>>94029951The first book would have made a great Disney Channel movie. Except for a barely-there subplot with Prince Ben, it's all about the core villain kids slowly becoming friends (which is revolutionary in that people don't become friends on the Isle) and has actual character development, magic, adventure, and high stakes.
It even looks critically, or as critically as a middle grade novel can, at the system that Beast & Belle set up where basically the children born on this island have no chance of a normal or healthy life.They get literal garbage leftovers from Auradon to eat, the only school system is run by villains so naturally the only education they receive is about being evil, backstabbing is encouraged and genuine friendship is mocked and distrusted, etc.
I wish they would have done the first book as film 1, then have the first film where they get to Auradon and then wrestle with being villains be the sequel.
But, Disney cheaped out and wanted so badly to compete with Monster High that they decided to jump right to the high school bits.
