Review: Disney Descendants

Review
Disney Descendants 

Disney Channel unleashed their newest DCOM on WATCH Disney Channel. So if you can't wait until Friday to see it (which you can, trust me), you can watch it early there.

Let's do a quick plot synopsis then get into the likes and dislikes of this DCOM. Here's the basic plot - the children of classic Disney Villains, who are exiled on the island of the Lost, get a chance at redemption by attending a boarding school at Auradon (the fictional kingdom that units the Disney Kingdoms). Maleficent has cooked up a plan to have them steal the Fairy Godmother's magic wand so they can break free and take over the world. However, contrary to the tagline in the image to the left, it appears no one is born bad, it's a choice.

If you liked High School Musical, there's a chance you will like this DCOM. It's High School Musical with Disney character namesakes. But that is as far as the resemblance goes. It seems that many of the characters were distilled down to one character trait (our already two-dimensional animated favorites have now become one-dimensional). The story opens with a tablet, yes, a tablet instead of a book and is riddled with modern day slang. I really miss period pieces.

The Evil Queen, played by Kathy Najimy, seems to have let her obsession with beauty go (and let herself go). Jafar is now a pickpocket and salesman. Cruella has a squeeky toy dog as a companion. And Maleficent, played by the always wonderful Kristen Chenoweth, is mostly intact though speaks in modern tongues. Maleficent gets one decent number in the movie, but nothing that lasts. Not sure I'm a fan of the casting overall for the villains, or perhaps they were just written poorly. Even Belle and the Beast were off. Again, these are the characters by namesake only.

Now for their kids. It seems the formula for the children's names is to take the first letter, or first few letters and come up with something. Let's see, we have Mal, Maleficent's daughter. There's Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen. Jay, the son of Jafar. And of course, Carlos, the son of Cruella De Vil (who is largely wasted in this film). Do they have other parents? Are they all single or divorced parents? Who knows! We never get that explained. We just know that they seem to live in poverty and have given up all the wicked ways. Unfortunately, all of the kids were not that interesting to watch either. Jay was a jock, Carlos was a wuss, Evie pretended to be shallow and dumb, and Mal was unsure about her path. Mal, at least, had a story arc. The others were just there.

What we do get explained in tedious musical numbers is that love conquers all. The music was fine. But this was not the type of music that moved the movie forward, helped develop character or plot, or were even spectacular to listen to. They were pop songs disguised as a movie. I wasn't impressed. Poor Alan Menken and Howard Ashman and the Sherman Brothers.

The only real stand-out child was the son of Dopey. He actually looked and acted like he might be the progeny of the dwarf. His story just kind of doesn't get resolved though. Too bad, he was a warm spot in the film.

I can't say I liked much about this DCOM. It seemed like it was mostly a response to the After Ever High Toy Line. It seems like it was done hastily and gave little regard to the source material. I guess that's fine if that is what they were shooting for, but it had a lot of missteps along the way. Then again, if this was the launching platform for a new series, then mission accomplished. The High School Musical crowd is going to love it.

I was looking forward to this being a franchise I could get behind, but I'm not sure I want this kind of treatment of the characters. It seemed lazy and rushed.

Disney Originals out today!

Today marks the release of the Disney Infinity 2.0 Disney Original characters. I'll be picking up all of mine after work today so look for another update later today. Hopefully I get some really awesome power discs! Below are all the characters being released today!

Disney Infinity 2.0 Character Release Dates

Disney Infinity 2.0 Character Release Date Table

FIGURE	PLAY SET	US RELEASE DATE	UK RELEASE DATE	CA RELEASE DATE	AU RELEASE DATE
Loki	The Avengers	Update Soon	Update Soon	Update Soon	Update Soon
Ironman	The Avengers	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Hulk	The Avengers	28th October 2014	24th October 2014	28th October 2014	16th October 2014
Thor	The Avengers	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Captain America	The Avengers	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Black Widow	The Avengers	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Hawkeye	The Avengers	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Green Goblin	Spiderman	Update Soon	Update Soon	Update Soon	Update Soon
Spiderman	Spiderman	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Venom	Spiderman	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Nick Fury	Spiderman	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Iron Fist	Spiderman	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Nova	Spiderman	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Ronan	Guardians of the Galaxy	Update Soon	Update Soon	Update Soon	Update Soon
Star Lord	Guardians of the Galaxy	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Rocket Raccoon	Guardians of the Galaxy	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Gamora	Guardians of the Galaxy	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Drax	Guardians of the Galaxy	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Groot	Guardians of the Galaxy	23rd September 2014	19th September 2014	23rd September 2014	18th September 2014
Baymax	Toy Box 2.0	4th November 2014	24th October 2014	4th November 2014	6th November 2014
Hiro	Toy Box 2.0	4th November 2014	24th October 2014	4th November 2014	6th November 2014
Donald Duck	Toy Box 2.0	4th November 2014	24th October 2014	4th November 2014	6th November 2014
Aladdin	Toy Box 2.0	4th November 2014	7th November 2014	4th November 2014	6th November 2014
Jasmine	Toy Box 2.0	Update Soon	Update Soon	Update Soon	Update Soon
Tinkerbell	Toy Box 2.0	4th November 2014	7th November 2014	4th November 2014	6th November 2014
Stitch	Toy Box 2.0	4th November 2014	7th November 2014	4th November 2014	6th November 2014
Merida	Toy Box 2.0	4th November 2014	7th November 2014	4th November 2014	6th November 2014
Maleficent	Toy Box 2.0	4th November 2014	7th November 2014	4th November 2014	6th November 2014

Power Discs-Disney Infinity 2.0

Disney Infinity 2.0 continues to impress. At E3, a few power discs for Disney Infinity 2.0 have been revealed and boy are they great! The ones that have been revealed are not Marvel properties at all, but based on more classic Disney properties, including the Muppets and the Main Street Electrical Parade (which looks like a rare disc)!

It's great to see such a mix of Disney properties, from movies to parks. Not only are they reaching new fans, but old fans who have amazing memories of Disney past. So, when do we get a Haunted Mansion sky disc and terrain and The Muppets as playable characters? I can wait. I'm happy the Muppets are still being included!

I'm wondering now - Will the playsets all be Marvel based? And the other Disney properties get to be power discs?

Miss Piggy's U.S.S Swinetrek

Main Street Electrical Parade Float

Darkwing Duck's Ratcatcher Bike

Darkwing Duck's Grappling Gun

Simba's Pride Lands

Simba's Kings Domain

Calhoun's Command

Calhoun's Cybug Swarm

Zeus's Thunderbolt

Maleficent's Spell Cast

Bring on the Brave. Bring on the Wicked.

Disney Infinity 2.0 brings two femalte leads to the fore front among the Marvel Men, Merida from Pixars Brave and Maleficent from Disney's Maleficent. It's been sometime since we've seen a villain take a leading role in Disney Infinity and I can only hope there are more to come. The trailer shows Maleficent using some of her classic powers from the classic Sleeping Beauty which is a great addition and it looks like Merida has some nice melee/long range attacks. Also, Mike Wasowski, what are you doing?

Review 2: Maleficent

Maleficent

(or . . . Sleeping Beauty, from a Slightly Different Perspective)

Disney's Maleficent came to the big screen on May 30, 2014. The film promised to deliver the untold story of one of Disney's greatest villains of all time. Promises are funny things - don't make a promise you can't keep. Maleficent tells another version of Sleeping Beauty, rather than Maleficent's story from the 1959 animated classic. Simply put, the film doesn't deliver what it promises.

This film has a number of interesting problems. First, it seems like someone took a bulleted list of the most iconic moments from the animated Sleeping Beauty and tried to explain them away with rather lackluster and flimsy explanations (or in some cases, over explanations). For instance, why does Aurora prick her finger on a spinning wheel? Because that's the item that Maleficent sees while cursing the young princess. Seems rather unsatisfying. In contrast, we spend a great deal of time on setting up why Maleficent chooses sixteen as the magic number to curse Aurora, but it's just tossed in the mix. This happens throughout the course of the film, especially in the beginning set-up that seems like wasted plot exposition.

Second, there are a number of logical problems throughout the film. For instance, in the opening we see a young Maleficent heal a broken branch on a tree. Yet for some reason (that doesn't get a needed explanation) she cannot heal her own wings. Perhaps her magic doesn't work on herself? Who knows, but it would have been worth an explanation. Also, why would King Stefan (who is really the villain of the film) hand over his child to a bunch of idiotic pixies? Especially when the relationship between fairy kind and human kind is already strained and they take the child to a cottage that is dangerously close to the Moors, where Maleficent dwells? Also, why are the pixies idiots? And why does Maleficent turn the raven into a man, except to have someone for Maleficent to talk to?

Third, flat characters. Maleficent as a character shines quite brightly and Angelina Jolie gives an amazing performance. But the other characters fall utterly short of being remotely two dimensional. Their motivations are mysterious or overwhelming singular (I'm looking at you King Stefan). Only Maleficent is fleshed out as a character and even she is almost unrecognizable in her actions from the character she is based off. She appears to lack all of her powers (such as turning into a dragon, appearing and disappearing in green flames, and traveling as a will o' the wisp). The audience is sympathetic to Maleficent, who does have an arc to her story. But she has the only story arc. The other characters fade into the background and are grossly overshadowed by Maleficent.

Speaking of shadows, the film itself if very dark for much of the duration. Sometimes it was hard to actually make out what was going on in many scenes near the end. The human world was quite dismal to look at and seemed to have no redeeming qualities. There was no understanding or sense of the scope of the kingdom and the people who lived there.

Okay, now for some good things. Angelina Jolie as Maleficent and the overall story arc for her character were quite good and it comes full circle by the end. There is a nice little story in this clunky film about the power of true love, in this case, between Maleficent and Aurora. This story helped pull the movie together. Yes, it sounds a lot like Frozen, but it works here as well, though you can see it coming a mile away.

We get some fun creatures in the Moors, but we don't get too much of them.

Final Thoughts:

Maleficent is a story about the truth behind Sleeping Beauty, not so much about the Maleficent from the 1959 animated film. In fact, forget that and just remember the names of the characters. Once you discover that fact, the film can be quite enjoyable. Don't go into this film expecting to think for yourself. If you do, you will be disappointed. The information the film wants you to know will be spoon fed to you (though it leaves out and doesn't satisfyingly explain things). It has some fun and especially sweet moments between Maleficent and Aurora and I wish the film was focused on the 16 years that Maleficent spent with Aurora waiting for the curse and their relationship, rahter than giving unnecessary backstory in the form of effects sequences that does not help move the movie along. Also, it would have been really nice to have more fleshed out characters who mean something and have motivations, rather than characters there for the sake of continuity of the 1959 animated classic (especially when these characters do not resemble each other in any way besides their names).

*Perhaps if I see it again knowing that it is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and without the false pre-tense that this movie is about the origins of Maleficent from 1959 animated film, I might have a different perspective. Thanks advertising department at Disney for setting my hopes high and not delivering on your promise of telling the untold story of Disney's greatest villain.

Maleficent curses us with mediocrity.

"Eh, it could be better."

Maleficent had promise to be magnificent but mediocrity made it miss the mark.

Disney made a masterpiece many years ago with the original animated classic "Sleeping Beauty." It had heart, a classic story, and best of all a villian to despise. Maleficent ranks with the likes of Darth Vader,  the Wicked Witch of the West, and Cruella DeVille. Like all good villains, we love to hate them. Star Wars Episodes I-III tried to make Vader sympathetic and his fall from good into evil wasn't convincing. Elphaba's rise from a tragic figure to success only to fall again lessens here evil ways. And Cruella, well,  she's wonderfully wicked. What Disney does to Maleficent is tragic in its own way.

Maleficent starts with letting the audience know this is not the story we know. The Narrator/Maleficent didn't warn us this would be the story no one knows. It reimagines the traditional story of "Sleeping Beauty" and you have to forget EVERYTHING you know about the classic. Now, this follows on the heels of a movie that reinvented a series after 60 years without sacrificing anything about the original.  I am of, of course, talking about Godzilla (2014). Maleficent can learn a thing or two from the King of the Monsters. Instead, Maleficent borrows from the pages of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and Oz: The Great and Powerful.

Quick synopsis: Maleficent is unique among the fair-folk in that she is human sized and has large bird-like wings. A human boy wanders into the moors where the fair-folk live and they begin a forbidden friendship since fair-folk and humans do not get along after the war. He gives her the kiss of true love but then turns to the greedy ways of man and chops her wings off to become king. Maleficent turns evil and broods for years until Aurora is born and bestows the curse upon her. The king hides Aurora with three fairies and they raise her. However, due to the idiocy of the three fairies Maleficent secretly raises the child and becomes her fairy godmother, showing Aurora the fair-folk and the moors, and letting her see all of fairy kind. After becoming attached to the child she despised, Maleficent tries to retract the curse, but can't. Aurora escapes from the three fairies, escapes to her fathers castle, and pricks her finger. Maleficent finds Prince Phillip, brings him to the castle, he kisses her, and the curse is not lifted so he just leaves. Maleficent is grief stricken and then kisses Aurora on her head and she wakes up. A big battle ensues, Maleficent gets her wings back, and her and Aurora unite the fair-folk and the humans. Happy Ending. 

Where to begin? First off, I did enjoy the creature design. The fairfolk were unique and fit in the world that surrounded them. They were similar in design to creatures seen in the world of Oz. I could have easily imagined the two worlds being one. However, the human world was bland and uninteresting. Set design and costumes where lacking and the grand scale was lost in a grey color palette. Minor things, but they add to the feel of the movie, which may have been better off as a mini-series than a full-fledged movie. It didn't look like the production value was there. The characters known as Merriweather, Flora, and Fauna are now dim-witted fairies who really serve as only a plot device and nothing more. Sad for such beloved characters to fall to the back drop.

Second, do not play the Frozen card here. Not ever. What Frozen did with turning the idea of true love on its head was powerful. It was the first Disney movie to move into a modern era where love is not only between and a prince and a princess. Maleficent takes the same idea and somehow, after only one time, turns it into a cliche. Plus, it deviates from the original story entirely. 

Third, the story really ended up telling us a whole new "Sleeping Beauty" under the guise "Maleficent" so people would see it. Maleficent was wasted as a character, given a bland, overdone, back story, and placed into someone else's story to provide an outlet to make sequels. She didn't look like Maleficent, she only wore here traditional black robes once, never turned into a dragon, didn't have evil minions, and was never really evil. She also had more in common with the human world than she did the fairy world, playing the role of a martyr. While the rest of the fair-folk were bug-eyed and the more animalistic one's were artistic, Maleficent was very much a human with horns and wings. She fell to the same pitfalls humans did and was no better than them. Where is the villain from the original? Does this movie even fit into Disney canon now or, like Star Wars, this movie creates a brand new canon to work from? Maleficent was a beautiful evil, pure and dark. Maybe evil needs to remain in the shadow so it can be evil. To plot and plan with its own infernal devices and schemes and reveal itself when the time is right.


This will work for mass audiences as Alice in Wonderland and Oz the Great and Powerful have. I am just disheartened to see such a vile villain succumb to mediocrity and be forgotten for the evil deeds she has done. After all, that's why I cheered for her.