First look: 'Descendants,' villains' progeny

These rotten apples don't fall far from the family tree.

The sons and daughters of Disney's greatest villains take the spotlight in the upcoming Disney Channel original movie Descendants, an action/adventure/romantic comedy with musical numbers directed and choreographed by Kenny Ortega (High School Musical).

Those beloved baddies of classic animated movies are "misunderstood in a lot of ways," says Kristin Chenoweth, who has a darkly humorous turn as the evil Maleficent. "Everybody wants what they want, and these villains want what they want."

Premiering this summer, the movie checks in with familiar characters in their "happily ever after" existences — well, at least for the heroes — on the mainland in Auradon. Villains such as Jafar (Maz Jobrani), Cruella de Vil (Wendy Raquel Robinson) and the Evil Queen (Kathy Najimy) have been shipped off to the Isle of the Lost, where a magical barrier strips them of their powers.

But Ben (Mitchell Hope), the son of Belle and Beast, has been tapped as the new king, and his first order of business is to take a handful of the bad guys' home-schooled teenagers — Maleficent's daughter Mal (Dove Cameron), Cruella's son Carlos (Cameron Boyce), the Evil Queen's daughter Evie (Sofia Carson) and Jafar's son Jay (Booboo Stewart) — and give them a chance to fit in at Auradon Prep.

Maleficent is still "the quintessential evil-empress diva," Ortega says, so she gives the kids a mission: steal the Fairy Godmother's magic wand from a museum so they can free their parents from the island prison.

It's a transformational tale for Mal, who's the "antithesis" of a normal heroine, says Cameron. "She becomes less sarcastic and guarded, and becomes a bit more lovely and generous — sort of what you'd expect, actually, (of) a Disney princess."

Ortega promises some catchy tunes and the exploration of young kids doing everything they can to win their parents' appreciation and love. "Does that make them bad? Yeah, a little," he says. "That they have the option to choose who they're going to be is what really opens up a big part of our story."

Cameron, 19, has been a superfan of Chenoweth's since she was 7, so she was floored when learning of her new screen mom. "There was crying involved," Cameron says, adding that working with the actress was "momentous and monumental for me, and it really changed my life, honestly."

Chenoweth's take on Maleficent is definitely a departure from Angelina Jolie's in last year's film and the 1959 animated version in Sleeping Beauty. "Let's face it, she sings and dances," says the actress.

She also loves that purple-haired Mal is her mom's own little "mini-me," desperate for her approval.

"Truth be told, Maleficent wants her daughter to grow up and be her," Chenoweth says. "I think a lot of mothers and daughters can relate."