Love Disney and loved the concept. Plus not all the Disney Channel films are bad, few if any are "great" but some are watchable, and Kristin Chenoweth is always worth watching.

'Descendants' is a relative waste of pretty good potential. Some good things save it from being worse, but it is sad to see one of the better concepts of any Disney Channel film done not enough with. Here's the good things first of all. Chenoweth is the best thing about it, she is gloriously evil as Maleficent and she once again how enviously amazing a singer and song interpreter she is (one will not believe how such a big voice with a wide range of tone colour could come out of a 4 foot 11 petite woman like Chenoweth),regardless of how she's recorded and what song is thrown at her.

Fortunately, her musical number "Evil Like Me" is one of the film's better and catchier numbers and Chenoweth sings the heck out of it. A couple of the other songs are surprisingly tuneful too, "If Only" and "Believe" especially and the rendition of "Be Our Guest", while not in the same league as the original, is fun. There are some nice vibrant and suitably Gothic colours and sets as well as some nice energy and playful references to the likes of 'Hocus Pocus'.

Not all the songs work though. Some are not that memorable and have some cheesy lyrics and either over-kinetic or limp choreography while others like "Rotten to the Core" have a major cringe factor all round. The cast all do their best but are undone by most of the characters being blandly one-dimensional, with most of the villains being under-explored and the heroes not being given enough likable traits to be rootable. The only really interesting characters are Maleficent and the Fairy Godmother, while doormat-written-all-over-her-forehead Belle is especially wronged.

Too much of the dialogue is an excess of cornball cheese, while the story generally lacks imagination and under-cooks too many of some good ideas and replaces them with too much intelligence-insulting absurdity. The costumes look amateurish and bargain-bin-special quality and the lip synching is sloppy. The photography is slick generally but there are drab moments too.

Overall, watchable rather than rotten but has too much cheese and blandness and not enough nostalgia and imagination. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Four children from four famous Disney villains of the past are sent to a special prep school with the children of fairy tale heroes and heroines. It's a mission and the mission is to steal the wand that the fairy godmother used for Cinderella's magic date. The one who wants it is Maleficent played here with scenery chewing abandon by Kristin Chenoweth.

The kids are Cameron Boyce, Sofia Carson, and Booboo Stewart with Liv And Maddie's Dove Cameron as Chenoweth's daughter Mel the team leader. The kids eventually learn that they have their own lives to lead and life is a choice and no one is predestined to be good or evil. Cameron has it especially hard since she's falling big time for Mitchell Hope, a crown prince and he's some catch every way you look at it.

Some music and dancing and a lot of sweet romancing as the polka song goes characterize Descendents. There's no Emmy material here but the young cast does a nice job in their roles.

"Descendants" is an American television movie from August 2015, so this one is roughly 1.5 years old now. It is a Disney Channel production, so you basically know what to expect here. At over 105 minutes, it is relatively long. Director is 3-time Emmy nominee Kenny Ortega, the man behind the Michael Jackson documentary "This Is It" and the duo who wrote the screenplay here also worked on the fairly known "Runaway Bride". But now lets talk a bit about this one here: It is basically a modern take on villain (and non-villain) characters from several old Disney movies. But even if these bad guys are included, it is much more about the next generation, namely about the children. So we see mini-Jafar, mini-Maleficent, mini-Cruela (a boy) and mini-Evil Queen, who initially have the intention to steal a powerful magic wand, but their contact with peers their age makes them question their parents' approaches. So yeah, there is also a bit of a lesson in here, but honestly, it's really difficult to take the film seriously in terms of the drama, namely the kids building up resistance against their mothers' and father's maliciousness. Also the romance story isn't that good, but I can see why it is essential here as a film with these young characters and the school setting and all. Besides, at times the film tries to channel Glee too much sometimes with one guy basically looking the exact same like the wheelchair boy and another character actually sitting (and dancing) in a wheelchair.

These almost 2 hours are at its best when they are just fairy tale references basically, like the Evil Queen's daughter showing Prince Charming the mirror, just one tiny example. And the music was also decent, even if it gets worse and a bit generic and cheesy after the first two amazing numbers. Lead actress Dove Cameron is not only giving the best performance in the film, but also delivers in terms of vocals and singing. Her number with Chenoweth (her movie mother and the most known actress in here probably) was pretty amazing. As for Dove Cameron, she is mostly known for "Liv and Maddie" and judging from what I saw in here, she does not only have amazing looks, but also star potential. I would love to see her one day in something like "La La Land". We'll see if she can get that far. I hope so. Anyway, "Descendants" became quite a hit and the awards recognition shows you that as well. Also there is a(n animated) television series based on the characters, there's music videos and a soundtrack album and there will be a sequel sometime later this year I think, so yeah for a small screen film it certainly made huge waves. I can see why and I recommend seeing it. It is not a perfect film and it's ridiculous how the kids prevail against all these super evil parents with their powers, who are basically just shadows of their animated selves, but I guess they have to be to get through the message and entire approach here about teenage power and willingness to stand up for what you believe in and who you really are. A bit shoddy there, but I can forgive them for this in the face of all the good. Thumbs up.