Disney Descendants Are “Rotten to the Core” & Printable Activity Sheets #bestofMal #funnymoments

Disclosure:  I received this product to review in exchange for sharing my honest opinion.

Disney Descendants

Released: July 31, 2015

Released by: Disney

Running Time: 112 minutes

From the Emmy Award-winning director and choreographer Kenny Ortega (“High School Musical” franchise) comes this original contemporary story of classic Disney characters reinvented and the introduction of modern Disney lore.  Enter this new epic universe of relatable tween characters on a journey of self-discovery.  New on Disney DVD, and complete with never-before-seen bonus and a FREE bracelet!

In a present day idyllic kingdom, the benevolent teenaged son of the King and Queen (Beast and Belle from Disney’s iconic “Beauty and the Beast”) is poised to take the throne.  His first proclamation:  offer a chance at redemption to the trouble-making offspring of Cruella de Vil, Maleficent the Evil Queen and Jafar who have been imprisoned on a forbidden island with all the other villains, sidekicks, evil step-mothers and step-sisters.  These villainous descendants (Carlos, Mal, Evie and Jay, respectively) are allowed into the kingdom to attend prep school alongside the offspring of iconic Disney heroes, including Fairy Godmother, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Mulan.  However, the evil teens face a dilemma.  Should they follow in their nefarious parents’ footsteps and help all the villains regain power or embrace their innate goodness and save the kingdom?

Director: Kenny Ortega (“High School Musical” franchise)

Exec Producer: Kenny Ortega (“High School Musical” franchise) and Wendy Japhet (“The Italian Job,” “An Education”)

Producer: Tracey Jeffrey

Writers: Josie McGibbon (“Runaway Bride,” “Chicken Little”) and Sara Parriott (“Runaway Bride,” “Chicken Little”)

Choreographers: Kenny Ortega (“High School Musical” franchise) and Paul Becker (“The Cabin in the Woods,” “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”)

Cast: Kristin Chenoweth (“Wicked,” TV’s “Glee”) as Maleficent

Dove Cameron (TV’s “Liv & Maddie”) as Mal the daughter of Maleficent

Wendy Raquel Robinson (“The Game,” “Miss Congeniality”) as Cruella de Vil

Cameron Boyce (TV’s “Jessie”) as Carlos the son of Cruella de Vil

Maz Jobrani (“The Interpreter,” “13 Going on 30”) as Jafar

Booboo Stewart (“X-Men Days of Future Past,” “Twilight”) as Jay the son of Jafar

Kathy Nijimy (“WALL-E,” “Sister Act”) as the Evil Queen

Sofia Carson (TV’s “Austin & Ally”) as Evie the daughter of the Evil Queen

Mitchell Hope (“Down the Way,” “Yes Mum”) as Ben the son of Beast and Belle

Melanie Paxson (“Saving Mr. Banks,” “Happy Family”) as Fairy Godmother

Brenna D’Amico as Jane the daughter of Fairy Godmother

Sarah Jeffery (“Shades of Blue,” “Rogue”) as Audrey the daughter of Princess Aurora

Zachary Gibson (“Zapped”) as Doug the son of Dopey

Jedidiah Goodacre (“If There Be Thorns,” “Zapped”) as Chad Charming the son of Cinderella

Dianne Doan (“Last Night in Suburbia”) as Lonnie the daughter of Mulan

Honestly I think I liked this movie more than my kids. Granted my boys are 7 and 8 and don’t really care about fairy tales and my daughter is only 4, I really liked the characters and story. It is such a cute story featuring four villains whose kids were chosen by Beauty and the Beast’s son, the prince, to come to high school with all the good kids. The villains live on their own island and you can imagine what it looks like with all the villains and troublemakers living there, especially compared to where all the goody-goody people live. The villain teenagers don’t want to go but their overbearing parents of course want them to go and steal something that would allow them to take over. Will the teenagers make their parents proud and be bad or will they make their own decisions? It is such a great story for today’s kids of how kids can make their own decisions rather than following in their parent’s footsteps. I’ve known friends who were miserable because they did what their parents wanted them to do/be rather than hurt their feelings and say they don’t want to. My own kids have done that and I’ve had to explain it is okay to be different. For example, my husband is huge into hockey and got our boys into it. They played it but I could tell my middle child just didn’t want to do it but was doing it because his dad wanted him to.

Great family movie and one we have watched a few times now. I love the songs they sing randomly and little dances, very upbeat and entertaining. Yes the characters do break out in singing and dancing occasionally throughout the movie. It is funny too to see how Disney portrays the fairytale kids in general with teenagers from lots of the fairy tale favorites such as Aurora, Cinderella, Fairy Godmother and more.

BUY IT: Check out Disney Descendants on Amazon for $14.85 currently or find it wherever DVDs are sold.