben, who falls madly in love with her, much to the shock of his friends, particularly Audrey. On her first date with Ben, Mal becomes conflicted between her growing inner goodness and her desire to please her mother, unsure of how to react to Ben's feelings towards her. During the school's family day, the villains' children are ostracized after an encounter with Audrey's grandmother, Queen Leah, who hates Mal because Maleficent's curse was the reason she missed Aurora's childhood, prompting an argument that drives Mal to end the beauty spell she used on Jane. While Ben tries to reassure them that everything will be okay after the coronation, Doug tries to remain friendly towards Evie, but Chad forces him to distance himself from her.
At Ben's coronation, Mal gives him a brownie containing the love spell's antidote, believing it is unnecessary to keep him under the spell. It turns out, per Ben's admission, that he was already freed of the spell since their date when he went swimming in the Enchanted Lake, believing that Mal only did it because she really liked him. However, much to Mal's surprise, it turns out Ben has had feelings for her all along, from the day they met. During Ben's crowning, a disillusioned Jane grabs the wand from her mother, wanting to improve her beauty, only for her to accidentally destroy the Isle's barrier. Mal takes the wand from Jane, but torn over what to do, is encouraged by Ben to make her own choice rather than follow Maleficent's path. Mal recognizes that she and her friends found happiness in Auradon, and they choose to be good.
Maleficent crashes the ceremony, freezing everyone except herself and the four villain children. When they defy her, Maleficent transforms into a dragon. Mal and her friends use a counterspell, turning Maleficent into a lizard, her tiny size based on the amount of love in her heart. Mal returns the Fairy Godmother her wand as she unfreezes everyone and tells her not to be hard on Jane. While the villains watch the celebration from afar, Auradon Prep's students party through the night. Mal's eyes turn green as she addresses the audience, telling them the story is not over yet.
Cast[]
The Descendants[]
- Mal - (Dove Cameron) the daughter of Maleficent.
- Jay - (Booboo Stewart) the son of Jafar.
- Evie - (Sofia Carson) the daughter of the Evil Queen.
- Carlos De Vil - (Cameron Boyce), the son of Cruella De Vil.
- Ben - (Mitchell Hope), the son of Belle and the Beast.
- Audrey - (Sarah Jeffery), the daughter of Aurora and Prince Phillip.
- Chad Charming - (Jedidiah Goodacre), the son of Cinderella and Prince Charming.
- Lonnie - (Dianne Doan) the daughter of Fa Mulan and Li Shang.
- Jane - (Brenna D'Amico), the daughter of the Fairy Godmother.
- Doug - (Zachary Gibson), the son of Dopey.
Villains[]
- Maleficent - (Kristin Chenoweth) from Sleeping Beauty, Mal's mother, the leader of the villains, and the main antagonist.
- Jafar - (Maz Jobrani) from Aladdin, Jay's father, who owns a junk shop on the Isle of the Lost.
- The Evil Queen - (Kathy Najimy) from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Evie's mother.
- Cruella De Vil - (Wendy Raquel Robinson) from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Carlos' mother.
Heroes[]
- Queen Belle - (Keegan Connor Tracy) the heroine from Beauty and the Beast.
- King Beast - (Dan Payne) from Beauty and the Beast.
- Queen Leah - (Judith Maxie) from Sleeping Beauty, the mother of Princess Aurora and the grandmother of Princess Audrey.
- Fairy Godmother - (Melanie Paxson) from Cinderella, the headmistress of Auradon Prep.
- Snow White - (Stephanie Bennett) from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a local news anchor who reports on the activities at Auradon.
Other Characters[]
- Coach Jenkins - (Reese Alexander) the gym teacher at Auradon Prep, who is the coach of its tourney team.
- Mr. Deley - (Jonathan Holmes) a science teacher at Auradon Prep.
Sequel[]
- Main article: Descendants 2
At the 2015 D23 Expo, it was confirmed that a sequel is being made.[1] Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott were confirmed on October 15, 2015 to return as the writers, as well as being the executive producers.[2] Deadline reported that Parriott and McGibbon would reprise their duties as screenwriters and executive producers and that all of the cast from the first film was expected to return. On June 10, 2016, it was announced that China Anne McClain would join the sequel as Ursula's daughter, Uma.
Videos[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Keegan Connor Tracy, who plays Belle, also played the Blue Fairy/Mother Superior in Once Upon a Time.
- Cameron Boyce got his frost tips just for this movie.
- Sofia Carson and Dove Cameron wore wigs during filming.
- This is the first time that the Classical Disney film canon united in a feature film.
- As the villain kids progress from bad to good, the changes are reflected in their attire. They start out in their Isle of the Lost outfits, slowly decreasing in rebellious imaging, and finally to their coronation outfits and party clothes worn during "Set It Off".
- This would've been the second time Dove Cameron and Cameron Boyce worked together. The first time was in Dove Cameron's show, Liv and Maddie.
- This film contains many references and allusions to previous and current Disney franchises.
- The video game Carlos plays when the group first arrives at Auradon was originally created for the Disney XD original series Aaron Stone.
- Auradon Prep's motto is "Goodness doesn't get any better."
- During Rotten to the Core, if one looks closely behind to the group's dancing, the can see another "Long Live Evil" tag with Cruella's outline, and when you look behind Jay you can see the Jafar version of Long Live Evil.
- If one examines the stained glass windows of the church where the coronation is held, the images include Quasimodo, Snow White, Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Prince Adam, Alice, Fa Mulan, Li Shang, Tiana, various princes, and what appears to be Kristoff. The last image suggests Arendelle is part of Auradon.
- In the film, the term "prince" seems to be synonymous with wimps as noted by Jay.
- 18.2 million total viewers (so far) have watched Descendants.
- Sofia Carson, who plays Evie, originally auditioned for the part of Audrey.
- Descendants is the #5 cable movie of all time.
- In "Set It Off", a lyric in the song was "We got the keys. The kingdom's ours." which Ben and Evie sang is a reference to Sleeping Beauty where there is a lyric in a song "I got the keys to the kingdom".
- Dude, the male dog that Carlos becomes attached to, is actually a female dog named Paisley in real life.
- Kenny Ortega saw over 600 actors before casting Mitchell Hope as Prince Ben.
- Dove Cameron was the first person to be cast in this movie.
- Carlos and Dude (the dog) matched outfits after they met.
- If you look closely during the coronation, the parents of Audrey (Aurora and Phillip), Chad (Cinderella and Prince Henry), Lonnie (Li Mulan and Li Shang), and Doug (Dopey) are present.
- There was originally going to be a character named Aziz, son of Aladdin and Jasmine but was cut out for unknown reasons.
- Each offspring's name starts with the same initial letter as at least one of their parents.
- Mal, daughter of Maleficent; Evie, daughter of Evil Queen; Jay, son of Jafar; Carlos, son of Cruella; Ben, son of Belle and Beast; Audrey, daughter of Auora; Chad, son of Cinderella; Doug, son of Dopey; Lonnie, daughter of Li Shang and Fa Mulan.
- Jane doesn't count as an exception since her father's identity was never disclosed.
- Maleficent's dragon form in the climax took over 2,000 hours to animate.
- "They're not bad. They're just born that way." is a reference to Jessica Rabbit "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way.".
- The movie was released on the exact day, month, and year as Bunk'd.
External links[]
- Descendants on IMDb
- Descendants (2015 film) on Wikipedia
- Meet the Cast of Disney's Descendants at D23, The Official Disney Fan Club
- Descendants | Official Site
- Descendants Fandom
References[]
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