Here’s a review of Disney’s latest animated feature Encanto as it’s now available to stream on the D+ service. Though I caught this in theaters, now I’ve finally got some free time to give some detailed thoughts on it, and since multiple songs from the soundtrack are trending as of now I guess it’s a good time as ever. Developed by Zootopia co-creators Byron Howard and Jared Bush, this film also features a plucky heroine who most people initially underestimate and regard but eventually proves her value in a story where the characters have to question their own beliefs. This time it feels like a far more internalized conflict, but it’s one that still makes for a thrilling and sweet hour and forty minutes.
The Mouse House has showcased its fair amount of dysfunctional families, such as Simba’s in Lion King, Lilo arguing with her older sister and Cinderella’s conflicts with her stepsisters and stepmother. They’ve got a pretty distinct one here with the Madrigals, a Columbian family who lives in a hidden “Encanto” town and also possesses magical abilities after their matriarch Alma rescued the family from soldiers years ago.
The trademark “Disney magic” here comes in the form of a mystical candle that gives all of the Madrigals their abilities to aid the rest of the village, with the exception of the teenage Mirabel (voiced with spunk by Stephanie Beatriz). She’s happy for her young cousin Antonio ( Ravi Cabot-Conyers ) acquiring the ability to communicate with wild animals, but she can’t help but feel left out and fairly unremarkable.
Her journey of self-discovery arrives when she notices an ability to see strange bad omens, such as the mystic candle going out and cracks in the foundation of the family’s house. She’ll have to reconnect with her long-absent uncle Bruno (John Leguizamo) to figure out what’s happening, and other members of her family in ways she probably didn’t think was possible before.
Though the town definitely depends on the Madrigals, most of the story’s drama and stakes are internalized within this family, and on top of their supernatural abilities, Mirabel’s desire for some recognition and wanting to herself feel special is more than enough to keep the audience invested. It shifts away from a typical hero-versus-villain narrative, and the real adversary for Mirabel to deal with is a lack of understanding and proper communication with the people closest to her.
And I don’t think Encanto would have been a bad film by any stretch had it stayed closer to those conventions. but it deserves credit for attempting something fresh (or at least closer to what Disney aimed for in the second Wreck-It-Ralph feature, with the main villain being Ralph’s own fears of being lonely again).
Visually, it’s yet more top–tier crafting from Disney’s main and most iconic studio. The sequence where Antonio receives his gift is some pretty sweet eye candy, it could easily make for a good Disneyland attraction in the future if they so chose. Mirabel’s expressions are endearing and will handily connect her to the audience, particularly during her lament song, “Waiting on a Miracle” (Beatriz has an unexpectedly engaging singing voice IMO), and the animation on young Alma during the “Dos Oruguitas” flashback is pretty memorable.
This is a movie that embraces a number of traditional aspects from Disney, while also following the trend of recent films of adding contemporary elements. Now anachronism has been part of the main Disney studio’s creative approaches in the past, like how their 1973 medieval-set Robin Hood adaption had elements of jazz throughout its soundtrack, they’re not afraid to slip in some modern pop within the music for this quaint little town, like with Mirabel’s duet with her sister Isabela (Diane Guerrero) on “What Else Can I Do?”
Mirabel’s older sister Luisa (played by Jessica Darrow), who has the physical strength of a hundred-normal sized Luisas, gets a breakout song “Surface Pressure” detailing her insecurities that’s more than Billboard 100-worthy, while Mirabel’s uncle Felix and aunt Pepa (voiced by Mauro Castillo and Carolina Gaitan) perform “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” to tell the story of how he became estranged from the other Madrigals.
This movie feels very intimate, partially because it’s so self-contained but also so lovingly crafted. And even if Encanto outside from its representation doesn’t break a lot of molds for the studio within its narrative as other recent works, I do feel there should be room for these kinds of stories in large-budgeted kids’ films that are just about people trying to do better by each other, which seems to be Byron Howard’s forte at this point- on top of also developing lead heroes you want to reach into the screen and give a hug, which Mirabel certainly makes you want to do. If you’d streamed it or you already caught it in a theater, let us know how you felt about it at FAN’s social media!