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Harry’s relationship with the Dursleys has always reminded me of Cinderella’s relationship with her stepmother and stepsisters. Petunia and Vernon are the wicked parent figures forced into taking him in, Dudley is the spoiled wicked sibling, and they abuse him both physically and mentally. Another comparison I could make are many of the abusive adults in Roald Dahl novels such as Matilda’s parents and Miss Trunchball from Matilda; and especially Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge from James and the Giant Peach. J.K. Rowling is British just like Roald Dahl, so I’m sure she’s read plenty of his novels and was possibly influenced by them.
[adrotate group="5"]I’m thinking of joining you guys, though there is a point I’d like to make. If we were to stick to the schedule of only one chapter per week, it would roughly take 4 years to get through all 7 books. I figured I should mention that, in case we want to reconsider the scheduling. 4 years is almost as long as this forum’s existed, so it would be a big commitment in its own right. Especially when OUAT may not even last 4 more Seasons, and could end sooner rather than later. So I suggest maybe we could change it to 2 chapters a week (2 years) or 3 chapters a week ( a little over a year). That is if everyone else would be ok with it.
And that’s a fine point. Going in I knew it was going to be cheesy and cliche because it’s on the Disney channel and they often go for the cheesy and cliche because their target audience is not cynical and snarky 20-40 year olds.
But there is something to be said about even the cheesy and the cliche having surprising hidden depth. Example, I love the movie Mean Girls. It’s a movie that couched in the cheesy and cliche–you have Queen Bees who rule their little universe because they are pretty, rich and thus popular and everyone falls at their feet because of it. Regina and her gang are basically the Audrey of Descendents times 3.
But what Mean Girls does is try to uncover the hidden complexity behind the popular Queen Bees. The second you met Regina’s mother you get it. You get why Regina is the way she is–her mother is just as shallow and spoiled and focused on the superficial and thus enforces that lifestyle on to her daughter.
The issue, for me, is that there is none of that hidden depth in the spoiled, selfish and vain “hero children” of Descendents. Chad Charming is just a…word I can’t say here. Audrey is just a mean girl but without anything behind that meanness. And it’s really bothersome because we know who their parents are–Cinderella (abused by family), Sleeping Beauty (lived a life of basic solitude and was lied to for the first 16 years of her life) and even Mulan’s daughter Lonnie was just as shallow as her classmates despite her mother’s very story focusing on being more than how you are viewed by society. So there is no reason that I can see why Chad, Audrey, and Lonnie turned out like they did except for PLOT (god, I can’t escape the evil word!)
That’s exactly it. Just because something is being produced for a teeny bopper audience on Disney Channel does not mean it has to be dumbed down. Had they actually put real passion and dedication into producing this movie, they could have had the best of both worlds. Something a younger audience could enjoy, but on an intelligent level that other audiences could easily enjoy too. Heck, Sofia the First, which is developed for a PRESCHOOL audience, has much better writing than this. Instead this feels like this was produced by some corporate guys based on what “the chart” says. Going by what they think is hip and cool, but failing at the execution.
LOL yes. When I saw that she was the new reporter I thought, “well, that’s random and not in keeping with anything Snow White-ish.” I could say it was because they had the Evil Queen and wanted to get her heroes into the story somehow, but the clearly left out any children by Aladdin/Jasmine and Roger/Anita. I actually thought that at some point we’d met Aladdin and Jasmine’s daughter (who would fall for Jay, clearly) and Roger and Anita’s daughter (who would fall for Carlos, obviously.)
It is odd that they chose to show the children of the Fairy Godmother, Dopey and Mulan, but not Aladdin and Jasmine’s. Mulan’s child was clearly just there cause diversity. I guess they are saving some of the other descendants for an inevitable sequel. The ending hinted at the possibility, and most importantly, the movie did well in the ratings: http://variety.com/2015/tv/ratings/descendants-ratings-disney-channel-1201554266/.
Another thing I found odd about this movie. They don’t give Snow White and her prince any visible offspring in the movie, but we get Dopey’s son Doug instead. Almost as if they intentionally avoided it because of Once Upon a Time’s Emma Swan. And speaking of Snow White…they make her a TV news reporter of all things?
Baaaaaad CGI. Like OUAT level bad.
I checked the credits, and the same company (Zoic Studios) did the visual effects. Their Maleficent Dragon even looked similar, likely as a result of using the same company.
And also are they really making a series? My sister was rambling on and on about a cartoon Descendants but I assumed she was talking about a game or some online thing or something. If they are that might be exciting.
And thanks for the explanation about Jafar. It makes more sense and I feel they should have mentioned it in the movie.
ALSO KEEGAN AS MALEFICENT!!!!! OMG!!!! I WOULD HAVE DIED!!!!!!! IMAGINE HER SINGING EVIL LIKE ME! IMAGINE HER IN HORNS!!! OH MY GOODNESS! What could have been :/ oh well. We will get our dark fairy one day.Sorta. They’re giving it a series of shorts, but nothing about a full blown TV series:
This was my look when I originally auditioned…as Maleficent. #DisneyDescendants @KChenoweth pic.twitter.com/YRAWFoX3oH
— Keegan Connor Tracy (@keegolicious) August 1, 2015
Guys. Apparently Keegan originally auditioned to be Maleficent in Descendants. That would have been the closest we would have gotten to seeing Evil Blue!
So. Anyone tuning in for it tonight? Its the premiere…..
Have it on in the background, as I already watched it last week. I was just reminded that apparently sleeping curses can now be undone by a simple alarm! Who needs true love’s first kiss?
Gonna be “can’t control/summon the Dark One if they’re in another realm” like I’ve predicted earlier.
To expand on this, I think the way this will work is that the dagger can’t make the Dark One do anything that exceeds his powers. This would mean not being able to cross realms without a portal, and not being able to break the laws of magic (bringing back the dead, making someone fall in love with you, changing the past).
