Somewhere way back there, I reviewed Disney’s Descendants, because it became this phenomenon, and I have touched base with a few of their big touchstones. I made sure to check out the first two High School Musical film, I’ve seen Camp Rockk, and of course Descendants. Now, The Rise Of Red is on Disney Plus, both the first and most recent effort are Deluxe by Laura Post. So, rather than go yet another review of the first film, let’s just leapfrog.

This version has basically set the original crew free. There’s a nice tribute to the deceased Cameron Boyce, but it is *so* short. But, they do nod to him. Basically, since I haven’t watched the second or third film, everyone I know is gone, and the daughter of Ursula is left running the school, which isn’t even important. Because, all she needs to do is invite Wonderland.

Apparently Wonderland is a Mad Max hellscape, worse than inviting the individual villains. So, the daughter of the Queen Of Hearts is invited to the school, Red, and her mom, The Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora) sees this as an opportunity to conquer. So, she accompanies her daughter to the first day of school, which is complicated by the presence of Cinderella (Brandy), and her daughter. Musical numbers and fights ensue, and Red and Cinderella’s daughter are send back in time due to the White Rabbit’s watch.

So, they are in school with the actual Disney characters, who are teens, and not their kids, and have to stop the rivalry between their parents and save the world. Oh, and sing.

What I Look For In The Audio Description: Character design. these kids are all reflective (oddly) of one villain, so what are they wearing? What are their parents wearing? what do they look like? And then what do the teenage versions of people like Aladdin look like. Is he allowed to attend school with his flimsy open vest? There is intentional diverse casting here. There is a reason Brandy is in this film, and not some random playing Cinderella, so please remind everyone of her and her daughter and their representation. Choreography would be a fun description addition, but I feel like with the fantasy element, the production and costume design is what sells the description.

What We Actually Get: Laura Post is engaging as ever, and realizes she’s talking to youth. It amazes me how she can handle the weight of something like Oppenheimer and then also something like this, and be right for both, because she’s capable of slightly changing the inflection of her voice. It makes a huge difference. There is some description regarding costume or set design, though we can always do more. but, once again, Disney is going with “anyone can be anyone” approach in the wrong direction in the audio description by not mentioning the race of characters. Doing this defeats the purpose of ever challenging the status quo and changing it from what it once was. little animated Cinderella was white, and the Rodger’s And Hammerstein version that Brandy came from was delightfully diverse. her Prince Charming was Asian, and had two parents who looked nothing like him. And Whitney Houston, the GOAT, was the “Impossible” Fiary Godmother. But, Impossible things are happening every day. To be fair, I would normally grant this deep of an entry in the franchise some grace, as people should have seen the previous films. I do get the feeling that these are most, if not all new faces. So, they should have their own descriptions. I’ll grant that probably ursala’s daughter was in a previous film, but everyone else is new to this universe, even Brandy, since her film is being retroactively adopted into Descendants, something that has not happened with any of the other actors from live action remakes.

Final Thoughts: I hate the music in this. I hate auto tune. However, I refuse to take a firm stance on something I think has an audience, and delivered to that audience. I’m not a huge fan of the first film, though Kristen Chenoweth made it worthwhile. This one does have two pop stars, but they are notably absent for most of the film. The music is terrible, but there’s some audio description during it for those who like to know when choreography is happening. I’m throwing my ball right down the middle here.

Final Grade: C