I had planned to finish the Disneyland series last night, but instead, my copy of Descendants came in so I had to watch it. It was actually so good, I ended up watching it three times total before bedtime and I didn't even start stitching! I also spent a night worry-free about Disneyland, which was a bonus, until it was time to go to bed and my head started running away again.
I dropped regular TV about the time this movie was getting made, so I really only knew the basic facts about it even...the children of the Disney villains wind up going to school with the children of the heroes and calamity ensues, but it ended up being so much more. In the first few moments, they broke out into song and dance, which was a bit of an eyeopener because I wasn't expecting a musical, but not shocking because it is a DCOM movie. This first song actually ended up being my favorite one of the entire movie. I may be anti-modern music, but techno is really nothing but more technical 80's music anyway and I really dug the vibe of this song, especially during the dance sequence.
As much as I was dreading Kristin Chenoweth as Maleficent, she actually turned out pretty good and I also liked the song between her and Mal, her daughter:
There was also a really great ballad in there and it was enough to make me put the soundtrack in my wishlist:
There were other songs in between, and I guess I don't need to post them all, but each was surprisingly good, well, all except for the remake of Be Our Guest. So wrong on so many levels:
I was also a bit disappointed by the big ending song and I expected a bit more (although, considering what a big production it was, I'm not sure how). The music just felt off and the lyrics were a bit cheesy, even for a DCOM. But the dancing and backgrounds were amazing, so I didn't dwell too much on the lack of finale oomph.
Overall, I loved the bright 80's type colors of the movie throughout. The casting was also really good. I've always liked Dove Cameron even though I really didn't like Liv & Maddie (the start up movie was good, but the show, not so much). I didn't care that Aurora & Phillip's daughter and Cindy and Charming's son were horrible and that Belle and the Beast's son was the lead guy, but that's just my personal prince and princess preference interfering. The casting was pretty spot on, even down to Dopey's son who ends up having a crush on Evie, the daughter of the Evil Queen.
And speaking of the Evil Queen, for those who have seen it, they did make Kathy Najimy's face look like that on purpose, right? She really doesn't look like that now, in real life, does she..all stretched out and botoxed? There was one tiny comment when Snow White is playing newscaster and the Queen goes "she's definitely had work done" and Maleficent looks over at her like, "have you looked in the mirror lately?", but nothing else was said. If they did it on purpose, they really should have played it up more.
Overall, I think this has become my new favorite DCOM! I got excited in what little special features there were because they hinted at a sneak peak of a new Descendants movie, but it turned out to only be for an animated shorts series based on the movie. They apparently are planning a sequel though, and I'm kind of glad. I get that these are kids movies but they have romantic undertones and I typically see them as romances, so when the leads never actually kiss (even the completely innocent DCOM kiss), it kind of gets under my skin. It took three movies for them to kiss in High School Musical and even became a running joke in the movies...should I expect the same here, especially with Kenny Ortega again at the helm? Hopefully not. That naggy little romantic inside of me needs her fix! I don't know if it's my lack of maturity as an Asper or what, but I don't really watch these "young people" movies with an adult brain...I see two characters falling in love and I often have to remind myself that it's not cool anymore for me to think the guys are cute because they are technically young enough to be my kids!
Anyway, if you haven't seen Descendants yet, you have definitely got to check it out! I may end up watching it again tonight after I go back to the Disneyland series.
MOVIE TOTALS:
Live Action: 97
Full-Length Animation: 110
Mixed-Medium: 11
Animated Shorts: 338
Live Action Shorts: 1
Mixed-Medium Shorts: 3
Animated Series: 84
Mixed-Medium Series: 2
Documentaries: 11
Concerts: 1
I dropped regular TV about the time this movie was getting made, so I really only knew the basic facts about it even...the children of the Disney villains wind up going to school with the children of the heroes and calamity ensues, but it ended up being so much more. In the first few moments, they broke out into song and dance, which was a bit of an eyeopener because I wasn't expecting a musical, but not shocking because it is a DCOM movie. This first song actually ended up being my favorite one of the entire movie. I may be anti-modern music, but techno is really nothing but more technical 80's music anyway and I really dug the vibe of this song, especially during the dance sequence.
As much as I was dreading Kristin Chenoweth as Maleficent, she actually turned out pretty good and I also liked the song between her and Mal, her daughter:
There was also a really great ballad in there and it was enough to make me put the soundtrack in my wishlist:
There were other songs in between, and I guess I don't need to post them all, but each was surprisingly good, well, all except for the remake of Be Our Guest. So wrong on so many levels:
I was also a bit disappointed by the big ending song and I expected a bit more (although, considering what a big production it was, I'm not sure how). The music just felt off and the lyrics were a bit cheesy, even for a DCOM. But the dancing and backgrounds were amazing, so I didn't dwell too much on the lack of finale oomph.
Overall, I loved the bright 80's type colors of the movie throughout. The casting was also really good. I've always liked Dove Cameron even though I really didn't like Liv & Maddie (the start up movie was good, but the show, not so much). I didn't care that Aurora & Phillip's daughter and Cindy and Charming's son were horrible and that Belle and the Beast's son was the lead guy, but that's just my personal prince and princess preference interfering. The casting was pretty spot on, even down to Dopey's son who ends up having a crush on Evie, the daughter of the Evil Queen.
And speaking of the Evil Queen, for those who have seen it, they did make Kathy Najimy's face look like that on purpose, right? She really doesn't look like that now, in real life, does she..all stretched out and botoxed? There was one tiny comment when Snow White is playing newscaster and the Queen goes "she's definitely had work done" and Maleficent looks over at her like, "have you looked in the mirror lately?", but nothing else was said. If they did it on purpose, they really should have played it up more.
Overall, I think this has become my new favorite DCOM! I got excited in what little special features there were because they hinted at a sneak peak of a new Descendants movie, but it turned out to only be for an animated shorts series based on the movie. They apparently are planning a sequel though, and I'm kind of glad. I get that these are kids movies but they have romantic undertones and I typically see them as romances, so when the leads never actually kiss (even the completely innocent DCOM kiss), it kind of gets under my skin. It took three movies for them to kiss in High School Musical and even became a running joke in the movies...should I expect the same here, especially with Kenny Ortega again at the helm? Hopefully not. That naggy little romantic inside of me needs her fix! I don't know if it's my lack of maturity as an Asper or what, but I don't really watch these "young people" movies with an adult brain...I see two characters falling in love and I often have to remind myself that it's not cool anymore for me to think the guys are cute because they are technically young enough to be my kids!
Anyway, if you haven't seen Descendants yet, you have definitely got to check it out! I may end up watching it again tonight after I go back to the Disneyland series.
MOVIE TOTALS:
Live Action: 97
Full-Length Animation: 110
Mixed-Medium: 11
Animated Shorts: 338
Live Action Shorts: 1
Mixed-Medium Shorts: 3
Animated Series: 84
Mixed-Medium Series: 2
Documentaries: 11
Concerts: 1
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