Descendants: The Rise of Red

Story

Newly married, Ben (Mitchell Hope) and Mal (Dove Cameron) have set sail from Auradon to make alliances with distant kingdoms. They’ve appointed Uma (China Anne McClain) as the new principal of Auradon Prep. In her first act as principal, Uma invites Princess Red (Kylie Cantrall) to attend Auradon Prep. Red is the rebellious daughter of the tyrannical Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora), ruler of Wonderland.

To Red’s amazement, her mother accepts the invitation. Red and the Queen of Hearts travel to Auradon Prep’s start-of-term ceremony, where they run into Cinderella (Brandy Norwood) and her daughter, Chloe (Malia Baker). To the younger girls’ surprise, the Queen of Hearts and Cinderella were schoolmates. But it’s revealed that the Queen of Hearts holds a mysterious, bitter resentment towards Cinderella and all their old classmates.

The extent of the Queen of Heart’s bitterness becomes clear when she stages a coup with the help of soldiers she’d concealed during the ceremony. After being manipulated into sentencing Cinderella to death, Red realises her mistake and activates a time machine she’d stolen from her friend, Maddox Hatter (Leonardo Nam). Chloe grabs Red at the last moment, and both girls are transported back in time. They soon realise they’ve ended up decades earlier, back when their mothers were students together at Auradon Prep, known then as Merlin Academy.

Chloe and Red might not know why they’ve been sent back to this exact moment, but they must work together if they want to fix the past and save the future of Auradon.

Themes

Fantasy; good versus bad; villains; heroes; bullying; unhealthy parent-child relationships; classism; loss; friendship; celebrating differences

Violence

Descendants: The Rise of Red has some violence. For example:

Red vandalises a castle. After she slashes her mother’s portrait and destroys the courtyard, she’s chased by royal guards.
The Queen of Hearts is emotionally abusive and manipulative towards Red, criticising her appearance and actions and calling her a ‘disappointment’.
The Queen of Hearts often berates people, using language like ‘a sorry excuse for a soldier’ and ‘plebs’.
Many characters describe acts of violence. Descriptions include ‘poke thorns in his eyes’, ‘off with his head’, ‘prick her with a thousand thorns’, ‘burn her to a crisp’ and ‘I’ll rip that magic tongue out of your throat’.
Chloe and another character practise sword fighting, in a highly choreographed scene.
The Queen of Hearts orders her guard to hold people at sword point.
The Queen of Heart’s guard often pushes and shoves people. This includes throwing a man roughly to the ground.
Chloe and Red fight each other over an object, in a highly choreographed scene with no injury.
Characters are bullied. One character steals cupcakes from another and then smashes a plate, while other characters jeer in the background.
A giant eel tries to eat Chloe, and Red beats it on the head with a stick until it retreats.
Chloe and Red are attacked by floating swords that repeatedly try to stab and cut them.

Sexual references

Descendants: The Rise of Red has some sexual references. For example:

Chloe is visibly disgusted when her parents dance slowly and flirt to a rendition of ‘This is love’.
Red shows interest in a male character, smiling and looking at him appreciatively.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no use of substances in Descendants: The Rise of Red.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Descendants: The Rise of Red.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Descendants: The Rise of Red.

Coarse language

Descendants: The Rise of Red has some mild coarse language. For example:

A character tells another to ‘shut up’.
Swear word are twice replaced with other words – ‘hex yeah’ and ‘a total witch’.
There are some scenes that include name-calling like ‘squid face’, ‘peasant’, ‘goody-goody’ and ‘evil’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Descendants: The Rise of Red is the fourth instalment in Disney’s Descendants franchise, filled with singing, dancing and classic and new characters. The movie also has some darker themes, centring around an emotionally abusive parent withholding love from her child. There are some conflicting messages about good and bad behaviour too.

The themes and mixed messages in Descendants: The Rise of Red mean that it’s best suited to children over 11 years. We recommend parental guidance for children aged 7-11 years.

The main messages from Descendants: The Rise of Red are that the difference between good and evil isn’t always clear and that anyone is capable of being good. The movie also suggests that it’s important to work with others to achieve goals.

Values in Descendants: The Rise of Red that you could reinforce with your children include teamwork, freedom to be yourself, friendship, redemption, diversity and kindness.

Descendants: The Rise of Red could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life questions and issues like the following:

How does the way you treat others shape the way you view yourself?
How does the past shape the actions of the Queen of Hearts? Does this justify the way that she treats others?
Chloe learns that it’s OK to break the rules if it’s for a good cause. In what situations is it OK to break the rules? Chloe breaks, enters and steals – is this ever OK?
The Queen of Hearts is cruel toward Red and damages Red’s self-confidence. What is the explanation for this?