Movie Madness: Descendants: The Rise Of Red.

 Hey y'all! Welcome back to my blog after near a month of drought! Today I'll be talking about Descendants: The Rise Of Red.

   As you should probably know by now, there are spoilers ahead! You've been warned!

   Now those who know me know I love this franchise maybe a little too much (I'm well aware I'm above the age, but I don't care. It's a sweet, derpy franchise with great music).

  That being said, I wasn't exactly down with this movie at first. I was kinda like "who asked for a sequel? Literally NO ONE!" And after Cameron Boyce's death, I found it slightly disrespectful.

   I thought that The Royal Wedding wrapped up the storyline with a pretty, purple ribbon and that perhaps, we shouldn't pilfer with that.

   But the movie was made, it came out and I watched it and I have thoughts.

   First, the elephant in the room, at least to me, is the name change. This movie was announced as "Descendants 4" and then later promoted as "Descendants: The Pocketwatch". I will never be swayed in my opinion that "The Pocketwatch" was a much better title. The Rise Of Red feels fanfic-y. (And I have nothing against fanfic, as I am an avid writer, but you know what I mean).

   The characters were written pretty well, except maybe the VKs. I mean they're how old? Sixteen and they're already bent on being mean and evil? And we have no info as to WHY? (Well, my fanfic, Runaway To Neverland explains some about The Elegant Captain Hook's upbringing but the rest is pretty murky)...

   I also really enjoyed Hades and Maleficent being shipped together after all we found out in Descendants 3. I thought they were quite sweet and would like to see an entire movie with them as the central focus, maybe their marriage and the birth of Mal and eventually their divorce/separation/whatever.

   Hook and Morgie were enjoyable and another elephant in the room, Uliana, Hook and Morgie are literally a new version of Uma, Harry and Gil. Not complaining, just noticed it.

   Uli's revenge motive was a little crazy; I mean you steal flamingo feathers off the top of a sweet girl's cupcakes, destroy her cupcakes and then eat the flamingo feathers while she's telling you there could be consequences and then declare revenge on her? I mean really?

   Uli, to be a feared queen bee, she seems a little... Soft, which makes me wonder if it was even her and the gang who pulled the prank originally and if it was, how they were able to get into the cookbook without freezing like they did when Red and Chloe were there.

   Anyway, we have three new-ish ships to add to my roster: Maleficent Faery X Hades, Uliana X Morgie and James Hook X Princess Bridget Hearts. (The last I first thought was a little crazy, but I actually find it rather cute).

   The return of Uma was an "all hail the Queen" moment for me. I adored how she was actually fighting the guards during The Queen Of Hearts' coup. Uma is probably the best and strongest character, second being Evie. 

   I enjoyed this movie, though it's not as good as the other three. The ending wasn't great but it was quite funny. I think one of their things is having very recognizable people in it (Rita Ora and Brandy), kinda like how in Descendants, Kristen Chenoweth, a veteran and icon of my business, was cast as Maleficent. Same thing with Whoopi Goldburg's Descendants 2 cameo as Ursula.

   My favorite song from the movie is either "What's My Name?" (if truly positioned there due to my nostalgia for it), "Red" (even though that "on a path of destruction, they gon' think I'm on one" lyric is like nails on a chalkboard, the "appetite for destruction, a girl's gotta eat" line somewhat makes up for it), or "Fight Of Our Lives" (which agreeing with the opinions of a few people I've read about online, does remind me of a Selena Gomez & The Scene song).

   All in all, it was a good movie that I'm glad was made. The cast was very talented and the songs were quite catchy (again, I didn't love them like I do the originals, but maybe that's just because I've lived with them for the last nine years. They'll probably grow on me).

   To conclude, stay tuned for fanfics on this and I'll see y'all later. Definitely in October, as I'll be participating in National Blog Posting Month.

   Bye! 😎