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Encanto Movie Review

Encanto is a 2021 animated fantasy film directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard. It is Disney’s 60^th feature and a movie that is pretty good, but overall somewhat disappointing.

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“Maybe your gift is being in denial?“

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The Madrigals are an extraordinary family who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia in a charmed place called the Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift – every child except Mirabel. However, she soon may be the Madrigals last hope when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is now in danger. It was clever of Disney to make a superhero-like film in an era when these movies are all the rage and all of the superpowers were well realized here, though more could have been done with them as the movie lacks in the action department.

This is the perfect opportunity to give my little rant about the state of Disney movies nowadays. I am honestly rather tired of these anti-climactic stories that feature no villains and almost no conflict to speak of. At first, this approach was unique and different, but now it has become stale to the point that I wish the company would finally realize and change this.

Nowhere is that more abundant than in the case of Bruno himself. He literally gets a song about how problematic he is for the whole family and you might think that he is a dangerous villain or at least some flawed individual, but no, he is just misunderstood. Why? Why do all the characters in these modern animated movies have to be the good guys? I honestly don’t understand it. If you want to be realistic, then at least include some characters that are in the grey area morally speaking as this is how real life operates.

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I liked his scenes and especially the bits in the wall that were among the most adventurous moments in the film, but I still wanted him to be more of a bad guy. The film does have an interesting backstory with Colombia’s Thousand Days’ War serving as the backdrop to the family’s origin story, but again more could and should have been done with this to teach kids about the history of this country.

As I was saying, the film doesn’t really have a conflict. The conflict is all about the granny character being all stern and unreasonable toward Mirabel and the two obviously patch things up near the end. That scene was quite moving and powerful, but again I got the sense that the film was a big build-up with a very abrupt conclusion with no proper conflict and I wanted more in that department.

That is not to say that I did not like the characters as I honestly really enjoyed all of them. This is a big Latin family that is surprisingly well developed in most of the family members. Mirabel is actually one of the most unique Disney protagonists out there. For one, she isn’t pretty in a rare move from the studio. She is also clumsy and weird. I liked her dynamic with everybody else, though I wished that the family retained their powers, but of the two potential plot problems, this was a much better development than to give her a power all of a sudden.

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Abuela is the most important character plotwise and the two’s relationship is well explored. I loved seeing her backstory and the movie’s theme of the importance of matriarchy is excellent. Of the other characters, the kid is the cutest and I loved his power. I wanted more of the animals in the film, but the parrot was the most memorable and the funniest. Encanto is actually quite funny in a couple of scenes, but the second half is entirely devoid of humor unfortunately.

Isabela is the most important sister character and the two’s dynamic felt very realistic. Luisa is the sweetest of the bunch that is the most powerful physically, but still quite endearing. The voice acting is fantastic all around while the movie can be quite emotional and sweet. My favorite parts were the middle act adventure elements. Those were excellent and I wish that more of the movie was like that. Also, for a family with powers to never really use their powers proactively was very disappointing and again anti-climactic.

Encanto is a musical with the songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Honestly, he did a much better job with ‘Moana’, which was also a stronger movie overall. This soundtrack is a mixed bag. It should have been entirely composed of Latin flavor songs as the numbers of other varieties are inferior in comparison.

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I loved Colombia, Mi Encanto in the trailers and it still remains my absolute favorite. It is incredibly catchy, full of great energy and perfectly fitting for the country in question. Songs like We Don’t Talk About Bruno are too much like narrative exposition dumps and are forgettable overall, but Waiting on a Miracle is a pretty good, very well sung Disney Princess I Want song while Dos Oruguitas is accompanied by powerful imagery and it being sung entirely in Spanish was refreshing for Disney.

The score is strong and the movie is well paced and edited, but it needed a better script at the end of the day. It is the biggest problem here as all the other aspects are much better. The animation is absolutely splendid. This is by far the most colorful Disney movie of all time, one in which colors just pop off the screen in all shades possible. The house being a character in and of itself was brilliant and I just loved looking at its corridors and rooms. This house made the movie truly magical at times.

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