Descendants 3 TV Movie Review – Nice Wrap-up For the Series

By: Lynn Barker

Former baddie Mal (Dove Cameron) and besties Evie (Sofia Carson), Carlos (the late Cameron Boyce), Jay (Booboo Stewart) and Ben (Mitchell Hope) go to the Isle of the Lost and recruit four more kids to come across the barrier to be schooled and live in posh Auradon.

Dizzy is happy to go to AuradonCourtesy of Disney Channel

When evil Hades (Cheyenne Jackson) almost makes it through before the magical barrier closes, Auradon citizens are so upset that Mal has to agree to close the barrier forever. Princess Audrey (Sarah Jeffery) is so angry and jealous when Ben proposes to Mal that she steals the Queen’s crown and Maleficent’s powerful scepter and starts causing havoc in Auradon. Can anyone have a happy ending?

"Descendants 3" | Official Trailer 

The New Kids and a Proposal

While singing and dancing to “It’s Good to be Bad”, Mal and best pals are on the Isle of the Lost to recruit four “villain” kids: Dizzy Tremaine (Anna Cathcart), Squeaky and Squirmy, sons of Peter Pan’s Smee and Celia (Jadah Marie), daughter of Dr. Facilier aka Shadowman from “The Princess and the Frog”.

King Ben asks Mal to marry himCourtesy of Disney Channel

While waiting for them to arrive, Mal and Ben wonder when Uma (China Anne McClain) will strike and mess everything up. Ben proposes to Mal! Only Audrey, daughter of Sleeping Beauty, is upset. She’s always expected Ben would marry her.

Mal and pals dance to welcome the new Villain kidsCourtesy of Disney Channel

Through the Barrier

When the Isle kids are picked up in a limo, Hades almost squeezes through the open barrier. Mal has to morph into her dragon self in order to stop him.

Hades almost gets through the barrierCourtesy of Disney Channel

He tries to absorb her power and leaves her weak. Meanwhile, in Auradon, jealous Audrey cries, wonders what happened to her happy ending and steals the Queen’s crown and Maleficent’s powerful scepter in order to get her revenge. She’s the “Queen of Mean”. Mal and Ben have to deal with upset citizens afraid a powerful villain will get through the barrier. Mal, sworn to protect Auradon, sadly suggests the barrier to the Isle be closed forever. Ben protests but realizes she is right.

Can Audrey and Mal ever be friends?Courtesy of Disney Channel

Spells

Who stole the crown and scepter? Evie can’t believe Mal would willingly close the barrier to the Isle. She and all the other “bad” sons and daughters can never visit their parents. No more villain kids can ever live on Auradon. Audrey reveals her new evil self to Mal. She’s bent on revenge and turns Mal into a very old woman. Nothing can reverse this spell except for Hades’ “Ember”, a magical stone.

Mal looks for Hades on the IsleCourtesy of Disney Channel

While now elderly Mal leads her pals to the island on magical motorcycles in search of the Ember, Audrey pops up at Jane’s (Brenna D'Amico) birthday party and puts a sleeping spell on all except for Chad Charming (Jedidiah Goodacre) who agrees to be her lackey/minion. Jane escapes into a magical lake and avoids the sleep spell. She tells Ben that Audrey stole the crown and scepter and is putting people to sleep at her whim.

Mal accidentally wakes HadesCourtesy of Disney Channel

On the Island

On the island, Mal is back to normal since magic doesn’t work there. Harry Hook (Thomas Doherty) and pals steal Mal and friend’s motorcycles while Mal and Celia search for and find the sleeping Hades but he wakes before Mal can steal the Ember. The two argue/sing and we realize he is her secret dad who abandoned her and her mom Maleficent when she was a baby. He says the Ember won’t work completely with her. He lets her have it warning her not to get it wet. In Auradon, Ben tries to handle more and more citizens going to sleep via Audrey’s spell. When Ben refuses to dump Mal for her she turns some of the locals into statues.

Celia finds the Smee twins and Dizzy sleepingCourtesy of Disney Channel

The Ember

On the Isle, Harry and pal Gil (Dylan Playfair) son of Gaston, get through the barrier with Mal and buddies and Mal drops the Ember which falls into the sea and Uma catches it, rises and, with legs on land, she joins the group and demands that every villain kid on the Isle be allowed to leave or she won’t give it back. Mal agrees but Uma keeps it for now. They all go to Auradon where Evie’s boyfriend has been turned to stone and many still sleep under Audrey’s spell.

Uma gets her hands on the EmberCourtesy of Disney Channel

Happy Ending?

Will Evie and others learn that Mal agreed to close the barrier forever? Can Uma, Mal, Evie, Harry, Gil, Jay and Carlos all work together to break Audrey’s spell? Will the rest of the villain kids on the Isle ever get to live on Auradon? Will Mal and Ben ever get to rule as King and Queen?

Uma, Gil and Harry Hook join the teamCourtesy of Disney Channel

Wrapping Up

“Descendants 3” nicely ties up problems presented in the previous two films and hatches some challenging new ones that require the villain kids and the “goodies” of Auradon to work together. Easy fix but satisfying.  These are really Mal’s stories and throughout the films, her character makes a complete arc from villain to sympathetic-to -all, caring Queen.

The key team including Cameron Boyce (left)Courtesy of Disney Channel

The story wanders a bit and bogs down in a long search for Ben once Mal and pals are back on Auradon but, most of the film will hold your interest.

Songs and dances are creative, energetic fun and well presented by the whole cast, especially a rockin’ duet starring Mal and Hades. The late Cameron Boyce (Carlos) serves mostly as comic relief in the film and worries about girlfriend Jane but the actor’s energetic song and dance moves impress and we are sad to watch while realizing that he is gone at age 20 due to a diabetic seizure in his sleep.

Cameron Boyce in his last performance as CarlosCourtesy of Disney Channel

Having Cheyenne Jackson, Broadway star, play Hades was genius but too bad Kristin Chenoweth didn’t return as Mal’s mom Maleficent. A duet with her and Cheyenne singing about their broken relationship would have been priceless!

Hades tells Mal he is the boss hereCourtesy of Disney Channel

“Descendants 3” overall does a nice job of asking and answering the question “Can’t we all just get along?” and, in our very troubled world, it’s nice to see “baddies, “goodies”, and a multi-racial group doing just that. As Mal knows, there is good and bad in everyone.  We award four stars.

“Descendants 3” Rating: 

Courtesy of Disney Channel

See “Descendants 3” on the Disney Channel starting August 2^nd.

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