The Reel Rejects - DESCENDANTS 4: THE RISE OF RED MOVIE REVIEW!!

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

DOES IT LIVE UP TO THE OG TRILOGY?! Disney Descendants The Rise Of Red Full Movie Reaction Watch Along: https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Save & Invest In Your Future Today, visit: https://www.acorns.com/rejects Descendants Rise Of Red Reaction, Recap, Commentary, Analysis, & Spoiler Review. After the passing of Cameron Boyce - Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, & Booboo Stewart respectfully opted not to return. Now we get a new story being introduced from Uma (China Anne McClain) that ventures into the world of Alice In Wonderland & time travel. Greg Alba & Tara Erickson watch & react to the best songs / musical numbers / music videos such as Red, Life Is Sweeter, Love Ain't It, Perfect Revenge, Fight Of Our lives, Shuffle Of love, Get Your Hands Dirty, & Bad Reputation. The cast includes Kylie Cantrall, Malia Baker, Rita Ora as the Queen Of Hearts, Brandy as Cinerella, Dare Renee from High School Musical as Uliana (the sister of Ursula from The Little Mermaid), Paolo Montalban as King Charming, Joshua Colley as Hook (From Petter Pan), Melanie Paxson returns as Fairy Godmother, Leonardo Nam as Mad Hatter, Jeremy Swift from Ted Lasso as Principal Merlin, as well Aladdin & Jasmine!  Follow Tara Erickson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaraErickson Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/taraerickson/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetaraerickson Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Music Used In Manscaped Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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What is going on there? Citizens of the Reject Nation. Tara and Greg are back like we promise for descendants' rise of red. Tara, you're good? You good, Tara? Oh, I'm good. I'm ready. Look at my sweater. It looks like Disney threw up all over it. I always want to throw up when I see you. So it works so long. But he holds it in and that's why we have. a good friendship. And that's where the power of reactions come in.

That's where forms my faces during the video. He's holding in the vomit. Holding in the vomit. Ladies and gentlemen, comment below. Do you ever hold in vomit? Also, Descendants, the animated short film, there's an unlisted link. If you guys want to watch our reaction to it, we thought it was okay. We thought it was all right.

So, if you want to watch it, we got the context. Ring the bell! Leave a like to while you're at it. Also, Prepper. You guys are. editing well. I like the way where you're editing well. And full-length Ratched Watch Along where you sync up with your own copy of descendants.

That is for our super sexy rejects over at our Patreon page. We have you. You can watch it with us like we're in the room with you. Family movie 9 with the real rejects. It's freaking fun. It's awesome. Tara, you ready? Yeah! That short film is kind of like

It really? It took it out of us. I was exce-we had so much energy and now I'm a little bit tired now. It was well underperforming. You know when Pixar has the short films before the film and those short films are like amazing. Like a warm up crowd kind of thing?

Yeah, that did not do this. It was like, I want to leave the show. Yeah. Let's watch this. Let's do it. No post credits. We did it. How are you feeling, Tara?

I actually really like this. Yeah, good. Yeah, I loved it. There was way more songs in this. There are a lot of songs. A lot. And two of them stuck in my head. Sweet of where you are

And also Gotta get you Here's dirty See I kind of remember it That's a good sign And the mother daughter Dynamics that really clicks with you Because you have a mother

Yeah She's dead She's six feet under But I yeah I had one Yeah She's six feet under She's in the ground Barrier in the backyard

Uh huh Yeah Mmhmm Mmhmm Anyway Anyway Yeah Yeah

I mean, no. They're all alive. I mean, there's some dead stuff. That's for me. Yeah, that's for you. I don't know. The dad's. We didn't need them.

Who needs them? He keeps asking, like, where is Red's dad? I'm like, they need them? I don't think we need him. I mean, if you're going to affect time, when someone is made, you know. Gregory, you have one hair in between. That was probably the whole time. It was there the whole time.

It was like in your vision, right? Okay, he moved it. Anyway, continue. When you are conceived. It's a highlight. There's a problem I have been like time travel. So that no one ever brings up. No, I mean, nothing.

Like in back to the future, like, but the time when the parents did it is probably a different. time so you'd be a different child. Exactly. He'd be absolutely completely different. And like Red probably wouldn't have been born, but like, you know, we got, we got to just chalk it up to movie making. Yeah, whatever. Yeah. That's why, that's why they don't consult real time travelers because.

Because we can't find them. Yeah, they're too busy traveling through the timeline. They're back in 1920. The Roar and 20s. yeah that was a that was a trip of a movie yeah i really liked seeing the queen of hearts because we have not seen her in any of the movies i am not familiar with alison wonderland oh you mean any of the descendants movies correct yeah like and i'm not as from i'm not familiar with alice in wonderland um so there was maybe easter eggs in here that i maybe i didn't catch

but i loved seeing this story and finally having her as part of the the world building Because I'm like, she's a big deal. People love Alice in Wonderland. What is Cinderella's daughter's name? Little Cindy. I could have a lot of time. I was like, what is her name? I don't know.

I don't know. Mrs. Little Cinderella, Jr. Cinderella, Jr. Mm-hmm. Little Cindy, we'll call her. We don't remember her. It's okay. But you love the Cinderella.

And I agree. The Cinderella, once they went back, in time we saw the evil stepmother with Cinderella and the the I love the old school Easter eggs like we finally got to see Ursula's eels when that eel came up that is still my favorite part of the movie that was scary that was creepy I love the lighting in that they're going after her I I loved all that and then I really love the stepmother and that when she went to the room she called the stepsisters names Dezarella and whatever their weird names are there was some old school Disney references in here which I really did like

and the fact that, like, yeah, Cinderella is still scrubbing floors even to this day. I liked all that stuff. That felt like fun little Easter eggs to me. But I do agree with you that when we change everything that happened in their past,

the future wouldn't be as similar as to what we saw here. But that's maybe why Ursula was calling it out to go, listen. I'm actually not. You're actually not bothered me. Really? Yeah, I was just making a joke.

Oh, my God. I thought, that he was going to go scream, crying into his pillow about it tonight? No, I mean, my... Okay, what were the two things? You were like, they're having issues. Yeah, I definitely have issues.

Yeah, what are they? I have issues with this one. For sure, it's way better than that short film we watch. Absolutely, that short film is just... That short film should be put in a canon. Just keep it unlisted, even on Disney. That should be next to our parents. I would agree.

I agree with that. I feel bad for saying it, but yeah. Yeah. but the um but there's a really nice moment there about Carlos you see that was the best that was the best thing put it on a hard drive um I really liked the first I want to say like Siri I'm in the middle of a conversation

Siri shut up she listens to me I really like the first like 35 to 40 minutes a lot yes I think that was actually when the movie was really strong, you know, like the reintroduction of Adderall, Aradon, Aradon. Yeah, Aradon. I was doing great, but it is catching up to me. Yeah, he hasn't slept, y'all.

There was this whole thing this morning where, like, I was working late until 3 in the morning, and there was supposed to be some big trailer that came out. So I was up at, like, 5.30, and it never came out. So I was like, well, I can't just go back to bed now because I got a whole bunch to do today. And so, no, it's all sketch enough to be right now. So anyway, the first, like, 35 to 40 minutes, I thought was really, like, watching the music numbers and the colors and just how, like, cinematic everything looked. Agreed.

In the beginning, it did look that way. Like, yeah, the production value was just through the roof. And then the way everything was just being shot, I couldn't get over, like, what cameras are they using? Like this looks like this was meant to be seen Because the other ones look like Disney channel movies And this felt like they Because this is Disney Plus

So it does feel like they leveled up in terms of budget For a lot of For a lot of the technicalities of things And I was really enjoying the tunes And the plot was really intriguing to me as well With red Um Then I feel like when they went to the past

It got less cinematic It just kind of became like nowhere near as interesting to me as like a movie, as like a story. You know, and I felt like that's when you really let your movie should really sing. And then when it came down to our two main leads, they're like as actors, they're totally fine. Like there's nothing wrong with those actors. Together as on-screen pairing, I feel like the writing really lacks with them and as characters. like as them as chemistry. I don't really feel like they had chemistry.

The songs, while always going hard, started all kind of sound a little at the same. Like they're all kind of like aggressive, hard hitting. And the rap part sounded the same in the rap ones. Whereas until they got to the Cinderella song. Agreed. Yeah. Gotta get your hands dirty.

That's a great song. Then, so yeah, I just felt like kind of the magic and the wonder was slowly. be like going away where I was like oh I really see what the movie's trying to do with like getting the heart of the real life like we've seen these time travel kind of movies before where the and I felt like they were getting that more with Cinderella and her daughter like I thought they captured that way more than ironically more than Bridget and when I was like oh I thought the story would be about it's called Rise of Red that would be about Red and Bridget bonding together right and then even with like them getting the book you don't really feel like that down to the wire no time clock like I feel like in a another movie, it would be like, oh, my God, the preck's about to happen. Yeah. We're seconds away from the break happening. We got to, you know, and, and not, I don't, I don't mean to be like, I was like trying to rewrite your movie.

It just, I just wasn't aware of the ticking time clock. Right. Like, oh, okay, I guess they did it, you know? And, uh, so yeah, I just, I felt like there were, there, and then, and then it's, and weirdly, it's like, as, as movie heavy, I was looking at first, like, half of the film as it progressed it did start looking like the tech i guess because the story was noticeably weaker than the other descendants movies it started to actually bother me because i'm like of course it's not going to be a strong um but i thought i at least would like the characters

are like passably entertaining but they're but like that's the thing about the first descendants movie is you like the characters a lot you remember them you remember stuff about them and here i'm like i don't really know anything about that honestly i don't you know red is basically what that she just doesn't like her mom and doesn't want to be her mom and she thinks she's evil for some reason right and uh Cinderella's daughter's uh goody two shoes that's about it yeah and then when they had like their growth it felt so perfunctory versus as moving, you know. Yeah, like there wasn't a lot of depth

to that. If there wasn't three really great descendants movies prior to this, I maybe would just be a little bit lighter on it. But I do think if you're going to come back and you're going to justify continuing your descendants world, that

you know, I think technicalities are great. The music was always good. And that's all you really care to show up for as the big takeaways. And hell yeah, that's awesome. But weirdly, I did feel like the joy was a little bit gone while, because I think they focused so much on being like really edgy looking. But they kind of lost the edge.

Like in the beginning, there was a very specific editing style and tone to where the camera's moving. And there's a lot of different setups with the dance and the world of when we were in Wonderland. That was like very exciting and the lighting was different. wasn't as like typical as you would see in a Disney movie. But as we got, when we went back in time, it started to feel more like a Disney regular setups. We lost like the creative kind of like tone and styling of camera and editing, which was really fun in the beginning. It doesn't mean that it wasn't not fun, but the two biggest parts, like the second that the Queen of Hearts goes war and you see the storm and then it's war and you're like,

Yes, and it's going to get better. But then we go back in time, and it kind of, it doesn't necessarily slow down, but maybe slightly because it goes to more a typical shooting Disney style. And we don't really get back to that very stylistic cinema-esque vibe that we got in the beginning, except for the time when Ursula's sister blows the whistle and that big old fish comes out of the water, that look dope. And they go inside that song, I love that. then the eel in the water. That, to me, had the same sort of lighting, tone, vibe, and feeling that we got in the beginning. And I'm not saying that, oh, we just like the scary stuff better or like we like the Queen of Hearts universe better. I'm saying that that had a very specific editing choice, style choice, and like lighting-wise, it gave us a total vibe versus

the stuff when we're getting to, even when they go for the book and the owls are there. And the swords rise up. The lighting and stuff like that it still felt a little, which I didn't feel the clicking of the clock either, and it still felt a little typical that it could have felt maybe a little more dangerous. Yeah.

Yeah, it's weird. You think the stakes would be so huge, but they don't feel huge. Right, to save her mom. Her Cinderella is dead. And I just felt like the movies, I felt like it wasn't like it's it really stopped being fun like in the for the last half it just felt kind of like a dreary experience and until they got to like a music number and I don't know I don't know if that's because I'm I don't feel like it's because I'm tired I watch a lot of things tired I think it's I think it's the movie I think the movie does lack like the it does it lacks charm I think I think the charm does dissipate and and that's because. Because, like, Cinderella is the only young Ella, I mean,

was the only character who I thought in the past. Like, Bridget was funny, sort of. Yeah, so it's kind of devoid of humor, too, isn't it? Yeah. It's not really humor. There wasn't as many jokes. Like, this movie really seemed like it wanted to be like, freaking like, look how cool and serious we are.

Yeah. Right. Which was working in the first, like, 30 to 40 minutes. It really works for me. But then for some reason, when it goes back, when it should be like the fun in games a bit, just because it's because of the scale like you're shooting it but like your cool camera lens and your jittery shutter speed effects but the scale and the sets feel very small all the sudden so yeah i think it i think it did lose that

uh that that orodon disney lively charm about it and it feels like a little bit more like we're trying to look edgy yeah i want to take a quick moment to thank today's sponsor acorns i first heard about this investment app from Dwayne The Rock Johnson? Not directly. I just saw an ad for it. And I was like, let's try this out because let's be real. Investing can feel like a daunting task. And many people, myself included, don't know where to start most of the time. I have many friends who invest impart their wisdom to me and I still get overwhelmed by the thought of it. Plus, there's this myth that you need a ton of money to get started. So with our busy lives, it's very easy to put off thinking about our financial future. And what's great about acorns is

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in there, like when they go to school, I'm like, I like this Harry Potter S vibe more than I like the bright happiness of Oradon for some reason. Ordon is kind of just bland in the movie. Right, a little bit bland. Except there was more humor in those scripts. And for here, once

you said that, I recognize more that we had less of that. I wasn't necessary thinking it during. I think what this movie does a really great job of is just the songs. I do agree. with him there was a lot of songs that sounded the same where it's like we're rapping and it's this got this like kind of similar beat until we got into got to get your hands dirty and then it's like we're wanna where you are though those are the two that are in my head not the other ones and I would have really liked um I don't know I think I just miss the classic old school musicals when you're like ah Savenia like you remember that or you remember like from Beauty and the Beast, like, you know, those songs or like from Aladdin where it's like,

you know, Magic Carpet Ride. And sure, this has some of those aspects to it. And I like, again, as I said, they had some Easter eggs in here. But I think that the best part of this movie are the songs and the musical numbers and the dancing and the vibe and the energy that they brought to that. But I think what was lacking is what Greg is saying is the chemistry and honestly the foundation of okay where are we going we're going to change the time how drastic how bad is it happening to Cinderella with the queen of hearts we might have needed to see some cutbacks there

to get these like a fire lit under these kids ass to like we got to get that book and umma's here messing it up for us or uma sister and then the eel comes that still that's my favorite part that was i just wish that all of that imagine all of that imagine all of that. If we're cutting back to Queen of Hearts and we're cutting back like, what are they going to do to Cinderella? Cinderella is crying in pain. We know it. The husband's there. He's breaking down. The girls are like, my mom is going to die. Now Ursula's sister is there. She pops up with her weird sill. All of that. The eels are after them. Maybe that's too dark of a, that's too dark. But I also feel like what you were saying, they felt like they're going cool and gritty

from what we establish, especially when Queen of Hearts is like, war. And the storm goes, I was like, yes, this is a different kind of movie. Well, so much of it is the goal is about to change the Queen of Hearts, like literally change her. Yeah. And they barely spend any time with her in the past. Agreed. And they just keep it like one noted.

I really wish we would have gotten further into it. So, yeah, I don't know. And we didn't even get to see. turn into a monster. They just talked about it. Well, yeah, I mean, the idea was to prevent the prank, so I get that. I know, but, like, even a call back to, like, what really bad, like, what did it look like? How sad was it?

Let us feel it. Yeah, there was just something there that there was, it felt like there was missing. The other ones, the other descendant's movies, were also, like, almost two hours, and this is just, like, a solid, like, 90 minutes. Yeah. You know? Which I kind of appreciated. It made, it made the pacing feel.

But again, I do agree with you towards the end with the book. You're like, wait, this can't be the climax. Yeah, I was like, I guess this is ending now. The ticking is not in us. We're not like, oh, my God, at the edge of our seats for it, which I feel like you would want if you were making this movie. It was just about preventing the prank. It wasn't like to get the book, they have to do something or whatever.

You know, just get the book out of this person's hands. Yeah. Pretty easy obstacle. But I don't want to rain on anyone's brain. I know I totally am, especially yours after you just said you loved it, I'm sorry. The movies, at the end of the day, it's a, you know, it's a Disney movie for kids. For kids, probably. And they'll probably love it and sing all the songs.

But still, we got to look at Frozen. Frozen or Frozen, too? Great storyline. Funny. Olaf has hilarious jokes. Great writing. Yeah. And phenomenal songs that are stuck in your brain.

This could be the same way, right? I mean, they just missed out on some foundational story aspects that I think would grab us a little bit more to really feel the pain of Cinderella dying and the pain of what happened to Bridget when she was younger. Like, bring us there. Or like the heart of the story being read and... The mom.

Oh, well, no, Cinderella's daughter. Like the heart of them coming together and understanding, like, You don't really feel much conflict between them. It's all just kind of like. It's on the surface. It's so light. Yeah.

You don't feel much conflict and then coming to a resolution. Like Uma and now is like that's them having conflict coming to an understanding. I agree. We didn't get that there here. Yeah. Yeah. There was. I mean, it's exciting that Brandy came back.

Yeah. That was fun. I mean, even though neither of us, I don't think saw the movie. Well, he did. I don't think I ever saw it. I just saw it when I was, like, it was like an ABC movie.

Okay. Yeah, I don't think I saw it. Brandy Cinderella movie. Yes, 97 film. Jesus. 97? Yeah, man. Whoa.

You must have been like 21. I wasn't even born yet, obviously. Whitney Houston is in it? That must be the, this looks like the same guy. Whitney? That does look like the same guy But if somebody had told me That Whitney the Queen Houston was in it

I would have watched it immediately Dude, that one person aged wonderfully Do you think it's the same guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. Wow. No, but Brandy aged wonderful. Oh, yeah, she looks the same. I mean, I already, did I say that out loud?

When we saw her, I was like, you've done well for yourself, Randy. 30 years. Yeah. That's like 30 years. She looks the exact same. Agreed. And she must have gotten either really great work done or just taking really good care of herself.

Dude. I don't know. Probably got a rhinoplasty. I'm here for both. I'm here for all of it. A little bit of Botox injections. Yeah. Just like, you know, rack me up and call it a day.

Dude, yeah. I would love to get plastic surgery. Yeah. Make me full on plastic. I'm a barbicker in a Barbie world wrapped in plastic. I give the movie a... What to give it? 5.5 out of 10.

Oh my God, it's so low. I'm going to give it a 7 out of 10 because the songs... Way higher. Because the songs make this movie. So if we let the writing and the plot go because it wasn't very funny and a lot of the writing is like kind of kaput,

the foundation not. really there. Descendants 2 is not very funny, but it's still a great sequel. Yeah, but there's better, there's, listen, the beginning of this movie with the Queen of Hearts and the songs and that dance number, I'm sold. I mean, it sold me up at the top where I was fully engaged. And any time they would dance and then the eel thing and the fish popping up and it's glowing, I love it. I'm obsessed with those moments and it makes up for everything else that That it lacks. Okay.

Well, that's great. Gotta get to hands dirty. That's great that you can have that take. Yeah, I think my disappointment was kind of out weighing the positive. I think so. And I also think it's because you're running on an hour of sleep. So I'm going to latch on to negativity to stay awake. He has to hate his life right now.

He's on an hour of sleep. That's how you stay alert is by it. What can I think negatively about? Yeah. And I mean, he's running at 110 degrees over here because he sweats when he doesn't sleep. So it's just disaster here. Good times here. Look at my jacket.

My jacket looked like the set. Give me a break. Just everyone's going to be on my side. It's okay to not be on the side. I'd prefer that. I would love for them to do another descendant. Except I do agree with a lot of your points, though. I made my points.

But I, and I'm very excited to see the setup with UMA. That makes me excited. But I want them to go dark and gritty and hit it and have that foundational story that makes us feel something. You get, I cry at, like, the beginning of Frozen. It's sad, dead, dead mom, dead parents club. Like, they do that in those movies. And, like, we didn't get that close to the darkness and the grittiness,

although we saw like we might go there. Yeah. So I don't know. Yeah, what are you going to do? What are you got to do? Well, we completed the Descendants franchise. We did it. We did it.

Don't forget, rejects. Regenationchop.com. We love you so much. So now, though, if you guys just type in Rejectnationshop.com, you'll be okay. It will take you directly to the site. I know I got some messages being like, what's going on?

So just get your sweaters and support us. We love you so much or get your very cool t-shirts. We love you. Love you guys. Thanks for being here. Bye. Bye.