Posted on July 23, 2015 at 9:55 pm
Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart and Sofia Carson star as the teenage sons and daughters of Disney’s most infamous villains in Disney’s “Descendants,” a live-action movie premiering July 31, 2015 on the Disney Channel.
Posted on April 27, 2015 at 3:47 pm
Coming to the Disney Channel this summer:
Posted on December 14, 2013 at 3:59 pm
Disney is planning something called “The Descendants.” 
In a present day idyllic kingdom, the benevolent teenaged son of the King and Queen (Beast and Belle from Disney’s iconic Beauty and the Beast) is poised to take the throne. His first proclamation: offer a chance at redemption to the trouble-making offspring of Cruella De Vil, Maleficent, the Evil Queen and Jafar who have been imprisoned on a forbidden island with all the other villains, sidekicks, evil step-mothers and step-sisters. These villainous descendants (Carlos, Mal, Evvie and Jay, respectively) are allowed into the kingdom to attend prep school alongside the offspring of iconic Disney heroes including Fairy Godmother, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Mulan. However, the evil teens face a dilemma. Should they follow in their nefarious parents’ footsteps and help all the villains regain power or embrace their innate goodness and save the kingdom?
So, some will come good, some will go bad and there’s going to be a bit of star-crossed love. And that love might even save the day.
I’ve got to say, this does not sound like a great idea to me.
Posted on August 30, 2013 at 3:59 pm
I always say that superhero movies are defined by the villains. So in the midst of all the debate about Ben Affleck as the new Batman, I am much more interested in the possibility that Bryan Cranston as bad guy Lex Luthor. He is a perfect choice. And it has been announced that James Spader will play Ultron in the next “Avengers.” He’s been good at being bad since “Pretty in Pink.” Very promising! And one more rumor: Justin Timberlake apparently wants to play Riddler. It will be hard to top Jim Carrey (or Frank Gorshin or Cesar Romero), but I’d like to see him try.
Posted on August 8, 2012 at 3:56 pm
Roger Ebert’s “Far-Flung Critics” are some of my favorite writers on film and Olivia Collette has a terrific new essay on one of my favorite topics — villains, with a focus on Bane in the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.” (Warning — there are spoilers.)
A great villain isn’t the protagonist’s polar opposite. It’s someone who reflects the flaws in the hero and says – as Frank Booth in “Blue Velvet” did – “you’re like me.” Villains are also a reminder that heroes conquer their foes with violence. Even if it’s for all the right reasons, violence is violence. Heroism requires some darkness and a reasonable stretch of the moral code. A poorly developed villain is all darkness and no moral code. A great villain asks us to define “reasonable.”
