Magical Rewind: Descendants: Wicked Wonderland

Summary

Pod Meets World – Descendants: Wicked Wonderland

Episode Date: July 28, 2026
Hosts: Will Verdell, Sabrina Bryan, Diego, Lisa
Main Theme: A deep dive and lively review of Disney Channel’s Descendants: Wicked Wonderland – the franchise’s record-breaking fifth installment.

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Episode Overview

The Pod Meets World team takes listeners on an energized, nostalgic journey through the newly released Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, dissecting its plot, music, performances, and place in Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) history. The episode blends candid reactions, industry insight, behind-the-scenes trivia, and future-facing speculation, focusing on everything fans love—and love to pick apart—about the vibrant Descendants universe.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Franchise Fandom and Rankings

(03:27 – 12:01)

• Hosts banter about the greatest film franchises, with special emphasis on Disney trilogies and DCOMs.
• Sabrina admits her affection for Descendants, citing deep nostalgia for classic Disney characters re-imagined through their offspring.
• Heated debate between Descendants, Zombies, High School Musical, and Camp Rock – Sabrina ultimately lands on Descendants as her desert-island DCOM.
  • “I have so much nostalgia with the characters that are the parents of these characters that we’re meeting…So I think it’d have to be [Descendants].” – Sabrina (11:48)

Introduction to Wicked Wonderland & Its Place in the Franchise

(08:21 – 13:38)

• Context for Wicked Wonderland: The fifth Descendants, arriving on the heels of 2024’s Rise of Red.
• Noted as a new era: blends original cast with next-gen stars, features budgetary and production upgrades ($95 million!).
• Reflecting on the “muddled” new character influx and the challenge of keeping lore clear but the creative potential it unlocks.
  • “You have to pay attention, especially in this one. Because we’re gonna meet a lot of new characters, and it takes you a minute to know who’s what. Sometimes it’s getting a little muddled.” – Sabrina (10:31)

Music & Soundtrack Reaction

(14:12 – 15:09, 36:08 – 37:35)

• Standout tracks highlighted: “Perfect Princess,” “Mad Wicked Wonderland,” and “Dancing with the Enemy”.
• Hosts praise the return of instantly catchy songs and musical numbers with Broadway-level choreography.
  • “Perfect Princess – standout song. Not just me; my kid won’t stop singing it...There are definite jingles that stay with you, that stick with you.” – Sabrina (14:16)
  • “These are actually good songs. Not just good Disney songs or movie songs. They’re good songs.” – Will (15:01)

First Impressions & Compared to Rise of Red

(16:03 – 18:27)

• All agree: Wicked Wonderland far surpasses Rise of Red, recapturing franchise magic.
• Purist frustration with time travel “holes” in previous movie but appreciation for a return-to-form formula here.
  • “This should have been the start of the new version of Descendants. You didn’t need Rise of Red…” – Will (18:20)

Cast, Crew & Production Details

(19:31 – 24:24)

• Directed by Kimmy Gatewood (from GLOW, Emmy-winner for Muppet Mayhem). Biggest DCOM production ever.
• Cast includes rising Disney stars: Kylie Cantrell (Red), Malia Baker (Chloe), Leomani Segura (Pink), Kiara T. Romero (Hazel Hook), and returning icons Brandy (Cinderella) & Rita Ora (Queen of Hearts).
• Award for cool casting: Awkwafina voices Chessy the new Cheshire Cat.

Plot Recap & Deep Analysis

Opening & Time Travel Logic

(32:29 – 35:22)

• Opening: Chessy the Cheshire Cat’s child recaps previous movie’s time-travel twist.
• Hosts unpack the new “vault” for the time-traveling pocket watch, questioning its security and sense.
  • “So they have a vault where all the most important things are, but kind of anybody can open it... That's not a vault.” – Will (33:07)

Character Journeys, Musical Set Pieces, and Wonderland Weirdness

(35:24 – 56:49)

• Signature musical numbers fill school and Wonderland settings. Early focus on the “Perfect Princess” song and the spectacle of Auradon Prep.
• Introduction of Pink, the new sister; sideline characters Robbie Hood, Louise Madrigal, Hazel Hook, twins of Mr. Smee.
• Rita Ora’s Queen of Hearts and Brandy’s Cinderella wow, balancing villain nostalgia and wholesome reinvention.
• Epic villainy by Maddox Hatter (Leonardo Nam), mechanical dodo birds, and candy-colored Wonderland visuals.
• Meta commentary about drug references and psychedelic trip parallels in Wonderland visuals.
  • “Alice in Wonderland is essentially supposed to be an opium trip, and they very much kept to that.” – Will (46:23)

Standout & Notable Moments

• The mad Queen card: “Her cards are, like, one of my favorites of the movie. I love them. They are so cool.” – Sabrina (41:43)
• Controversial, pseudo-swear writing: “What the fluff?” by Fairy Godmother – shocks both the in-theater audience and the hosts.
  • “This was probably one of the most shocking things that has happened to me in the D… What the fluff.” – Sabrina (43:34)
• Failed logic/unanswered questions: Time travel continuity, weak vault security, characters’ rapid drama switches, and some extraneous sidekicks.
• Red’s “betrayal” of Chloe in the chessboard battle: “Literally just almost getting her killed before Hazel saves her... I would be pissed. This would be the end of the friendship.” – Sabrina (75:52)

Music & Dance Critique

(70:12 – 80:10)

• Dance-off songs and choreography “leveled up”: Not all songs equally memorable, but choreography shines, particularly in duets and group numbers.
• Brandy and Rita Ora’s duet “The Girl I Used to Be” called a ballad highlight: “It was awesome... Queen Brandy forever.” – Diego & Sabrina (85:51–86:17)
• Debate on singing prowess: consensus that the new cast are “very strong” contemporary singers, more radio-and-album ready than the theatrical, Broadway stylings of the original cast.

Theoretical Sequel Paths & Nitpicking Time Travel

(107:58 – 114:29)

• Speculation abounds on Descendants 6: Will Pink be the next lead? Will time travel return? Will the “evil” Red prophecy play out?
  • “Maybe Pink, like, goes in the past or something and sees that she wasn't supposed to exist.” – Will (113:15)
• Calls for Disney to resist more convoluted time-travel plots.

Final Segment: Reviews, Ratings & Wrap-Up

(104:33 – 117:18)

• Funny live audience reviews: ranging from “Best movie ever” to one-star rants about “Nepo babies.”
• Signature segment “I Got Five On It” – lighthearted trivia including naming the Spice Girls, Jackson 5, and Scooby Doo gang.
• Ratings:
  • Will: 8.5/10 “fluffin birches”
  • Sabrina: 9/10 “fluffin birches”
• Shared conclusion: Wicked Wonderland is fun, engaging, and a true return to form for the franchise.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “I think it [the Descendants franchise] is just so clever, and I love it. But you have to pay attention, especially in this one. Cause we’re gonna meet a lot of new characters, and it takes you a minute to know who’s what.” — Sabrina (10:31)
• “Perfect Princess – standout song. Not just me; my kid won’t stop singing it... There are definite, like, those jingles that stay with you, that stick with you. I definitely think this movie leveled up on their music in a big way.” — Sabrina (14:16)
• “This should have been the start of the new version of Descendants. Like, Rise of Red. You didn’t need Rise of Red.” — Will (18:20)
• “What the fluff?” — Fairy Godmother, as recounted by Sabrina (43:34)
• “Literally just almost getting her killed before Hazel saves her... I would be pissed. This would be the end of the friendship.” — Sabrina (75:52)
• “Brandy and Rita Ora’s song... It was awesome. Queen Brandy forever.” — Diego & Sabrina (85:46–86:17)
• “I think this cast all around are better singers than the original cast of Descendants. [Controversial]” — Will (88:59)
• “This is a true nine. Fluffin Burches for me. I think the movie, the choreography, the visuals, the set... just felt more like the old school Descendants movies, and I am here for it.” — Sabrina (116:22)
• Final thoughts: “It’s a good movie. It really is a good movie.” — Will (117:18)

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Major Timestamps for Reference

• 03:27 – Franchise debate & Disney nostalgia
• 08:21 – Introduction to Wicked Wonderland’s place in history
• 14:12 – Reaction to the soundtrack (“Perfect Princess”)
• 16:03 – First impressions vs. previous film
• 19:31 – Cast, director & budget revelations
• 32:29 – Beginning of detailed plot analysis
• 43:34 – “What the fluff?” moment
• 70:12 – Dance-off & song breakdowns
• 85:46 – Queen duet highlight (“The Girl I Used to Be”)
• 88:59 – Singer debate: original vs. new cast
• 104:33 – Audience reviews and trivia
• 115:01 – Final movie scores
• 117:31 – Next week’s tease: Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure

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Summary Takeaways

• Descendants: Wicked Wonderland is celebrated as a revitalization of the much-loved DCOM series—bigger, bolder, and boasting better music and choreography than its predecessor.
• Hosts balance their childlike enthusiasm with sharp-eyed (and hilarious) nitpicking, especially around convoluted time travel, plot holes, and certain character decisions.
• Audience will enjoy unfiltered reactions, deep music/dance insight, and plenty of references for longtime Disney Channel fans.
• The team is already excited to see Disney’s next move—hoping for less time travel, more character exploration, and lasting musical magic.

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For those who missed it: this episode is an entertaining, granular walkthrough of the new Descendants film, loaded with in-jokes, authentic nostalgia, and a ton of love for Disney storytelling. Highly recommended for both new and old fans alike.

Transcript

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[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay, you guys, if you're anything like me and you're always on the go, this is a great new go to the McDonald's Caesar snack wrap.

[Jenny Garth]

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[Sabrina Bryan]

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[Will Verdell]

Hi, Sabrina.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Hi.

[Will Verdell]

Will we get a big one today?

[Sabrina Bryan]

A big, big one.

[Will Verdell]

And it leads me to a question.

[Honey German]

Five.

[Will Verdell]

There's too many to say five. And I think we've had this same.

[Diego]

I've given you the same question before, but I'm gonna give it to you again. Cause now you've had several months to think about it and I know you've only been thinking about this question and no other question. You haven't been thinking about your kids, their well being. Nothing. It's just this question, as it should be.

[Sabrina Bryan]

What are you about to throw at me?

[Will Verdell]

Best trilogy. Oh, best trilogy ever. We've had this conversation.

[Sabrina Bryan]

We have?

[Jason]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

God, I don't even remember what I said last time. Best trilogy.

[Will Verdell]

Cause you can't say best five Quad A dream. I mean there hasn't been enough things that do five movies.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Best franchise.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, I guess you could do best franchise. I guess that's probably the best way to do it. What do you think is the best franchise?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I'm obviously gonna say Marvel.

[Will Verdell]

I mean, right? But that's right, isn't it? But is it all of Marvel?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I don't even know anything.

[Will Verdell]

I don't know Marvel.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I really love Toy Story. I think that's what I said before Toy Story.

[Will Verdell]

I have to watch the fourth one to get ready.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I know you have. That's how I.

[Will Verdell]

The fifth one came out already, right?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes.

[Will Verdell]

And did you see it?

[Sabrina Bryan]

No. Because we want to take Ledger and that would be his first like in theater movie which I think would be really great.

[Diego]

That's awesome.

[Sabrina Bryan]

So I think the Toy Story one is a big jump out one.

[Will Verdell]

What was your first in theater movie?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I have no idea. I need to ask my parents that.

[Diego]

Yeah, that's a good one.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Cause I have no idea.

[Diego]

Interesting.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I don't remember that. I can't even remember honestly. This is the God honest truth. If my anniversary. If you ask me what my anniversary is, it's either the 6th or the 7th. Of what month of October.

[Will Verdell]

You really can't remember your anniversary?

[Lisa]

No, because.

[Will Verdell]

Does Jordan remember it?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Jordan will remember it 100%.

[Diego]

There you go.

[Sabrina Bryan]

100%. But I have to look in my notes just to remember exactly if it's the 6th or the 7th.

[Will Verdell]

When's. Well, hopefully you've done your research.

[Diego]

When's my anniversary?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I don't know.

[Diego]

Come on, Sabrina, when's my wedding anniversary?

[Sabrina Bryan]

And by the way, don't count on me to call you on your birthday. I'll call you either several days before it or several days after.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And remembering it. And if I remember it before I call because I know I'll forget Day of.

[Diego]

You don't have to worry about that. I'm not that per. Cause I'm that person. Where I. Other than this year, obviously, where I'm doing something big, most of the time I'll be like, oh, that's right, it was my birthday. Like, I just, I'm not a birthday guy.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I never have. Not at all.

[Will Verdell]

I love how, by the way. Well, you, you did answer.

[Diego]

You're saying Toy Story.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I was going to say to you,

[Jenny Garth]

I said Toy Story.

[Sabrina Bryan]

What was yours?

[Diego]

Oh, I have no idea. It's way too difficult a question.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Too difficult.

[Will Verdell]

See what I just did there?

[Diego]

I just made you answer.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes.

[Will Verdell]

No, I mean, I'd say Star Wars.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Would it be Harry Potter?

[Diego]

No, it wouldn't be Harry Potter. And I liked Harry Potter, but no, it wouldn't be Harry Potter.

[Sabrina Bryan]

For best franchise, would it be like Star Wars?

[Will Verdell]

Or maybe that was my first movie in the theater.

[Diego]

Was, was Empire Strikes Back. Was the first.

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Really?

[Diego]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Wow.

[Will Verdell]

No, I, you know, one that I love that I keep talking about where it's.

[Diego]

I talk about it as arguably one of the best trilogies of all time is how to Train youn Dragon.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Oh, yes, you. You've mentioned that.

[Diego]

Which was, which was great.

[Sabrina Bryan]

So even the third one.

[Will Verdell]

I liked the third one.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay. Yeah, no, I have. I've always never seen that.

[Diego]

Oh, okay.

[Honey German]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

No, it's like, that's what I mean by the trailer. It's one of the few where all three movies are good.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes. Yeah.

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All.

[Diego]

I'm going to watch Toy Story 4. I told Susan I had a date this weekend. She's like, you know, I was like, you know, we have the live show, big, Big Pot meets World Live show on Thursday. And I go on Friday. I have a date night. I was like, I'm. I'm going on a Date. She's like, what?

[Will Verdell]

And I go, I'm having a date night. She goes, okay, can I ask with

[Diego]

whom you're going out?

[Will Verdell]

And I was like, I'm going out with Prince Adam.

[Diego]

She's like, excuse me.

[Will Verdell]

I'm like, prince Adam?

[Diego]

He man starts streaming this Friday, and I've wanted to see the new He Man.

[Will Verdell]

So I got a date with Prince Adam. And she's like, that's weird. Okay, great. Well, have fun on your date.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Does that mean that you're going by yourself?

[Will Verdell]

No, no, I have it here in the house.

[Diego]

I'm gonna date night.

[Sabrina Bryan]

So I'm at the door.

[Will Verdell]

I'm gonna. Yeah. I'm gonna light some candles. I'm gonna dress up nice. I don't know where the night's go. I don't know where the night's gonna go.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Oh, my God.

[Will Verdell]

Oh, I don't know where the night's gonna go. Light candles till the night closes in. See, there you go.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Anyway, wow. Welcome back.

[Will Verdell]

You do gotta do the intro. Welcome back to Magical Rewind, the show that makes you want to grab your friends, your PJs and your popcorn and go back to a time when all the housers were smart.

[Diego]

The wave tsunamis. And you were not imagining me shirtless, candles lit, watching HE Man.

[Will Verdell]

I'm Will Verdell, shirtless. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I add that?

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Sorry.

[Diego]

Let me do that again.

[Will Verdell]

Shirtless, covered in chicken fat, and watch.

[Diego]

HE man.

[Sabrina Bryan]

It gets worse.

[Will Verdell]

I'm Wilford Hill.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And I'm Sabrina Bryan.

[Diego]

Oh, my.

[Will Verdell]

Well, there's a reason we're talking franchises, because. Shuffle the cards, everyone. We are entering into uncharted territory for Magical Rewind. We're returning to the most prolific DCOM franchise in Disney history. It's the fifth installment to the Descendants franchise, Wicked Wonderland. But keep in mind, Descendants is only going to be alone in this achievement for a little while, because I'm guessing

[Diego]

at some point in the very near

[Will Verdell]

future, after the announcement of Cheetah Girls

[Diego]

4, there will eventually be a fifth Cheetah Girls. My guess is they're gonna do the kind of thing where they're rebooting, and then there's gonna be three new with the new cast.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, I can't imagine they would go through all the hoopla of getting a new cast and then.

[Will Verdell]

Hoopla's a great word.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Planning on doing multiple ones.

[Freddie Prinze Jr.]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

You know what's also good with hoopla?

[Diego]

Rigamarole. It's another good one.

[Will Verdell]

Foo for all.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes, that's a good one.

[Diego]

There you go. We got a lot of them, but it's true.

[Will Verdell]

Speaking of the Cheetah Girls, we all know that Sabrina was lucky enough to attend the premiere of this movie and interview some of the stars.

[Diego]

So I.

[Will Verdell]

She's been chomping at the bit to talk about it. So here we are, because you're gonna

[Diego]

have to tell us all about it. This is, of course, a massive release for the channel where it premiered on July 16, dropping on Disney the next day.

[Will Verdell]

And as of recording this podcast, it

[Diego]

is the number one movie on the streamer. I'm kind of amazed that it wasn't one of my movies. That's number one. Still, like National Lampoon's Gold Diggers. Not a. Not a good movie. Don't go looking for it.

[Will Verdell]

Yes, this is, of course, the sequel to 2024's the Rise of Red, which we didn't love. The start of a new life for

[Diego]

the series, shifting the focus to a

[Will Verdell]

younger generation and leaving us with a bit of a cliffhanger. Wicked Wonderland, shot in Vancouver. So it is a Canadian franchise, obviously. April and May of 2025, and mixed together familiar faces from the last movie with a full crop of new characters. Okay, so we talked about regular franchise rankings. When it comes to just Disney franchise

[Diego]

rankings, where does Descendants rank for you, Sabrina? I mean, are you excited to think the series is gonna keep going forever?

[Will Verdell]

Which is a safe bet since its

[Diego]

popularity is not showing any signs of slowing down?

[Will Verdell]

What do you think?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I could do another one for sure. I really love this franchise. I think it is, you know, being such a Disney kid and loving all of the, like, original OG cartoon movies that Disney puts out and taking them and looking at, like, the next generation of all those, like, heroes and villains. I just. I love the absolute foundation of this franchise, and I think it is just so clever, and I love it. But you have to pay attention, especially in this one. Cause we're gonna meet a lot of new characters, and it takes you a minute to know who's what. Like, I honestly didn't put one character in stack with it for the majority of the time until, like, almost the press junket that I went to. I'm not kidding. Sometimes they're kind of. It's getting a little muddled. A little muddled. But I do love the idea of, like, what these new characters or what these characters that we know and love or hate, you know, with the villains, what their, like, descendants would be like, you know, and where they take their storyline. So I really think it's like just so clever. And I enjoy this franchise a lot.

[Will Verdell]

Okay, so you can only watch Descendants movies from now on or Zombies movies from now on or High School Musical movies from now.

[Lisa]

How dare you.

[Will Verdell]

Which one?

[Diego]

Which one?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Or Camp High School Musical or Camp

[Will Verdell]

Rock like other franchises?

[Sabrina Bryan]

It would be Camp Rock. It would. It would be between the Descendants and the Zombies.

[Diego]

For me, that's not an answer. Which one is? Which one is it? You can only go to one.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Ah, I can't. I think. I think it'd have to be Descendants.

[Diego]

Interesting.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I think it'd have to.

[Diego]

Interesting.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I think it'd have to. Just because I have. So there it is. I have so much nostalgia with the characters that are the parents of these characters that we're meeting and seeing. So I think it'd have to be that interesting.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, it's so clever, the idea of the Descendants, of all the major villains. That being said, zombies was built from the ground up.

[Diego]

You know, there was.

[Will Verdell]

There was no past lore to it and was also just so clever. And that first Zombies movie, I mean,

[Diego]

the first Descendants movie was great.

[Jenny Garth]

Yes.

[Will Verdell]

But that first zombies movie just stuck

[Diego]

with me with all the dancing and

[Will Verdell]

the singing and the.

[Lisa]

The.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, it just. There was something about the concept. Yes. And so cool and Bucky and everybody. I mean, it was just. There was something about that. I'd be hard pressed to say. I don't know which franchise as a whole I liked better, but that first

[Diego]

zombies movie was really kind of incredible.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, I feel like that about the first.

[Will Verdell]

The first Descendants movie was great, but again, then you had like Bad Dragon

[Diego]

in first Descendants movie.

[Will Verdell]

So there was a couple things in that that was kind of like.

[Sabrina Bryan]

But I feel like. Wait. Yeah, that was in the first movie.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay.

[Diego]

Kind of. The CGI wasn't good.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And I feel like, though the zombies movie wasn't set up to be. Do you feel like the Zombies movie was set up to be a franchise?

[Will Verdell]

No, I think, remember they wanted it to be a pilot. It was Zombies versus Cheerleaders.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Right.

[Diego]

But it became.

[Will Verdell]

It was just so good.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah. It became a movie. So I bet you like, budget wise, like, they didn't. They don't feel like they didn't. They didn't attempt anything like that in the Zombies.

[Will Verdell]

And it still looked amazing.

[Diego]

I don't know.

[Will Verdell]

But this is.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Diego]

Well, okay, well, we'll get into what we thought about this one anyway. Yep. So here we go.

[Sabrina Bryan]

That's a tough question.

[Diego]

I know.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Mad. You asked me that.

[Will Verdell]

I know.

[Diego]

Well, now you gotta think about it.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Spinning I'm gonna have. I'm gonna come back next week and be like, okay, okay, I got an answer.

[Diego]

I got an answer.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I got a different answer.

[Will Verdell]

All right, well, let's talk soundtrack, because there is no chance a Descendants movie

[Diego]

can come out and not have some very new music.

[Will Verdell]

The first single, Perfect Princess, made its debut on American Idol last season.

[Diego]

We always talk about synergy, a new

[Will Verdell]

tactic for the channel that promoted the upcoming movie to millions of viewers.

[Diego]

And. And as you can probably predict, all the songs in the soundtrack are performed

[Will Verdell]

by cast members and used in the

[Diego]

movie because, well, it's a musical.

[Will Verdell]

There have since been two other singles released. Mad Wicked Wonderland and Dancing with the Enemy. So without spoiling anything, Sabrina, what do you think of the music here in

[Diego]

the fifth Descendants movie? And how do you think it compared to the other four?

[Sabrina Bryan]

There are actual. Like, when we talked about this, the fourth movie, and the third movie as well, we said there weren't any, like, standout songs. Perfect Princess, standout song. Not just me. My kid won't stop singing it. Like, it is just constant. She watched it one time and was singing it, like, in the car on the ride home. Like, she. That. So there are definite, like, those. The jingles that stay with you, that stick with you. I definitely think this. This movie leveled up on their music in a big way.

[Will Verdell]

I could not agree with you more. I was tapping my toe the whole time. I felt like I haven't had that

[Diego]

in the last couple Descendants movies. And this one, it was.

[Will Verdell]

There were several that I was like, okay, these are actually good songs. Not just good Disney songs or good movie songs. They're good songs.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes.

[Diego]

So I. Yeah, I totally agree with you 100%.

[Will Verdell]

We are getting to recap Wicked Wonderland right after its release, which is always fun. And now you. I don't know if you can see my script, but you is in Capitals can watch it on Disney plus too. But make sure to do it before October 18, 2045, because I've heard a prophecy about that being the end of the world. It'll start with a small earthquake, then we'll see locusts. And a sinkhole will appear in Rio de Janeiro, sucking each one of us in one by one, very slowly until no one is left. Anyway, enjoy Wicked Wonderland now on Disney. So let's release the dodo birds and enter the maze. That is the synopsis. Red and Chloe discover they've created a dangerous new reality where Maddox Hatter has become a villain and Wonderland is in peril. Teaming up with Red's New sister Pink and a fresh new crop of heroes and villains. They must now rescue the Queen of

[Diego]

Hearts and undo the consequences of time travel.

[Will Verdell]

Sabrina, I already know your answer, but early thoughts on Descendants. Wicked Wonderland, a massive hit for the

[Diego]

Disney Channel in 2026. What did you think?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I loved this movie, and I feel like we might need to implement a new rule when it comes to scoring to where we can veto the other's score. Because I remember when I gave the Last1A9, and you were like, you're kidding me. You should have vetoed me. Because now that I've got this one.

[Will Verdell]

Veto you. I am canceling your opinion. I am canceling your opinion.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Just being like, no, that's not. No, I can't let you.

[Will Verdell]

I will let the Internet machine judge you harshly.

[Diego]

I don't need to do that for your scores.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay, that's true. There's quite a few of them out there. I loved it so much that I was like, how in the world did I score rise of red A9? You want to say anything?

[Will Verdell]

It's not my place. It's not my place.

[Sabrina Bryan]

That was an incorrect scoring. I'm not sure what was in my water that day. I don't know. But this movie, I mean, surpassed. It surpassed Rise of Red in such a big way for me that I. And I love it. But again, it's all about the experience. Right? Like, I got to go to the big premiere with Monroe and all of that. But even just watching it by myself, I really did like it. So I. First thoughts. Loved it.

[Lisa]

Okay.

[Will Verdell]

Loved it. I agree. And I did not have any of

[Diego]

the popping circumstance foo for all. Hootsie Bootsy, all the stuff we've been talking about.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Well, you could have.

[Will Verdell]

I could have. I know I could have, but didn't. But it was. It was great. It was. I, you know, felt like I had

[Diego]

to slog through Rise of Red and again the last time with Rise of Red. I'm such a purist when it comes to time travel movies. They're like. It's like one of my niche things.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes.

[Diego]

That. It really pissed me off, all the.

[Will Verdell]

Just the gaping time holes this movie was. I thought it was back to, like,

[Diego]

early Descendants of what it was.

[Will Verdell]

Great singing, great dancing, great cast, really amazing sets, good basic kind of story in a world we hadn't seen before.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

This should. I mean, again, I get what they had to do for the first one,

[Diego]

but this should have been the start of the new version of Descendants. Like Rise of Red. You didn't need Rise of Red. You could have.

[Sabrina Bryan]

No, I feel like you could have. I mean, I don't know what you'd have to take out of this one, but you could have just done a quick recap of, like, what's gone on and what happened. Like. Like those little stories that they do in the front. Like the little stories that they do in almost every single one of them. This is what's happened before. This is where we're at now. And keep it pushing.

[Diego]

Yeah, there's something. I agree, because it was a little. It was strange.

[Will Verdell]

You also could have gone the opposite

[Diego]

way where, you know, Descendants was all about the descendants of villains coming. Coming to Auradon and becoming good. You could easily have done something where it was actually of a descendant of a hero from Auradon who was wrongly convicted of something sent to the island. And it's from the point of view of a good person turning, quote unquote, a good person turning bad. Like, it could have reversed the whole franchise. So. But this was. I mean, it was super enjoyable, this movie. It really was. I felt like they got back to basics.

[Sabrina Bryan]

The sets amazing.

[Will Verdell]

It looked incredible. It sounded good. The songs were bops.

[Diego]

It was.

[Will Verdell]

I even started to.

[Diego]

Well, we'll get into the dance stuff. But anyway.

[Will Verdell]

It was directed by Kimmy Gatewood, or

[Diego]

Gatwood, a new name to the DCOM

[Will Verdell]

universe, but a long standing staple in

[Diego]

the LA and New York comedy scene.

[Will Verdell]

She is the co creator of the

[Diego]

Apple Sisters, a musical comedy trio which is hysterical. I just want to see whatever that is.

[Will Verdell]

That performed at Montreal's Just for Laughs and the UCB Theater.

[Diego]

She will also be recognized by fans

[Will Verdell]

of the Netflix show Glow, where she played Stacy, one half of the geriatric tag team the Beat Down Bitties. Never seen that, but gonna rush to now. But she has now transitioned behind the camera where she's directed shows like Crazy ex girlfriend, Ghosts Girls 5, Eva, and Going Dutch. She also won an Emmy for her work on Disney's Muppet Mayhem. This is definitely her biggest undertaking, especially since there are rumors, and they're just

[Diego]

rumors at this point, people. So if you're driving, pull over, sit

[Will Verdell]

down, do what you gotta do. But the movie's budget for a DCOM was $95 million.

[Diego]

Geez, $95 million.

[Will Verdell]

That is a full $10 million more than the already record breaking number for Rise of Red. So this is officially the most expensive DCOM ever. Did it look expensive to you? Ever DCOM ever? Well, it's also the fifth one. It's the fifth of five Ever. Did it look expensive to you?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes, it did. I mean, it was. The money was spent correctly. I mean, agree 100%.

[Will Verdell]

And like I said, we have a mix of returning actors and new additions, starting with Kylie Cantrell as Red, the new face of the franchise, and honestly, the channel as a whole. First seen on YouTube and TikTok, which I think are Internet things. Cantrell is best known as Gabby, the titular character on Disney's Gabby Duran and the Uncitables. There are more titles in this breakdown that I'm not going to understand than

[Diego]

in any one we've done before, but

[Will Verdell]

has also been seen on Raven's home High School the the series and just roll with it. So she's a real product of the system. She is also signed to a record deal, of course, and she just released an ep, which the cooler people in the world tell me means like a song or an album or something. So go and check it out. Malia Baker returns as Chloe, the offspring of Cinderella and Prince Charming. She's been previously seen on shows like the Flash, Are youe Afraid of the Dark? And the Babysitters Club. And new to the series, we have Leamani Segura as Princess Pink. Her first role ever was Emmy on

[Diego]

High School the the Series, which I will never get tired of saying, and

[Will Verdell]

is not only part of the Descendants franchise. She will also be in Camp Ro3 coming out soon. So between her and Malachi, it does seem like Disney is just casting these kids across properties now. And, you know, I don't even have

[Diego]

to ask if that was a thing before, because of course it was. They've been.

[Will Verdell]

Disney's been doing this forever.

[Diego]

It's one of the things they're great at is you get into the Disney machine and if they like you, they just keep putting you in. And it's awesome.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, well, and it helps promote the next thing, Right? I remember that's how it was with Raven. She had just finished her first season of that. So Raven, when we were shooting the Cheetah Girls. Yeah, it was like that all helped promote each other.

[Will Verdell]

Absolutely perfect.

[Diego]

Yep.

[Will Verdell]

And Leonardo Nam is back as Maddox Hatter. He's been in a ton of stuff over the past 20 years, including sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Is that literally just a movie about pants?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes, that's the same producers, the Cheetah Girls and the Cinderella the movie with Brandy. It's like a pair of pants that all four of these girlfriends, they all have different bodies, different styles and stuff, and they like send the pair of pants to each other while they're away from each other. And it always shows up at the time where they, like, are in need of, like, comfort, stuff like that.

[Diego]

Okay, gotcha.

[Sabrina Bryan]

A pair of pants.

[Diego]

Okay, great.

[Will Verdell]

The man's version is called the Brotherhood

[Diego]

of the Only Pair of Underwear that Men Own.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay, no, please don't send that to each other.

[Will Verdell]

And then we've got. He's also in Fast and Furious, Tokyo Drift, and Westworld, but now he has a son, Max Hatter, played by Brendan Tremblay. Tremblay is a working Canadian actor who will also be in the upcoming Disney Channel show Coven Academy. Another new name, Kiara T. Romero, is Hazel Hook. She was a background actor in the DCOM movie the Prom, and this is her first featured role. I love hearing stories like that. Congrats.

[Diego]

That's awesome.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Her character saying it now was my favorite in this movie. I loved Hazel.

[Will Verdell]

Wow.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I loved that a female was doing a Hook villain character. That was very cool to see, like, a girl taking on one of those characters. Oh, and I thought she was so good. So good.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

Super cool all the way around.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Shout out Kiara.

[Will Verdell]

They were all kind of great.

[Family Wizard Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

Melanie Paxton returns as fairy godmother, the only original cast member still in this thing. And from Rise of Red, Paolo Maltaban is back as Prince Charming, as are two of the biggest examples of stunt casting for the modern day channel. Brandy. Once again, Cinderella is reprising the role

[Diego]

she had in the 1997 original movie,

[Will Verdell]

which I haven't seen yet. And Rita Ora is the Queen of Hearts.

[Diego]

I think both ladies were amazing in Last Descendants, so I'm happy to see them back.

[Will Verdell]

And let's say hello to another recognizable name, Awkwafina. As the voice of Chessy, the new Cheshire Cat. Awkwafina began her career as a rapper

[Diego]

on YouTube and has since transitioned into TV and movies, starting with Neighbors 2,

[Will Verdell]

then landing in other big films like

[Diego]

Ocean's 8, Crazy Rich Asians, Jumanji, the Next Level, and the Bad Guys.

[Will Verdell]

Now, if you love this cast, let me be the first to tell you about Disney World's Collide. That's right. It sounded weird the way I said it, but it's called Disney Worlds Collide or Disney Worlds Collide or Disney Worlds Collide, depending on how you'd like to make the emphasis. A tour coming up involving cast members from Wicked, Wonderland Descendants, and Camp Rock 3 that will start in September and be hitting a lot of big cities. Sabrina, should we go to this?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes. Are you kidding me? I was Pissed. We missed the last one. We absolutely should go to this.

[Will Verdell]

Do they fight to the death? Because that would be like. It's like, oh, my God. The only person left is one person from Camp Rock 3.

[Diego]

Like, that would be cool.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah. No, that's not how that works. No, there it. I. I saw snippets from the last tour. It looked great. I think it's brilliant on.

[Diego]

Oh, my God.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Genius thing because, like, when we were all out on tour, at some point, we were basically fighting each other for ticket sales. Right. Like, parents were having to decide, do we want to go to a Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus tour, a High School Musical tour, or a Cheetah Girls tour? Like we were, you know, so for Disney as a company, this is perfect. Yeah.

[Diego]

Brilliant.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And they. I'm sure the ticket prices are just through the roof. I haven't looked at it, but I do know it's in September. It's coming up soon.

[Diego]

Well, that'll have to determine whether we go or not, because if it's super expensive, I'm not going to go to that.

[Sabrina Bryan]

You buy my ticket.

[Diego]

You can buy Leah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Moni told me that I should go, so, you know, being one of her new besties, I feel a little obligated.

[Will Verdell]

Okay, well, we'll see. I might be. I don't know what day it is,

[Diego]

but I might be busy that day.

[Sabrina Bryan]

You probably will.

[Will Verdell]

I have a lot going on, as do you. Okay, sure, this is the fifth movie and it costs almost $100 million to make, but that does not give it pass to be longer than 90 minutes. We know that every movie from Gone with the Wind to Biodome should be an hour and a half. No more, no less. We've specifically proven it here scientifically. So is the fifth time a charm Descendants Wicked Wonderland runs 95 minutes. Ah, five minutes off the target, which is too long by all accounts. I can't believe they need a sixth movie to try to get it right,

[Diego]

but it seems to be the case. Shame on all those involved.

[Sabrina Bryan]

The third one was even longer. Remember?

[Diego]

Oh, my God.

[Will Verdell]

I'm still watching it. Yeah, I'm on day eight. Once again, Hollywood's longest running writing team, Sarah Perriott and Jose McGibbon are given. They're created by credits. And we see the return of Dan Freeman and Rue Sommer, the writers behind Rise of Red. But now we have a new addition, Tamara Danison. Danison won the 2022 Children's and Family Emmy for outstanding Fiction Special with Disney's Sneakerella. She also wrote Netflix's Moxie and Amazon Prime's Something from Tiffany's. She's now set to write an untitled rom com starring fellow iHeart employee Nick Jonas for Netflix. By the way, Nick, if you get me this year for Secret Santa, just ignore the $20 limit.

[Honey German]

Hola, it's honey German here. Let's be honest. In our comunida, especially us mujeres, we do it all. We work, we take care of la familia, we hustle. Paque no falten. But even the strongest need a break. That's why I love talking about real stuff on my podcast. Gracias. Come again because we're all out here doing our best and sometimes having aling into esquina. Eso a se toda la diferencia. Like a State Farm agent, they're the kind of gente that shows up, listens, and helps you get the coverage you need. It's not about needing help. It's about knowing you deserve to feel supported. Comon buen besino? State Farm esta ay. State Farm proudly supports my Cultura podcast network. Escucha tus shows favorito wherever you listen to your podcasts.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Spanish Advertiser]

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[Clorox Advertiser]

Alright, real talk have you ever walked into a room and instantly know it's clean? La narisno falla migente. It's not what you see, it's what you smell. For me, a home isn't really done until it feels fresh, welcoming and peaceful. Like somebody went through, wiped everything down and left behind nothing but good vibes. Ah, eso. That's where Clorox Intiva makes all the difference. Clorox and Teva Disinfecting wipes gives you the Clorox clean we all trust killing 99.9% of viruses and bacteria when used is directed. But the cherry blossom scent, that's what really makes it hit different it's light, floral and fresh without being overpowering. And the best part is that it lingers. So even after you're done cleaning, your space still feels inviting. And with Cloroxentiva, you get the whole package. Trust the disinfecting power and a scent that elevates your whole home. Try Cloroxentiva in Cherry Blossom today. Look for it in disinfecting wipes, toilet cleaners and bleach online or at a retailer near you.

[Jenny Garth]

Use as directed Summer Me let's host people outside More reality the patio furniture is still in the box, the AC just started making a weird noise and the pool flamingo still needs to be inflated. So I open Air Tasker, post the task, set my budget and pick a tasker to help. Suddenly the furniture assembled, the ACs fixed and the flamingos floating. Which means I am too. Go to airtasker.com or download the app

[Will Verdell]

Airtasker get anything done.

[Freddie Prinze Jr.]

This show is brought to you by our Family wizard and hello Divorce. When your custody plan stops working, changing it means proving what happened. And lawyers bill by the hour to dig through your texts. Our family wizard documents every message scheduled, schedule change and expense as it happens. So the record's already there when you need it. Less time digging, more money in your pocket. Hello Divorce gets you through the divorce. Our family wizard handles the years of co parenting after start with a 30 day money back guarantee at ourfamilywizard.com iheart

[Sabrina Bryan]

dancing with the Stars is looking for a new pro and since last season I came in eighth place, I'm basically an expert.

[Will Verdell]

Easy there.

[Jason]

I've spent my entire life in the

[Will Verdell]

ballroom, so maybe you could use some help.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I'm Danielle Fishel.

[Will Verdell]

And I'm Val Chmerkofsky.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And we have a new podcast called Stepping on Toes with Danielle and Val.

[Will Verdell]

Every week we're breaking down Dancing with the Stars the next pro. To find out who I'll be sharing the ballroom with next season, I'll be

[Sabrina Bryan]

asking the questions every fan is thinking

[Jason]

and I'll take you behind the choreography,

[Will Verdell]

the judging, the performances, and what it takes to compete in front of millions.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Plus will be joined by some very special guests.

[Will Verdell]

It's time to crown a new Dancing with the Stars pro. So let us be your guides through

[Diego]

this once in a lifetime opportunity.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Do you think I could win?

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Spanish Advertiser]

No.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Listen to Stepping on toes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Will Verdell]

So now did you hear from them? For once in my life, I'm mad for Wicked One and Lynn and Dancing with the Enemy. It really is who I am. So let's get into the newest Descendants. The movie opens with a new character, Chessy, the child of the Cheshire Cat. Filling us in on everything that happened in the last movie. All over some expensive special effects for those with a very bad short term memory. Red turned her mom from villain to hero by changing the past. Something that has triggered some unintended consequences and created some chaos. We see the newly minted friends Red and Chloe open the Wonderland vault and hide the time traveling pocket watch that allowed them to jump decades. Okay, I'm gonna start nitpicking just because

[Diego]

that's what to do.

[Will Verdell]

So they have a vault where all the most important things are, but kind of anybody can open it if they find it at the middle of the maze. That's not a vault.

[Diego]

That's just a place you put things.

[Will Verdell]

Did they have to do anything to get into it other than get to the middle of the maze?

[Sabrina Bryan]

They didn't show that. No. But I assumed it was. Red was the only one that could like.

[Will Verdell]

But Red didn't open it at the end.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I know. That's what I was confused about.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

My spirit of seas.

[Diego]

Okay, thank you. Sorry.

[Will Verdell]

Well, it's pretty big. I think it's. That's an everybody sees. Because it's like, why? Why is that there? And also if there's and not to jump ahead to the end. But I'm assuming the people that watch

[Diego]

the movie are gonna watch a movie.

[Will Verdell]

Are not gonna watch a movie. But if you have another place to throw it that makes it go away

[Diego]

forever and keeps all your secrets, why

[Will Verdell]

not put it there?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I don't think she was wanting to get rid of it. I think she was wanting to hold on to it.

[Diego]

Okay, maybe you could. Okay. Gotcha. I still did that. It was weird to me, but it was like.

[Will Verdell]

It's not really a vault if anybody can open it.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, right. Right from the start. However, no one really knows where it is. That's the one thing that. Right.

[Diego]

Well, it's at the center of the maze.

[Sabrina Bryan]

It's the same thing. It's in the center of the maze, but nobody knows it's there. But I guess at the. I was like. But she went to it after Chloe. But I guess Chloe then knew where it was. Center of the maze. But that was the thing. Like. Like Mad Hatter, even when he saw it later, doesn't know where it is.

[Diego]

Right, Right.

[Will Verdell]

By the way, super easy maze.

[Diego]

If you've been through it once with Red and then you remember how to get to the middle again, that's not a tough maze.

[Will Verdell]

Just saying.

[Diego]

Just saying. Not, not, not.

[Will Verdell]

There's better hiding places.

[Jason]

Oh, man.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I had a birthday party that had a maze situation, and my dad was up on top watching us all and, like, filming us. I got so pissed, I quit. I was like, this birthday sucks.

[Will Verdell]

And then you couldn't get out of the maze to get to your cake. I'm done.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I could successfully stomp out the way I wanted to because I was lost.

[Diego]

Exactly.

[Will Verdell]

Oh, my. Well, anyway, we see the newly minted friends Red and Chloe open the Wonderland vault and hide the time traveling pocket watch that allowed them to jump decades. They think they solved everything, but we're told someone saw them and knows exactly what they're up to. Erasing one villain created another.

[Diego]

Wonderland is about to be a lot less wonderful.

[Will Verdell]

We're now in Red and Chloe's bedrooms. The girls alarm clocks go off and our first song begins. Perfect Princess. All about how peace was restored and they saved the day as besties Red and Chloe get ready for their day back at school and eventually are joined by the entire cast, including the Queen of Hearts and Cinderella. During the song, Red is freaked out to meet her new sister, Pink, and two horny new classmates, Robbie Hood and Louise Madrigal. Mad Hatter's son Max and his crew, which includes the cool looking kinda twin sons of Mr. Smee, seem to have some friction with the hero kids now.

[Diego]

So there's like, teams that have formed in this new version, this new world.

[Will Verdell]

As the song ends, Red and Chloe realize things are different than what they were used to. And they know why they change the past, but they promise to figure it out together. Okay, Sabrina, you know this? As the podcast resident song and dance

[Diego]

expert, I think we already know the answer to this. Let's get started.

[Will Verdell]

First big number.

[Diego]

What'd you think?

[Lisa]

Good.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I. I kind of got nervous at the beginning. All the talking and all the stuff that I didn't really love from the first one is how it started, but it did explain and put you into, like, understanding that, like, they're picking up on the things that have changed now. Right?

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Once we got out and in front of Auradon. Er, Right.

[Will Verdell]

That's the.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes. Auradon.

[Will Verdell]

The Auradon Prep.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Auradon Prep. Once we got out in front of, you know, it was like this was what I was needing from the last one. The big numbers, the tons of dancers, the, like, flow of it. I mean, this was such a great way to start this movie. I thought it was incredible and loved right away seeing Rita Ora and Brandi reprising their roles. Like, right away, it was like, yes, yes, yes. That's what I'm saying. When they give you exactly what the audience wants, then you're like, in for the long ride.

[Will Verdell]

So I couldn't agree with you more. I was tapping my toe the whole time. I was like, this is a banger. This is a good song.

[Sabrina Bryan]

It's a cute song.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And you can hear it in the theater already. These people that are seeing it for the first time now, I had seen it already just once, but other people, you could hear it. You could feel people, like, already, like, chiming in, humming to it. You could feel it in the theater for sure at the premiere.

[Diego]

It was definitely a good first song.

[Will Verdell]

Now we're over in Wonderland, and Chessy tells us all about Maddox Hatter, Red's former mentor and the new villain. The once kind hearted inventor went so mad searching for his pocket watch, the Queen of Hearts banished him to the Isle of the Lost. Now he's determined to find his prize and get revenge. We also finally see the Cheshire Cat. Narrator.

[Diego]

And it's nothing like the Cheshire we know. She's like a small little rainbow tabby. It is a cool looking little cat.

[Sabrina Bryan]

It was cute.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

We then enter Maddox Hatter's room with Chessy. Maddox declares, after all these years of searching, his auriculum. Remember that word? Because it's going to keep coming back. Has found the pocket watch. The Queen of Hearts has it in her vault. Wonderland can finally be his. And the Queen of Hearts could be dead, but he needs her alive until they find the vault. So he sends his mechanical dodo birds.

[Diego]

Real proof of the budget, if you ask me.

[Will Verdell]

Which I also thought it was weird, though, to pick dodo birds. A flightless bird. But then he says, why did I give you wings? Like, he made them fly.

[Diego]

So I was doing a whole thing in my head. We'll get into that later.

[Will Verdell]

To search the palace grounds, the croquet gardens, Tulgey woods and every royal outpost

[Diego]

in Wonderland for his pocket watch.

[Will Verdell]

And for the first time in the movie, we are at Ordon Prep. Well, it's actually. Yeah, we're outside, but they're dancing before.

[Diego]

So, yeah.

[Will Verdell]

Red and Chloe are walking outside the school talking about their weird mornings and all the things that have changed Red says she doesn't know how to feel about anything now that Max Hatter is a vk. His dad was her advisor, and now he's evil. Chloe blames the crew he's been hanging out with. Hazel Hook is ruthless and always bossing around her flunkies like the Smee twins and Felix. Dr. Facilier, son with these scary tarot cards. Did you know who Dr. Facilier was at the time?

[Diego]

I didn't either. I had to Google it.

[Will Verdell]

Have you seen Princess and the Frog?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes, I have, but it's not one that I recognize the name as much as the other ones I have.

[Will Verdell]

There's so many modern ones.

[Diego]

Moana, Encanto, the Princess and the Frog.

[Will Verdell]

Brave. Like, I haven't seen any of these

[Diego]

new movies, so I have to go. No, I have to go check out all these I haven't seen.

[Will Verdell]

I stopped with, like, I stopped, like, with those kind of movies with I think up.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah.

[Diego]

No, Coco. Coco was the last one I saw,

[Sabrina Bryan]

which made me ball like a moment on a plane.

[Diego]

Yikes. I looked like a crazy. I looked like the crazy man in the seat. Anyway.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yikes.

[Will Verdell]

In fear, a student runs from Felix and bumps into Red, throwing her into husky Luis Madrigal's arms. This is the son of Luisa Madrigal, the strong daughter in Encanto.

[Sabrina Bryan]

This is the character that I had no idea. The first one just went by me. I'm like, I have no idea who that person was. And then I was thinking he seemed more like he was the son of Gaston.

[Will Verdell]

Yes, I can see that.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I saw him. So at first I'm like, wait, he's not. He's a villain. Like, he's not. What? What's happening? And then finally I realized, like, way after, way after, who it was. Okay, who it was. Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

He smiles after catching her and tells her her first rescue is free. And his friend Robbie Hood. They didn't even try to hide that one. You know, they sometimes try to hide him, and they're like, this is Robbie Hood.

[Sabrina Bryan]

My brain is so tired. I was happy for the easy. The easy get.

[Diego]

Exactly.

[Will Verdell]

Captina.

[Diego]

Hook.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah. His friend Robbie Hood brags that Luis always saves the day. And we're thrown over to the Queen of Hearts castle. Her highness is sitting with a deck of cards, looking as evil as ever. But her demeanor changes on a dime, telling her staff they're doing amazing and they deserve a celebration with tea, cupcakes, and dancing guards. This is clearly a new babyface version of the queen, and we all like her, but as she's detailing the party, her security starts falling asleep. A mechanical little insect is spraying gas, knocking them all out.

[Diego]

And that's when Maddox appears.

[Will Verdell]

The queen tells the new villain that it's customary for all guests to ring at the gate, not to sedate the security. Maddox just wants to know where the pocket Pocket watches the Queen of Hearts

[Diego]

reminds him of their deal.

[Will Verdell]

He could return to Wonderland if he gives up this ridiculous quest for this mythical pocket watch. Unfazed, he demands to know where the vault is. She has one more chance to tell him, or he'll tear Wonderland apart trying to find it. As she starts to fight back, she drifts off to sleep. Maddox declares, now I'm gonna take it,

[Diego]

and sits in her chair.

[Will Verdell]

But before fully passing out, the Queen of Hearts sends a message to Red

[Diego]

with one of her magical cards.

[Sabrina Bryan]

This. Her cards are, like, one of my favorites of the movie. I love. I love them. They are so cool.

[Diego]

Super cool. Definitely.

[Will Verdell]

Max Hatter throws Robbie Hood a coin for Sherwood's collection box. Luis tells Max that no one is buying the act, no matter how hard he tries not to be his dad. Now the number one villain in the

[Diego]

land, Luis trades insults with the vks,

[Will Verdell]

and just as he's about to come to blows, the Queen of Hearts card arrives and is caught kind of coolly out of the air by Red. She reads it with concern. Maddox Hatter has captured the queen.

[Diego]

Come quickly.

[Will Verdell]

Felix grabs the card and tussles with Max, who snags it back for Red. Pink shocks everyone. Magically appearing and freaking out about her mom being kidnapped, she begins to faint, and Louise catches her. Fairy godmother arrives and screams, what the Are you all doing?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay, she didn't.

[Diego]

She says, what the fluff?

[Sabrina Bryan]

What the fluff? This was probably one of the most shocking things that has happened to me in the D. We've been doing hundreds. It feels like of these movies. What the fluff.

[Family Wizard Advertiser]

It's.

[Will Verdell]

What the. It's full on.

[Honey German]

What the?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes. And I just. I. In the. Okay, I saw it already. I was already ready for it, right? And I could hear. I could feel Monroe, who's right next to me, kind of like, go, oh, yeah. Like, that was shocking and really not necessary. I mean, it wasn't like a. It wasn't like a comedy. Like, it wasn't a comedic relief aspect.

[Will Verdell]

And where does it end? Is my question. I mean, can you say. Can you. Can the new insult be like, fluffing birch? You're a fluffing birch.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

Like, it's like they when you start kind of swearing, it's like there's no end to where they're going.

[Sabrina Bryan]

It's like when little kids will. Or I don't even know if they do that anymore. But when I was little, it was like when you'd say frick. Like, what's a frick? Yeah, fricking frickin.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, exactly.

[Freddie Prinze Jr.]

Yeah.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

So, yeah, you're meaning the same thing. So it was really weird. And it was even worse for me when I was sitting in the theater. So instead of watching it at home by myself, I was like, I put it down as a Sabrina sees. Like, did we really just do a fluffy way of saying, yeah, yeah, you did.

[Will Verdell]

They descend. They did a Descendants.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And then when we were in the theater, it was like. Like, I don't know. I don't know if everyone else was gasping, but I certainly was. And maybe my gas was so loud in my head that I thought that the rest of the people were. But yeah, it was kind of like, what the fluff?

[Diego]

Isn't that amazing?

[Will Verdell]

And then she asked, did my pumpkins go rogue again? Those stupid.

[Diego]

She didn't. She didn't see it.

[Sabrina Bryan]

She just went for it.

[Diego]

She just went for it.

[Will Verdell]

After that, everyone properly ignores her. And Max and his crew know when to leave. They walk off, while Red and Chloe know that they need to get back to Wonderland ASAP to help. So the girls are now at Cinderella's castle. And Cinderella isn't having this rushed response. There are protocols to follow, of which, by the way, she follows none. Why are you not gathering your soldiers? You have a way in.

[Diego]

Oh, don't get me started.

[Will Verdell]

Chloe explains. But when it's important, rules don't matter,

[Diego]

which is what she kind of taught her in the first movie when they. When she was her younger self.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Right.

[Will Verdell]

Fairy Godmother admits she's concerned, too. Maddox has terrorized the kingdom for years with his deranged inventions, and now that he's been banished, he's madder than ever. Uma and the Auradon Council. And we only mention Uma.

[Diego]

We don't get to see her. And I frankly missed her. I love Uma.

[Will Verdell]

Uma and the Auradon Council are coming up with a carefully thought out rescue plan. But they don't break rules, even for

[Diego]

a good cause, which is ridiculous, because Uma is known for breaking rules. The girls are bummed by this voice of reason.

[Will Verdell]

In the hallway of Auradon Prep, Max and Hazel. Hook can't believe his dad kidnapped the queen. Max knows he'll be blamed for it and wishes there was a way he could change that. Hazel tells him to stop complaining and do something about it. So Max calls for Felix and the

[Diego]

SMEs to meet him at the rabbit

[Will Verdell]

hole outside the tunnel. Chloe and Red are making their way to Wonderland, disobeying Cinderella and lying to save a life. Red says she's finally got the mom she always wanted and now she's put her in danger. And just then, Max, Hazel, Felix and the SMEs show up. Max announces, I hope your plan includes us, cause we're coming with you to Wonderland. But Chloe isn't interested. His crew doesn't exactly align with her plan. Max warns them they need someone that knows how to beat his father and he's perfect for the job because he

[Diego]

is not his father.

[Will Verdell]

Pink, Luis and Robbie Hood say that three times fast. Are also arriving to help. So the full team is set. And with that, they enter the tunnel. And frankly, I'm glad it was a

[Diego]

big full team and not just the

[Will Verdell]

two of them again, like in the

[Diego]

first one, I'm glad there was like,

[Will Verdell]

like eight of them that went together.

[Diego]

It made the.

[Will Verdell]

The dialogue witty and snappy and a

[Diego]

fun kind of relationship between all different characters. I like that.

[Will Verdell]

As they fall down the rabbit hole,

[Diego]

which is again, kind of a cool

[Will Verdell]

way to do it, Red and Chloe notice different versions of themselves in the mirror.

[Diego]

And they have no idea what any of it means.

[Will Verdell]

I'd also like to point out that Alice in Wonderland is essentially supposed to be an opium trip, and they very much kept to that. They had the mushroom walking around, I was like, oh my God, I'm in high school.

[Diego]

Yeah, it was, it was like, there we go.

[Will Verdell]

We are back in just crazy, crazy trip.

[Diego]

My face off world.

[Will Verdell]

But they do arrive in a beautiful wonderland filled with colorful animals like a zebra giraffe and assorted flowers. Chloe can't believe Red ever wanted to leave. Red insists this is not the Wonderland

[Diego]

she grew up in, and they head to the castle.

[Will Verdell]

Hazel asks Max if he's sure they can trust the redhead, and Max says, of course not, but it's the only

[Diego]

way to stop his dad.

[Will Verdell]

Inside the castle, the Queen of Hearts wakes up and realizes she's trapped and her cards are nowhere to be found. While we're now out in the croquet gardens and the kids are now tripping balls, they've forgotten what to do and they are just high as hell.

[Diego]

I'm kidding. Sorry, but that's what it seemed like.

[Will Verdell]

The super team of kids arrive and Pink explains What everything is pointing out tickler roses, living mushrooms, which is clearly just somebody running around in a mushroom costume.

[Sabrina Bryan]

So weird. That one was.

[Will Verdell]

It was.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

That's the one where it kind of. You won't know what this is probably,

[Diego]

but in the 70s, there was a. A team called Sid and Marty Croft,

[Will Verdell]

and they made these really campy, really

[Diego]

ridiculous television shows like Land of the Lost and all these kind of shows. This had a Sid and Marty Croft vibe to me, of the mushroom running around. It really did.

[Will Verdell]

For all you kids out there who don't know what I'm talking about, Google

[Diego]

it and you'll be like, yep, he's right.

[Will Verdell]

They're also figuring out how to get to. And I think I'm saying it right. Tulgey Woods.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

And that's when we see a Mecha dodo bird spying from above.

[Diego]

And that's my new insult for everybody. You're such a Mecha dodo bird.

[Will Verdell]

We fade over then to Maddox's house, where Chessy and the Mad Hatter are checking out the surveillance. Maddox can't believe his son could betray him like this. And in retaliation, he turns to the Queen's cards. Back in the gardens, the kids are all noticing something's going on.

[Diego]

Purple smoke is starting to fill the

[Will Verdell]

air, and Max knows it's his dad. And again, these are all. Which is one of the things that

[Diego]

they say that Alice in Wonderland was written like, is these are all the mushrooms, the smoke, all different drug references that Disney is using to their advantage.

[Will Verdell]

But that's what it's supposed to be. We're back at Maddox as he announces the games have begun. And we get our second song mad. All about his wrath and the wrath he's about to unleash on the world. The track also features Max and the Queen of Hearts.

[Diego]

What do we think of his declaration of evil?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I like the song. I didn't necessarily love the visual.

[Jason]

Really?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah. The, like, I get it. He was able to, like, control it or whatever, but, like, them just, like, it was too much like, oh, we're here. Oh, we're here, we're here. Like, it was just kind of like.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

But the song itself is very, like, cool. I heard the song being played at Oogie Boogie bash at Disneyland during Halloween. Like, I can hear it, like, welcome to my man. Like, as you're, like, going in. It's such a great villain song. But the visuals weren't the best for me on this one, to be honest.

[Will Verdell]

There's an Alice in Wonderland ride. Isn't There at Disneyland. So, you know, how long do you think it's going to be before they

[Diego]

change it to a Descendants? Alice in Wonderland, Rise of Red Ride?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I don't know. That's coming. That one is in the, like, area. It's in Fantasy land.

[Will Verdell]

So, like, old school.

[Sabrina Bryan]

That's old school.

[Diego]

So that you don't think they'll mess with any boat.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Right. Teapots. I don't know.

[Diego]

You think they'll keep that totally just as it is and they'll never do.

[Will Verdell]

Don't you think they'll do some sort of Descendants attraction at Disney?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I don't. I don't know. Maybe, like, they might play music around there or something, like.

[Diego]

And have the characters walking around and stuff like that.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, maybe something like that. But I. I don't know. That part of Disney's, like, Walt's World. You don't feel like they're going to mess with that. That's where, like, Storybook Ride is. And, like, all the, like, first.

[Diego]

Yeah. The old school stuff.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Big ones. So I feel like people would be upset. I would.

[Will Verdell]

I'd be even. What if they did it as a temporary thing where it's like, all of

[Diego]

a sudden this Mad Hatter pops on the screen and is, like, I've taken

[Will Verdell]

over, and for, like, a month, it

[Diego]

becomes like, a Descendants ride. Would that.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, like, if it was during Halloween,

[Will Verdell]

like, something like that could be cool.

[Diego]

All right, well, we're putting.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Those are really small and short rides, though.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I don't know.

[Will Verdell]

Well, you have to change, like, the

[Diego]

whole area around it, too.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah. If it makes sense.

[Diego]

And then you just hand out.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah. Like, mushroom chocolate. Lisa's saying, like, how they do Nightmare Before Christmas.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Haunted man. But see, the thing about those, like, like, Tiana's, like, that Flash Mountain. That wasn't really, like. And. And same with, like, Haunted Mansion. Those weren't really, like, movies that it was based on before. They didn't change.

[Diego]

Well, yeah, no.

[Will Verdell]

They made a movie based on the

[Diego]

Haunted Mansion ride as opposed to the other way around.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Right. Yeah. You know what I mean? So I feel like. I don't know. I don't know if they'd have like. Same thing with the Incredicoaster was like, just a California adventurer. There was nothing that Incredicoaster like, took away it just, like, added to it

[Diego]

and they just put their theme on there. Yeah. No, I get it.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I would be kind of upset if they took away the, like, OG Alice in Wonderland or Teapots.

[Diego]

All right.

[Will Verdell]

Good to know.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay, so they better not, because. Don't touch it.

[Will Verdell]

Sabrina's coming.

[Lisa]

Designated.

[Will Verdell]

You don't get to do it. Don't change anything. And also make everything more expensive.

[Diego]

I can still afford it.

[Will Verdell]

While he sings, the kids run from and fight off the large dodo board robots. They eventually seek refuge in a tiny house that has many rooms and little to no logic. It's all controlled by the Mad Hatter.

[Diego]

It's a real acid trip that almost

[Will Verdell]

crushes them to death. Eventually, Maddox takes time away from his attack to tell the Queen of Hearts that he's gonna find her vault if it's the last thing he does.

[Diego]

How long everyone suffers is up to her. We're back in the woods.

[Will Verdell]

Luis and Red appear out of a door in the ground and have no idea where everyone is. They're surrounded by doors, so Luis guesses

[Diego]

everyone is behind them.

[Will Verdell]

And then, kind of like an idiot, Red just picks up random keys and doors and assumes everyone is fine. But as she does, her crew members start falling from the sky, landing safely on flowers and mushrooms, undetected by Luis and Red. Not knowing they return, Red has no luck with the doors, and Luis is frustrated. She's lost somehow in her own kingdom. But she admits she hated royalty her whole life, and the minute she got a whiff of the fresh air, she screwed it up for everyone she's ever cared about.

[Diego]

She also very much tells him, yeah,

[Will Verdell]

I didn't grow up here, bro.

[Diego]

Like, I did, but this was not what it looked like when I was here.

[Sabrina Bryan]

But, like, no one get goes. What do you mean by that? No, what do you mean he didn't grow up here? I don't understand. No, explain it.

[Honey German]

You can't.

[Will Verdell]

Time travel's very difficult.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I know what she do, but no one presses her. No one.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Advertiser]

No.

[Will Verdell]

There's a lot that they did. That's still a ripple from the first movie. That shows you how difficult time travel is.

[Diego]

That literally makes no sense even in this movie.

[Sabrina Bryan]

But she has this big, like, announcement of her lying at some point or whatever, and it's like. But like, no one pressed her.

[Diego]

Nope.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Like, what do you mean you didn't? What do you mean? How is this.

[Will Verdell]

Of course you grew up here.

[Sabrina Bryan]

We knew.

[Will Verdell]

You have to keep in mind they all have, but they also all have different. See, this is. This is the problem with time travel people. They all now have different timelines. So in their timeline, they grew up with Red. She was the Queen of Hearts daughter in this wonderland. So the idea that she didn't grow up here, I'm saying you're 100, right?

[Diego]

Where everyone would be like, of course you did. I knew I was at your 4th birthday party at the castle. Yes, you did grow up here.

[Will Verdell]

That's what changing timelines does.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And even like to. To complicate her and Pink. Pink's relationship. Like, Pink could have been like, why do you keep acting like you don't know what's going on? Why are you.

[Will Verdell]

Oh, don't get me started. Because the Pink thing, also, toward.

[Diego]

Down the line. Makes no sense. Makes no sense. And we'll get into that.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I know.

[Lisa]

I know.

[Sabrina Bryan]

We're getting there.

[Diego]

Yeah. It goes to where it's like, wait, what?

[Will Verdell]

Anyway, yes, Luis gets it. He knows a thing or two about family legacy.

[Diego]

A blessing and a curse.

[Will Verdell]

He's Luisa Madrigal's son. He's supposed to be strong like her no matter what.

[Diego]

Red.

[Sabrina Bryan]

That's when I was like, oh, that's who?

[Clorox Advertiser]

That's who.

[Freddie Prinze Jr.]

That's.

[Will Verdell]

I thought you're Gaston's kid. That you're good.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay. Got it. I get the strong thing. Got it.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

Red ass. So that's what encanto is about.

[Diego]

There's. It's, like a very strong family.

[Sabrina Bryan]

No, her character, she's, like, the strongest in the village. So they eat. Each of the family members has their own power, and hers is strength. So she can pick up and, like, she's strong and all of that. That's.

[Will Verdell]

That's a musical, too, right?

[Diego]

Yeah. Okay. I gotta go see that.

[Sabrina Bryan]

It's good. I really like that.

[Diego]

I gotta do a whole deep dive into all those again.

[Will Verdell]

I need to. I stopped at Toy Story 3.

[Diego]

I still have to see 4 so I can see 5.

[Will Verdell]

Red asks what he wants for his future, and he realizes that no one's

[Diego]

ever asked that of him before. And we feel a little bit of

[Will Verdell]

flirty tension between these two, because when hitting the fan, it's time to hook up in Cinderella's castle. Now, while waiting for an update from Uma or the council, Cinderella is handed a note.

[Diego]

The kids have gone to wonder land.

[Will Verdell]

We're back in the woods. Chloe has discovered the dodo bird. Just as Red and Luis reunite with the rest of the crew, Pink rushes to hug her still somewhat reluctant sister

[Diego]

because she doesn't remember her.

[Will Verdell]

She was so worried. But it doesn't seem like Red cares at all. Meanwhile, Chloe welcomes her with a sword, ready to attack the spy dodo bird so she can rewire it and stay

[Diego]

one step ahead of Maddox.

[Will Verdell]

Great plan, but Ren Runs off to get Max. Chloe tries to stop her, but she's too late. When Red does show Max the mysterious dodo bird, he says they must destroy it, but Chloe isn't so sure. Or we can try to use it, which, again, great plan. You're also. You know that the dodo birds are following you. You know that they're watching you and reporting back to his dad. Why are you still talking in a full. Like, in front of the. Here's what we need to do. See that dodo bird right there? First, we're gonna capture it, and then we're gonna go to the secret path down the back. It's like you're talking into the spy

[Diego]

microphone that the guy left.

[Will Verdell]

Like, what are you doing? Like, maybe whisper, hey, throw a rock at it so it turns its back.

[Lisa]

It doesn't matter.

[Sabrina Bryan]

At this point, I'm already frustrated for Chloe as well. Like, no one is listening to her. No.

[Will Verdell]

And she's right.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And she's right. Like, no one's listening to her.

[Will Verdell]

You've got the Mad Hatter's kid who

[Diego]

helped you imagine grew up kind of

[Will Verdell]

with his dad in that workshop. Well, you know what? I'm gonna grab that thing, you're gonna rewire it.

[Diego]

It's gonna.

[Will Verdell]

It's gonna lead us right to where we have to go. Great freaking plan. That's a great. That's a great flu.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Well, if Max is the son of Maddox Hatter, didn't he also grow up in Wonderland?

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, you did.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Because they show scenes of them. Yeah, in his workshop.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, but those are supposed to be from. Because those were supposed to be from. This is time travel. Those are supposed to be from the original timeline where his dad was still good, which, again, makes no.

[Diego]

No sense. Yeah, but we'll get into that. This is.

[Will Verdell]

Just stay away from time travel level. Rez says it's too risky, but Luis has already lifted a tree out of the ground to shake it off. Once that doesn't work, the SMEs get to climbing, but each other, not the tree. And these are the only kids who

[Diego]

completely understand that they are on drugs.

[Will Verdell]

And that's when Max notices the dodo bird is calling for his friends. So they stand there staring at it, telling their plan to all the secret dodo birds. Chloe still thinks they should try to reprogram it, but Max suggests they leave, and Red follows suit. The two girls don't seem to be in lockstep as they used to be, as Chloe feels ignored. Meanwhile, Hazel notices Felix and Robbie are missing. And then we cut to a really weird shot of a teacup just floating in the ocean where Felix and Robbie are inside, floating on violet waves, totally terrified. And I guess it's because they went through another door. This, to me, was a very expensive

[Diego]

shot that you just didn't need.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Didn't need, yeah. In reality, although it added to. And I feel like when I watched the. The production routines, like the big musicals, it's nice to have more of them. But these two characters, like, they leave, they come back, really. And I hate to say because I wouldn't want to take a job from anyone, but, like, they weren't necessary. They weren't necessary at all. They didn't agree. And I don't know, I'm in my head thinking they're going to be important when it's Pink's storyline. That's what I'm thinking.

[Diego]

Yeah, I thought the same thing.

[Sabrina Bryan]

They could have left at some point and just came back at the end.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Like, they didn't.

[Will Verdell]

Gone on the mission. Not gone on the mission.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, Gone on the mission. But, like, at what, at some point when they do leave, like, they could have just been, like, somehow returned at the end. Like, it was. They really weren't adding to anything.

[Diego]

I agree.

[Freddie Prinze Jr.]

Hey, I'm Freddie Prinze Jr. And I talk a lot about twists, turns, and the unexpected moments that happened inside the ring on Wrestling with Freddy. But the one thing I've learned, never turn your back on your opponents in the ring unless you have your tag partner with you. It helps to have backup, like real life backup, the kind you can call when life throws you something unexpected. That's when I recommend you reach out to your State Farm agent. They can help you choose the coverage you need before anything happens. And they're ready to help you file a claim when it does. When it's something out of the ordinary or just part of everyday life.

[Lisa]

Life.

[Freddie Prinze Jr.]

It's good to know someone's in your corner. Like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. And thanks to State Farm's support of Michael Tura Podcast Network, you can catch new episodes of Wrestling with Freddie wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Enrique Santos]

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[Will Verdell]

Get anything done?

[Family Wizard Advertiser]

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[Jenny Garth]

Hi, it's Jenny Garth, host of the I Choose Me podcast. This week, Monica Lewinsky. Yes, that Monica. The one the world tore apart. She's still standing. She's back and done hiding.

[Will Verdell]

It really felt like it was one

[Clorox Advertiser]

of those situations where you literally do or die.

[Jenny Garth]

Monica stared down shame and came out the other side and. And she is here to change what you thought you knew. And it's sort of not over until we triumph. A conversation that will inspire you to choose yourself. Starting today, listen to I Choose me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Will Verdell]

We are back at Maddox Hatters. The villain is still spying on the kids and realizes they're more resilient than he thought. He tells Chessy they can't let him reach the castle and the cat is

[Diego]

of course, ready to help.

[Honey German]

Help.

[Will Verdell]

So back at the castle, Cinderella is stressed. She hasn't used the looking Glass in years and it leads directly to Red's throne room. But the council is taking too long and Chloe is in danger. Something has to be done. So just as she's about to jump through the mirror, a bunch of vines grow and block her way. She steps back, concerned, and grabs her trusty broom. She's on her way, but has to change clothes first.

[Enrique Santos]

Okay.

[Will Verdell]

Soon after, we're at the Queen of Hearts throne. Cinderella broke through the vines with a broom and the queen's excited to see her, but surprised. She's in trousers.

[Diego]

I don't know why this needed to happen. In the movie, the trousers never come back.

[Will Verdell]

Also, why the hell do you use your one chance to go?

[Diego]

I know, but not really? She just says, I like them, but

[Will Verdell]

why not use the mirror you have that leads directly into the throne room

[Diego]

to go in with soldiers, grab your friend and bring Them back out of Wonderland.

[Will Verdell]

Like, she goes in by herself, and they just sit there and have a conversation in the middle of the throne room that's been captured by the evil guy. Like, hey, I like your pants. Like, what?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Well, she didn't really know what was going. Oh, no, she did know that she was. Yeah, that's true.

[Will Verdell]

It makes no sense. I'm gonna break into the jail cell and then sit in the jail cell with you and talk to you about stuff while we wait for the guy to come back. It made no sense from a story point. Have a reason where she can't get through or break through and instantly have her soldiers are trapped. I mean, there's so many easy fixes other than just I'm gonna walk in and we're gonna sit here until we're captured, right? And that's what we're gonna do. We're literally gonna sit in the middle of this and have a conversation until we can't escape again. And it was like, are you kidding me? You're Cinderella. Like, be a bit of a bad nothing.

[Diego]

So nothing.

[Will Verdell]

It's nothing. Cinderella.

[Sabrina Bryan]

It does set up for what's next to happen with the two queens, which I appreciate the.

[Will Verdell]

Sing the song.

[Lisa]

Yes.

[Will Verdell]

Okay, so how is that not. Not as cool a song from both sides of the mirror, Cinderella. They're touching each other through the mirror where she can't get through, and there's her friend, and they're talking about the old times, and she can't get to her friend because just walking in and going, now I'm in jail with you.

[Diego]

Makes no freaking sense.

[Will Verdell]

But Cinderella explains the girls are in Wonderland to rescue her, but now they have to save the girls. The queen. I guess that's what they were going for. They were going for, I'm gonna come into Wonderland, and now you and I are gonna escape here, and we're gonna

[Diego]

go and save our kids. And. But it wasn't set up well.

[Sabrina Bryan]

What? It didn't happen?

[Will Verdell]

No, because they sat there having a song instead of escaping. Hey, instead of escaping jail, let's do a number. The queen reveals that Maddox has bewitched the throne room.

[Diego]

And see, I'm sorry, I don't want

[Will Verdell]

to harp on this, but this is where I'd love to have a real

[Diego]

character in every Disney movie where it's

[Will Verdell]

just somebody going, really? You're going to sing? Sit here and sing.

[Family Wizard Advertiser]

Let's go.

[Will Verdell]

Let's go. What are you doing? And you know, that, to me, is

[Diego]

the greatest character ever.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And that would be really Funny. There's gotta be a good villain character. It'd have to be a villain, probably.

[Will Verdell]

Or one of the guards who's just like. You're gonna just sit there?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, yeah. Or like Doc, One of the dwarves. Like, you know, like one of the smart characters that's like. This makes no sense why you guys are wasting time.

[Will Verdell]

Get out.

[Sabrina Bryan]

So much time and then. Keeps going. So much time is being wasted with you guys singing.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

First you're talking about how you're scared for your daughter's life, but you take some time to put on pants. Then you break in, and when you've got the time to escape, you use that time to do a number. It's like, you want somebody just going, dude, what? Maybe sit this one out, Cinderella. Cause it's not up here right now.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Sit.

[Will Verdell]

It's not up here right Not.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Brandi. Don't tell my girl Brandi to sit down.

[Will Verdell]

It's just like, come on. Then she needs to do something. She literally walked two feet and was captured. That was.

[Lisa]

That's.

[Will Verdell]

Thanks for the help. I now have to split my rations with you.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

It's great to see you, but I get one plate of food a day, and now I have to share it with your,

[Sabrina Bryan]

like.

[Will Verdell]

Thanks.

[Sabrina Bryan]

All right, well, I promise you, I'll just let you sit there.

[Will Verdell]

Thank you.

[Diego]

Thank you.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I won't even come.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Spanish Advertiser]

Yes.

[Will Verdell]

Knock on the window and I'll be like, it's not. Don't worry about it.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Don't worry.

[Diego]

It's.

[Will Verdell]

Then we're just gonna both be trapped.

[Diego]

Like, thank you.

[Will Verdell]

Anyway, the queen reveals that Maddox has bewitched the throne room, and so she's locked inside.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Advertiser]

What?

[Will Verdell]

The guy who bewitches things. Bewitch something and then. Speak of the devil, Maddox appears. He wasn't expecting visitors. If he wasn't expecting visitors, why did

[Diego]

he bewitch the throne room?

[Will Verdell]

Beyond the looking glass, we see Prince Charming is about to walk through. But Maddox immediately blocks the pathway again.

[Diego]

Actually, Maddox bewitches the entire castle. So no one's going to save them now.

[Will Verdell]

And I will say, this is. This was a piece of Disney magic

[Diego]

that I did love.

[Will Verdell]

I loved how she embraced her broom and it became kind of like.

[Diego]

Because the broom of her.

[Will Verdell]

Of Cinderella having to constantly sweep up

[Diego]

and do everything, that's now, like, a

[Will Verdell]

symbol of her power and her resilience.

[Diego]

I thought was really cool.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I loved that.

[Family Wizard Advertiser]

That.

[Diego]

Yeah, me too.

[Will Verdell]

Meanwhile, the kids are still on their journey. Red suggests they find a place to hide out until morning. So they Pick the beautiful Lumoria tree. As they settle in, we see the dodo bird is still keeping tabs on them. But luckily, they're still giving their plans

[Diego]

out loud as the dodo bird is there. And of course, Jesse is also nearby.

[Will Verdell]

Now in the comforts of the tree, Luis wants the hero kids to take the lead. He doesn't trust the vks. Then a ghostly Chessy appears on Hazel Hook's shoulder. He thinks it's time the villain kids run the show, which motivates Captain Hook, Hook's daughter, to step up and claim leadership. Then Chessy pops up on Luis's shoulder, giving him the same advice for the hks. His plan is, do we know that Chessy's a boy? I don't think we. There's no real gender. It's boy or girl, right?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, I don't think there's a gender with Chessy.

[Diego]

Yeah, I'd like to do this without gender if I could.

[Will Verdell]

Then a ghostly Chessy appears on Hazel Hook's shoulder and says, it's time. The villain kids run the show, which

[Diego]

motivates Captain Hook's daughter to step up and claim leadership.

[Will Verdell]

Then Chessy pops up on Luis's shoulder and gives him the same advice for the hks. Obviously, Chessy's plan is to build tension between the two groups. And it is working.

[Diego]

This leads us to our next song.

[Will Verdell]

Did you hear about them? A battle of strength and bravado between the two groups struggling to be the alpha resident expert. What'd you think?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I loved this song. This wasn't my favorite number of the cast. I love the song, though. The song was. Was. Was cute. I liked it and I liked. It didn't make sense. Like, I don't know. I. I don't know. I didn't like the working. I don't know. There was something like. That was just kind of like. Okay. It wasn't, like, bad in any sense, but I did like the song. The music. Like I said, the music's got me. I love the soundtrack.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah.

[Sabrina Bryan]

This wasn't my favorite of all of them, but there's so many of them. This is. That's okay.

[Will Verdell]

I. This. This should be my answer. I don't really remember this one.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Oh, really?

[Will Verdell]

Yeah. I don't really. I kind of. I vaguely remember the dancing, but I

[Diego]

can't remember the song as such, which might mean something.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Something. Well, and then it was interesting to me at the end because Red kind of declares that, like, the VK's one. And I was like, like, why?

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, but that's every movie for me where there's, like a dance off.

[Diego]

You know, it's like, step up. I'm like. Or stomp the yard. I'm like, wait, how?

[Will Verdell]

Who picked? Who won?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Well, no, no, I. I could do that.

[Lisa]

That.

[Diego]

Oh. But I can't. That's what I'm saying. I can't.

[Will Verdell]

I have no idea.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Kind of just like the VK's one. It was just kind of like. They didn't really, like. I don't know.

[Diego]

Right.

[Sabrina Bryan]

It was just a lot of more moving. They were moving around each other. Moving around each other. It wasn't like a dance battle.

[Diego]

Okay, I get.

[Sabrina Bryan]

You know.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

So the song ends with Luis on the ground, but everyone.

[Diego]

Maybe because he's on the ground, that's why they think he lost.

[Will Verdell]

But everyone's still smiling and ready to team up, with the vks leading the way. That is, until Chessy shows up on Pink's shoulder, pushing her to fight the new leadership. When she suggests maybe Max is behind

[Diego]

all of this with his dad, the few seconds of calculated teamwork is instantly

[Will Verdell]

over, sending everyone off to their own corners and creating more tension and division

[Diego]

between Chloe and Red.

[Will Verdell]

Red tries to comfort Max, but he knows no one trusts him because of his dad. Red insists she trusts him and even believes there's some good left in his dad.

[Diego]

Max knows his dad is obsessed with

[Will Verdell]

the pocket watch because he believes he saw time travel in high school, and this triggers Red. He probably saw them, but she doesn't

[Diego]

say anything later that night.

[Will Verdell]

And again, if he's been so obsessed with seeing these two girls disappear in

[Diego]

high school, wouldn't he recognize that it was Red?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

So does he know it's the kids?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Did we get a visual of him seeing the pocket watch situation?

[Will Verdell]

Yes, they kind of do.

[Diego]

They show a flashback of him staring up.

[Sabrina Bryan]

They show a flashback. But we didn't really see that when we saw Rise of Red, right?

[Diego]

No, no, they put that in after. Yeah, they put that in after. I thought the same thing.

[Will Verdell]

Later that night, Chloe and Hazel talk about their issues with Red. Hazel calls Red the Alpha and emphasizes

[Diego]

the fact that you can only rely

[Will Verdell]

on yourself, further strengthening the wedge between everyone. Just as Robbie. Oh, that's right. Robbie's there. And Felix.

[Freddie Prinze Jr.]

Oh, hey.

[Will Verdell]

Felix is back. Returned from their teacup adventure. Max realizes how to get to his dad through his beloved invention, the Auriculum. Back at the Mad Hatters, though, he's seeing everything and furious with his backstabbing son, he's seeing everything is okay and this is just.

[Diego]

I don't know, is the Auriculum is

[Will Verdell]

the device he's looking in that sees

[Diego]

the past, present, and future.

[Will Verdell]

And so if he can spy on them through the Auriculum, why.

[Diego]

Why does he need the dodo birds?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I thought that the dodo birds, that's how they were. That they were transporting the.

[Will Verdell]

The visual back, so. But then why can the Auriculum look into the past and everything else?

[Sabrina Bryan]

He.

[Will Verdell]

He can see everything, but just not

[Diego]

where the kids are. Except for the dodos. Right?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah.

[Diego]

Okay. Yeah, I couldn't understand that, but. Okay.

[Sabrina Bryan]

But I thought, like, what the. What was happening from the point of view of the. Of the dodo birds?

[Will Verdell]

That is what he's seeing on his

[Sabrina Bryan]

monitor did Onto his curriculum.

[Diego]

Gotcha.

[Will Verdell]

He sends a magic card on their way, making them disappear upon arrival and transporting them onto a colorful chess board. They wake, and I love.

[Diego]

I love a good Harry Potter kind of giant chess set. Big fan of that.

[Will Verdell]

They wake up tiny, noticing massive butterflies and angry flowers. And when the Mad Hatter announces checkmate, the chessboard lights up and an army of knights takes their places. Chessy says they are pawns in Maddox's game, and they have to capture the king to escape. Chloe realizes they need to play chess against the knights, and she takes the lead. She knows all about chess strategy. She moves them around one by one, but is quickly put in her place. Criticized for naive moves. To beat the villain, they have to

[Diego]

think like a villain.

[Will Verdell]

And this leads to our next song, Dancing with the Enemy. This one confused me a little bit, because I didn't. So she tries to really play chess,

[Diego]

and that doesn't work.

[Freddie Prinze Jr.]

Work.

[Diego]

So they fling the guy off the board because he. She puts him where the pawn. Where the. The pawn is supposed to go. So they say you have to think like a villain.

[Will Verdell]

And so a villain's thought is a dance off.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Sure.

[Will Verdell]

Okay. Why wouldn't the good guys think of a dance off? Dancing's good again. I'm all for a dance off. You know me. I'll wait in line for a dance off.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I think, in a sense, it's like the heroes and the good guys would think of, like, playing by the rules, playing by the rules.

[Diego]

Gotcha.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Like, the villains are like, no, we're just gonna fight them.

[Diego]

Gotcha.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Like, we're obviously just gonna go and fight.

[Diego]

Okay, gotcha. And you can't really fight in Disney. So you dance.

[Sabrina Bryan]

So you dance.

[Diego]

Copy that.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, of course.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, it makes sense. It's their theme song. To win, they start the dance battle against the Knights. And it's difficult fight. But the big highlight here is Red.

[Diego]

This is amazing to me.

[Will Verdell]

Red throws Chloe towards an evil flower, using her as bait without her knowing. Literally almost getting her killed before Hazel saves her. But it makes way for Red to take out the king. The kids all celebrate the victory, but Chloe's obviously affected by her best friend, Shady Boo. It's like she threw her towards like a giant spiked. Oh my.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I would be pissed.

[Will Verdell]

Hell yes.

[Sabrina Bryan]

This would be the end of the friendship. There would no other need for me to like help you find your mom. Any that your mom can. Your mom could shove it. I don't care. You literally just almost killed me. Yeah, sorry, Red.

[Will Verdell]

I agree with you 100%. Not even like a trust me or you gotta trust me just throws her towards danger. I mean it was like that are

[Sabrina Bryan]

like, let's go together. And then like whoop. And I was like, damn, that was harsh.

[Lisa]

Ow.

[Sabrina Bryan]

No, no, seriously harsh. Red, we're done.

[Will Verdell]

Seriously, we're done.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Red, have a great time.

[Will Verdell]

You literally just tried to help.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I will not be helping you.

[Will Verdell]

Yep.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Sorry, girl.

[Diego]

I agree with you 100%.

[Will Verdell]

That was rough.

[Sabrina Bryan]

That was rough.

[Diego]

Yep.

[Will Verdell]

Meanwhile, back at his makeshift castle headquarters, the Mad Hatter is furious. He can't believe he's been beaten. So he sends a dodo bird back out into the jungle to finally find that pocket watch. And on the chessboard, Pink and Red find one of Alice in Wonderland's cookies. A cool little callback. While Chloe continues to pout, Max tries to make her feel better, but still feels like Red was going to sacrifice her. Which she was.

[Lisa]

She did. Yep.

[Will Verdell]

The group decides to eat the cookie and most return to normal size. Pink keeps a piece for later, but they leave behind small versions of a Smee brother, Felix and Robbie. And again, it's like, why did you bring Felix and Robbie now back on the way to. It is. It's true. It was just.

[Diego]

They were kind of unnecessary characters.

[Will Verdell]

They were now back on their way to the Mad Hatter, the kids know they'll need to stop and rest. The dodo is still on their tail

[Diego]

when they eventually make it to the

[Will Verdell]

small cottage in the White Rabbit's house. He's not home, but he's left a note that says offer an important date.

[Diego]

Be back next spring.

[Will Verdell]

So they decide to squat in his house. But Max has other plans. He's going to sneak out and go find his dad. He asks Hazel to cover for him. All while Chloe and Red finally have it out about Their issues now at a crossroads with their supposed best friend, Red takes a walk with Louise in the beautiful, glowing mushroom garden. Red complains all she ever wanted was to leave home and find her own path.

[Diego]

And yet here she is in Wonderland.

[Will Verdell]

Louise encourages her to accept her true self. She'd make a good princess. But again, she is a good princess because he grew up in this timeline

[Diego]

where the Queen of hearts has always been good. So she's always been a good princess. That's the thing that's weird.

[Will Verdell]

Then he trips into her arms, and they have a romantic moment. Will they kiss? No, they're gonna sing. And it's our next song. For Once in My Life, a poppy duet between two possible lovebirds. And of course, a singing, dancing duet like this between lovers in Disney is the equivalent of Third page. So, Sabrina, what did you think of this song?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay, here's the flip. I loved the choreography in this. I loved that it looked very Dancing with the Stars, like Slash, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers. Like, I just, like, loved that aspect of this routine. But the song didn't stick with me. I still can't hear it right now. The song didn't stick with me. And I've rewatched them quite a bit because Monroe is again on her Descendants kick. So that's what my life will be for the next couple months.

[Will Verdell]

Yes.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Hopefully until Camp Rock comes and then we'll move on. But the song doesn't stick. But the movement. I love seeing so much of this, like, World of Wonderland. And then I loved. I loved this duet. They did it great. They were great partners.

[Will Verdell]

The choreography in this movie seemed to

[Diego]

be a step up from the choreography in the last movie all the way around from the.

[Sabrina Bryan]

It's a different choreographer.

[Will Verdell]

Well, yeah, you could tell.

[Diego]

I mean, it was.

[Will Verdell]

It seemed not the same, but more Kenny Ortega esque than the.

[Diego]

Than the last show with the depth

[Will Verdell]

of a lot of the dancing and some of the bigger numbers and even these two dancing together just.

[Diego]

I agree, it was very classic.

[Sabrina Bryan]

But again, I think a lot of that has to do with how big the cast is. We watched the two girls go around the whole time, so we were getting a lot of, like, duet stuff. And, like, there's only so much you can do with that. Right.

[Will Verdell]

And so there's so much you can duet.

[Diego]

Thank you.

[Sabrina Bryan]

There you go. Trademarking that, trademarking that. And so, you know, this. This is why I think there might have been some thought of bringing kind of some extra characters that don't have big roles, but, like, background dancers. Essentially kind of becoming like, you know. Yeah. Character, background, stuff for the routine.

[Jason]

Good idea.

[Freddie Prinze Jr.]

Hey, I'm Freddie Prinze Jr. And I talk a lot about twists, turns, and the unexpected moments that happen inside the ring on Wrestling with Freddy. But the one thing I've learned, never turn your back on your opponents in the ring unless you have your tag partner with you. It helps to have backup, like real life backup, the kind you can call when life throws you something unexpected. That's when I recommend you reach out to your State Farm agent. They can help you choose the coverage you need before anything happens, and they're ready to help you file a claim when it does. When it's something out of the ordinary or just part of everyday life, it's good to know someone's in your corner. Like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. And thanks to State Farm support of Michael Tura Podcast Network, you can catch new episodes of Wrestling with Freddy wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Enrique Santos]

Hola. Enrique Santos here. Let me ask you something. Tucarro no estaco mu Antes. Used to feel smooth. Confuerza y ahora tamedio. Underwhelming. Tranquilo.

[Will Verdell]

It happens.

[Enrique Santos]

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[Will Verdell]

Airtasker get anything done.

[Family Wizard Advertiser]

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[Will Verdell]

We are back at basecamp. Pink brings Chloe cake that looks like a teacup. Pink is now self conscious that everyone just thinks she's sweet, but Chloe calls her thoughtful. The two girls connect over living in Red's shadow.

[Diego]

Who does?

[Will Verdell]

Who eventually does return, smiling alongside her new boy toy. But instead of being able to bask in her crush's glow, Chloe and Red once again clash. Chloe has had enough. She doesn't feel like a teammate or a friend. And they both admit they're drowning in this new reality. Instead of working it out, their beef just gets more personal. We're back at the castle. The Queen and Cinderella are still working through the ivy. The two old pals reminisce about their past. And the Queen is upset with herself for letting Maddox return from the isle of the Lost. They agree they need to just start thinking for themselves and not just doing what everyone expects them to do. This leads to a song. Rita Ora and Brandy intermixed with childhood flashbacks for a song called the Girl I Used to Be. It's two heavyweights singing together.

[Diego]

I'm not even gonna ask you. I know. Great ballad. I felt the same way. It was awesome.

[Will Verdell]

Yep, it was great.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Finally. Cause we did not get to hear Brandi sing. Sing. Sing in the last one.

[Diego]

And she can sing.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Sing, sing.

[Diego]

Yes, she can.

[Sabrina Bryan]

We gave her this step and this is what I think we have. I myself at least have been waiting for.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, she was great.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Thank you. My list of things that needed to be done.

[Will Verdell]

Check.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Got another one. Check.

[Lisa]

Check.

[Will Verdell]

Dog.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Check. Thank you very much.

[Diego]

Yep, I agree.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Queen Brandy forever.

[Diego]

It was awesome.

[Will Verdell]

Once the song ends, Max has made it to his dad's to get the Auriculum and is immediately greeted by Chessy, who thinks the invention has empowered Max. Max, not hurt him. Plus, the Auriculum can answer any questions Max might have about his father.

[Diego]

Like why he wants this thing so

[Will Verdell]

bad and what did he see in high school? These queries strike up the machine and we see flashbacks. It's the reality before the girls used the pocket watch when his dad wasn't a villain. And none of this makes any sense

[Diego]

whatsoever from a time travel standpoint.

[Will Verdell]

You've changed the past. If he could go back and watch what his life was before the time travel, why would he not then stay? Good.

[Diego]

Because he Knew he was good then, right?

[Will Verdell]

No, it just gets so convoluted when you change the past. You have a whole new timeline. You can't now look into the old

[Diego]

timeline and see what it was like. That's just.

[Will Verdell]

That gets so convoluted that it's like, well then why. Why did you realize you weren't a villain and you were so close to your son? Why didn't you like that? Why wasn't. It's just. It gets too much.

[Diego]

You just have to.

[Will Verdell]

It should have been flashbacks from this timeline of him seeing the Flash in high school and then being obsessed with the watch so much that at that point.

[Diego]

But no, he's still good.

[Will Verdell]

And none of it made any sense to me.

[Diego]

This is where time travel just gets

[Sabrina Bryan]

a flash of seeing that it was the two of them recognizing Chloe, that it's them and they have the pocket watch and they had something to do with this timeline.

[Diego]

It's just that this is where time travel just gets weird.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, but he sees that he wasn't the villain, the queen was. He realizes what the girls have done. They ruined his family. That infuriates Max, who destroys the Iriculum in a rage. If he gets his hands on that pocket watch, he can make things. Make things right. He finds a book of dark enchantments

[Diego]

and gets right to work.

[Will Verdell]

On the other side of town, Chloe's still depressed, walking among the rabbit houses and singing a new song, Heartless.

[Diego]

An angst ridden track where she's eventually joined by Max.

[Will Verdell]

It's a song that's filled with revenge and leads to these two deciding to team up again. Another duo, another song.

[Diego]

What'd you think?

[Will Verdell]

There were a lot of songs in this.

[Diego]

In this movie.

[Sabrina Bryan]

This one could have been cut in half for me both of honestly, even the one before. As much as I love the dancing, I felt like these two songs could have been cut in half.

[Diego]

Right.

[Will Verdell]

Or was there a way to maybe combine them?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Right. Yes.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah. Maybe it's the one. Do the one couple singing about how they're falling in love while the other

[Diego]

couple is singing about how they're becoming a villain.

[Will Verdell]

Like that could have been a cool combination or something. I don't know, but I agree with you.

[Diego]

It could have been.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

The song ends with CL by the way. All the singing.

[Diego]

Phenomenal.

[Sabrina Bryan]

So good.

[Will Verdell]

Phenomenal.

[Sabrina Bryan]

These are incredible artists.

[Will Verdell]

I'm going to say something that might be a little controversial. I think this cast all around are

[Diego]

better singers than the original cast of Descendants. Well, I know controversial, but I Do.

[Will Verdell]

The girl who plays Red has an incredible voice. Incredible.

[Sabrina Bryan]

So does Lumani.

[Will Verdell]

So does Lumani. So again, so does Lumani. So, I mean, they're. I would say, as a group, these

[Diego]

are better singers than the original cast of Descendants. Do you agree or disagree?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I don't know if I really remember much of anyone else besides Sophia Carson

[Will Verdell]

and Dove Cameron, who are phenomenal singers, by the way.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes.

[Will Verdell]

Phenomenal singers.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I am not taking away from them at all in that regard. I don't know if I. I agree, but I'm trying to think of the other. Like, when you're saying the full cast, I'm trying to think of the other ones that. How much they sing. And I don't think they sing that much. I don't. I don't feel like they got the.

[Will Verdell]

They just seem like. They seem different to me.

[Diego]

I don't know. I don't know.

[Will Verdell]

And I could be wrong. I could go back. I haven't watched the original Descendants in a while.

[Diego]

I could go back and watch.

[Will Verdell]

Be like, nope, I'm totally wrong.

[Diego]

Sophia Carson and Dove Cameron. Way better. But I. I don't know. I don't know.

[Will Verdell]

These seem like they're very strong singers. It's very strong with Rita Ora, with Brandy, with every.

[Diego]

I mean, it's.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Well, I mean, you don't know. No, you do not get to add those two in.

[Will Verdell]

Like, why not? It's the cast of singers. That's what I'm saying. I think it's a better cast singers

[Sabrina Bryan]

than the last one who played Maleficent. Like, oh, yeah, you had.

[Will Verdell]

You had Kristin Chenoweth. I get it.

[Lisa]

You had her.

[Will Verdell]

So who do you think's a better singer, Brandi or Kristin Chenoweth?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Oh, they're so different. That's like apples and oranges. Not what I asked Brandi, but, like, Kristen's like Broadway. Like, it's different. Like, I mean, she brought character to her voice versus Brandi's got just, like an incredible.

[Will Verdell]

Maybe that's what I'm hearing. Then maybe it's. Maybe the original cast seem more theatrical. Broadway big. Yeah. Whereas this could be the difference. Seems more like I want to hear

[Diego]

them on the radio singing.

[Will Verdell]

Does that make sense?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah. And I think that that is a big difference in. In the kinds of musicals that it has now transformed into.

[Will Verdell]

Right.

[Lisa]

Like.

[Will Verdell]

Right. Like, I want to see.

[Sabrina Bryan]

That was Kenny Ortega.

[Will Verdell]

Maybe that's what it is, is I want to see Kristen Chenoweth. I want to see Kristin Chenoweth on stage.

[Diego]

I don't want to buy a Kristin Chenoweth album.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay.

[Will Verdell]

Does that make sense?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

So it's. And again, she's incredible. But I'm not going to be rocking

[Diego]

Kristin Chenoweth in my car.

[Will Verdell]

Whereas I could see, you know, and

[Diego]

again, not my type of music, but

[Will Verdell]

I could see these singers with their

[Diego]

songs, putting out albums and listening to it as you're driving somewhere kind of thing.

[Lisa]

Yes.

[Diego]

It's like a different kind of vibe.

[Will Verdell]

So maybe that's what. Maybe one isn't better or worse.

[Diego]

You're right. Maybe it is just that they're different styles.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

And the new style seems more hip and fresh than.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And the original were our favorite types of style with Kenny Ortega. You know what I mean?

[Diego]

That's 100. Yeah, maybe that's what it is. Maybe better is the wrong. Yeah, maybe that's what it is. More modern. Maybe that's the word I'm looking for. But anyway.

[Will Verdell]

The song ends with Chloe indulge in one of Max's enchantments and putting on a magical blue diamond bracelet, transforming her into a real baddie villain with a knife. Apparently she's ready to stab Red, which

[Diego]

has it coming after throwing her into the thing. But anyway, no, she doesn't want to stab her. She just wants wants to take control.

[Will Verdell]

And the next morning, Red, Pink and Luis are waiting for Chloe and Max to return. Pink gets why Chloe is mad.

[Diego]

She also feels neglected by Red.

[Will Verdell]

And just as they're about to have it out, guess who comes back? It's Max and a made over Chloe. Skipping through the yard, racing to the Queen's hedge maze, Chloe announces she's now cruel, selfish and ruthless. Thanks to Max, they flipped the switch. They are villains now. Max reveals he knows all about the watch and the damage it did. Red says she never meant for any of this to happen. As the two new villains run off

[Diego]

into the maze with Red and Louise chasing after them.

[Will Verdell]

Pink, once again left out, arrives just in time to see the maze close. Inside the maze, Red and Louise try to find the other two but just keep running into ivy walls. They hear the cackling of Chloe, but the maze is just too big. Luis then holds open a closing wall to help Red through, but once she clears it, it closes on him and she promises to come back.

[Diego]

And then doesn't.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Never does.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Spanish Advertiser]

Nope.

[Will Verdell]

She literally sees him at the end and is like, oh hey, you made it. Never goes back.

[Sabrina Bryan]

You're so right. He pops up and she's like, you made it out. And it was like yeah, yeah.

[Will Verdell]

No thanks to You.

[Lisa]

You.

[Will Verdell]

Exactly. It's so good to see you. I want to say, Luis, this little

[Sabrina Bryan]

baby romance we had over, done, done.

[Honey German]

Yep.

[Will Verdell]

I thought the same thing.

[Diego]

Yep.

[Will Verdell]

Anyway, now, alone in the maze, Red starts to hear voices. It's all the hatred she's caused. In the movie. She sees Chessy, who breaks it to her. She asks for all of this. She ruined Max's life. She got her mom captured, betrayed her best friend, and left her dude stuck in a shrub. She's kind of a.

[Diego]

All of that is accurate. Oh, I'm sorry.

[Will Verdell]

A fluffin Birch.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes. Thank you.

[Will Verdell]

Red runs off to feel bad for herself and sing her next song. Hey, do I suck a power ballad? No, it's called who I Am Questioning her identity and Motives is still Stuck in the Goddamn maze.

[Diego]

This was a real showcase for her voice. This is the one where I was like, okay, she can really sing.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, she can. Yeah. But at this point, too, there's that, like, line of, like, I'm sort of sing songed out a little bit.

[Will Verdell]

I agree with you 100%.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I'm sort of needing things to start wrapping up. Wrapping up. Let's get to this.

[Will Verdell]

Through this maze. Yeah, get through this maze.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And it was one of those moments that I. Every time the act. Not every time, but this was like, remember when I said that about Vanessa Hudgens in High School Musical when she was doing her ballad in the hallway for me when I was doing It's Over, And I'm like, you can kind of wait.

[Diego]

Still my favorite Sabrina moment ever. It's my favorite thing ever.

[Sabrina Bryan]

You can kind of like, she's, like, throwing against the shrubs, and it's like, you're not really believing that you're gonna do. You're gonna have to do this, but you have to do it because the directors told you to and the choreographers got it set that you're just going to throw yourself in the shrubs, but you're kind of embarrassed.

[Diego]

Yeah, I agree.

[Will Verdell]

By the way, I'm not sure that I told you this a little bit. At my prom.

[Diego]

I have a giant screen, and we're going to be showing your. I can't wait. The tower opening up the prom Leave.

[Sabrina Bryan]

You can't.

[Will Verdell]

The tower opening it up.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I will fall over and die in a corner. Don't you do that to me, Will.

[Diego]

I can't wait. It's going to be great.

[Will Verdell]

Once the song ends, she finds a tin case that says Pink and Red's treasure. And it sets off a flashback of the two sisters as kids playing and eventually running off into the maze and hiding the case. And this makes no sense. She did not grow up with her sister. She would have no memory of her sister. That's the whole point. So the idea that she picks up this case and now remembers growing up in this timeline doesn't make any sense at all. So there are memories that she never made because she's from a different timeline. Return. This is why you don't mess with time travel. Even if the sister's new to her, they have a history. She holds the tin to her heart and yells for Pink.

[Diego]

She needs her.

[Will Verdell]

Pink hears the cry to help and finally feels needed. She demands the maze open for her and it does. They rush into each other's arms, finishing the who I Am song together. Pink reveals she still has the Alice's cookies in her pockets. She eats a piece and sprouts up 20ft. Back at the castle, Cinderella and the Queen have finally found some daylight to approach the Mad Hatter. He breaks the bad news. The pocket watch is almost his. Max and Chloe find the vault, which was hidden in the maze. But Red gets there at the same time, now accompanied by her massive sister, which is very cool, who starts stomping and sending everyone through a sinkhole. Red tells Pink to get the others. And now Max can't find the stopwatch. Chloe, who retrieves it and looks madder than ever. Red begs her to think this through while Max tells her to press the button. The pain will disappear. It is a real standoff. Chloe scoffs. She's not doing this for Max or his dad. She's seen the past. She wants to look to the future,

[Diego]

where she will be on top, full of power. She is full villain mode now.

[Will Verdell]

Red continues to try and knock some sense into her. She admits she hasn't been a good friend, but she believes in Chloe. If she presses the button, they'll lose

[Diego]

everything, including each other.

[Will Verdell]

Chloe's heard enough, but yet they're not done singing. Red starts singing We'll Figure it out together, which turns into the two friends harmonizing. They grab each other's hands and Chloe has come to her senses. She pulls the armband off and hugs Red. Back at the castle, Maddox is enraged. Cinderella and the Queen watch from beyond the Ivy, telling him it's time to go, but he's not quite done. Throwing one more card through the castle window. It rockets to the girls, knocking down both Chloe and Red and sending the pocket watch to the floor. A nearby concrete dragon kind of comes to life and is ready to attack Max, who's now pinned down by a huge rock. The girls spring into action to free him as the dragon falls closer to them. Just as Max slides out, the stone dragon crumbles to the floor.

[Diego]

Thousands of pounds just missing him.

[Will Verdell]

Max realizes the girls just saved him and thanks them. They all look to the pocket watch on the ground and Red picks it up. Chloe wonders what they'll do with it now. Red said there's no going back to the past. The watch has done enough damage. But Red promises she won't abandon Max or his death. And with that, she throws the watch into a well. And I was just. I just realized maybe she didn't know

[Diego]

the well was there before because the sinkhole opened it up. So this could have been a secret place that she didn't know about before.

[Clorox Advertiser]

Right.

[Will Verdell]

She throws the watch into the well and hears a voice whisper, fates, sealed

[Diego]

waters, deep secrets here are ours to keep. Which is just a really shitty fortune cookie.

[Will Verdell]

Mad Hatter, by the way, if you flipped that over, it said 7, 19, 21, 31, 16. And now he's even. He's now in even more trouble because a 20 foot pink is at the Mad Hatter's door. The remaining crew barge in and surround him. Hazel free Cinderella and the Queen. Then a fallen chandelier traps the Mad Hatter for good. The queen takes back her cards and uses one to return her castle back to form. Red and Chloe run in to hug their moms. The queens come face to face with the Mad Hatter. Furious that he broke into their home and threatened her daughter. She yells, off. Off with your head. Then she gasps, where did that anger come from?

[Diego]

Very funny. Call back to the first movie.

[Will Verdell]

Just as the guards come to take him away, Red steps in and says it's all her fault. She was too afraid to disappoint her mom and says everyone deserves a do over. The Queen changes course and saves the Mad Hatter's life. But he will stay in custody for now. And by that literally, she means he stays in that. Like they throw a party and everything

[Diego]

and he's just under the chandelier. They don't even move him to another thing. He's just. Literally. That's where he lives now. Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

The mom calls for a tea party to celebrate and the entire cast congregates in the ballroom. Everyone makes peace, from Hazel to Chloe to Cinderella and Chloe to Chloe and Red to Red and Louise, who are now holding hands like a couple. The Queen of Hearts toasts to the rescuers, both heroes and villains working together. She is forever proud of them. Fireworks erupt from the castle and the fairy godmother announces it's time to bibbidi

[Diego]

boppity bust a move.

[Will Verdell]

Which leads to our big finale song, Go Live it. It's all about the idea that if you're perfect or messy or anything in

[Diego]

between, it's time to just go and live your life.

[Will Verdell]

So it includes everybody in the movie, Even the dancing chess pieces.

[Diego]

What did you think?

[Will Verdell]

Big ending number.

[Diego]

Do you think they closed it out right?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I did.

[Lisa]

Me too.

[Diego]

This is a good one.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I liked this one a lot. I thought it was. I thought it was great. I loved the chance. And actually the actors, when I talked to them, they said this was one of the most difficult ones because I can see that a lot of the girls were on the table. They were in like kind of heels or high, high shoe. High heeled boots. And that they. I loved it because we are finally seeing them in something different than what they've been wearing the entire movie.

[Diego]

Right.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I love the costumes in this movie. And they said that actually made it difficult. They were finally like, able to like move around in their old costumes and then they had to put these on and it was like, again, just like starting over, adjusting to, trying to like, get to like actually move and get used to it.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah.

[Diego]

Dancing and all these costumes must be tough.

[Will Verdell]

But yeah, this is a good.

[Sabrina Bryan]

But it did.

[Diego]

I thought it was a fun way to end it.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Super visual, lots of energy, and really just like put a great button on the awesome music in this movie.

[Diego]

I agree 100%.

[Will Verdell]

As the song ends, we've seen Chessy who declares she hates happy endings. It's time to start some new mischief. We cut to the end of the party. Everyone's left. And now a regular sized Pink is alone in the ballroom. She notices a shiny object on the floor which we can't really make out. She happily places it in the tin can of treasures she's made as a kid with Red and then skips off opening some sort of new mystery for descendant six. Chessy appears again, reciting the infamous line that always ends a Descendants movie.

[Diego]

You didn't think that was the end of the story, did you?

[Will Verdell]

We get our final credits with some dancing highlights, and that is our movie.

[Diego]

What do you think she put in the tin?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I have no idea.

[Diego]

Me neither. I don't think they did either, frankly. And they'll figure it out as they

[Sabrina Bryan]

do the next one, right?

[Honey German]

Hola, it's honey German here. Let's be honest in our comunida Especially us mujeres.

[Will Verdell]

We do it all.

[Honey German]

We work, we take care of la familia. We hustle. But even the strongest need a break. That's why I love talking about real stuff on my podcast. Gracias. Come again. Because we're all out here doing our best and sometimes having aling into esquina Eso ac like a State Farm agent. They're the kind of gente that shows up, listens, and helps you get the coverage you need. It's not about needing help. It's about knowing you deserve to feel supported. Comon buen besino State Farm esta ay. State Farm proudly supports my cultura podcast network. Escucha to shows favorito. Wherever you listen to your podcasts, I'm

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Spanish Advertiser]

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[Will Verdell]

Pour it in and power on Seafoam.

[Clorox Advertiser]

Alright, real talk. Have you ever walked into a room and insulin was clean? La narisno falla migente. It's not what you see, it's what you smell. For me, a home isn't really done until it feels fresh, welcoming and peaceful. Like somebody went through, wiped everything down and left behind nothing but good vibes. Mm. Ah, eso. That's where Clorox Intiva makes all the difference. Clorox Intiva disinfecting wipes gives you the Clorox clean we all Trust, killing 99.9% of viruses and bacteria when used as directed. But the cherry blossom scent, that's what really makes it hit different. It's light, floral and fresh without being overpowering. And the best part is that it lingers. So even after you're done cleaning, your space still feels inviting. And with Cloroxantiva, you get the whole package. Trust the disinfecting power and a scent that elevates your whole home. Try Cloroxentiva in Cherry Blossom today. Look for it in disinfecting wipes, toilet cleaners and bleach online or at a retailer near you. Use as Directed cleaning starts with one

[Jenny Garth]

small task and suddenly it's the whole house. Luckily, there's Airtasker. Post your task, set your budget and choose a tasker to help. From carpet cleaning to finally tackling the junk drawer. Go to airtasker.com or download the app Airtasker.

[Will Verdell]

Get anything done.

[Family Wizard Advertiser]

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[Will Verdell]

can we do some real reviews?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes.

[Will Verdell]

I have the five star this week and it is from Josiah R. 22. And keep in mind all these reviews

[Diego]

have been written in like the last week, which I love.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Right?

[Will Verdell]

Josiah R. 22 says the best movie ever. Please watch this. Please go to Disney and search the movie and go watch it. This movie will be the best. Thank you so much. And don't give it a bad review. This movie has very good soundtracks and music. Thank you so much. Thank you. And the rap vibes, so good.

[Diego]

So amazing. Five stars.

[Will Verdell]

Sabrina, what do you got?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Loved it. They loved it. All right, this one is the opposite. We've got the one star from Aiden, Wade, Shirley. Sorry. This movie is genuinely bad. The story makes no sense with this. I love this. Chatgpt Crypt Why the hell are we flirting with someone we met five minutes ago? This is what you get when you cast a bunch of Nepo babies.

[Diego]

Crazy. This is not a one star movie. For the record.

[Honey German]

No.

[Diego]

On any stretch of the imagination.

[Sabrina Bryan]

This is not any metric.

[Diego]

This is not a one star movie.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Not at all.

[Will Verdell]

All right, so we are.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Now I'm ready for our feature.

[Will Verdell]

Here we go. Sabrina's favorite portion of the program. Our feature, I got five on it

[Diego]

is what it's called.

[Will Verdell]

We've got the first ever fifth installment in the DCOM franchise. So we're playing off the number five

[Diego]

similar to what we recently did for four.

[Will Verdell]

We're going to be given a list of things or people and we have to finish that list. So it became the list becomes five.

[Diego]

Does that make sense? We're getting four. We have to make it five and three out of five wins. So here we go.

[Will Verdell]

Who are we Playing with today, you have Mikayla. Yay. Michaela. Here we go.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Kayla.

[Will Verdell]

Number one, Scary Spice, Sporty Spice, Posh

[Diego]

Spice, Ginger Spice, and my fave. Who do you got? Sabrina.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Do you have it?

[Diego]

Of course I have it.

[Will Verdell]

She's my favorite one.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Baby Spice.

[Will Verdell]

Of course. Baby's my favorite. There we go. When. When to become one. There we go. All right, number two, Michael Jackson. Jermaine Jackson. Marlon Jackson, Jackie Jackson.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And does it have Jermaine?

[Will Verdell]

They have Jermaine.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I don't know. I don't know.

[Will Verdell]

Isn't it Tito? Oh, yeah.

[Honey German]

Yes.

[Will Verdell]

Tito Jackson. There we go. Number three.

[Diego]

Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic. And they're all oceans, obviously.

[Jenny Garth]

Yes.

[Diego]

What's the fifth ocean?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Is there a Southern Ocean?

[Will Verdell]

M. Yes. Yeah. Southern Ocean, right?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yes.

[Honey German]

Correct.

[Diego]

All right, here we go.

[Will Verdell]

Number four. Sight, Smell, Hearing, Touch, and.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Oh, my God. Taste.

[Will Verdell]

Hey, taste is correct, right?

[Lisa]

Yes.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yep.

[Will Verdell]

We won. And here's the last one. Number five.

[Diego]

Scooby, Shaggy. I should probably read it this way.

[Will Verdell]

Um, Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Velma, and Wilma. No, Wilma. Wilma's the Flintstones.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Oh, Velma. Velma.

[Will Verdell]

They have Velma?

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

Wilma.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Wait, Scooby. Is Velma the redhead?

[Diego]

Nope. Velma.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay, we're missing the red, the orange.

[Diego]

So who's the redhead in the purple?

[Sabrina Bryan]

In the purple dress?

[Will Verdell]

You're gonna hear it and be like, damn it.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I know. I don't know it.

[Diego]

I'm about to go five for five. Sabrina.

[Will Verdell]

Daphne.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Oh, no, I really don't know that.

[Lisa]

Yay.

[Will Verdell]

All right, can we do some Sabrina Cs?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay. We did most of my stuff. This is more. So, like, figuring out where we're going with the sixth one.

[Diego]

Okay.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay. So there's a couple of things. I am wondering if it's possible that Red might be the new villain.

[Diego]

You think?

[Sabrina Bryan]

The reasoning why is in the first one I saw. Remember it? We talked about it in the last episode with. With this movie is we talk about how she saw, like, the future and she's sitting on the throne with, like, her mom.

[Diego]

Right?

[Will Verdell]

Yeah. They see her in the.

[Diego]

Right.

[Will Verdell]

But that was the original timeline, right?

[Sabrina Bryan]

Well, yeah, she changed that. Well, the. But this is what I'm saying. So the. The pocket watch. So I. I saw something about one thing because my algorithm. Algorithm right now is, like, flooded with this movie, obviously.

[Diego]

Right.

[Sabrina Bryan]

And there was one thing that spun me off, and then it kind of made me start, like, looking back and, like, going on chat rooms or whatever, you know, researching a little bit. There's, like, the time, the Watch. Is like, sparkling. It doesn't, like, shut down. It's like sparkling when it's in the water. So, like, I'm wondering if they set the time thing, which will probably kill you.

[Will Verdell]

God, I hope they. I think they're gonna. I think they're done with time travel.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Advertiser]

They have to.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Okay, they might be. But if it isn't and it's something that maybe it screws it back up. Cause how great would it be if Red came back as a villain? Like a true villain?

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, I think they've done that.

[Diego]

I think they did it already with the villain, though. I know.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Is that the third one is Pink's movie.

[Diego]

Yes.

[Sabrina Bryan]

That's why she's the one that picks it up. This is going to be her. Her story. Right. Like, as in the last one with the zombies. Like, we picked up new characters. They're going to take it this next movie. So I think this next movie is going to be Pink. And I honestly. Because the straight hair. So she wears. She. The only time she has straight hair is in that flashback. The rest of the movie last time was with. With curly hair. All this movie was curly hair. Except for when they're going down the rabbit hole.

[Diego]

Yeah. She sees herself.

[Sabrina Bryan]

You see Chloe, and Chloe sees herself with straight hair. And then Red sees herself in a mirror with straight hair. So I'm like thinking, okay, yeah, because

[Lisa]

they didn't solve why Red saw herself then because they didn't see the future that she'd be evil. And that came true. And Red still saw that. That same future.

[Sabrina Bryan]

So you're on this with me, Lisa.

[Lisa]

Kind of.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, kind of.

[Lisa]

My theory is that Leomani's character picked up maybe that stone from the bracelet that turned Chloe evil because we just

[Sabrina Bryan]

saw them kind of castle.

[Lisa]

Was that in the castle?

[Will Verdell]

It wasn't in the castle. She picked it up outside and put it in the.

[Diego]

In the little.

[Will Verdell]

In the tin. The tin thing.

[Sabrina Bryan]

It wasn't in the castle after the party. Some. Something cost.

[Will Verdell]

Chessy would have brought it in.

[Lisa]

Yeah. But, like, she could have dropped something for her or something. And that bracelet just kind of broke. But I feel like when you're talking about time travel, it's like, well, the only person that knows at the end is Matt Max. Right. That the girls time traveled.

[Diego]

Right, Right.

[Lisa]

I'm thinking Leamani's character, Pink, is now going to figure out that she wasn't supposed to exist and, like, have her little rage moment. That's where I.

[Will Verdell]

My theory was they do time travel again.

[Lisa]

I know they need to Stop it.

[Diego]

But I'm out.

[Will Verdell]

I can't. I can't. With more time travel. I can't. Now, if they were smart, they would really lean into. Because there's been years and years and

[Diego]

years now where people have wanted them to do another. Honey, I shrunk the kids.

[Will Verdell]

So if they were smart and you're in Alice in Wonderland, something happens where she takes Alice's original potion. And I think Pink and a group of people become super small and the entire thing is them trying to get back to the castle.

[Diego]

Honey, I shrunk the kids style.

[Will Verdell]

While Red.

[Diego]

While Red tries to save them. That would be.

[Will Verdell]

I also don't think it's going to be fully Pink's story. I think it'll be about Pink. But if they stick to the regular way they do it, the stars of the.

[Diego]

Of the series get three.

[Will Verdell]

So Red. Red will still get three. And then at the end of the third one, they'll pass it off to

[Diego]

Pink and her friends in the new.

[Sabrina Bryan]

That's. That's why I think Red. It would be a crazy switch to have Red then go back and be.

[Will Verdell]

But she started evil already. I feel like they'd be. Taking her back again would be weird.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah, but I don't. The straight hair to me is like their symbol of evil. And we didn't get an understanding of what ends up happening when she sees her in this mirror.

[Will Verdell]

Well, it could. Maybe it's not a symbol of evil. Maybe what it is is just a

[Diego]

symbol of her on the throne.

[Will Verdell]

So maybe the next one, her mom,

[Diego]

she becomes the queen and is gonna

[Will Verdell]

all about the coronation.

[Diego]

And maybe Pink. Maybe they're right. Maybe Pink, like goes in the past

[Will Verdell]

or something and sees that she wasn't supposed to exist.

[Lisa]

So another fun plot that I saw that people want to happen is finding out who the heck the other parents are. So they mentioned Gaston, like Queen of Hearts hooking up with Gaston at some point. So is she. Is he Red's dad? Like there's all, you know, the one parent for a lot of these people and you don't know the other.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah.

[Lisa]

So that's also something. Maybe they go kind of like how in three she found Hades, but like, as her dad.

[Diego]

Yeah.

[Lisa]

Like, could you send the rest of them to kind of figure out.

[Sabrina Bryan]

That would be cool. That would be cool. Also, I thought of Gaston. The last thing I was, was I was gonna bring up again how I didn't know Luis was Luis's son, but. And I thought he was Gaston's. But then I remembered Didn't Gaston die in Beauty and the Beast? He, like, falls off that cliff.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, you don't. I don't think.

[Lisa]

You don't know evil queens die in and stuff. So it's like they.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

The only one you knew was dead and dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead was Mufasa.

[Diego]

Like, you knew Mufasa was dead, but

[Will Verdell]

everybody else, it was like he fell, but you didn't really see him anyway.

[Sabrina Bryan]

All right, interesting. That was it. So that was. My main thing was just to see where we're gonna go. Let's see, my friend, the Descendants franchise. I.

[Will Verdell]

All right, well, now let's score the one. We just got our options. This week we're gonna go one to

[Diego]

ten, ten being the best, of course.

[Will Verdell]

This week we've got one to ten horny classmates, one to ten rainbow tabbies, one to ten robot dodo birds, zebra giraffes, weird SMEs. One out of ten trousers, one out of ten rabbit house squatters, one out of ten stabbers, one out of ten fortune cookies or one out of ten bibbidi boppity busted moves.

[Diego]

What do you got, Sabrina?

[Sabrina Bryan]

I think we should add our one out of ten. What was it?

[Will Verdell]

Fluffing Birches. Okay.

[Diego]

I love it.

[Will Verdell]

One out of ten Fluff and Birches. And I believe I have to go first this time. You went first last time. I like this movie. I love to criticize movies and go through a nitpick.

[Diego]

That's my favorite thing in the world. I do it with my favorite movies in the world.

[Will Verdell]

That's what I do. That being said, I liked this better

[Diego]

than the last one.

[Will Verdell]

And I didn't hate the last one. I thought this kind of got back to the basics. A little bit of Descendants. It looked great. I remember a lot of the songs. Some of them are forgettable, but I remember a lot of the songs. I thought the dancing was better. Like, the choreography was better. So I really liked this. And I'm giving this, a strong 8.5 fluffin birches. And I think it's worth an 8.5 fluffin Birches. Cass was great. Looking forward to the next one. Didn't have nearly. And all the problems I had with this movie are all the nitpicking stuff. The vast majority of them still stem from the time travel thing in the first one.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Will Verdell]

Other than that, I thought it was. It was a very good movie. I had a fun 95 minutes.

[Sabrina Bryan]

So what'd you say?

[Will Verdell]

8.5, 8.5 fluffin burches.

[Diego]

How about you?

[Sabrina Bryan]

All right, well, I have to start again saying that I have to veto my own scoring of the last one. I'm gonna take that one to an eight, whatever we did.

[Diego]

Okay.

[Sabrina Bryan]

This is a true nine. Fluffin Burches for me. I think the movie, the choreography, the visuals, the set having so many new characters, like you said, it just felt more like the old school Descendants movies, and I am here for it. I thought the choreography was so good in this one. The music is awesome. I, I, I, I know. I'm, like, making fun of that. Like, Monroe wants to hear it on repeat, but, like, I'm here for it. I'm cool. I am right there, like, doing the princess song with her. Loving to. Loving to rock out. I don't think the 9 is actually a full, like, reflection because of my experience. I think it's a nine because it's a great nine. Fluff and Burches movie.

[Will Verdell]

It's a good movie.

[Diego]

It really is.

[Sabrina Bryan]

I loved it and I had to watch it again a couple of times, and I'm okay with it, so.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, I, I agree. 100.

[Sabrina Bryan]

This is all day for me.

[Diego]

There you go.

[Will Verdell]

Well, thank you everybody so much for joining us. Go check out the movie. It is. It's a good movie. It really is a good movie.

[Diego]

You should go. You should go look at it.

[Will Verdell]

It was definitely better than the last one, and the last one wasn't bad. Next week, we are pivoting to another Disney franchise that is never gonna die,

[Diego]

and that is High School Musical.

[Will Verdell]

We're Gonna recap the 2011 spinoff movie for its standout star, Ashley Tisdale. It's Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure. One of our favorite characters got her own movie. So make sure to watch it now on Disney and get ahead of our podcast. And until then, we invite you to check out all the dedicated magical rewind feed where just all the recaps and interviews are housed. It's what we've done. We've done a ton of them. And again with this movie, don't forget

[Diego]

to go and check out Sabrina's interviews with the cast. They were great, and you can really get some insights into the film.

[Will Verdell]

And they're all ready to stream at any moment. Just subscribe and you're never going to miss another minute. Bye, everybody.

[Sabrina Bryan]

Bye.

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[Will Verdell]

I'm Diego.

[Jason]

I'm Jason.

[Will Verdell]

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[Jason]

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[Will Verdell]

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[Jason]

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[Will Verdell]

Punto.

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[Jason]

where to next?

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Advertiser]

All right, quick question. You trying to make your ride last longer or what?

[Enrique Santos]

Loki.

[Will Verdell]

Yeah, I just want it to run smooth. No stress.

[Jason]

Just turn the key and go.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Advertiser]

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[Will Verdell]

Oh, yeah, I've seen that.

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[Jason]

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[Jason]

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[Will Verdell]

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[Jason]

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[Will Verdell]

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[Jason]

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[Lisa]

Well.

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[Jason]

Yeah. Juvia tierra lo quesa con all Wheel drive disponibles de manejo. We're still outside. La Rogue. No. Relax. Merch on. Merge. Gear mics todo cabe.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Advertiser]

Load up. We out.

[Jason]

La Vente 26 Nissan Rogue. Echaparatodo Segmentation de Auto Pacific 2026 Nissan Rogue versus Los Ultimos Competitores en Hermercado Drentro La Categoria ex SUV mainstream midsize class. Exculiendo vehiculos electricos basado and ositios web del fabricante.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Advertiser]

Yo, remember that big match when the coach brought in a substitute player? Like in the 88th minute. See? Claro. Maguerdo.

[Will Verdell]

Dur came in conto da la presion.

[Jason]

Straight super sub energy. Everybody gassed. Tension el mil, then goal in extra time for the win.

[Seafoam Motor Treatment Advertiser]

Like when you call your State Farm agent. Sometimes a hero isn't the one who starts the game, but the one who shows up. Cuando mas importa?

[Jason]

That's a golasso right there. When life imitates football and the pressure

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rises, call up the right player. Call your State Farm agent like a good neighbor.

[Jason]

State Farm is there.

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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.