Category: Movies and Books

The forth and final book did an excellent job of setting up for the 3^rd and final Descendants movie. As usual, the book was fun to read and added more explanation to the Descendants world as a whole. I must admit that this book was not as well written as the lead in to Descendants 2, “Rise of the Isle of the Lost”, but still served its purpose. This book seemed somewhat rushed compared to the others.

This book does an excellent job setting the stage for the new characters of Hades and Celia. It also expands on what Uma has been up to since Descendants 2. It is evident, when reading about Uma that she actually did miss her crew, or dare I say her friends. I believe that the introduction of Hades was done very well since it gave the reader a glimpse into what his life was like before he got banished as well as how he had tried to escape the Isle a few times. I like ho Hades is introduced and the following can sum him up – “one of the miserable wretches on the Isle of the Lost is none other than Hades. He too lives on rotten food and wicked dreams but unlike the other villains, who became ageing losers. Hades is a rock star”. I think that Del La Cruz did a reasonable job with the creation of Celia, though it doesn’t appear that Celia is too evil – a trickster maybe but not necessarily evil. It seems that Celia actually wants to go to Auradon.

This book did something that none of the others (books or movies – though little detail was given in Descendants 1) have, it clearly establishes the ages of the characters. Mal, Jay, and Evie are graduating seniors, which means they are 18 or about to be 18. This helps me understand the opening scene of Descendants 3. Carlos and Jane are juniors, which means they are 17 or about to be 17. This is important as the VK’s have been in Auradon for two years. I guess it can be assumed, for those who have a keen sense of detail – that the ages of Mal and Ben are given in the first movie as we know Ben is 16 at the time and he states in the dating scene that they (Mal and Ben were the same age).

One of the major themes in the book has to be – life is going to change when you grow up. This is illustrated a few ways such as the villian kids “VK’s” growing apart and doing their own things. Mal, becoming more a lady of the court – the future queen of Auradon, Evie continuing to make money with the fashion business, Jay deciding if he wants to go to college or become an international ROAR star. Since Carlos is a year younger, he is now spending a lot more time with Jane.

The character development of Mal is always good to see. In this book, the reader is able to see that although she takes her duties in Auradon seriously, she still does not have the heart to turn her back on her history. This is shown when she wants to make a special trip to the “Isle of the Lost” while she is out touring Auradon and learning about it’s different peoples – she is not afraid to speak up when the Isle is left off of the list of the places to visit.

I believe that Jay had showed maturity when deciding on a college with his selection process as he gave serious thought to where he wanted to end up. I think it was clever that Jay did not go to Agrabah State University as he was concerned that his father’s (Jafar’s) reputation would follow him around and he wanted to be his own person without the stigma of his father overshadowing him. This shows the reader, at least in my opinion that Del La Cruz wanted to show the reader that decisions aren’t always easy even though there was part of Jay that wanted to return home.

As always, Disney was very creative with references throughout the book. For example, I liked the names of the colleges like Agrabah State University (ASU), Magical Institute Training (MIT), and Sherwood Forest University. I find it interesting that the letters of the first two colleges are the same as well known colleges in the United States of America, they go along nicely with the whole “United States of Auradon” theme. They further continue the whole theme with the reference to the all important SAT (Salagadoola Abracadabra Test).

Mal decides to go to the Isle as a representative from Auradon to focus on the growth of the Villain Kid (VK) program. I think overall the adventure to recruit VK’s was an important element of the book as the four reformed VK’s had to show growth when thinking about how to recruit. I liked the fact that Mal and company got no results when they were trying to shove Auradon culture down people’s throats – this highlights the theme that not everyone thinks they are bad just because they are not the same. It also shows in a silly way that you can not just march into someone’s country and change their values overnight (naturally Del la Cruz probably did not want to focus on this theme as it is not fun, but changing people’s values and belief systems can actually be seen as core to their recruitment process). I actually thought it was clever when they came up with the concept of Villain Kid (VK) Day as it actually caters to the market that they are trying to recruit. Villains like to feel famous and important – mind you so do people who are not necessarily evil. It appeared that after VK Day was announced, people actually felt that going to Auradon was actually a big deal. The whole adventure shows the reader that not everything is black and white as the VK’s got more results when they actually thought of what other VK’s felt rather than telling them what they want.

I also like the development of Hades relationship with Uma or should I say there doesn’t seem to be much of a relationship because Hades and Uma do not necessarily see eye to eye. There are times when it appears that Hades may think that Uma is an irrelevent little girl. I kind of got that impression.

As for the rest of the book, it just goes on to say what has happened leading up to the graduation and after the graduation and served as further filler – not necessarily a bad thing in this case – to allow the reader to learn more about Auradon and its culture of goodness. As always, I believe that the books should have been turned into a mini series which was available to watch – though the books are good too as it leaves a little bit to the imagination.

In my next post, I will evaluate how Descendants 3 ties everything together for a successful completion of the series.

4/5

Descendants 2 was an excellent stand alone movie for all ages who want lighthearted family fun. Some may even consider it better than the first movie. I guess this would make sense as there are two books written leading up to the second movie (“Return to the Isle of the Lost” and “Rise of the Isle of the Lost”), along with the Wicked World cartoon shorts.

In the movie, it is clear that one of the main themes is identity. This becomes evident when the viewer sees Mal struggle with her elevated status as the King Ben’s girlfriend (the future Lady Mal). She puts on a brave face by using her spell book to make her hair blonde, and appears both awkward and uncomfortable maintaining a princess-like mindset. She has a hard time keeping up appearances and is somewhat shocked by what she has become.

Mal addresses these concerns with Evie, Carlos and Jay who are content with their new lives in Auradon and have no desire to return to the Isle of the Lost. Evie want’s Mal to be herself and not depend heavily on magic, she goes so far as to tell Mal that the spell book should be in the museum along with her magic mirror.

King Ben discovers Mal’s reliance on magic, since she used it to make his surprise lunch and she is forced to come clean about her insecurities, causing an argument that eventually leads Mal to question her position in life. This struggle is shown when she goes back to the Isle and throughout most of the movie.

It is clearly evident that Evie loves her life in Auradon and is planning a future there. She is happy with her fashion design business and Doug (though this is evident in the movie, it is made more clear if you read “Rise of the Isle of the Lost” first) – to me Evie has grown a lot from the Evil Queen’s daughter being concerned with marrying a prince, which is what her mother wanted for her. Evie is also shown to be the most successful financially as her business is growing due to the high demand for Cotillion formal ware. She would rather work than try to marry into a higher class – this in contrast to Evie being more interested in Prince Chad at some point in Descendants (first movie) which is what Evil Queen would have wanted for her. In this regard, Evie doesn’t have to question her identity any more since she knows who she is.

The viewer can see a lot of growth in Jay as well as he has come to the conclusion that he does not have to go around breaking rules and stealing stuff. Disney is very clever when using word play as Jay wants Lonnie to be part of the R.O.A.R team but she is unable to because of Auradon’s rules -“A team is comprised of a captain and eight men”. In order to help Lonnie in a selfless act, he relinquishes his position as captain and gives the position to Lonnie. I am impressed with this as far as Disney goes because they like to paint everything as ultimately good or evil and this play on the rules actually illustrates that there are gray areas as well.

There is a great deal of growth and development for Carlos as well. In my opinion Carlos had been the most developed villain kid (that is if you read the books and watch the movies in order) which is why, I think that it should have been created as a series – though the blended entertainment works too. Carlos started of being timid and lacked confidence, probably due to Cruella’s treatment. From his help in searching for the Dragon’s Eye Scepter to standing up to his mother, he becomes more and more confident as the series goes on. Despite his growth in confidence, we see is internal struggles when building up the strength to ask Jane out – it is evident that he has some doubt built up (am I good enough for her? Will I be rejected? etc). This is actually another universal theme laid out in Disney fashion – boy likes girl, boy builds up confidence to ask girl out, boy gets yes – everything works out in Disney movies. I kind of wish that it weren’t always the case as it gives some people false hope and high expectations, but in this movie it works.

Another theme that shows up in the movie is the theme of opposing cultures. Ben and company feel that they must bring Mal back from the Isle because she is no longer seen as a villain kid (VK), and as a result must be brought home. Opposing cultures is an evident them as the movie takes place in both Auradon – where the sky is always blue and of course the Isle, where it is dark and dreary. Life is different on the Isle and this is creatively shown in the song “Chillin’ Like a Villain” when King Ben is dressed in his Isle garb to look more like the locals rather than in his formal ware of Auradon. I thought the use of “Chillin’ Like a Villain” was a creative and fun way of illustrating that you need to respect different cultures and norms rather than always falling back on your own.

The book “Rise of Isle of the Lost” was also a great lead in as it did a very good job of introducing the reader to other Isle locals such as Uma. Del la Cruz developed Uma’s character well and the movie further explains her internal hatred for Mal and her desire to be better. Uma is considered to be the new leader of the Isle since Mal left to live in Auradon. The movie does well to expand on Uma’s character as laid out in the book – such as rage, jealousy, and her narcissistic tendencies. Her narcissistic tendencies are on full display when she sings her famous song “What’s My Name” – this song highlights the importance she places upon herself above other people. For example when Harry says something along the lines of “she’s the captain and I’m the first mate” – it is evident that he knows his place.

Uma also has conflicts – the movie does a good job of creating her hatred for Mal but in a way makes the audience sympathize with her when she is trying to do what is best for the Isle. One of her pet peeves and sources of resentment is that she was not invited to Auradon when Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay were. Due to her competitive nature and her history with Mal – this adds to the conflict. The larger question is – is Uma truly evil or is she only concerned about her people.

Harry as a villain, is exactly what one would expect from Del la Cruz’s description – the movie did a really good job portraying him from his crazy, unpredictable behavior to his bullying. As well he is also shown to be obsessed with his hook – even though it’s an extension of his body – he did not come across it naturally. His craziness is evident when he threatens Mal or wants to deal with King Ben.

I must say that one of the characters that was kind of lacking in the movie was Gil. He did not have a big part, only a few lines, and it seems that he was just added for comedic value. Gil does not seem like a villain as it seems that he is a little friendly. The disappointment with Gil is not a result of bad acting by Dylan Playfair – the character should have more of a role. It was hilarious when he made reference to “shrimpy”. Gil looks evil, but is he really? In all fairness though, not everything would fit into the movie and squeezing everything in would make it long and drawn out – much like the movie Titanic.

I think that Descendants 2 left off at the perfect place to keep the suspense going with Uma saying “you didn’t think this was the end of the story, did you?”

In all, I think that Descendants 2 was better than the first movie as there was more history and a much larger story line created before it was shown. It is evident that if you read “Rise of Isle of the Lost” before watching Descendants 2 you would see how it served as the perfect prequel to it. I feel that Del la Cruz tied the book and movie together perfectly and that nothing was out of place or added in just because – aside from Dude talking.

In my next post, I will talk about “Escape from the Isle of the Lost” and how it fits in with the overall Descendants universe.

5/5

The book “Rise of the Isle of the Lost” is the third book written by Melissa Del la Cruz and is the direct prequel to the Descendants 2 movie. I must say that this book led into the movie perfectly for many reasons. Descendants 2 is a good movie without reading the book – but is a much better movie if you read the book first, in my opinion anyways – since I believe that all of the books should have been made as movies so they could have been shown in order. The Rise of the Isle of the Lost is basically centered around King Triton’s trident and trying to recover it after it crossed over to the Isle. The next adventure that the four villain kids (VK’s) go on is the quest to recover it to keep a friend out of trouble. The friend in question was Arabella,one of King Triton’s many granddaughters and a niece of Ariel. Arabella, did something out of character for someone resident in Auradon – she borrowed the trident and did not return it. Mal and company had to recover it as it would have caused many dangers to Auradon if it fell into the wrong hands.

Rise of the Isle of the Lost gives us a better introduction to the villains who will eventually make Descendants 2 very entertaining to watch such as Uma, Gil, and Harry Hook as well as building on to their characters. On top of that the reader will learn how Uma had come across her much hated nick name “Shrimpy” as well as her overall rivalry with Mal. Uma can be seen as a negotiator much like her mother Ursula. Harry is made to be seen as an unpredictable bully, and Gil is made out to be the stereo typical guy who is really strong but not all there – he is actually made out to be dense. Del la Cruz also introduces the reader to some of the scenes that will make their way into the movie such as Ursula’s Fish and Chip Shoppe, the famous hair salon “Curl Up & Dye” and of course the lost revenge (the ship deck). The book is also able to bring the image of the Fish and Chips Shoppe to life along with the famous phrase “You’ll take it how I make it”.

Del la Cruz does a very good job in the development of Uma’s character as she is able to accurately create Uma’s many emotions such as rage, jealousy, and her narcissistic tendencies. One is able to see Uma’s true character when she enters a race to get a ship – she needs one when the news of the missing trident breaks. She also creates an accurate image of Harry Hook that, in my opinion will eventually be portrayed perfectly down to his obsession with his hook.

One of the main themes that plays out in this book in my opinion is how far should you go for a friend. Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay wanted to get the trident so that Arabella would not get in trouble and without informing King Ben on top of it. The whole situation with the trident created a dilemma – should the VK’s get the trident without informing Ben and risk getting caught or not getting the trident and having Auradon fall. The reader can see that Arabella is being selfish and greedy since she does not want to get caught for the situation she had caused. Arabella did not want to own up to her actions – thus showing cowardice – once again not a behavior worthy of Auradon. Can the VK’s be considered evil for trying to protect their friend?

Such behavior, trying to protect a friend despite the consequences is highlighted well too when Fairy God Mother is angry with the VK’s stealing (speed boat) – would she have been as angry if she know that the villain kids had to steal so that they could get back what Arabella stole (trident). I think that the book illustrates the fears and concerns of the VK’s well when they ask themselves if they did the right thing not informing Fairy God Mother or Ben before attempting to get the boat. When reading Rise of the Isle of the Lost, the reader can actually feel bad for the VK’s when they fear getting sent back home since thievery is an unacceptable behavior in Auradon, even to help a friend. The main question in this case is “is helping Arabella worth sacrificing all of the good things in Auradon?’ – in reality would Arabella get sent to the Isle if she did get caught – the answer is probably a no.

Other things that make more sense if you read the book before watching the movie would include how Jay became captain of the R.O.A.R. team over Prince Chad, Evie’s growing business and how it got it’s name as well as how and why Carlos was beginning to have feelings for Jane. The movie was a good stand alone which will be discussed later but it made a lot more sense to those who want substance. I actually watched the movie before reading both “Return to the Isle of the Lost” and “Rise of the Isle of the Lost”.

The Rise of the Isle of the Lost had a perfect ending for the set up – the trident was recovered with both Mal’s spell book and Evie’s magic mirror, Uma’s ship destroyed and the three villains trying to figure out how to deal with Mal next. Through the writing of the “Rise of the Isle of the Lost”, Del la Cruz had created the perfect back drop for Descendants 2 and the conflicts within.

5/5

This book was okay, it had its good and bad points – once again it would have been better if this book was a movie or part of an ongoing TV series. It was a light read and still entertaining. In my opinion, even though this book was good – just served as filler since “Rise of the Isle of the Lost” actually sets the stage nicely for Descendants 2 – to be discussed in the next post. Even though I consider the book to be filler, it was still good in the way that expanded on both character development and the world in which they live.

One of the major highlights is it actually expanded upon the “Descendants world” as it took place in both mainland Auradon and the Isle of the Lost. As well, it even allowed the reader to explore the other states that make up the USA (United States of Auradon) such as Camelot, Neverland, and Charmington Cove (where Cinderella lives) along with providing a deeper understanding of the make up of the Isle of the Lost.

I believe that Del la Cruz did an excellent job with the development of the villain kids (VK’s), making them feel genuine and well rounded. The raw emotions of the VK’s are very well illustrated throughout the book as it shows in the first few chapters that they actually like being in Auradon better than the Isle thus strenghthening their internal struggles such as conflicted feelings about their former home along with their parents.

I also like the fact that it touched on another important issue – just because people live in the same place does not mean they are all the same. For example, the formation of the Anti – Heroes club on the Isle shows that not all of the residents want to be villainous all of the time or the fact that despite the fact that Prince Chad lives in Auradon and was raised in Auradon, he is still a jerk at times (Being a jerk once in a while doesn’t necessarily make you evil) but being a jerk doesn’t make you good either. Chad was a jerk when he planted Jay’s face into the ground. I must admit that the whole anti-heroes club was a good twist when the VK’s learned that some villains wanted to learn how to be good, it came as a surprise.

One thing I must say about this book as it actually shows the growth of Prince Ben to King Ben – you get to discover the beginning of Ben’s roots as a leader. He actually has to use his brain and consider issues such as should magic be used in Auradon to solve problems even though it has been banned except for special occasions. Even in the so called good world – this illustrates that one as a leader cannot look at things as black or white since there are many gray areas. One of the things I like about Descendants thus far is it does show the conflicts when examining issues.

Despite that being said – the journey for each VK’s unique talisman seemed to be filler although it taught us more about their histories. The most unique thing about the journey is that the reader finally got to see Carlos stand up to his mother – in person – sort of, or that Mal needed to realize that she needed to depend on her friends. This is obvious.

The book was good, but definitely not the best in the series. In my next post, I’ll examine “Rise of the Isle of the Lost” and how it is an excellent lead into Descendants 2.

3.5/5

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I believe that the first book left off in the perfect place for the first movie as it ended with Prince Ben saying that he had an idea. The first movie starts of with the introduction being held on the Isle of the Lost and then focuses on Prince Ben’s idea – the proclamation. The book “Isle of the Lost” did an excellent job for shadowing the relationship that Mal and Prince Ben were ultimately going to have without mentioning how, exactly, it was going to happen. I think Del la Cruz covered both people perfectly when she wrote about Mal having dreams about some guy in Auradon and Prince Ben having dreams about some purple haired girl.

The movie is also able to tie into the Isle of the Lost as all four of the parents are still upset about about the disappointment from the last assignment. Maleficent is still disappointed in Mal but gives her a chance to redeem herself by acquiring Fairy God Mother’s Magic Wand. The movie does a great job of showing the relationships between the villain kids (VK’s) and their respective parents – the Isle of the Lost was able to describe each parent to a T but the movie actually does a good job of bringing the descriptions to life – and goes further to show the relationships of the parents with each other.

One of the things that could probably been explained better in the movie or in the book is how Maleficent and Evil Queen got over their differences and how they got so chummy all of a sudden and why Cruella De Vil is not mad at Jafar anymore – he did sell her a faulty product from the junk shop after all. Other than that still a funny scene. I feel that there should have been more of the parent scenes as well. Although to be fair, it is hard to fit everything into one movie.

When looking at themes in Descendants, it is evident that bullying is also a theme in the movie – it is ironic to say that the Villain kids are evil but the Auradon students are not, when it comes to bullying as both Prince Chad and Princess Audrey seem to bully the villain kids somewhat as well. I will make reference to three events in the movie though some might disagree. The first – when Evie meets Prince Ben and announces that she is a Princess and Audrey pipes in stating that since Evie is from the Isle of the Lost she has no royal status in Auradon (these are not the exact words, but it is implied). The second, when Prince Chad takes advantage of Evie by getting her to do his homework and turning the magic mirror into the teacher. A third example would be at Auradon Family Day when Prince Chad causes a scene by stating the faults of the Villain Kids and expressing it in front of everyone. These three examples show how anyone can be considered a bully regardless of were they come from. What I like most about these scenes is that they are ironic – the villain kids are the ones who are supposed to be doing the bullying but they are just trying to fit into Auradon Society. While trying to fit in each villain kid learns something about him or herself.

Mal – She learns that she actually does not want to take over the world through evil means but to live in Auradon and be with Ben – as well that she has a love for fresh strawberries as opposed to the moldy ones that she ate on the Isle.

Evie – She does not need a prince charming to provide for her because she is smart and independent and in Disney irony (Prince – Chad – Charming) is not so charming, he is actually an arrogant, pompous jerk. She does not have to depend solely on beauty to win a prince and actually comes to the conclusion that Doug may be just fine.

Carlos – Dogs are not bad, evil, or scary and despite what Cruella taught him, they will not randomly tear out your throat if you are bad. He learns that once he actually experienced a dog (Dude) – that everything he had heard about the animal was false.

Jay – He learns about teamwork and that he can get things without stealing them even though he goes against the family mantra “There is no team in I”.

One of the scenes that shocked me – only because it is a surprise is the scene where Prince Ben admitted to Mal that he knew she had spelled him (in non-Disney terms – drugged him) when he decided to eat the brownie right away. I’m amazed that there was not any outrage at this scene since Mal had actually gotten away with drugging Ben when Ben said something along the lines of “it’s okay … you thought it wouldn’t happen on your own, am I right?” Mal’s response “Yes, so right”. I can definitely see why Disney in my opinion chose to make Ben the Prince of Goodness and Mal, the evil, wicked fairy because if it were the other way around (Ben was female and a princess and Mal were a male) it would be like validating the use of date rape drugs and that would not be acceptable. The scene could be considered by some as its ok to use the drug on a guy but it is totally unacceptable to use it on a girl – which of course is wrong either way but some things are deemed more wrong than others. In Disney terms Mal wanted to dupe Ben so that she could gain easy access to the Dragon’s Eye so that the villains could overtake Auradon – translated in real life, girl drugs guy to take advantage of him. I am actually very impressed with Disney for making this type of move to teach lessons as not everything is a perfect fairy tale world. They have been watering down the concept of “evil” in some of their programming over the years compared to some of the evil demonstrated in earlier works such as Jafar scheming and attempting to have Aladdin executed (Aladdin 1992) or when Scar murdered Mufasa by throwing him of of that cliff (Lion King 1994).

When looking at the development of Jay’s character in Descendants it is ironic that Jay acts more like Aladdin than Jafar. Jay, himself does not have any magical powers and only steals like Aladdin did before Aladdin married Princess Jasmine.

One of the biggest takeaways from the first Descendants film is that regardless of what background you come from and what your family is like, you do not have to grow up to be like them. Everyone wants approval from their family (deep down) regardless of how they have to get it. Throughout the movie the viewer is able to see this tension where the VK’s want to fit in to Auradon society and at the same time not disappoint their parents. These can be illustrated when Mal gives Evie the speech about why she wants to create the “Anti-Love Potion” or when Evie is looking at her Chemistry test or even when Jay thinks about his MVP trophy. It is hard to disappoint one’s parents but sometimes it is the right thing to do and this is ultimately illustrated when Mal and company turn Maleficent into a tiny lizard and saves Auradon – for the time being.

I believe that the first Descendants movie was effective in touching on some real life themes while making them fun – I also think that the movie continued the journey from the Isle of the Lost in a very meaningful way addressing issues that are universal – I also believe that the movie ended in a good place to create suspense about what would happen next. Mal’s eyes turning green with a glare “you didn’t think this was the end of the story, did you?” leaves the movie and overall story on a cliffhanger creating excitement and intrigue.

In the next posts – I will touch upon the adventures of the VK’s and how the next two books serve as a successful prequal to Descendants 2.

4.5/5

This post is going to be the first of a multi part series based on the Descendants Franchise highlighting the books by Melissa Del La Cruz and the three films. I believe that book one “Isle of the Lost” is a great lead in to the first movie. I also believe that the full adventure would have made a good TV series as opposed to just using the “Wicked World” shorts. Some people might disagree with me, but I think that the Descendants Franchise touches upon a lot of issues when analyzed from an adult perspective even though the viewership that it was created for may not be able to pick up some of them – plus, like most Disney material it is supposed to be bubble gum.

One of the themes that may not be picked up on right away is the comparison of a third world country (The Isle of the Lost) compared to a first world country (the USA – United States of Auradon). The first few chapters highlight some of the living conditions of the Isle of the Lost such as the run down buildings and the poor living conditions of its citizens – food on the Isle consists of moldy and spoiled fruits and vegetables, the environment is damp, dark and basically undesirable. All of the worlds villains were exiled to this island to keep the world safe. An interesting side note – this is actually how the Island nation of Australia was formed (not villains of course, but a penal colony for criminals). As we all know, Australia is not a third world country. I believe that the Isle of the Lost is also compared to a third world country as there is no diplomacy, the Isle is said to be ruled by the most evil villain of them all, Maleficent through fear, while on the other hand despite the fact that King Beast had made himself the leader of the United States of Auradon there are still diplomatic elements such as as the council meeting with Prince Ben based upon love and goodness (although he does have a fit during the first meeting and he corrects his behavior later).

Through the eyes of the four villain kids VK’s, the reader gets a better glimpse of what life is like in a less developed location. Through the remainder of the book we see that the struggles are real such as the development of the famous friendships that will eventually make Descendants famous and how the VK’s formed their friendship despite all odds. We also see the formation of the chain of command such as Mal the leader, Jay – her loyal enforcer, though he would never admit it, Evie – the outcast, and Carlos – the nerd. Along with the form of the chain of command – the theme of wanting to be accepted by or pleasing their parents is also a recurring theme throughout the “Isle of the Lost” and the first movie, more about that later.

Melissa Del la Cruz does an excellent job of setting up “Isle of the Lost” to address these main themes from the creation of the conflict between Evil Queen and Maleficent (which ultimately leads to the tension between Mal and Evie) to the development of the love-hate relationship between Mal and Jay or developing the relationship between Carlos and Evie.

I must admit, Del la Cruz also did a stand up job when highlighting the relationship between each Villain Kid and his or her parent and the effect it had on each VK’s personality.

Mal who is supposed to be a natural leader – though fear of course, like her mother. This is illustrated when Mal gets Carlos to hold the Hell Raiser (a party) in his home, (Hell Hall). Mal’s leadership through fear can even be demonstrated when Carlos is inviting people (if you don’t show up Mal will do such and such – a threat more than an invitation really). Mal’s reasoning for the party illustrates her leading ability as well as her wanting to please her mother – Mal leads Carlos and wants to take revenge upon Evie to teach Evie a lesson and show her mother that she can be wicked.

Evie, she is an outcast who wants to fit in since she has never had any real relationships due to being home schooled (read Castle Schooled) since the fallout between Evil Queen and Maleficent – she wants to please her mother by being popular, the fairest of them all. Evie shows that she cares for Carlos when she offers to give him a pillow -she does not want to show weakness (caring) and states that she is only going to give it to him since it is going into the trash anyways.

We also have Jay, the son of Jafar, who wants to please his father and strives to please him by stealing “the big score” – rather than stealing other people’s junk just to stock Jafar’s Junk Shop. Jay is known to be quick, athletic and “able to steal anything but his father’s heart”. Jay can be seen as the enforcer of Mal’s schemes even though he does not like to admit it.

Last but not least we have Carlos, very intelligent yet lacks confidence as he is used by his mother as a servant when he fluff’s her furs and does the laundry or house cleaning or even the cleaning of the car. He aims to please his mother by being the servant since she feels that this is all Carlos will ever amount to. He fears Mal but is also shown to have some courage and compassion when he safely gets Evie out of his mother’s fur closet after Mal put her in there. Evie shows that she cares for Carlos when she offers to give him a pillow -she does not want to show weakness and states that she is only going to give it to him since it is going into the trash anyways.

The reader gets to see the growth and development of the friendships throughout a journey – the retrieval of the Dragon’s Eye (Maleficent’s scepter). Mal wants Jay to go originally so she is not the first person to touch it but eventually invites Evie to tag along because her original wicked scheme was a disappointment. Jay wants to go because he wants to steal it since Jafar thinks it could be the “biggest score”. Evie goes because she wants companionship and a sense of adventure and Carlos goes because he was drug along, plus he wants to take care of his machine.

Throughout the journey to recover Maleficent’s scepter on the Isle of the Doomed – we see how the villain kids band together in the name of survival and ultimately friendship by the end. Mal ultimately does not put Evie to sleep and as a result is a disappointment to Maleficent when she has to recover the scepter, herself. Jay is seen as a disappointment since he did not steal “the big score”. Evie is seen as a disappointment since she comes home a mess. Finally, Carlos is a disappointment since he did not stay home to do his chores.In all, I believe “Isle of the Lost” is a very good lead in to the first movie as it makes sense, it allows the reader to get a better glimpse into the main characters and their history. The Isle of the Lost should have actually been a movie in my opinion, the first movie serving as a prequel as the first movie makes more sense after reading it.

In the next post – I will discuss the first movie and why in my opinion it fit in perfectly after the first book.

4.5/5