My Review of "Encanto"

Encanto should have had a huge opening this year in 2021. The pandemic and the advent of Disney Plus probably put a big snag on those plans though. Still I don't think anyone could ever really hate this movie. It's got so much love and color to it that you can't help but fall in love with it.

This movie starts off innocently enough. We have our main heroine Mirabel who's joyful exuberance is so loud and expressive. She's singing with the locals about her family history. Everyone in her family have been granted superpowered gifts. They're basically all superheroes of some sort and they use their powers to help out the family and village.

Everything is pretty much beautiful and rosy as Mirabel professes her love of life and her family. Close to the end of the song the village children enquire about Mirabel's powers. Well, there's the catch in the whole story. Mirabel doesn't have any powers whereas the rest of her family does.

She often feels left out as the outlier of the family. In a way it feels as though she feels some sort of shame that she's not able to contribute as much to the family in utilitarian ways and in prestige.

Instantaneously I see how Mirabel is such a relatable character. Absolutely everyone at one point compares ourselves to others. We all want to feel significant and really Mirabel doesn't see her significance with her family. Us as the viewers can see her role immediately as she's such a supportive person to all of the family despite her lack of abilities.

The movie starts to unwind and reveal that not everything is roses. There are certain family secrets that are being kept. This could be a metaphor for real life situations where we often see people in their perfect lives but really they might have issues themselves.

We slowly understand that Mirabel does have significance as we get into the middle of the movie. It's up to her to figure it out and help the family in their most troubled times. I like the fact that a lot of the family doesn't see or even notice that there are troubles. Some of them are ignoring those issues as well.

This is often the case in real life as well. All of us don't really want to face issues and problems when we're living relatively well. Sometimes those problems will creep up if we don't attack them head on. This is an important message in this movie.

I think a lot of people can relate to this movie because it talks about honor and shame to a family. There's always people that want to have that perfect picture of their lives or the people surrounding them. It's okay that we're not perfect and we have to accept each other for who we are. Sometimes we won't like what we hear but we have to turn off our blinders and have a bigger picture of what's really happening.

This movie is very relatable in terms of family construct. I think that a lot of families fall into the same situations as the family we see her with the Madrigals. Many families have had breakups for these very same reasons.

The whole story is told in such a Disney-esque way. It's very on brand for what we expect from Disney however the songs that come out feel very Hamilton-esque. Just from hearing the first song I already knew Lin-Manuel Miranda had something to do with it.

He just has this style of writing that's immediately identifiable. You can see it also in the movie In The Heights. It's not a bad thing but it really feels like he's there every time I hear the lyrics. I love his playful banter in his lyrics as well, it's just very distinguishingly him.

The visuals are amazing in this movie. I can't believe how Disney is able to continuously up their game in every new animated movie. There's so much more details that I just started noticing in the clothes and textures of the home. The fact that they could animate all this at once in a scene is awe-inspiring. I lived through the days when there was only hand drawn animation and it just blows my mind at what animators are able to do with computers nowadays.

There's so much going on in the screen at the same time. It really makes the scenes come alive. No longer do we feel claustrophobic with only one or two characters on the screen. When the characters go into a village or have a family feast it feels crowded with life.

Overall, this movie is a loving, colorful movie with plenty of important messages to families. There are so many elements to this movie that kids are going to be able to take something new from it each time they see it. I for one had a great time watching it. I have to give this movie an 8 out of 10. I am still astonished at the rate Disney releases these animated movies and still be able to keep such a high quality to them.