Descendants – Disney villain offspring go High School Muscial!

Disney Channel original movies have become far more bigger spectacles in the wake of High School Musical, with several becoming highly promoted events. Descendants looks like it may top everything that comes before it, because it combines the Princess Franchise with the good clean teens having good clean fun franchises. Actually, the Disney Villains also have their own franchise. It’s a tornado of ideas that could come together into something mystical and magical. Or it could just be offensively boring and dumb. But I have hope, that there will be less winks and nods and awful jokes, and more of a central storyline that just happens to star all these kids of famous evil beings. Largely because Kenny Ortega will be directing, and I don’t think he’d just churn out boring crap.

In a present day idyllic kingdom, the benevolent teenaged son of the King and Queen (Beast and Belle from Disney’s iconic Beauty and the Beast) is poised to take the throne. His first proclamation: offer a chance at redemption to the trouble-making offspring of Cruella De Vil, Maleficent, the Evil Queen and Jafar who have been imprisoned on a forbidden island with all the other villains, sidekicks, evil step-mothers and step-sisters. These villainous descendants (Carlos, Mal, Evvie and Jay, respectively) are allowed into the kingdom to attend prep school alongside the offspring of iconic Disney heroes including Fairy Godmother, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Mulan. However, the evil teens face a dilemma. Should they follow in their nefarious parents’ footsteps and help all the villains regain power or embrace their innate goodness and save the kingdom?

Kenny Ortega, the Emmy Award-winning director and choreographer of Disney’s record-setting High School Musical TV movies and feature film, returns to Disney Channel to direct Descendants.

For those of you keeping track of the film franchises: Belle and Beast have a son, and Fairy Godmother, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Mulan also have unnamed children. The focus of the film seems to be on the villain offspring, as they actually have names in the press release: Carlos De Vil is the son of Cruella De Vil, Mal is the offspring of Maleficent, Evvie is the daughter of the Evil Queen from Snow White, and Jay is the child of Jafar. So far no one has been cast yet, but imagine diverse mall kids with California tans. Will they all go straight, or go evil? There are just enough villains for each to score a hero/ine boy/girlfriend, though there will be one hero/ine left over! Unless someone dates the parrot offspring of Iago!

The important question is will Angelina Jolie cameo as Maleficent???

via D23