Review: Wicked Woods: A Descendants Halloween Story

Overview (Spoilers Below):

It’s Halloween night and Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay wander into some wicked woods and have a frightful time. After getting fed up with a trick or treating they head back home, but Evie scares everyone with tales of the headless horseman.

Everyone jumps with fright when they actually see it, though. It chases them through the woods, but Mal decides she’s had enough and uses her magic to stop it. Of course, it turns out to be merely a prank played by Uma and Audrey. However, the real headless horseman soon turns up and won’t be turned away until he gets some old fashioned butterscotch candy.

Our Take:

This was a cute short! I’m not a huge Descendants fan. I know the basics of what the franchise entails, but haven’t seen any of the recent movies. Not knowing any of their histories isn’t really a big deal when it comes to this short, though. It’s basically just a couple of gags strung together with a music video and marketed as a short story.

The overall plot is simple enough, with the typical prank that turns into the real thing that’s often a staple in spooky stuff. We get a little camaraderie on the side, too, which was cute. One of the main reasons to like the Descendants is the interesting characters who act heroically despite their heritage, and they play off each other well. It also has to be mentioned that Cameron Boyce’s passing looms over this, and seeing Carlos hanging out with his friends is bound to be a bittersweet experience for fans.

One of my favorite parts turned out to be the short musical interlude. I’m a sucker for random musical numbers appearing out of the blue, so this was tailored just for me. Also – the stop-motion dolls dancing! I’m not sure what I expected out of their musical performance, but the synchronized dancing was surprisingly good. They really committed! The visual style of the entire short was kinda offhandedly charming, like a kid-friendly version of Robot Chicken.

The actors mostly seem to have reprised their roles for this, and the performances were solid throughout. There were some funny lines like Carlos’ opening zinger: “Anyone notice that Halloween costumes here kinda just look like what we wear every day?” The truth is the truth. “Butterscotch? My favorite!” I like how the candy tied into the ending resolution. “But how’s he gonna eat it without ahead?” Carlos asking the real questions!

Overall, Wicked Woods: A Descendants Halloween Story was a cute little short story/musical montage that works well as an interlude to be played instead of a couple of commercials on Disney channel. While I wouldn’t really recommend anyone who isn’t a fan of the series to try it out, I’m sure it will go on to be enjoyed by fans as a bonus feature on the next Descendants DVD for years to come.