Why the Descendants franchise is the biggest thing in Disney villainy

One of the summer’s most anticipated movies stars Rita Ora in a bright red wig, singing about ruling the world. It reunites Brandy and Paolo Montalbán as Cinderella and Prince Charming. And it showcases a whole lot of tightly choreographed group dance sequences. Descendants: The Rise of Red is the newest movie in Disney Channel’s ridiculously popular Descendants franchise: For the past nine years, since 2015’s Descendants launched the series, the movies and their spin-offs have been the biggest thing to come out of Disney Channel.

Descendants was a smash hit, spawning two mainline sequel movies, a handful of TV specials; animated short films; many, many book tie-ins; and the requisite wide-ranging Disney merch line. Now the fourth movie continues the story, shifting the focus onto a new set of characters, since the original cast’s stories have completed.

Directed by Kenny Ortega (High School Musical), 2015’s Descendants movie laid out an enticing concept for fans of classic Disney villains: What if those villains’ kids went to high school alongside the children of Disney heroes?

In the Descendants franchise, the Disney heroes live peacefully, while their villainous counterparts have been sequestered to the ramshackle Isle of the Lost. Four villain kids — Maleficent’s daughter Mal (Dove Cameron), the Evil Queen’s daughter Evie (Sofia Carson), Jafar’s son Jay (Booboo Stewart), and Cruella de Vil’s son Carlos (the late Cameron Boyce) — finally get to attend boarding school with the good guys, after Belle and the Beast’s son Ben (Mitchell Hope) decides that maybe bad guys’ kids should get a chance. In the first movie, their parents want them to use this opportunity to take over the world. At first, they go along with the plan. But eventually the four villain kids realize that maybe being good isn’t all that bad.

Rise of Red continues the legacy the main trilogy established. It follows Chloe Charming (Malia Baker), the daughter of Cinderella and (now) King Charming, and Red (Kylie Cantrall), the daughter of the Queen of Hearts, who end up traveling back in time in an effort to stop Red’s mother from becoming a tyrannical villain. It’s been six years since the last Descendants movie, so the hype is high. The newest music video preview racked up more than 9.5 million YouTube views in just two weeks.

What exactly made this franchise so damn popular? It boils down to a simple formula…

Disney villains…

Disney villains are popular. Very popular. New Disney movies don’t often center on proper villains nowadays (I think that’s for the better, but that’s another essay) — but people still love the classic ones, and bemoan their disappearance from the cultural landscape. They’re big, bad, and larger than life. A major subsection of fans swear that villains get the best songs, the coolest designs, and the most memorable scenes. And in earlier Disney movies like Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians, they just get to do more than the heroes.

So seeing a favorite Disney villain return in the Descendents franchise scratches a nostalgic itch — particularly since these characters aren’t the series protagonists, so they can be as comically bad as they were in their original cartoon incarnations. This series’ version of 101 Dalmatians’ Cruella de Vil doesn’t have a tragic backstory about how her mother was killed by dogs; she just wants a coat made of puppies! (Also, shout-out to Descendents’ villain casting — Kristin Chenoweth has the perfect high-pitched cackle for Maleficent.)

But the original villains are only part of the fun of Descendants, especially since they take a back seat in the story. Their kids get all the fun parts of being a villain (the objectively cooler costumes and songs), but also get to be heroes. It’s the perfect combination for young viewers who want to immerse themselves in this setting, but don’t necessarily identify with the more saccharine Disney princesses or princes. That also segues into the next big appeal…

…plus Next Gen

The idea of beloved characters’ children having stories of their own is compelling, especially for younger audiences who want to be part of this fantasy world and identify more closely with younger heroes. So many of Disney’s direct-to-home video sequels focused on the next generation of characters for exactly that reason. And prior to the Descendants movies, Mattel’s Monster High and Ever After High franchises proved the concept was appealing. (The Ever After High line is similar enough to the Descendants concept that fans suspect Disney launched its own line seemingly in order to undercut Mattel’s version.)

Next-generation characters allow new stories to be told, but with something familiar grounding them. And considering these movies are only loosely tied to the Disney canon, they can get a little funky plotwise, if you take them at face value. Yeah, sure, Gaston’s kid becomes pirate pals with Captain Hook’s son and Ursula the Sea Witch’s daughter. And Dopey the Dwarf’s son falls for the Evil Queen’s daughter. And Maleficent’s daughter has pretty purple hair, and she ends up saving the day.

The Descendants movies cater to childhood fantasies about concocting new stories for favorite characters and fitting into them — but that’s a good thing. It’s like a game of make believe come to life, with costumes and elaborate roleplaying in a beloved existing setting. And the filmmakers take the concept seriously. Not seriously as in gritty and dark, but seriously in that they understand that this idea means a lot to the intended audience, so it’s fully validated with enough time, care, and budget to be a big spectacle.

Plus Kenny Ortega’s Magic Touch™

It should come as no surprise that Kenny Ortega — the musical-focused mastermind behind High School Musical, Hocus Pocus, Newsies, The Cheetah Girls 2, and then some — directed the first three Descendants movies. Ortega just gets that the secret to making a popular Disney movie that enchants fans is just to embrace the kind of camp associated with the Disney brand. The Descendants movies are the ultimate testament to this.

The songs are bangers. The dancing is energetic and impressively choreographed. The sets and costumes are loud and eye-catching. All these things shoot for a campy, over-the-top tone, but that’s not criticism. Maybe there’s a subsection of people out there who think “movie musical starring the children of Disney villains” and want to see something edgy and consciously adult, but Ortega isn’t one of them.

The newest movie passes the directorial baton to Jennifer Phang (Half-Life, Stargirl). But Ortega’s flair absolutely laid the foundation for the whole Descendants universe. At their core, these movies are unapologetically zany. Instead of shying away from the characters’ cartoony roots, like other Disney live-action adaptations do, Ortega chose to embrace them. These films may look a little ridiculous, with their jewel-toned wigs and altercations that manifest in the form of dance and rap battles. But every second is powered by pure theater-kid energy and a passion for the source material. Unlike in some modern fairy-tale adaptations, no one scoffs at tropes like fancy balls, true love’s kiss, or magic wands.

…equals a phenomenon

The Descendants movies have their notable flaws. The acting can be stiff. The plotlines range wildly in tone from “Huh, maybe raising the children of villains in complete squalor and denying them basic privileges like education and the internet wasn’t a good idea” to “King Charming and Cinderella’s son keeps breaking into Jay and Carlos’ room to use their 3D printer to make parts of an action figure of himself.” The special effects are definitely on a made-for-TV budget.

But by God, they’re the perfect encapsulation of what it feels like to reach into a dress-up trunk, pull out the most glitter-covered costume you can find, and declare you’re the next generation of Disney villainy, kin to your favorite evil game-changer, but also the hero at the same time.

In the new movie, there’s actually a little more interrogation of what makes someone good or bad, and how external circumstances can shape that. But there are still bright wigs and costumes, energetic dance battles, garish special effects, and a message about good triumphing over evil.

All the Descendants movies are perfect for young audiences — but not for them alone. For anyone who’s aged out of the days of daydreaming about being the long-lost child of a favorite Disney character, these films are a way to tap into those whimsies and embrace that inner child who wanted to be swept away to a fairy tale world. Any resistance is blown away by the infectiously catchy songs.

Descendants: Rise of Red is available to stream on Disney Plus. All the other Descendants movies and specials are also on Disney Plus.