Disney's Descendants 2

Last week we watched the new Descendants 2 movie and the kids LOVED it! Yes, all 4 of my nieces and nephew LOVED this movie.

Plot:
Descendants 2 follows Mal, who is still at Auradon Prep and dating King Ben. At the beginning of the movie, several months after moving to Auradon, Mal starts to feel like she doesn't belong and that she doesn't know who she is anymore. She admits her issues to her friends, Evie, Carlos, and Jay, but they are content with their new lives in Auradon and do not wish to return to the Isle of the Lost. Evie scolds Mal for relying on her mother’s spell book to solve her issues. Ben eventually discovers Mal’s reliance on magic, and she comes clean about her insecurities, causing the two to have a falling out. Mal returns to the Isle, now ruled by her former friend Uma, the daughter of Ursula. Ben, Evie, Jay, and Carlos learn of Mal’s departure and sneak onto the island to find her, but one of Uma's gang recognizes them. Ben confronts Mal, who rejects his feelings for his sake and Auradon’s. Ben leaves dejected, only to be captured by Uma, who orders Mal and her friends to retrieve the Fairy Godmother’s wand or Ben dies. Carlos and Jay return to Auradon Prep, where they create a replica of the wand using a 3D printer. Uma speaks with Ben, bitter that she and the others were not chosen to go to Auradon. Ben takes this into account and invites her to Auradon, but Uma instead plots to make her own way there. Mal’s group return, handing over the fake wand in exchange for Ben, but Uma realises it is a forgery. The group flee back to Auradon, but Mal and Ben’s relationship is still on the rocks. Aboard a ship during the Cotillion, Ben stuns everyone by appearing with Uma, who he declares as his true love and announces he will destroy the barrier on the Isle. Jane unveils a stain glass display Ben commissioned to show his affection for Mal, who realises he loved her for who she was all along. Suspecting Uma has given Ben a love potion, Mal kisses him, breaking it. Uma leaps into the water, using her mother Ursula’s magic seashell to transform into an octopus, Mal fighting back by transforming into a dragon. Ben intervenes, quelling the battle, and Uma swims away despite his offer still standing. Mal and Ben reunite, Mal surrendering her spell book over to the Fairy Godmother. Mal and Evie request that Dizzy be allowed to attend Auradon Prep.

This movie was cute, as all Disney channel movies are. The music was fun, which is what my nieces and nephew liked the most (obviously!). They were singing and dancing to the songs, their favorite was What's My Name that Uma sang. Check out the videos of them having a blast! I feel like we will be buying this sound track to listen in the car!

Despicable Me 3

We just saw Despicable Me 3 and it was super cute! I took my 7 year old niece to see it and she loved it!

This movie follows Gru, who is now an agent for the Anti-Villain League (AVL) and he and his wife Lucy are sent to foil the plans of Balthazar Bratt, a supervillain who was a former child actor who portrayed a young supervillain in a popular television series before the show was cancelled as a result of his puberty, and his waning popularity led to him adopting his former persona to become an actual supervillain. Gru manages to stop Bratt from stealing a very expensive diamond, but is unable to capture him. As a result of constantly failing to capture Bratt, Gru and Lucy are fired from the AVL by it's new director Valerie Da Vinci.
The family is approached by the butler of Gru's long-lost twin brother Dru, who lives in a country named Freedonia and longs to meet him. Stunned at this revelation, Gru confronts his mother who reveals that after divorcing Gru's father, they agreed to keep one child each. The family decide to meet Dru and they are surprised at his immense wealth which the butler attributes to their pig farm business. Dru quickly charms Gru's family despite turning off Gru due to his flamboyant personality. Meanwhile, Bratt manages to steal the diamond once again as he intends to use the diamond to power his giant robot to destroy Hollywood as revenge for cancelling his show.

 Dru reveals to Gru that his immense wealth is due to his father also being a legendary supervillain. As Dru was constantly dismissed by their father as a disgrace, he turned to his brother to teach him how to be a villain. Gru is unwilling to revert back to his old ways. To persuade him, Dru brings him on a joyride around Freedonia in their father's car where the siblings bond. Meanwhile, Lucy tries to balance being generous and implementing discipline as a mom which she exhibits after turning away a young boy who had fallen for Margo.

Having discovered that Bratt has stolen the diamond, Dru convinces Gru to steal the diamond for one last heist with Gru secretly intending to bring it to the AVL to reinstate his work. Despite several setbacks, they manage to retrieve the diamond back, but they are rescued by Lucy who had followed them earlier. After finding out Gru's true motives, Dru confronts his brother on why he lied to him with the latter insulting him in the process and deciding to leave Dru's mansion. Bratt infiltrates Dru's mansion by disguising as Lucy, kidnaps the children, and once again acquires the diamond which leads Gru, Lucy and Dru to resolve their differences and pursue him.

With his robot powered, Bratt terrorizes Hollywood. Having watched Bratt's show as a child, Dru deduces that Bratt plans to re-enact the episode where Bratt cuts off Hollywood and uses inflatable gum to elevate the city to outer space. Lucy saves the children while Gru and Dru weaken Bratt's robot with the weapons of their father's car. Gru is knocked unconscious when the car is destroyed and Dru destroys the robot's core from the inside when Bratt threatens to kill Gru. When Gru recovers, he battles Bratt in a "dance fight" which ends in Gru trapping Bratt in his own gum. The Minions, having rendezvoused with Gru, manage to destroy Bratt's gum covering the city.

Gru and Lucy are reinstated in the AVL and the newly united family celebrate in Gru's home. Lucy is acknowledged by the children as their mother. Dru, having embraced the family tradition of villainy, steal Gru's car, accompanied by the Minions. Gru and Lucy decide to give them a five-minute head-start before engaging pursuit.

My favorite characters, the Minions, were hilarious! After not being able to convince Gru to take up villainy again, they walk out on him. The Minions are arrested after trespassing, but stealing the show, at a talent show set. The Minions exert control among the prisoners at their jail, but their longing for Gru motivate them to escape the prison. In the end, they reunited with Gru and his family after helping them save Hollywood.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who loved the first 2 Despicable Me movies and/or the Minions movie! If you haven't watched any of those 3, I suggest you do as well! These movies are great for older kids!