Musicals On Streaming - On the Come Up

Paramount Plus, 2022

Starring Jamila C. Gray, Sanaa Lathan, Michael Cooper Jr., and Da'Vine Joy Randolph

Directed by Sanaa Lathan

Music and Lyrics by various

First of all, I've changed my mind about ending Musical Dreams. I am going to continue doing it, but I'll only be posting one review on Thursday night starting next week. I still have some musicals I'd like to cover in a full review, but I don't have the time anymore to do three a week. You might get an old movie, a new movie, a TV movie, an animated film, a streaming special. You never know what you'll get from week to week, so keep an eye out! 

Now that the announcements are out of the way, on with the review. Whitney Houston was hardly the only black woman to deal with sudden fame. In this adaptation of the 2019 novel of the same name, a teen who is popular on the underground rap battle circuits also finds herself dealing with smarmy producers who ask her to be something she isn't and the aftermath of fame...but unlike Whitney, she's able to do something about it and change things for the better. We've already met real-life teen rap battle queen Roxanne Roxanne in 2024. How does this story of a fictional teen rap warrior compare? Let's begin with Brianna "Bri" Jackson (Gray) remembering the day her heroin-addicted mother Jayda (Lathan) gave her and her brother Trey (Titus Malkin Jr.) up and find out...

The Story: Bri's father Lawless Jackson had been a rapper in her neighborhood Garden Heights before his untimely death. She's determined to take up his legacy in the underground rap battle ring and make it where he couldn't. Her Aunt Pooh (Randolph) is her manager who keeps pushing her into the ring, even when she backs down. Her two best guy friends Sonny (Miles Guiteirrez-Riley) and Malik (Cooper Jr.) support her, including when she's suspended for selling candy in school. Bri's mother tries to point out that the security guards were way too aggressive with her daughter, but the principal insists this isn't the first time she's been in trouble.

Bri finally enters the rap ring as a way to earn money for her out-of-work mother. When she defeats a fellow female rapper outside of the arena, Supreme (Method Man), a smarmy producer who had once worked with her father, takes notice. He tries to change her image and insists she record a song, "On the Come Up," in Atlanta. Her mother and her guy friends think the song is way too violent for her. Supreme has convinced her it's good for her career...but then she sees the furor the lyrics, or how people have interpreted the lyrics, caused at school and in the ring. The King's Crown gang thinks she's at war with them. The school thinks she's anti-cops. After Aunt Pooh has a run-in with the King's Crown gang that leaves her in the hospital and they steal Bri's most precious treasure from her, she knows she has to get back into the ring and show everyone that she can handle some of the strongest insults and lyrics thrown at her and still be herself.

The Song and Dance: You'd never know this was Gray's first role. She handles the drama and the fast-paced rap "battles" with equal ferocity. Latham is a warm mother who is trying hard to do better for her daughter and manages a few decent directorial touches as well, especially in the ring and when Bri's being attacked at school. The grays and blues and neutral colors beautifully show off Bri's tough, battle-scarred world where words have more power than any gun. And unlike Roxanne Roxanne, we do get to see some rap battles in full and get an idea of what they're like and why they're such a big deal for the characters. 

The Numbers: The "musical" numbers here aren't numbers in the typical sense. Our first "rap battle" isn't until nearly 20 minutes into the movie. Bri first takes on Supreme's up-and-coming son Milez (Justin Martin), and wins it handily. "Miss Tique vs. Bri" is the battle outside the arena with a blonde who calls herself Miss Tique (Lady London) and...well, Bri's right that she couldn't be more fake-looking if she tried. Bri wins that one handily, too. The title song is the rough and ready rap number that caused all the trouble. I'm going to agree with Bri and say the lyrics don't sound like anything against cops or gangs to me, but I guess everyone has their own interpretations of songs. Bri also gets "Bri-LLIANT." We end with the two rap battles between Bri and the head of the King's Crown gang, and Supreme's best rapper, Infamous Milz (Lil' Yachty). 

What I Don't Like: As with the Roxanne, Roxanne bio, this is fairly rough going. It's from a teen novel, so it's not quite as rough as Roxanne's story, but there's still violence (including against a teen girl in her own school), swearing, and gun play. This is for older teen rap fans who can handle the violence. It's also pretty predictable. You can guess where it's going to go and that Bri will end up defeating all comers in the ring, especially the ones who killed her father. There's also the simple fact that the rap battles, which are strictly words without musical accompaniment, don't make this your average musical. Those looking for a typical musical romp will definitely want to go elsewhere.

The Big Finale: Touching story of a girl who finds herself and her community through her music and her father's legacy is worth checking out for older teen and adult rap fans and those who read the book of the same title.

Home Media: Surprisingly not on Paramount Plus anymore, but it can be found on DVD and on other streaming services, including Pluto TV for free with commercials.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Pluto TV On Demand

Animation Celebration Saturday - The Twits

Netflix, 2025

Voices of Margo Martindale, Johnny Vegas, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and Natalie Portman

Directed by Phil Johnston

Music and Lyrics by David Byrne and others

Our last animated review of 2025 takes us back to streaming for something that's been a long time coming. The Twits, the 1980 Roald Dahl children's book about a nasty couple who played pranks on each other and other people, had originally been optioned by Vanguard Animation back in 2003 as a live action/animated hybrid. It moved with Vanguard to Universal from Disney in 2006. There were mentions of it until around 2012, but it seemed to stall there until Netflix bought the Roald Dahl Story Company in 2022. How does this tale of a gruesome twosome who learn a lesson about meanness from a group of orphans look now? Let's begin as a mother firefly named Pippa (Emily Clarke) tells their story to her son Jeremy (Sami Amber) and find out...

The Story: Mrs. Credenza (Martindale) and Mr. James (Vegas) Twit are the proprietors of Twitlandia, an amusement park that is the only thing they love. After it's shut down on opening day for health violations, the Twits spitefully fill the water tower of the town Tripelot with liquid hot dog meat. This causes a massive explosion that floods the town and damages its reputation as the go-to place for fun.

Orphans Beesha (Ramakrishnan) and Busby (Ryan Lopez) have their own score to settle with the Twits. Busby was about to be adopted when the flood caused the couple who were interested to back out. Beesha takes Busby to Twitlandia, where the Twits gleefully admit to everything they did. Beesha also encounters a group of colorful monkeys called the Muggle-Wumps, who are being kept as the main attractions. The kids aren't able to rescue them right away, but Beesha does record the Twits' confession. The Twits are arrested, but are released by a family who desperately wants their help in making the town a center for fun again.

After they discover that the children have freed the Muggle-Wumps, the Twits chase them to the orphanage. Beesha won't let them in, claiming the orphanage belongs to the city. The Twits run for mayor, convincing everyone that they'll make them billionaires. When they trick Beesha into thinking her parents are coming for her, Mary Muggle-Wump (Portman) reminds her that family isn't always the one that's related to us. Sometimes, it's the one we create...and that there's a lot of people out there who are willing to help fight our battles. Beesha and all of the orphans learn their own lesson in empathy when they play the ultimate joke on the Twits to get them to admit they had no intention of helping the town...but it costs them their ability to understand the Muggle-Wumps.

The Animation: Though likely computer animated, it has the look of a jerky stop-motion animated film of the 80's and 90's like The Nightmare Before Christmas. Everything is all sharp angles, bushy, kinky hair, or squashed ovals. This adds to the unsettling story and the obscene and outrageous gross-out gags. The fact that most of the colors are fairly subdued makes the things that are more colorful - the Muggle-Wumps, Mrs. Twit's green hair - stand out all the more.

The Song and Dance: I give them credit just for getting this weird. Most animated musicals intended for kids don't go in for gross-out gags and strange scatological humor, which makes this almost oddly refreshing in that respect. Roald Dahl's trademark wacky-dry weirdness comes across loud and clear in Martindale and Vegas' appropriately loud and obnoxious performances. Ramakrishnan doesn't do too badly as the kid who wants to prove how "good" she can be so her parents will come back for her.

The Numbers: We begin with the Twits singing about how "We're Not Like Everyone Else" as they fill the water tower with liquid hot dog juice after their amusement park is condemned. Mary Mugga-Wump performs a "Lullaby" for the orphans to show how wonderful their dreams can be. The Twits claim that "The Problem Is You" as they campaign for mayor. We get an almost operatic "Twitlandia" over the destruction of their amusement park, then "Trick Me." The movie ends with "Open the Door" on being willing to grow and learn.

What I Don't Like: See the "gross-out gags" mentioned up there? What audience did Netflix intend this for again? It gets too weird and scary for younger kids, while older kids may be turned off by the cute kids and fantasy sequences with the Muggle-Wumps, and their parents my be too grossed-out to care. There's also that "inspired by" credit. Apparently, the book version of The Twits were a hateful couple who did make bird pie, use a special super-sticky glue to catch them, and own a group of colorful monkeys called Muggle-Wumps, but they intended to start a circus with the Muggle-Wumps, not an amusement park. There were four boys who scared the birds away, but they don't end up saving the Muggle-Wumps. The Muggle-Wumps were the ones who came up with the idea of gluing the Twits' furniture on the ceiling, not the kids. The whole subplot with the liquid meat and tricking the townspeople was invented for this movie.

The Big Finale: Definitely not for younger kids despite the PG rating, but older kids and pre-teens who like their humor rude and their action frantic and can tolerate a little sentimentality may find a lot more in this weird gross-out tale than I did. 

Home Media: It's currently a Netflix exclusive.

Netflix

Musicals On Streaming - Christmas On the Square

Warner Bros/Netflix, 2020

Starring Dolly Pardon, Christine Baranski, Jenifer Lewis, and Josh Segarra

Directed by Debbie Allen

Music and Lyrics by Dolly Pardon

Our first live-action holiday musical of the season is about as traditional as you can get. Despite the pandemic still raging when this came out, this was a surprise hit on Netflix in 2020, and even won an Emmy for best TV movie in 2021. Is it still as much fun five years later, when there's no health event going on, or is there just a little too much cheese here to enjoy? Let's begin in an obviously fake town square, as people are dancing and celebrating the start of the Christmas season...at least until one expensive car pulls into the Square...and find out...

The Story: Regina Fuller (Baranski) is more than happy to hand out eviction notices to every business in Fullerville two days before Christmas. She claims she wants to build a mall on the land, but she really just wants the town gone. The town is the namesake of her father Jack (Douglas Sills), whom she thought turned her away after she had a baby out of wedlock. She learns her lessons from an angel (Pardon), her angel-in-training Felicity (Jeanine Mason) who is working as Regina's assistant, and from Violet (Selah Kimbro Jones), the girl who works at her father's bar and is the only person to treat Regina kindly after the evictions come down, and from a scare with a possible brain tumor about the importance of life, of forgiveness, and seeing the big picture, even in our grief.

The Song and Dance: Baranski and Pardon are the thing here in this big, bright, bold musical. This is about as typical of a holiday musical as you can get, but Baranski's sarcasm, especially in the first half, cuts the sugar level. Pardon gets some funny moments too, especially with Mason when she's either not getting through to her angry employer or fed up with her attitude problem. Broadway singer Jenifer Lewis has some funny moments too as Regina's best friend Margeline who wishes she'd just cut the attitude problem and see what she's doing to the town. The bright-colored sets evoke a polished local stage show or an old MGM musicals, with their blatantly unrealistic old-fashioned look.

The Numbers: We open with "Christmas Is," as everyone in Fullerville prepares for the big holiday...just as Regina shows up with her eviction notices and the constantly apologizing Felicity. "You" is Pastor Christian Hathaway (Segarra) and his wife Jenna's (Mary Lane Haskell) duet as they admit that while they may not have been blessed with children, they still have each other. Salon owner Margeline is called to do Regina's hair, but she ends up calling her the "Queen of Mean" before telling her to do it herself. Regina's ex-boyfriend Carl (Treat Williams) who owns the local thrift shop calls himself a "Keeper of Memories," not merely a junk store owner.

When the homeless woman in the square reveals herself to be Angel (Pardon), she tells Regina that "Everyone Needs an Angel." Regina needs to "Light Her Lamp" and remember the good times with her father. The town calls Regina "The Wickedest Witch of the Middle" at a church meeting, then encourages everyone to "Try" to be the best they can be. Violet and Regina commiserate at the bar as they admit their lives haven't exactly been a "Fairy Tale." "Maybe, Just Maybe" is Regina's song, which she sings four times, in the opening and before, during, and after her brain tumor scan as she wonders if she can change her life and if she wants to. Jack gives "A Father's Prayer" when he takes his daughter's baby, then puts him up for adoption so he'll have a better life than his mother can give him.

"Christmas Is" turns up again for Felicity as she tries to point out to Regina what she's doing to the town again. Jenna reprises "Try" as she wishes she could conceive a child and have a home to give it. Angel performs "Angels Know" as her magic awakens Violet after a car accident and gives Jenna what she longed for. Margeline and the townspeople raise the roof with a gospel version of "Try." Angel sings of "An Angel's Prayer" as she hovers over the church pulpit on Christmas Eve. Regina sings for everyone to "Forgive Me," including her newly-found son, as she finally admits that the animosity she held to the town and her father was wrong. The movie ends with the entire town - including the two angels - reprising "Christmas Is." Pardon sings "Try" over the credits.

Trivia: The song "Try" was originally written for and featured on Pardon's 2014 album Blue Smoke.

What I Don't Like: Another award this one was nominated for was "Campiest TV Show"....and oh boy, did it deserve that. This is about as campy of a modern musical as you can get. There's so many numbers, it's practically an operetta. They lay on the forgiveness Aesop with the thickest, ripest cheese possible, and it can be way too much. There's also the obviously fake sets. This is not a real town. The square is obviously not a real square, the houses aren't real houses. It's more like a play you'd see at your local repertory theater than a TV movie. The dialogue borders on stiff and well-meaning to the point of being annoying sometimes, especially for the Pastor and his wife. Not to mention, there's the ridiculously melodramatic story that comes off as a cross between It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, and The Bishop's Wife and veers between silly and predictable. 

The Big Finale: It's worth seeing at least once if you're a big fan of Pardon or Baranski or want to check out a modern version of those big studio-bound musicals of the 40's and 50's.

Home Media: Easily found on Netflix and on DVD.

DVD

Netflix

Animation Celebration Saturday - The Sneeches (2025)

Netflix, 2025

Voices of Amari McCoy, Sophie Peterson, Christopher Fitzgerald, and Cristina Valenzuela

Directed by Bronah O'Hanlon

Music and Lyrics by Greg Nicolett

This isn't the first time we've met the Sneeches, the class-conscious yellow critters with stars on their bellies who live at the beaches, at this blog. I reviewed the half-hour anthology special they debuted in, Dr. Seuss on the Loose, last year. Netflix got the rights to make children's cartoons from beloved Seuss characters who hadn't turned up as often in animation. They already did One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and Horton the Elephant as children's shows. This is their first special, and the first Seuss special since Daisy-Head Mayzie in 1995. How does this class-war parable look on streaming? Let's begin with the pelican Daniel (Fitzgerald) and the story of how the Sneeches fractured into two warring groups and find out...

The Story: The Sneeches make up two groups, the star-bellies and the moon-bellies, each of whom believe their tummy symbol to be the better one. The star-bellies live in trees, while the moon-bellies make their homes by the ocean. That's the way it's always been, until imaginative star-belly child Stella Sneedly (McCoy) takes her many creative ideas to the beaches. There, she meets moon-belly Pearl Puddlesnuff (Peterson), a shy young miss who can build everything Stella comes up with. They become instant best friends, sneaking away to see each other whenever they have the chance.

Stella insists on meeting Pearl's parents and seeing her world. Given the animosity between the star and moon-bellies, this is impossible, until Stella invents and Pearl builds a machine that can erase and change symbols. Now the girls can visit each other's worlds...but Stella has no idea about living on the seas, while Pearl is upset and offended by the star bellies' Star Festival with speeches that verbally attack the moon bellies. When a huge storm threatens both groups, it's up to Stella and Pearl to come up with a way of protecting everyone and proving that "no Sneech is the best on the beaches."

The Animation: Colorful, rounded, and utterly charming. Netflix really had fun with this. You can see every bit of fur on the girls and every line of those green symbols that cause so much trouble. There's so much detail the girls' worlds, especially by the ocean, that you wish you had more time to explore it all. Honestly, it seems a little bit too soft and round for the bright, sketchy world of Dr. Seuss...but it works fine for a young children's show.

The Song and Dance: Divorced from its source material, this is a charming and lively little parable about two very different kids who become friends and just want to see how the other lives. McCoy is a sweet ball of energy as Stella, while Peterson's more nervous energy is adorable. The colorful animation is another plus, with it's incredible attention to detail. 

The Numbers: We open with Stella's "Something Wonderful" as she dances among the star-belly Sneeches, creating new inventions and pointing out how much fun something different can be. She reprises this after arguing with her family over the Star Festival and her inventions. Pearl and Stella say "Me Too!" when they realize how much they have in common when they first meet. "Look at This!" says Stella as she and Pearl explore the moon-bellied Sneeches' ocean-going world. "Something Wonderful" is reprised in the finale when all of the Sneeches come together to admit that being different can be pretty cool.

What I Don't Like: Um...what does this have to do with The Sneeches? In the original story and the 1973 special, there were only star-bellied Sneeches and Sneeches with nothing on their bellies. The star-bellied Sneeches snubbed the ones with no stars. Sylvester McMonkey McBean was a con-man monkey, not a kid's pet, and the original inventor of the symbol-removing machines. In the book (and a subsequent Russian short based on it), the Sneeches never do learn their lesson. The 1973 version comes a little closer to this, with the Sneeches realizing that "no Sneech is the best on the beaches." All of this is cute, but it's not nearly as memorable as the rather cynical original story or the slightly-more-hopeful 1973 cartoon.

The Big Finale: Great for families with young kids who'll appreciate the story and the engaging central best-friend pair and won't care about the lack of book-accuracy. 

Home Media: This is currently a Netflix exclusive. 

Netflix

Family Fun Saturday - Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires

Disney, 2025

Starring Meg Donnelly, Milo Manheim, Malachi Barton, and Freya Skye

Directed by Paul Hoen

Music and Lyrics by various

ZOMBIES has been one of Disney's most popular franchises since the original film debuted in 2018. I thought this one ended in 2022, but the subsequent animated show was enough of a success to revive interest in the films. Apparently, Disney was right to return to this well. This wound up being a hit this summer, on the Disney Channel and on Disney Plus. Is the fourth time the charm, or should this franchise be defanged? Let's begin back at Seabrook, just as zombie Zed (Manheim) and part-alien, part-human Allison (Donnelly) are finishing their first year at Mountain College, and find out...

The Story: Zed and Allison intend to spend the summer at separate camps to focus on joining the first-string football team and becoming head cheerleader. They're driving to the camp grounds with Zed's fellow zombie Eliza (Kylee Russell) and werewolf Willa (Chandler Kinney) when an energy surge damages Zed's band that keeps him human, causing him to lose control of the car. They have no idea where they've crashed and split up to find help.

Zed runs across the Daywalkers, led by Commander Bright (Jonno Roberts) and his sweet daughter Nova (Skye), while Allison befriends the live-by-night Vampires, headed by slightly nerdy Victor (Barton) and their eldress (Liza Chappell). The two groups subside on blood fruit and have been competing for the dwindling supply for centuries. Victor and Nova are being taught to follow in their parents' footsteps, but they end up bringing everyone together when they discover the gate to the orchard is locked. Zed and Allison encourage the two group to learn about each other at the abandoned Camp Rayburn, and Victor and Nova admit that they've been having visions of each other. 

Though the kids do come together, their adult leaders don't understand. Not to mention, the energy surges continue, threatening werewolves and zombies far beyond the camp. Zed and Allison have to teach Victor and Nova and their groups that working together is the best way to solve your differences, and there's more than one way to live.

The Song and Dance: At the least, the filming in New Zealand is gorgeous, with its emerald grass and sparkling forests, is absolutely gorgeous. You can understand why people would argue over this land. Donnelly and Manheim remain charming, and there's some terrific group dance numbers, especially in the second half. 

The Numbers: We open with Allison and the cheerleaders and Zed and the football players all claim to be "Legends In the Making" at Mountain College. The two different groups of Vampires insist that their valley home is "The Place to Be," but claim "Don't Mess With Us" when they learn about the dwindling food supply. It's a "Dream Come True" for Victor and Nova when they realize they've been having visions of each other. Nova insists she must lead the Daywalkers "My Own Way." Zed and Allison remind the vampires that anything is "Possible" when they search for the clues to open the way to the blood fruit orchard. They will "Show the World" that they call all work together, cause there "Ain't No Doubt About It," Zed and Allison make a great pair. They come "Together as One" in the finale.

What I Don't Like: Can we say "rehash?" This is basically the same idea as the first movie with a different type of monster and moved outside. The camp setting gives it mild echoes of the Camp Rock franchise, too. Frankly, while Skye and Barton are adorable, they aren't interesting enough to offset their cliched romance or the twice-told story. The music isn't really all that memorable, either. 

The Big Finale: Girls in the appropriate 8 to 12 age range who are already big horror or musical fans will likely get a lot more out of this supernatural love story than I did.

Home Media: It's a Disney Plus exclusive at the moment.

Disney Plus

Animation Celebration Saturday - Plankton: The Movie

Netflix/Nickelodeon, 2025

Voices of Mr. Lawrence, Jill Talley, Tom Kenney, and Bill Fagerbakke

Directed by David Needham

Music and Lyrics by various

We're remaining at Netflix, but going to a whole different franchise. SpongeBob SquarePants is the story of a very enthusiastic sponge who lives in under the sea and has some of the most peculiar friends in all of animation. Plankton is technically one of the show's villains, a tiny one-eyed creature with an ego three times the size of his body who is married to a computer and thinks stealing the formula for Krabby Patties will help him take over the world. Although the film revolving around SpongeBob's squirrel friend Sandy Cheeks wasn't well-received critically, it was popular enough on Netflix for them to go ahead with this one. How well does music fit with SpongeBob's oddly sunny world? Let's begin with SpongeBob as he introduces us to the world of his home Bikini Bottom and find out...

The Story: Plankton (Mr. Lawrence) is furious when his computer wife Karen (Talley) tries to make over his dreary restaurant, the Chum Bucket, to be more cheerful and "contemporary" and actually get customers. Him destroying the restaurant is the last straw. She turns into a larger robotic form with three heads and claims she'll take over the world without him. Her new fortress magnetizes the Chum Bucket, stealing it and other buildings in Bikini Bottom.

Plankton wants to get to the bottom of why Karen's behaving badly, so he lets SpongeBob (Kenny) hypnotize him to recall his past. This leads him to remember Karen's previous form as a calculator attached to a potato, which he upgraded at Bikini State University. They built their first machine to take over the world there. That didn't work, but it led Plankton to the Chum Bucket and to overhearing Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown) jokingly say that the Krabby Paddy formula will help him take over the world is what made Plankton want it for his own. It's not until he encounters Karen's "Gal Pals" Sandy Cheeks (Carolyn Lawrence), Mrs. Puff (Mary Jo Catlett), and Pearl Krabs (Lori Alan) that Plankton realizes what he'd been missing...and downloads her empathy chip into his own brain to see that what she really wanted all along was to be acknowledged as his favorite partner in crime.

The Animation: The SpongeBob movies have been done in 3D for several years now. This is...just ok. Everything looks the way it should, including Plankton and Karen's many forms, but it doesn't always move as smoothly as it could. Some of the 2D and 3D isn't very well-combined, either. It looks more-or-less like the TV show, which is really all this franchise needs in the end. In fact, the film looks better when it gets away from computer animation, including the psychedelic sequence where Plankton experiences empathy for the first time. 

The Song and Dance: SpongeBob was always a bit...strange...and this movie is no exception. Kudos to them for doing something a bit different with this material. To my knowledge, the other SpongeBob films are all straight action comedies. This is the first time they've done a film musical...and it's not bad. Mr. Lawrence and especially Talley have a lot of fun with the spoofs of 80's movie musical tropes, and Kenny's attempt to hypnotize and understand Plankton's overwhelming ego is hilarious. This goes slightly darker than usual for SpongeBob, which doesn't often go into complicated marital relationships or why empathy is so important for humans and AI alike, and it's rather refreshing for the show. 

The Numbers: We open with SpongeBob cheerfully introducing us to life in the colorful undersea world of "Bikini Bottom." "I'm Plankton" introduces Plankton, Karen, and Plankton's usual desire to take over the world. Karen insists that her husband "Say My Name, Karen" when she suddenly turns into a monstrous version of herself. "I Made a New Friend" says Plankton when he creates Karen as a child. He finally admits "I'm a Jerky-Jerk" to Karen by way of an apology. "Taking Over" brings everyone together to fight Karen's new forms. "Welcome Back to Bikini Bottom" is SpongeBob's big chorus finale as the underwater world is restored. We end over the credits with "You and Me."

What I Don't Like: Start with the so-so animation mentioned above. There's also the cliched plot points...and the fact that, if you don't know the show all that well, especially in its later seasons, you might be slightly confused. There are times when, despite being the title character, you wish they actually focused more on Plankton and a bit less on SpongeBob. 

The Big Finale: Highly recommended if you're a fan of SpongeBob or Plankton, or just want a unique animated musical to watch with your older elementary school-age kids. 

Home Media: This is a Netflix exclusive at the moment. 

Netflix

Animation Celebration Saturday - KPop Demon Hunters

Sony (Columbia)/Netflix, 2025

Voices of Arden Cho, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, and Ahn Hyo-seop

Directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Applehaus

Music and Lyrics by various

This review is dedicated to the children in the after-school and summer camp program I work for. KPop Demon Hunters was all the older kids at the summer program could talk about all summer long. The girls admired the young women band and warriors. The boys drew artwork of the imaginative demons. Their teachers and caretakers constantly played the catchy soundtrack on their speaker and let the kids dance along. I'd only vaguely heard of this before it caught on in a big way. I'm not the biggest fan of Korean pop. It always seemed so cutesy, regardless of what part of the world it came from. This is about as far from cutesy as you can get. What is this, and why are all the kids into it? Let's head to a concert with Korean pop group Huntrix and find out...

The Story: Huntrix is in reality the most recent incarnation of three female demon hunters who stopped demons from taking human souls for their leader Gwi-Ma (Lee Byung-hun) by creating a barrier from communal energy known as the Honmoon. They're also a wildly popular Korean rock trio, at least until the Saja Boys turn up on the scene with their smash hit "Soda Pop." Their rise coincides with their leader Rumi's (Cho) voice fading. Rumi herself is part demon, but she was raised to hide her demon marks and what she is by former demon hunter Celine (Yunjin Kim). 

The girls quickly figure out that the Saja Boys are demons, but after Rumi has an encounter with their leader Jinu (Hyo-seop), she begins to question what she is and her role in the group. Everything comes to a head at the Idol Awards, where the girls are to perform their new anti-demon song "Takedown." They decide it's too inflammatory and substitute their hit "Golden" instead...but then it seems like Rumi's fellow Huntrix Mira (Hong) and Zoey (Yoo) are against her. Rumi confronts Jinu, then Celine...but she finally learns that the best way to rescue her friends and everyone's souls is to love herself the way she is, demon marks and all.

The Animation: Wow. Done in a style similar to the Spider Man Spiderverse films, replacing that series' palate of primary colors with the bold black, white, gold, and neons of concerts and music videos. It's blocky and sketchy, computer animation that's made to look like hand-drawn, and it's most effective. The demons in particular are really creative, both in design and movement. No wonder the boys wanted to draw them.

The Song and Dance: Ok, I can see why the kids are into this. The action-packed story is very much in tune to Korean culture and the music that's wildly popular right now - and not a bit of it is cutesy. Cho and Hyo-seop are the stand-outs in the voice cast as the young woman who finds her voice when she accepts all of what she is and the man who gave himself to save his family, only to lose his soul. The music is genuinely catchy and well-done. They say as much in the film about "Soda Pop," but that applies to "Takedown," "Golden," and "What It Sounds Like," too. 

The Numbers: We open after Huntrix finally arrives at the last leg of a major concert tour with their confidant "How It's Done" and see just how much their fans adore them. "Look Back at Me" and "Strategy" show us more of Huntrix and their demon hunting past. "Golden" is first their big "I want" single, then Rumi's attempt to shine at the Idol Awards. They're outdone by the Saja Boys and their silly, simple, and totally earworm-worthy hit "Soda Pop." The members of Huntrix respond with "Takedown," their attempt to expose the demons and reveal their true natures to their fans. The Saja Boys replace the effervescent fizz of "Soda Pop" with the moody, eerie "Your Idol" at the Idol Awards. Rumi sings "What It Sounds Like" as she claims her own truth about being part demon. Mira and Zoey join in for the end of that song and a reprise of "Takedown." 

What I Don't Like: For all of their fidelity to Korean music and culture, the story isn't the most creative. You've seen something similar in a thousand sci-fi and superhero movies before it, including the Spiderverse films. Rumi and Jinu are the only characters we really get to know well. Even Mira and Zoey are more archetypes than actual characters, and the other Saja Boys aren't even that. The girls' manager Bobby (Ken Jeong) can occasionally bend into annoying stereotype territory.

The Big Finale: No wonder the kids love this. Stunning animation, admirable fidelity to Korean culture, and terrific music more than make up for the unimaginative story and characters. If you have kids ages 6 on up and a subscription to Netflix, you've probably already seen this. Even if you're an adult, it's still recommended for the animation and music alone. 

Home Media: It's a Netflix exclusive at the moment.

Netflix

Musicals On Streaming - Emilia Perez

Netflix/Pathe, 2024

Starring Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascon, Selena Gomez, and Edgar Ramerez

Directed by Jacques Audiard

Music by Clement Ducol; Lyrics by Camille

Let's celebrate Pride Month and Juneteenth this week with our weekday entries, starting with this controversial Oscar-winner. It's telling that this one came from what was apparently originally intended to be an opera. The themes here of Emilia's self-journey and its tragic conclusion, certainly reach the near-operatic in its intensity...but it also engendered equally intense backlash, due to its filming in France rather than Mexico, to its Mexican roots not being portrayed authentically, the treatment of its transgender lead, and several comments its lead actress made just after the film's release. Just how wild of a ride is this movie? Let's begin in Mexico City with struggling lawyer Rita Moro Castro (Saldana) and find out...

The Story: Castro receives an offer she can't refuse from drug cartel kingpin Juan Del Monte (Gascon), who wants her to find a doctor who will turn him into the woman he always secretly wanted to be. She searches Thailand and Tel Aviv, finally finding a doctor who is willing to help Del Monte undergo the surgery. His wife Jessi (Gomez) and their sons are relocated to Switzerland for their safety, and he pays Rita handsomely. He emerges as a beautiful woman named Emilia Perez (Gascon) and starts out on her new life.

Four years later, Rita encounters Emilia again in London. Wanting to see her sons, Rita arranges for Jessi and the boys to live with Emilia. Jessi's more interested in reuniting with her old flame Gustavo Brun (Ramerez). Emilia, feeling regretful over the boys recognizing her, starts a nonprofit with Rita to identify the bodies of cartel victims and return them to their families. She even falls in love with cartel widow Ephiana Flores (Adriana Paz). Jessi threatens Emilia's happiness when she wants to marry Gustavo and take the children to a new home, leading Emilia to attack Jessi. Jessi retaliates by taking the boys. The escalating stakes ends with Emilia kidnapped by Gustavo, and the trio on a road to tragedy that ends when Jessi realizes the truth about Emilia a little too late.

The Song and Dance: Wow. No wonder this got so much initial praise. Most musicals don't get anywhere near crime drama. This is a unique action tale with Mexican grit, French flair, and some fabulous performances. Gascon's ability to be equally passionate as Juan and Emilia got her the first Oscar nomination for a transgender woman. Saldana won for her weary-yet-caring Rita. Audiard's dynamic direction and the dusty costumes and sets manage to make the most of the lower-budget filming in France, with the gritty-yet-flamboyant outfits of particular note.

The Numbers: "El Alegato" details Rita's dull world as she walks among cleaning ladies after work, while "Todo y Nada" is the offer that changes her life. "El Encutrento" has Juan explaining why he wants to change himself. "La Vaginoplastia" and "Lady" covers Rita's attempt to find doctor willing to perform the gender-changing surgery. "Deseo" is what finally convinces the Tel Aviv surgeon to do it. "Poor Casualidad" is Rita and Emilia's reuniting in London, while Jessi gets back with Gustavo in "Bienvendia."

Emilia remembers her own crimes in "Mis siete hermanos y yo." "Papa" makes her realize that her kids are a lot more estute about identity than their mother, while "Para" details the start of the nonprofit. The hit here was "El Mal," as Rita protests the dangerous people Emilia has putting money into their business. Emilia falls for Ephanaia in "El amor." Jessi's more than happy to assert her independence with Gustavo in "Mi Camino." She finally realizes too late who Emilia truly is in "Perdoname." It ends with Ephania and the many former criminals Emilia helped celebrating her legacy in the streets with "Les damas que pasan."

Trivia: Won two Oscars for Supporting Actress (Saldana) and Best Song ("El Mal"). 

What I Don't Like: First of all, I don't speak Spanish, so I really can't tell how good or bad anyone's accents are. I know a lot of people complained about Mexico not being represented accurately, about France not looking a whole lot like Mexico, there being only one transgender character, and the huge focus on their surgery early in the film. That the drug cartels are made to look sympathetic doesn't come off so great, either. Some critics simply objected to how the musical numbers were often badly edited, with poor dancing and so-so singing. 

The Big Finale: Spanish-speaking adults or those who don't mind subtitles on a movie and are looking for a truly unique action film may be the biggest audience for this exploration of gender, tragedy and kindness.

Home Media: Netflix exclusive in the US.

Netflix

Musicals On Streaming - Hollywood Stargirl

Disney, 2022

Starring Grace VanderWaal, Judy Greer, Elijah Richardson, and Tyrel Jackson Williams

Directed by Julia Hart

Music and Lyrics by various

Disney put a sequel into development almost immediately when they saw how well Stargirl did during the pandemic. Though author Jerry Spinnelli did write a sequel to the Stargirl book, Love, Stargirl, Disney opted to create their own story that followed what Stargirl and her mother did after they left Arizona. So, what did happen after the duo packed up and moved to Hollywood? Let's begin as they're leaving and find out...

The Story: Stargirl (VanderWaal) is thrilled when her mother Ana (Greer) gets a permanent job as the costume designer on a movie and settles them in a Los Angeles apartment building. She manages to befriend gruff old Mr. Mitchell (Judd Hirsch), a former producer who lives downstairs, and Roxanne Martel (Uma Thurman), whom she shares drinks with at table six in a local restaurant. Evan (Richardson) and his older brother Terrell (Williams) are so impressed when she sings at the bar, they ask her to star and write music for the movie they're hoping to make. After Stargirl tells Roxanne her song is one of her favorites, she encourages her to write her own, then records it. Stargirl is thrilled when Terrell gets a deal for his movie...but then Ana's movie shuts down production, and she may have to leave all over again.

The Song and Dance: First of all, kudos to Disney for trying an original story this time. VanderWaal and Greer are the stand-outs as the free-spirited teen who befriends everyone she meets and the mother who thinks she's living her dream, until it turns out to be a lot harder than she thought. Thurman also works well as the one-hit-wonder who sees a protege and a major talent in Stargirl. Gorgeous location shooting in the real Los Angeles and Hollywood is a major plus, giving us all the laid-back, candy-colored west coast hipness.

The Numbers: We open with "Just What I Needed," first performed by Stargirl, then in its original version by the Cars, as her mother drives them to California. "Everywhere" by Fleetwood Mac provides the backdrop for Stargirl's first time exploring her new neighborhood, including making a new friend on the bus. After the director on her mother's film is rude to her, she cheers herself up by playing "Make Your Own Kind of Music" at the apartment. A brother-sister duo perform a nasal "No Myth" before Stargirl gets up to the crowd and sings Brian Wilson's "Love and Mercy." We pick up briefly with the original "Love and Mercy" as Evan and Stargirl admire the view from the hills. 

Stargirl convinces Terrell to let her listen to Roxanne's only hit "Miracle Mile" on the cassette player in his car. Not only does she love it, but the boys are impressed, too. After Roxanne says they can't use "Miracle Mile" on their film, Stargirl writes "Figure It Out," which provides the backdrop for Terrell's initial filming on his phone camera. Roxanne and Stargirl create their own band and play Blondie's "Dreaming" at Roxanne's club. The movie ends with the kids finally making the movie they want to make as Stargirl wonders "Heaven Knows" how their story will end.

What I Don't Like: Stargirl way too easily charms away any conflict. The last ten minutes with her mother leaving comes the closest, but even that is too quickly solved after a long talk between mother and daughter. The director on Ana's movie is the only person who doesn't succumb to her quirks, and we see him for all of five minutes. I kind of wish she had to work a little harder to gain Mr. Mitchell and Roxanne's favor. I highly doubt a major studio would buy the kids' phone-filmed movie, either, which mainly seems to consist of them chasing each other and kissing, let alone offer a million dollars for it. 

The Big Finale: I liked the first movie slightly better, but both are worth checking out for fans of coming-of-age stories or unique teen romances.

Home Media: Same deal. It can be found pretty much everywhere on streaming but Disney Plus.

Amazon Prime

YouTube

Musicals On Streaming - O'Dessa

20th Century Fox/Searchlight Pictures/Hulu, 2025

Starring Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Regina Hall, and Murray Bartlett

Directed by Geremy Jasper

Music by Geremy Jasper; Lyrics by Jason Binnick

Snow White isn't the only musical with a strong female protagonist the Disney Company released in the past week. This gender-flipped rock opera retelling of "Orpheus and Eurydice" set in a post-apocalyptic world got reviews that were nearly as bad, but is it really that horrible, or is it just different? Let's turn on the TV for a green scroll that tells us how this world came under the control of a mesmerizing man named Plutonovich (Bartlett) and the Seventh Son who will come from the mountains with their guitar and take him down and find out...

The Story: That "Seventh Son" is O'Dessa (Sink), the daughter of a wandering musician who left her nothing but a prized family guitar on his death. After the death of her mother, O'Dessa cuts her hair, wears man's clothes, and takes up in her father's footsteps as a traveling musician. She doesn't get far before a gang steals the guitar out from under her. Following them brings her to Satelyite City, one of the last outposts of civilization. Desperate to get the guitar back from a pawn shop, she joins a talent contest at a local bar. The only person who appreciates her bluesy style is Euri Dervish (Harrison), a nightclub singer she rescues from an overly-amorous patron. They spend the night together under the boardwalk and fall deeply in love. 

Euri tells her about Plutonovich, who uses all the plasma that's polluting the ground to power his addicting broadcasts, and inspires her to sing for pennies from the people. This does get her the guitar back, but not Euri. Turns out he has deals with Plutonovich's right-hand woman Neon Dion (Hall). After she kidnaps Euri during his wedding to O'Dessa, she follows them to Plutonovich's Onderworld lair to join his reality competition and prove once and for all the power of prophecy and true love.

The Song and Dance: The performances are the thing here. Sink does well by the tough, scrappy title character who truly believes Euri is her destiny, but the real stand-outs are the villains. Bartlett is so charismatic and bombastic as the dictator who uses the power of media to keep the people from rebelling, you can understand why they were all mesmerized. Hall does even better as the terrifying cross between Grace Jones and an especially angry pitbull, especially with those odd severe bangs. The grungy, junk-filled landscape outside of Satilyte City and the blue and neon world within it recall similar dystopia thrillers from the 80's like Streets of Fire and Blade Runner.

The Numbers: We open with the young O'Dessa performing "Under the Stars" for her mother. "Ramblin' Down the Road" shows the start of her journey after she leaves the dying farm. "Cursed Six Strings" is our first chorus number as she joins the group of thieves for a bite and a song. The rock-loving nightclub crowds fail to be moved by her "Ramblin' Blues." O'Dessa is proud to be "Feelin' Free" as she uses her makeshift guitar to sing for the people and earn money for the guitar and get closer to Euri in the second chorus number. Euri sings the darker "Johnny Fame," but is booed in the nightclub when he speaks out against Plutonovich. 

After she's attacked and Euri is hypnotized, they finally realize "Yer Tha One" and prepare to be wed with rings and tattoos. "Here Comes the Seventh Son" announces her intention to the world as she takes a neon boat to Plutonovich's lair. He's the commander of the "Onderworld" as we get our big chorus routines, complete with dancers in very skimpy costumes and a teen pop star in pink feathers wiggling behind him. When she finally gets onstage, O'Dessa pours her heart into "The Song (Love Is All)." She finally becomes that "Plasma Rose" who destroys Plutonovich and sends his lair ablaze. The girl she gave her hand-made guitar to carries on her legacy in the final reprise of "The Song." 

What I Don't Like: This isn't anything you haven't seen in movies set in similar hell scapes since the 1970's. It's basically a musical Hunger Games or Blade Runner. Like those movies, this is definitely style over substance. The story is weird, overly complicated, and ultimately kind of depressing, and the music isn't memorable enough to carry it. If you know anything about the original "Orpheus and Euridyce" myth, you're very aware that this isn't going to have a happy ending. It's also not for those looking for a more traditional or lighthearted romp. Like other movies in its genre, it gets into some very dark and rough territory that includes strong sci-fi violence, a few very brief sexual bits, scanty costumes, and heavy themes.

The Big Finale: This is not going to be for everyone, but if you're into other movies about dark futures or dystopian worlds, are a fan of rock or folk music, or just want to check out a darker take on a favorite myth, this is worth riding a neon boat for.

Home Media: Streaming only via Hulu and Disney Plus. 

Hulu

Disney Plus

Musicals On Streaming - Stargirl

Disney, 2020

Starring Grace VanderWaal, Graham Verchere, Karan Brar, and Darby Stanchfield

Directed by Julia Hart

Music and Lyrics by various

After those two less-than-terrific spring break trips, let's jump to Arizona for a coming-of-age story that has real charm. The young adult novel Stargirl by Jerry Spinetti debuted in 2000. The book's positive and individual protagonist hit such a deep chord, students in Ohio created a Stargirl Society to promote its views. Disney initially optioned the book back in 2015, but they didn't get it out until 2020. How well do they do with the story of a boy who learns about life, love, and being yourself from one very unique young woman? Let's begin with Leo Borlock (Verchere) in his younger years after his father's death, as he and his mother Gloria (Stanchfield) move to Mica, Arizona and find out...

The Story: After Leo is bullied over the porcupine tie his father gave him the first day of school, he becomes determined to be just like anyone else and hide who he is. Someone, however, sends him porcupine ties every year on his birthday. He's still baffled about the gifts in high school when he's playing trumpet in the marching band and helping his friend Kevin (Brar) with his TV show Hot Seat.  He's not the only one trying to hide his personality. Mica High School has never excelled at anything. The football team loses every year, and Kevin always wins the speaking contest.

Enter Stargirl Caraway (VanderWaal), a capricious newcomer who spent most of her life being homeschooled. She wears bright vintage clothing and comes to school with her ukulele and a positive attitude, playing "Happy Birthday" for kids she doesn't even know. Leo is charmed by her, especially after his older paleontologist friend Archie (Giancarlo Esposito) tells him more about her. The rest of the school is wary at first, until she plays her ukulele at a football game and the team actually wins. She becomes the most popular girl at school after that and a good-luck charm for the team. She and Leo even become a couple. 

Her success is short-lived after she goes to the hospital with an injured member of the opposing side during the big championship game. Now all of the kids shun her, and an appearance on Kevin's Hot Seat show only makes things worse. Leo suggests that she act and dress like everyone else. Stargirl tries, but she can't stop being who she is. It takes a special gift and a reminder of his father for Leo to finally understand why Stargirl acts like she does, and why it's so important to be yourself, even if others don't love you for it.

The Song and Dance: What a sweet movie! I'm glad Disney finally got to making this. The kids were a delight, with VanderWaal the stand-out as the upbeat girl who teaches everyone around her that it's not so bad to be one of a kind. There's some gorgeous desert vistas too, filmed in New Mexico. I also appreciate the message of non-conformity, kindness, and sharing one's grief. 

The Numbers: We open with school band practice and our first view of Mica High. Our first real view of Stargirl is of her playing "Happy Birthday" on her ukulele for Leo in the school cafeteria. She definitely gets more of a response than the school band at the football game playing "Be True to Your School" for the crowd. They get so jazzed, the football team plays better. "We Got the Beat" is the first full-on chorus number, as Stargirl joins the cheer squad and the cheerleaders tailor their routine to her moves. 

"Thirteen" by Big Star provides a backdrop for the montage of Stargirl and Leo getting closer and the football team's continued success. "Be True to Your School" gets a chorus reprise for Stargirl and the cheerleaders at the championship game, while Stargirl and Leo do their own version of "Thirteen" at her house afterwards. "I Just Wanna Dance" is the first number as Leo enters the Winter Dance. Stargirl finally convinces him to sing his version of the Cars' "Just What I Needed" in front of the whole school. Stargirl and the kids get so into it, they lead a conga line right out of the school and into rare desert snow. She sings the George Harrison hit "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)" and her own "Today and Tomorrow" over the credits.

What I Don't Like: First of all, from what I gathered, there were a lot of changes from the book. Stargirl stayed in Mica for a year, not a few months, and apparently had even quirkier and more disruptive behavior. It was a basketball game where she comforted the injured player, not football, and she had a girlfriend named Dori along with Leo. It's a barbecue,  not a dance, that the kids attend in the end, and Stargirl insists on all of them doing the Bunny Hop rather than Leo singing "Just What I Needed." Stargirl and Leo's fathers were living; Leo got the original porcupine tie from his uncle. Hillari Kimble was even meaner, and she wasn't related to the boy who had the bike accident.

Second, this is a mass of goofy cliches that runs out of steam a bit in the second half, when the kids start shunning Stargirl and that quirkiness wears out its welcome a bit. The magic Artie talks about is never heavily explored and sometimes seems a bit forced. Many people who read the book complained about the story being watered down, and that maybe Stargirl could have done things that were stranger than singing a Beach Boys number or two.

The Big Finale: I'll be honest, I never read the book. I was in college when it came out. I do know the movie version is a sweet look at a relationship between a boy who lost himself and a girl who knows who she is...and how to make others want to find themselves, too. Highly recommended for teens who are also navigating how to stay true to themselves at school and home and those looking for a unique romance.

Home Media: Surprisingly, it was pulled from Disney Plus back in 2023, despite being made for that platform. It can still be found elsewhere on streaming, including Amazon and YouTube.

Amazon Prime

YouTube

Happy St. Patrick's Day! - Riverdance: The Animated Adventure

Netflix, 2021

Voices of Pierce Bronsnan, Sam Hardy, Hannah Herman Cortes, and Lilly Singh

Directed by Dave Rosenbaum and Eamonn Butler

Music and Lyrics by Bill Whelan

Let's celebrate St. Patrick's Day with one of the most Irish of all shows. Riverdance began as an Irish dance routine performed between acts at the Eurovision Song Contest. After it got a standing ovation there, it was expanded into a full-length evening of Irish step dance and song. It toured the world in the late 90's and became a sensation, reviving interest in Irish culture and dance. It even played Broadway in 2000. The CD featuring the music topped the chart in Ireland. 

The show was revived for its 25th anniversary in 2020 and did well enough to inspire this animated film. How well does it represent the show? Let's begin with a hand-drawn animated sequence that introduces Keegan (Hardy), his lighthouse keeper grandfather (Bronsnan), and the legend of the Megolocerous Giganteus and find out...

The Story: Keegan is so devastated when his grandfather dies, he can't bring himself to be the DJ for the town's St. Patrick's Day party or even to turn the light on in the lighthouse. This is a grave mistake. The light keeps the Huntsman (Brendan Gleeson) at bay. He hunts the spirit of the Megolocerous, cutting off their horns and letting the river bed dry. The magical deer with their enormous golden horns dance to keep the river flowing. Keegan's Spanish friend Moya (Cortes) teaches her about his Irish heritage and why the deer's dance is so important, while Keegan encourages big Benny (Jermaine Fowler) to try his best in the big hurling game and Moya shows clumsy Penny (Singh) how to find her own dance style.

 The Animation: Just as much of a mish-mash as the story. The elk look almost regal, with those enormous majestic horns, but everything around them is done in a more cartoony style. The two don't always blend well, making the elk look silly when they should look commanding, and trying to make the kids look commanding when they're more rubbery. The backgrounds are better, including the river that does flow realistically. There are some nice sequences, including the dance routine in the rain after the funeral, but most of the numbers just aren't integrated that well (including the funeral number).

The Song and Dance: Given what this is based on, "dance" is the operative word here. They do manage to recreate the energy and vivaciousness of the Irish step dance and Moya's flamenco rather well. The two kids have a lot of fun as the ones caught up in the action, and Bronsnan is appropriately warm as Keegan's beloved grandfather and regal as Patrick, the head of the elk. 

The Numbers: We kick off with a brief shot of what Granddad and Keegan can do at the lighthouse before launching into our first full number. Moya and the chorus sing "Light In the Wings" before the townspeople do our first major dance routine, looking more than a little odd performing a vivacious step routine in all-black at a funeral. We even get some nifty overhead shots at one point. After they're washed down the river in a storm, Moya shows Keegan how she's able to glide and dance on the water like a mystical creature. 

Our first shot of the deer shows them doing a complex Irish step dance in perfect unison, giving us actual Irish step dancing and a good idea of what an animated version of a real Riverdance show would look like. Patrick gets the intricate solo, but Penny falls out of formation. Moya tries to teach Penny flamenco, but it doesn't go well at first. When Keegan closes his eyes, we return to the opening hand-drawn sequence as he imagines his grandfather dancing in his puppet theater and everything he's seen in the river. 

After the Huntsman takes Patrick's antlers, the deer and Moya bring small lights. Penny does a lovely slow flamenco routine with hers, showing that the passionate Latin dance is no less beautiful and intricate than the Irish step ones. The film ends with Keegan happily playing DJ for the town party while Moya shows off her Irish and flamenco moves and everyone else celebrates the return of the river and the light.

What I Don't Like: This is cliched to the hilt. You don't really get to know either of the kids very well before they encounter the deer, and they could do more with Keegan's grief before his great adventure. Singh and especially Fowler are out-of-place as annoying comic relief characters, their obvious American accents grating and sticking out like a sore thumb among the real Irish actors in the cast. The hurling sequence goes on for way too long and doesn't really have much to do with the rest of the movie. Some body function jokes are mainly there for the kid audience and seem a bit out of place as well, and the side plots with the frogs and the sheep mainly serve to pad the film's running time.

The Big Finale: If you want to introduce your kids to Riverdance, you're better off looking up the concerts on video or DVD. They'll get far more of an appreciation for Irish dance and culture than they would from this so-so movie. 

Home Media: This is a Netflix exclusive in the US. 

Netflix

Musicals On Streaming - Charming (2018)

Netflix, 2018

Voices of Demi Lovato, Wilmer Valderrama, Jim Cummings, and Nia Vardalos

Directed by Ross Venokur

Music and Lyrics by various

This was not the first time Vanguard Animation dipped into the fairy tale parody well. Their second production after their debut was Happily N' Ever After from 2006, a spoof of fairy tale conventions that was a huge flop with critics and at the box office. That movie's failure didn't stop them from returning to the fantasy well almost a decade later. This time, they've traded imitating the Shrek films for imitating Disney and their female-oriented action musicals. How does the story of a Prince Charming who can charm anyone but a certain female thief look now? Let's begin with a narrator explaining why Prince Phillipe (Valderrama) is in big trouble and find out...

The Story: Prince Phillipe was cursed with charm as a child by the wicked sorceress Nemeny Neverwish (Vardalos). He attracts every woman who sees him...until his 21st birthday, when all love will vanish from the kingdom. King Charming (Cummings) gets very fed up with his son after he's engaged to Snow White (Avril Lavigne), Cinderella (Ashley Tisdale), and Sleeping Beauty (G.E.M) and forces him to go on the Gauntlet. This terrifying quest up to Fire Mountain will show his son what it's like to be truly brave and help him decide who his true love is once and for all.

Phillipe is joined by what he thinks is his guide Lenny. Her name is really Lenore Quinonez (Lovato), a sly thief who has agreed to lead the prince up the mountain in exchange for money after she's caught robbing the princesses. Phillipe has already fallen for Lenore when she's the first woman who doesn't automatically grovel at his feet, but she's not as impressed with him. He can't do much more than be a cute guy, though he does manage to rescue her from the enormous chief of an Amazon tribe (Tara Strong). Lenore's now thinking he might be her true love, but Nemeny isn't about to let her break that curse. It'll take a "leap of faith" for the two to finally prove that there's a lot more to true love than falling for a pretty face.

The Animation: Vanguard's trademark angular designs are front and center here. That works on characters like Prince Phillipe and Leonore who are supposed to be all arms and legs. It's not so great for others. The princesses look less pretty and rounded and more like all sharp angles. Don't get me started on the dated and ridiculous designs of the Amazon tribe, though the Half-Oracle and her number do come off a bit better. There's even some nifty special effects there. 

The Song and Dance: The cast is the thing here. Lovato gives Leonore a certain strength that makes it even harder to digest when her character gets a lot interesting in the second half, after she falls for Phillipe. Tisdale, G.E.M, and Lavigne are hilarious as the three jilted fiancees, especially Lavigne as traumatized Snow White. Cummings gives the king a great deal of gravity as well. Sia also does well in her brief role as the Half-Oracle, who has by far the most memorable segment in a trippy number where she explains how Phillipe could be Leonore's true love. And as annoying as Phillipe can be, at least he's also a genuinely nice guy who really does want to do what's right for the ladies chasing him and his kingdom.

The Numbers: The movie opens with the three princesses telling us about their "Trophy Boy" in a montage depicting him being chased by every woman in the kingdom. "Not Changing" covers Leonore and her cardinal friend escaping the guards with their stolen treasure and fleeing into town. "Balladino" is the Half-Oracle's dreamy, memorably weird number as she shows Lenore who her true love is, and why it's important she find him. Lenore dreams of how "Magical" it'll be to sing and dance with Phillipe in a dream sequence right before their botched date at the inn. Leonore says she'll "Soar" after Phillipe announces what he intends to do to eliminate the curse. We briefly get "Somebody to You" over the montage of Phillipe and Leonore's wedding and honeymoon before the title song plays over the credits. 

What I Don't Like: This fairy-tale satire is about fifteen years out of date...and the badly and annoyingly stereotyped Amazon-type native tribe has been out of date for at least sixty. Lenore and the princesses are supposed to be the ones in the wrong for either submitting too quick to Phillipe's charm, or not submitting at all. Phillipe is such an idiot, though, that you end up feeling sorry for the princesses instead. They're all pretty likable, if rather shallow. I have no idea how Phillipe doesn't see through Leonore's ridiculous male disguise. She's about as male as the princesses. 

Lenore is a far more interesting character in the start, when she's more annoyed with Phillipe and how useless he is. I wish she could have resisted him a lot longer. Even later, she shouldn't have had to give up what she was for him so quickly. Phillipe isn't so much charming as he is a spoiled daddy's boy who gets by on everyone doing everything for him. He may be nice, but he's so witless and annoying, you wish Leonore would have pushed him harder into gaining a little backbone. 

The Big Finale: Vanguard's second attempt at a fairy tale spoof has all the charm of curdled wedding cake icing and is only slightly better than the awful Happily N'Ever After. Only if you're a really, really huge fan of the cast or Shrek-eque fairy tale satire.

Home Media: This is currently a Netflix exclusive. 

Netflix

Musicals On Streaming - Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

Netflix, 2022

Voices of Luke Evans, Jonathan Pryce, Johnny Flynn, and Fra Fee

Directed by Stephen Donnelly

Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, Stephen Donnelly, and Jeremy Holland-Smith

We head to England for our next story. This is a partial remake of Scrooge, the 1970 British musical with Albert Finney as the title character and Sir Alec Guinness as Jacob Marley. The film's remained relatively popular during the holiday season, especially in it's native United Kingdom, enough for low-mid budget animation company Timeless to try turning the world's most famous Christmas story into an animated musical. How well did they pull it off? Let's begin with Harry Scrooge (Fee) explaining why he loves this time of year while out and about in London and find out...

The Story: Scrooge (Evans) refuses to come to Harry's Christmas dinner party, or have anything to do with him. He resents that his beloved sister Jan (Jemima Lucy Newton) died giving birth to him. He also won't give money to the poor or let his clerk Bob Cratchit (Flynn) have coal or pay him much, and he forces those in debt to him to pay on Christmas Eve. 

The miserly old man learns a lesson when the ghost of his former boss Jacob Marley (Pryce) appears and tells him he'll be haunted by three ghosts. Past (Olivia Coleman) reminds him how he pushed away his fiancee Isabel (Jessie Buckley) after Jan's death and he left his old boss Mr. Fezziwig (James Cosmo) for the higher-paying Marley. Jolly Present (Trevor Dion Nicholas) shows him the wonderful party he's missing at Harry's and Bob's dinner with his beloved family, including his sickly son Tim (Rupert Trumbull). It's the frightening, silent Future that finally gets across to Scrooge what his nastiness is doing to those around him, and what will happen to them and him if he doesn't change his ways.

The Animation: Sometimes, it looks waxier than the Ghost of Christmas Past, with all the sharp angles and even sharper movement. There's some amazing effects here, though. Past's shapeshifting into different characters and Present's amazing "I Like Life" dance routine are especially well-done. Jacob Marley has an awesome icy entrance, too, all blue, frosty, and angular.

The Song and Dance: There's a lot of interesting ideas here that I think are pretty creative. Considering most versions cut or shortchange the subplot with Scrooge's sister, I like how they connect Scrooge's resentment of his nephew to his difficulties with Christmas and how close he was to Jan here. There's also Scrooge having done nothing to stop Marley from closing the bakery belonging to a certain Mr. Cratchit, then wondering why his son chooses to work for him years later. Scrooge's enormous dog Prudence comes off less of an annoying sidekick and more sweet and loyal, especially when she's one of the only mourners at his funeral in the Future segment. 

The Numbers: The rollicking "I Love Christmas" opens things with a huge dance number that encompasses all of London and even includes Harry playing the saxophone. Bob sings to his "Christmas Children" as they make their way home for the holiday. Scrooge asks Prudence to "Tell Me" why everyone is so crazy about Christmas when it only makes him miserable. Sweet Jan sings gently about her "Christmas Wishes" to her brother working on Christmas Eve, before collapsing in his arms. Isabel and Scrooge dance in the stars as she tells him about her "Happiness," but her hopes for marriage are dashed when he falls more in love with making money and "Later Never Comes."

The Ghost of Christmas Present's "I Like Life" also becomes a huge number, with little cute Cheerlings playing instruments surrounding enormous glistening piles of confections. "The Beautiful Day" is Tiny Tim's sweet little solo at his family's Christmas dinner. "Thank You Very Much" is another big chorus number that basically covers all of London. Even Scrooge is singing along, not realizing that toy shop owner Tom Jenkins (Giles Terrera) is literally dancing on his coffin. He happily claims "I'll Begin Again" after he awakens, and everyone reprises "I Love Christmas" at a huge dinner where Scrooge gives to the charity-collectors, promotes Bob, and releases Tom from his debt. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, what's with the additional songs? None of them are as good as the Leslie Bricusse score from the live-action film, nor do they match their style or the time period. Among the missing numbers are the rousing "December the 25th" at Fezziwig's party (which is basically glossed over) and "A Christmas Carol" that opened and closed the original film. And often, the older songs are given orchestrations that render them almost unrecognizable. For something they dedicated to Bricusse (who died during production), they could have used more of his work.

For all the new ideas that work, others are just plain baffling. Why did they change the names of Scrooge's nephew and sister from Fred and Fan to Harry and Jan? Why does Scrooge look like a handsome middle-aged man rather than a decrepit elderly miser? Why did they change Scrooge's backstory to his father being in debtor's prison? It doesn't come off any better here than it did in Christmas Carol: The Musical. Harry is annoying and too pushy, making you understand a bit better why Scrooge would want nothing to do with him. 

Why are all of the  numbers turned up to 11? The opening and the Ghost of Christmas Present's solo lose their intimacy and charm done as huge productions. None of the kids look like sickly urchins, not even Tim. And while Prudence is a good loyal dog, neither she nor the silly little Cheerlings who appear mid-way through are necessary to the story.

The Big Finale: Not bad if you're prowling around Netflix looking for something to watch with the kids, but there's better versions of this story out there, including the original live-action film. 

Home Media: It's a Netflix exclusive at the moment. 

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Musicals On Streaming - Spellbound (2024)

Netflix, 2024

Voices of Rachel Ziegler, John Lithgow, Nicole Kidman, and Javier Bardem

Directed by Vicky Jenson

Music by Alan Menken; Lyrics by Glen Slater

This one apparently has been a long time coming. It was announced in July 2017 as a theatrical project from new animation studio Skydance, to be released by Paramount. In 2020, Apple TV replaced Paramount and released their first movie, Luck. Three years later, Skydance ended its deal with Apple and switched to Netflix, where it was finally released last week. Menken knows something about animated fantasies. Does this reach the height of Disney's animated fairy tales, or should it be changed into a beast? Let's begin with Princess Ellian of Lumbria (Ziegler) in the air as she flies with her friends and find out...

The Story: But Ellian doesn't have time for friends, or much of anything besides ruling her kingdom. The year before, a strange dark magic transformed her parents into uncontrollable monsters who wreck havoc on the castle. Ellian and her parents' advisors Bolivar (Lithgow) and Nazara (Jenifer Lewis) have tried to keep the public from finding out, but they're becoming harder to control. Bolivar and Nazara think she should give up hope and be crowned queen, but Ellian is determined to find someone who will change them back.

She finally gets through to two powerful beings known as the Oracles, Sunny (Tituss Burgess) and Luno (Nathan Lane), only for her parents to scare them off. They do leave behind a powerful magic amulet called "the Fob" that can work their magic. The Captain of the Guard Genera Cardona (Olga Merediz) believes the monsters have stolen the princess and goes after them. They flee to the Dark Forest of Eternal Darkness to find the Oracles, with Bolivar switching his body with that of Ellian's pet rodent Fink (Dee Bradly Baker) on the way. 

The Oracles can't restore her parents, but they claim the Lake of Light can. As the quartet travel across quicksand-laden deserts and echoing forests, Ellian helps her parents rediscover their humanity and learns why they lost it to begin with. When they do arrive at the Lake, she finally snaps...and they're reminded that, whether together or separate, their daughter is the most important thing in their lives, and they love her even if they're no longer meant to be a couple.

The Animation: Gorgeous, as per the fantasy milieu. The Dark Forest of Eternal Darkness is not aptly named, as it's colorful and stunning, with its wild backgrounds. The colors glow here, and the details are incredible. Humans look a bit selfish, but everyone moves well, and the diverse cast is well-rendered. Perhaps because John Lasseter runs Skydance, this does feel a bit derivative of Disney, mainly in those elaborate backgrounds.

The Song and Dance: The animation and score are probably the best thing about this one. Menken crafted some decent music here, especially for Ziegler. She does fairly well as the upbeat teenager who just wants her parents back, despite some clunky dialogue. Lithgow also has some funny moments as the stuffy advisor who learns to cut loose and see silver linings when he switches bodies, and Burgess and Lane are hilarious as the Oracles. I like the idea of her parents rediscovering their humanity throughout the film, and despite it being awkwardly handled, I commend them for even attempting to deal with a mature subject like divorce in an animated film at all. 

The Numbers: Ellian explains that "My Parents are Monsters" as she shows the chaos they've created in the castle during the opening number. Bolivar and Nazara claim they'll return the kingdom to normal "Step By Step" and make Ellian queen. The Oracles explain "How to Break the Spell" before the king and queen burst in. Ellian laments that she just wants things to be "The Way They Were Before" when her parents were human and knew she was their daughter. 

She's told to "Look for the Light" by the Oracles when they arrive at the Dark Forest. Her parents start "Remembering" their past life as they follow the lights and she encourages them to recall their past life. Bolivar happily claims "I Could Get Used to This" when he finally befriends the finks who think he's one of them. After they say they won't change back at the Lake of Light, Ellian finally snaps, wonder "What About Me?" and why they never seem to notice her in their fights. They all reprise "What About Us?" and "The Way It Was Before" as Bolivar helps save them and they realize how important their daughter is. Ellian reprises "My Parents are Monsters" in the end, and we get "The Way It Was Before" over the end credits.

What I Don't Like: While I appreciate the discussion of a topic like divorce here, it could have been integrated better. It comes out of nowhere in the second half and doesn't work well with the fantasy elements. There's also subjects like divorce and mixed marriages being extremely controversial. Some parents may not appreciate a movie where it's basically shoved down their throats. The music isn't bad but isn't especially memorable, either. The whole thing just seems like it's been thrown together from spare parts of better Disney and Dreamworks movies and is cliched to high heck other than the divorce talk. 

The Big Finale: Not the greatest thing ever, but not nearly as bad as some critics claim, either. If their parents aren't offended by some of the more mature elements, elementary-school-age girls like my niece might be the best audience for this. They'll enjoy the fairy tale story and be able to ignore the awkward message and clunky dialogue.

Home Media: Netflix exclusive at the moment.

Netflix

Musicals On Streaming - 13: The Musical

Netflix, 2022

Starring Eli Golden, Gabriella Uhl, Debra Messing, and JD McCrary

Directed by Tamra Davis

Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown

Like The Prom, another recent school musical currently playing on Netflix, this began life as a teen-oriented Broadway show in 2008. In fact, it was Broadway's first show with a cast and band featuring nothing but teenagers. Also like The Prom, it wasn't a success then, but was still optioned for a movie anyway. CBS Films originally planned on producing it, but after they were folded into Paramount in 2019, it moved to Netflix. Let's start in New York, as almost-thirteen-year-old Evan Goldman (Golden) explains his dilemma and see what's different about this school story besides the cast being mostly kids...

The Story: Evan is devastated when his mother Jessica (Messing) and father Joel (Peter Hermann) split up after he's caught seeing a stewardess. Jessica takes Evan to her mother Ruth's (Rhea Pearlman) home in Walkerton, Indiana. Evan spends his summer hanging around with his energetic neighbor Patrice (Uhl) and her wheelchair-bound buddy Archie (Johnathan Lengel). 

He desperately wants football player Brett (JD McCrary) and cheerleader Kendra (Lindsay Blackwell) to come to his Bar Mitzvah party and even agrees to bring the two together for their first kiss at an R-rated slasher flick. Upset at being left out due to the cool kids thinking she's a nerd, Patrice blows the whistle on them. Lucy (Frankie McNellis), Kendra's ambitious best friend, is the one who finally kisses Brett. Evan knows he's made mistakes, but it's his parents who ultimately remind him that mistakes can be fixed and they're not the end of the world.

The Song and Dance: This wound up being very sweet. The kids are uniformly terrific, with Goldman and Uhl the standouts as the kid who just wants to fit in and the girl who is happy being her. I also give them kudos for the wonderfully diverse cast that includes wheelchair-bound Lengel and a story that revolves around an important Jewish ritual that many people might not be familiar with. Some of the adults aren't bad, either. Messing is a lovely, patient mother, and Pearlman is a riot as her sensible mother. 

Favorite Number: We open in New York City with the title song as Ethan explains his parents' divorce and why he doesn't want to leave. Patrice spends their summer showing him "The Lamest Place In the World." Kendra and Brett claim "I've Been Waiting" for their first kiss. Lucy leads the cheerleaders through a lively and well-choreographed routine as she insists on waiting for her "Opportunity" to catch Brett. The kids all sing about seeing the R-rated horror movie "The Bloodmaster" and what that means for them and that they're "Getting Ready" for their movie dates. 

The members of the football team try to tell Brett that the clingy Lucy is "Bad, Bad News" in their own big choreographed number. "It Would Be Funny," laments Evan and his mother, if mistakes didn't hurt so much. "Tell Her" goes from Evan encouraging Brett to apologize to Kendra to all of the kids apologizing to each other. "Evan's Haftorah" begins with him reciting the chant, but becomes "A Little More Homework" as he and the other kids realize they still have a lot of growing up to do. It ends with the kids declaring it's time to create a "Brand New You" at Evan's Bar Mitzvah party.

Trivia: 13 began as a smaller production in Los Angeles in 2007. It finally opened on Broadway in 2008, but couldn't find an audience and barely lasted three months. It didn't make a week on the West End in 2012. It's done far better as a regional and school production, particularly for middle schools with actors in the appropriate age range. 

What I Don't Like: Apparently, this was greatly changed from Broadway. Lucy was a lot meaner - and wasn't redeemed in the end - and Evan finally told Brett off after Lucy spread a rumor that Evan was after Kendra. There were no adults at all, not even Evan's mother, and they stayed with a friend, not his grandmother. A lot of songs were cut, including a song for Evan and the rabbis helping him with his Bar Mitzvah speech, "Being a Geek," Patrice's solo "Good Enough," the song revolving around that cut subplot with Lucy "It Can't Be True," and another that made more of Archie's "Terminal Illness." 

And while I give them credit for the diversity and spotlighting the Jewish faith, a lot of this is mired in school and coming-of-age cliches. It's nothing you haven't seen in similar Disney and Nickelodeon movie musicals featuring all or nearly-all-teen casts. The idea of an all-teen cast was more novel in 2008 than it was over 15 years later after all those Disney Channel originals came and went, too.

The Big Finale: Lively school tale with great music and a diverse cast is worth checking out for real-life thirteen-year-olds and their parents as they return to school and try to figure out their place in the world.

Home Media: This is a Netflix exclusive at the moment.

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Family Fun Saturday - Descendents: The Rise of Red

Disney, 2024

Starring Kylie Cantrall, Malia Baker, Ruby Rose Turner, and Morgan Dudley

Directed by Jennifer Phang

Music and Lyrics by various

I thought Disney was done with this franchise, but never underestimate their obsession with their history and milking a series dry. That said, it's not often they dive into their TV history. Descendents apparently returned last year with an animated short that launched a revival of the series, this time focusing on Cinderella and the citizens of Wonderland. How does this latest visit to the world of Auradon Prep look, especially compared to the films that came before it? Let's begin with Uma (Chiana Anne McClain), daughter of Ursula, as she tells us how she is now principal of Auradon and plans on shaking things up, and find out...

The Story: Red (Cantrall) is the rebellious daughter of the Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora), who embraces her invitation to Auradon as a way to get out from under the thumb of her tyrannical and controlling mother. The Queen, however, uses the invitation as an excuse to stage a coup and take over the school. Red flees and uses a pocket watch given to her by Maddox (Leonardo Nam), the son of the Mad Hatter, to go back in time when her mother and Cinderella (Brandy) attended the school. Chloe (Baker) accidentally gets caught up in the watch's magic, and after arguing over the watch, eventually decide to work together to save their mothers.

Turns out not only did their mothers know each other when the school was called Merlin Academy, but Bridget (Turner) and Ella (Dudley) were best friends. Bridget was a perky go-getter who wanted to be friends with everyone, while Ella is more skeptical about royalty and those who abuse their privileges. Bridget inadvertently gets on the bad side of school bully Uliana (Dara Renee) when she steals her flamingo cupcakes and turns into a flamingo, causing her to plan a major prank on her at the school dance. Chloe and Red have to figure out how prevent that prank from happening, before any worse damage is done in the past and the present.

The Song and Dance: I give them credit for at least trying for something a little different. This feels like a fairy tale Back to the Future as the girls head to the past and see how different their mothers were when they went to Merlin Academy, as it was called then. Cantrell and Baker have a great time as the unruly Red who is determined to prove she's nothing like her dominating mother and sweet Chloe, who is shocked to discover her mother wasn't always royalty or perfect. Also great to see less-discussed Disney properties like Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella and The Sword and the Stone be included in one of their crossovers. The costumes remain colorful, bright, and gorgeous, with amazing gowns for the moms and tight jackets and leggings for their daughters. 

(Also, kudos to them for their heartfelt acknowledgement of one of the original characters, Carlos, and the actor who played him. Cameron Boyce died of a seizure shortly before the release of Descendents 3, and the short tribute was very sweet and thoughtful.) 

Favorite Number: "Red" destroys everything about her mother in her introductory number. Cinderella sings "So This Is Love" briefly from the original Disney animated film with the Prince as they give Chloe a very special gift. The Queen of Hearts insists that "Love Ain't It" when she stages her coup and takes over the school. The two girls claim it's the "Fight of Our Lives" as Chloe and Red fight over the watch after the arrive at Merlin Academy in a dynamic rap routine. Bridget tells everyone that "Life Is Sweeter (Wherever You Are)" as she hands around her pink flamingo cupcakes to the students and Uliana and her villains introduce themselves. 

After her accidental humiliation, Uliana vows the "Perfect Revenge" on Bridget. Bridget, for her part, is totally ignorant as she briefly shows off her new dance for the Castlecoming Dance, "Shuffle of Love," to the duo. Ella insists that one should "Get Your Hands Dirty" and make their own choice to Chloe when she wonders if she should help Red steal the cookbook from Merlin. We end with a reprise of "Life Is Sweeter"  as everyone celebrates Red's arrival at Auradon, and Uma admits that while we have a happy ending now, there could be repercussions from messing with the past in the future...

What I Don't Like: This one starts off fairly strong, with improved special effects and mostly decent performances...but like Lady and the Tramp II, the finale is a disappointment. After all the build-up, they don't show the all-important Castlecoming Dance or how Ella and Prince Charming fell in love. I know they're trying to set up a sequel, but it makes the end of this movie feel like less of an end and more like the movie is just stopping for a dance party. Wish it could have made more use of some of its characters, too, especially the villains, Merlin, and Faye, the original Fairy Godmother. 

A lot of this contradicts the original films. I do appreciate Disney acknowledging Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, but Brandy and Paolo Montalban don't look anything like the adult Cinderella and Prince Charming from the first three films. And what happened to the villains being banished to the Isle of the Lost? Plus there were Wonderland characters in the original films and cartoons. The movie also awkwardly writes out most of the original characters as traveling in other kingdoms. They could have at least tried to integrate that better, instead of info-dumping that information in the very beginning.

The Big Finale: The Back to the Future twist makes this one of the more interesting Descendants films, but the dull second half makes this mainly for fans of the Disney films it refers to or the intended 8 to 14 audience.

Home Media: It's a Disney Plus exclusive at the moment. 

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