The full trailer for Descendants: The Rise of Red is here!
After months of teasers, we finally have an idea of just how crazy and fun this new Descendants movie will be. Now that Uma (China Anne McClain) has been appointed principal of Auradon Prep by Queen Mal, she proclaims that all kingdoms’ Villain Kids—or VKs, as they are more commonly known—will be invited to enroll in the school. Red (Kylie Cantrall), the daughter of Wonderland’s infamous Queen of Hearts, is one of those VKs.
Red is hesitant to accept Uma’s invitation. For years, she has heard how much her mother hates Auradon, much like the original VKs’ parents in Descendants (2015). Also like those original parents, the Queen of Hearts insists on her daughter attending Auradon Prep in order to further her own nefarious goals. When she and Red arrive in Auradon, the Queen of Hearts stages a successful coup against Cinderella and King Charming. Red and Chloe (Malia Baker), daughter of Cinderella, must use the White Rabbit’s pocket watch to travel back in time and stop their mothers’ disastrous face-off.
Of course, time travel rarely goes as planned. The girls end up much farther back in time than they intended…and meet their mothers as teenagers. It’s Back to the Future with Disney villains. What could go wrong?
Uma isn’t the only familiar face we see in the full trailer for Rise of Red. Fairy Godmother (Melanie Paxson) is still a part of Auradon Prep, even though her role of headmistress is, presumably, no longer necessary now that Uma is principal. Fairy Godmother doesn’t like Uma’s plan to include Wonderland in the school’s roster—and with good reason. In the trailer, we see the Queen of Hearts destroy Fairy Godmother’s magic wand! Descendants fans know just how powerful and coveted that wand is. If the Queen of Hearts is able to disintegrate it, what other terrifying feats is she capable of?
The Descendants franchise is known for its excellent casting when it comes to the VKs’ parents. In the first few movies, we saw Kristin Chenoweth as Maleficent, Kathy Najimy as the Evil Queen, and Cheyenne Jackson as Hades, to name a few. In this newest installment, Rita Ora plays the Queen of Hearts, and Brandy Norwood is Cinderella! Fans of the 1997 Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella will be thrilled to see Brandy back in the role after so many years. Paolo Montalban will be reprising his role as Prince (now King) Charming, too. It will be interesting to see their iterations of the characters as adults, parents, and rulers.
It will also be interesting to see how Rise of Red handles the ever-growing lore of Auradon. If Queen Mal and King Ben are the high monarchs of the United States of Auradon, what will happen when the Queen of Hearts tries to take over one of those states? How will the other states and their royal families respond? More than that, what exactly is the Merlin Academy we see in the trailer? Though it seems to be the original school housed on Auradon Prep’s grounds, it is clearly a place where young heroes and villains coexist. How, then, will the movie explain each fairytale’s origins?
One final, burning Descendants question: is Chad Charming okay? We’ve heard nothing about him since the last movie. Surely Disney won’t retcon Cinderella and King Charming’s first child!
Regardless of these questions, Descendants: The Rise of Red looks just as fun, villainous, and exciting as its predecessors. The first three films were about the VKs finding their own path and healing some of the trauma caused by their parents—whether that trauma was to the VKs themselves, or Auradon in general. This latest installment promises that same story arc. Though some critics might call that unoriginal storytelling, the nuances of each film keep the stories from feeling overdone.
I can’t wait to see how Red and Chloe change over the course of their movie, and save the day in the process. Descendants: The Rise of Red will be streaming on Disney+ on July 12!
