Once upon a time in the kingdom of Auradon, Prince Ben, the son of Belle and the Beast, decided to invite the children of four villains from the Isle of the Lost to attend Auradon Prep.
Mal, Carlos, Evie and Jay had a hard time adjusting to life in Auradon—made no less difficult by their wicked parents’ attempts to take over the kingdom. But their immersion was successful. Fans of the previous Descendants films know that eventually, more villains’ kids (VKs) were invited to join them. And soon, the magical barrier keeping villains trapped on the island was brought down forever.
Now, Mal and Ben are married. And they’re setting sail to form alliances with other nearby kingdoms.
Mal is leaving Uma (the daughter of Ursula and her former-nemesis-turned-friend) in charge of Auradon Prep. And Uma’s first order of business? To further unite the magical kingdoms by inviting yet another VK to Auradon Prep. This time, it’s Princess Red, the daughter of the Queen of Hearts.
See, unlike other villains, the Queen of Hearts managed to keep her crown when Belle and Beast took over by sequestering herself in Wonderland. And the place has been locked down ever since.
Unfortunately, that’s only caused the Queen of Hearts’ own heart to harden. In fact, when she receives the invitation for Red to attend Auradon Prep, she notes that Uma is “another villain gone soft.”
Nevertheless, she accepts the invitation.
Red is thrilled. Although she and her mother have never agreed on anything before, she’s hopeful that they can turn over a new leaf. And she’s excited to finally make her own way in the world.
Well, that hope is quickly snuffed out. At the school’s start-of-term ceremonies, the Queen of Hearts uses her magic to sneak in soldiers from Wonderland and stage a coup. Red tries to stop her but realizes she’s powerless.
So instead, she activates a time machine stolen from Maddox Hatter, her friend and tutor in Wonderland, hoping to go back far enough to stop her mom’s plan from coming to fruition. Not knowing what Red is doing, Chloe (Cinderella’s daughter) intervenes. And the two girls are transported back in time.
When the spell ends, the girls realize they’re still at Auradon Prep—or rather, Merlin Academy, as it was known before—but it’s taken them back much further than Red intended. A few decades further, in fact. Back before the girls were born, before their parents had become rulers. Back to when Cinderella was still living under the cruel rule of her stepmother and the Queen of Hearts was just Bridget.
Red and Chloe aren’t sure why the time machine sent them back to this specific moment in time. But they do know that something must have happened back then that they need to change. And if they fail, it’ll be off with the heads of anyone who resists the Queen of Hearts.
If you’ve seen any of the previous three Descendants films, then you know the drill. The children of villains are given a second chance to be good, to make things right. And that’s what we see here.
Red never really bought into her mom’s whole “off with their heads” philosophy. In fact, she doesn’t even want to be queen of Wonderland. She just wants to be free to live her life how she chooses.
But the Queen of Hearts has never allowed that, constantly reminding her daughter that “love ain’t it.” If you want to be powerful, then you have to be feared, not loved. And you can’t trust anybody.
So it comes as quite the shock when Red meets Bridget, a trusting, cupcake-baking, optimist. Red quickly learns that something horrible happens to Bridget to turn her into the bitter Queen of Hearts. But knowing that her mother’s kindness is what leads to that event, Red wonders if being evil truly is better.
Similarly, Chloe is surprised to discover that her own mother (known only as Ella) wasn’t always the prim, perfect princess she is now. Rather, Ella sorta hated royals due to her own harsh treatment at the hands of her stepmother. And Chloe wrestles with her conscience, wondering if being good is all it’s cracked up to be.
The girls realize that good and evil aren’t quite as black and white as they’d been led to believe. Although Red was raised to be bad, she can become good by making the right choices. And Chloe, though taught that rules were made to be followed, learns that life isn’t necessarily “fair” to those who are obedient.
Ultimately, the girls make decisions for the greater good—though it should be noted they get their hands a bit dirty in the process—working together to save the ones they love and learning to trust each other in the process.
Like so many other Disney movies, magic is a huge component here. Fairy Godmother waves her magical wand to move objects. Bridget bakes cupcakes with magical ingredients to create special effects. The Queen of Hearts looks into the future using a mirror. And those are just a few examples.
Uliana (the baby sister of Ursula and a bully in Ella and Bridget’s time), brags that she takes souls for a living. She and some other VKs perform a sort of conjuring ritual, calling upon the “spirits” of the Black Lagoon.
Merlin, the headmaster of Merlin Academy, enchants his office to keep out intruders. Several swords and a suit of armor attack Red and Chloe after they break in to steal a spellbook. And the book itself casts a freezing charm on Uliana and her friends after they try to use it for nefarious deeds.
Cinderella and her husband, Charming, dance together and otherwise display their affection, grossing out Chloe. Teenagers Maleficent and Hades (the future parents of Mal) sometimes hold hands and appear cozy together. Red is initially attracted to a teenage Prince Charming … until she realizes that he’s Chloe’s future dad.
Heroes and villains occasionally cross swords and fisticuffs, though no blood is shed. A lagoon creature attempts to eat Chloe, but Red beats it back with a stick.
The Queen of Hearts is fond of beheading as a punishment. We don’t see the act onscreen, but after Cinderella refuses to kneel to her, the Queen sentences her to death. And later, Charming is devastated to learn of his wife’s demise.
Several death threats are issued.
A single misuse of God’s name. A few uses of “gosh.”
None.
VKs are pretty comfortable with many forms of badness: lying, cheating, stealing, etc. Uliana and her cronies revel in it. They bully their classmates, picking on Bridget in particular. And when an accident leads to Uliana’s humiliation, she blames Bridget, swearing vengeance on the girl.
Ella says that Bridget’s kindness in the face of adversity is a strength, not a weakness. But we also know that when Bridget is humiliated by Uliana at a school dance, she turns into the evil Queen of Hearts to enact her own revenge.
It’s suggested that Ella lets Bridget down at that dance by not being there for her. Rather, she was distracted by Prince Charming and thus neglected her friend.
Ella is abused by her stepmother. She’s threatened with no supper if she doesn’t finish her chores (of which there are many). And she’s forced to sleep in the barn after Chloe accidentally breaks a vase.
Several heroes do some bad things (namely rule-breaking) for what they believe are the right reasons. But the correct thing to do would have been to tell an adult what was happening (which is suggested by Chloe and rejected by Red) instead of taking matters into their own hands.
Descendants: The Rise of Red is certainly trying to send the message that we should all choose to be good, not evil. Unfortunately, the film struggles to communicate this intention clearly.
We’re told that good and evil aren’t necessarily black and white. And as it applies to heroes and villains, that idea makes sense. Uliana is a bully, true, but that’s largely due to her trying to live up to her family’s reputation and expectations. The Queen of Hearts, similarly, is compared to a rose—growing thorns to protect herself from those who would do her harm. Although neither is given a redemption arc in this film, you can at least understand why they act that way.
But then the film also tries to say that if you have to do some bad things for the greater good, so be it.
Red, the child of a villain raised to be evil, is given a second chance. And she proves that she can, in fact, be good. But in that pursuit, she does some pretty bad things, justifying those choices the whole way through.
Worse still, she basically brings Chloe down with her. Granted, Chloe needed a reality check. Contrary to what she believes, just because you are a good person does not guarantee that good things will happen to you. But there are so many times when the girls could have just been honest—could have done the right thing—instead of trying to fix things on their own.
And to wrap things up, there are the magical elements of this story. It’s all typical Disney fare, but song lyrics say that Uliana takes souls. Characters also travel back in time, changing the past (and the future). And although we’re warned that changing “the fabric of time” could have unpredictable results, everyone seems to get exactly what they want by movie’s end.
Granted, the film ends on the note that this is not, in fact, the end of the story. So we may see the consequences of bad actions and those time-travel events in future films. We may also see Uliana and the Queen of Hearts redeem themselves. But as a standalone film, The Rise of Red is certainly one of the weaker—and more problematic—stories in the larger Descendants franchise.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
Our weekly newsletter will keep you in the loop on the biggest things happening in entertainment and technology. Sign up today, and we’ll send you a chapter from the new Plugged In book, Becoming a Screen-Savvy Family, that focuses on how to implement a “screentime reset” in your family!
