Watched this without expecting anything because as much as possible, I try to refuse reading reviews and since a lot of people are already spoiling it on TikTok, I decided to just watch it and OMG I am so glad I did! I have a lot of good things to discuss about this film and one of which is the animation since of course, it's an animation film and also, a PIXAR film. I recently watched LOCO and Disney never fails to provide us a better animation each time they release a new animation film!
I love the concept in which if we look at it technically, the setting is basically just within their community BUT because of their magical house, it brought us to wonderful different locations! The color is sooo beautiful and my favorite character by far is actually Isabela! I just loveee the part where she finally starts to realize that she isn't being true to herself and I just find the scene where she grew a cactus instead of roses so deep because personally, that's how I portray my life right now that I always seek validation from other people and that I am not allowed to make mistakes because of the expectations I set to myself from other people. The scene where her hair color changes and her clothes, omg it's just so beautiful! .
Let's not forget the songs in the movie as well. By far, my favorite was Surface Pressure! I love love that song and the meaning it has. It was really catchy and even hearing the songs once, it can kinda stuck in your head for a while.
I would say that this film was very timely and that this is really good not just for kids to watch this film but for adults as well because of the message it just wants to give. I also love the fact that the lead character doesn't have any powers and everyone around her does so for most of the movie, she just feels like she's not special and that everyone around her was given a purpose. You know some kids might think that maybe they're not special just because they can't do what their classmates can do or something like that. You get it but the point is, kids and adults can highly relate to this because of the different stories each character has.
I just knew that I was wrapped up in the story when I realize that I'm more than halfway through the story already but it felt like it's not yet even halfway. I really recommend this film. I do hope people, especially parents to check this out.
Encanto is a lovely movie that fails just a bit short on the way to being an instant classic.
The animation is top notch. That surely doesn't surprise anyone, but I really got the feeling the animators were flexing their skills with this movie. Many characters, but especially the protagonist, Mirabel, are dressed with big, floofy, flowing dresses that are just mesmerizing to look at. And Mirabel's hair! Incredibly well done. Since Tangled, Disney has nailed the animation aspect of hair. Honestly, they got everything right, from the fur of the animals to the light blonde hair on the characters' skin.
The whole scenery is also amazing to look at. I'm not Colombian myself (or Latino for that matter), but I've been told from someone who is that it really looks like a place in Colombia, from the way the mountains around look, to the style of the houses of the town.
The characters are honestly where this movie fails a bit short for me. They're all lovely, but since there is so many of them, they're not really that fleshed out. They feel shallow and one-dimensional, like they're there just to fill a bit of screentime instead of being functional to the story.
Speaking of the story, I really liked the premise of it. It started strong and it gripped me right away, but after a while I felt like it was missing a purpose a bit. Every time there was a conflict, it was almost immediately resolved, almost rushed. I liked that they did a movie without an obvious villain, though. It is a breath of fresh air. No evil character out for world domination, just the struggle of a family.
Of course, I have to say something about the songs. I enjoyed them a lot! Especially the introductory one and We don't talk about Bruno have been stuck in my head since I finished watching the movie. But they are all pretty catchy, though I have to say I didn't enjoy the choreography of all of them.
In conclusion, Encanto is a very enjoyable movie that I can recommend to any Disney fan. It has its funny moments and the more serious ones as well, like you would expect for Disney.
7/10
Great thing about animated films, and cinema in general, is that you will take from it whatever it tells you, personally. We each experience a film our own way and our interpretations and feelings towards it are inevitably influenced by our lives at the moment of watching.
Encanto to me is about the young-adult period of your life where everyone around you seems to have found their calling - some seem to have always known it even. A plan laid out out and a sense of purpose. Encanto deconstructs that idea by making the character with no gift its heroine, and by diving into the insecurities, the burdens and pressures of the characters who do have gifts. They have been reduced to their abilities or feel like they must never fail or complain, when really they just want to relax and be creative. That’s a powerful message - that it doesn’t matter whether you have a gift or not, your worth comes from who you are as a human being and your relationship with others.
I have to say, besides the colours, I found the animation pretty boring and alike a lot of Disney stuff we’ve seen for the past 10 years - it’s time for a change! The music was fun, the cultural and historical nods were great.
Solid effort by Disney!
It was such a lovable movie, I loved how the gifts correlated to familial archetypes, the songs were so catchy and fun. Having family from Latin America I saw members of my family in each character especially abuelita and how she pushes unrealistic expectations onto her family believing it is out of love and for the greater good. Seeing all the different ways the family members express their love for the family especially Bruno was so heart touching because I have seen all those scenarios within members of my family. The songs also felt so natural, music is such a big part of Latin America and everyone from such a background can tell stories of the older family members randomly breaking into song or dance especially in the kitchen or while cleaning. The essence of the movie was on point the colors were gorgeous and the playful camera angels. My only issue is that the plot itself felt half baked? Like I was like 'oh that's it?' I loved the reconciliation of the grandma and the family needing to unite , but it just felt like something else was missing. The climax didn't feel like the climax. I left wanting more more more especially with other characters who barely got screen time. I hope this gets another movie or a series? Maybe even continued in book form. The run time was also awfully short for how ambitious it was do maybe that had to do with it feeling half baked? Longer run time would equal more time with characters and higher stakes? more emotional attachment? Either way I'm not even mad at the what ifs, the movie for what it is is amazing and such a fun watch! It's a feel good movie where you can turn your mind off and just vibe with the environment and songs! It's an inspiring movie, a movie where Latin American families can point to the screen and be like that's me. Thats my mom, that's my family. I love my family. It is just a movie of love.
A strong new entry into the Walt Disney Animation Studios canon.
'Encanto' is an enjoyable and meaningful 102 minutes. The animation, as you expect from Disney, is superb and the world really comes alive beautifully and vibrantly. I like the character designs and their story, with each one having something unique about them which is neat.
I had heard that some of the music from this 2021 flick has entered the charts here in the United Kingdom, though I purposely avoided listening to it as I wanted to keep it fresh for when I watched the film. Now I've done just that, I found the music to be very good - aside from "Surface Pressure" (no. 3 in UK), I don't think I'll be listening to any of it on my own time but - more importantly - it's impressively effective for the movie itself. "We Don't Talk About Bruno" might grow on me, mind.
The cast are fun. Stephanie Beatriz leads comfortably as Mirabel, while John Leguizamo is a great choice to play Bruno. The rest of the cast, though nothing extraordinary in my opinion, are all entertaining enough in their respective roles - namely María Cecilia Botero and Jessica Darrow.
As a movie it was great. Filled with a sorts of goodness. Great emotional character arcs. In spite of the ambiguous tragedy that starts the narrative it all feels real rather than just moralistic which is a fun thing to see in a children's movie.
As a musical it was… okay. The songs are great but they're a little too real. It just sounds like I'm listening to a sick Colombian radio station rather than a music with a song that I want to sing in the shower. All the songs are great to listen to, but nothing makes me want to remember any of them much less vocalize. My favorite musics had me singing the songs the next morning. Heck even ones that are decent I could sing a song to my sister and tell her which was my favorite. But this movie even though there are maybe three songs I know I liked. I couldn't tell you an hour after the film finished how they go.
The narrative is interesting but for a while I thought maybe Mirabel's power was going to be gift of song or making everyone sing. I think that's kinda says how disconnected the songs are from the film.
For all the talk I've been hearing about "We don't talk about Bruno" when it actually showed up it wasn't really all that… compelling. It was so quick and non specific I kept expecting it to come back. They say it like twice in the song and that's about it. The song was great but it missed that singable zip. Surface Pressure was a song with amazing lyrics and, honestly speaking, trash vocals, which is somewhat unfortunate because it might be the best song in the movie to the point where I was disappointed the movie wasn't about Mirabel helping everyone else realize that the picture perfect life wasn't working for them. One learns she's tired of the pressure of strength. The other learns she doesn't want to be perfect. Another learns to accept her emotions. I mean THAT movie was sitting right there waiting to happen. But the movie we got wasn't awful so I'm not torn up about it. Though Mirabel's power could have been the power whisperer.
But I did like the movie. I would even watch it again.
It’s interesting to me that many complain about this movie not having a “bad guy” when that’s a huge part of what makes it so special and so unique! I’m reminded of what I said I wished had been done differently in Frozen 2. Although, that one has my longest review to date and I understand not everyone wants to read it, so let me paste in what I’m referring to.
>Like, imagine that instead of the two characters falling off a cliff because one attacked the other, a character accidentally fell off the cliff and accidentally took the other with him, and others saw it, both believing that the other side had pushed their people; and then the fighting broke out. I guess that was a part of me wanting to believe that none of them had to be the bad guy for once.
I wanted to at least somewhat briefly attempt to have a say in what I felt made this movie worthy of a 10 in my book. There are other reviews that dive into all these things and explain them wonderfully already so I don’t need to try to do it all again.
There’s the strong nod to human nature and how past experiences and heartache and fear can do so much not only in your own life but to others around you.
It conveys how we’re all not perfect and we’re each (often) doing our best. We all have our very own struggles even if things seem great for us from an outside perspective.
This film shows much we can break each other without ever intending harm, even when we’re only doing what we feel we know is best in order to take care of others.
It beautifully communicates that conflict doesn’t have to come from someone being “bad.” Sometimes it’s just life, and it just happens. We all have our own experiences, our own grief, our own journey.
I know some don’t like the fact that they got their powers back in the end, but we did see that they were all happy and thriving together without them too. It was because of Mirabel they got them back and it was like her gift in the end was being able to put her family back together as it was, but better, when it had become broken "under the surface." She helped them build a new and stronger foundation. She didn’t have the “burden” or responsibility of some specific power to distract her from what she was lead to unearth and ultimately fix, so not receiving one was a blessing in disguise for the entire family, even the entire community.
Luisa’s song was my first favorite, but that “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is too freaking good too!
This story felt too small. I'm not sure a central conflict which boils down to a family overcoming the stress of pressure/expectations is enough to carry a feature length film. Maybe I was just expecting a more traditional villain. I don't know. I also don't like how nebulous and manufactured the "losing the magic" feels. I like magic with rules and consistency, so having just a vague threat of "we're losing our magic because... we're all stressed and not united as a family?", generated a bit of an eye-roll. Perhaps my biggest issue came at the end when the movie completely abandoned what I thought was a central message: you don't need magic to be exceptional.. That seems like a worthwhile message for kids, but the movie rug pulls it away with a last minute "they get their magic back". Now watch as the Madrigals get to be really happy, even happier than without magic. Kind of lame. Unfortunately, none of the music really stuck with me either. It was all fine, but not immediately earworm catchy.
I do have some positives. Their were plenty of very cute moments and creative visuals. I quite enjoyed John Leguizamo's Bruno. All in all, not a bad movie, but not something that is going to stick with me.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-01-03T04:45:39Z
[7.9/10] We have so many stories about the burden of being the chosen one. Everything from Harry Potter to Buffy Summers to Avatar Aang delves into the burden of carrying the world on your shoulder as the fabled champion. It’s a good thing, to humanize those fighting against a supernatural evil, make them recognizably human despite their heroic poses and incredible gifts.
But Encanto explores something rarer -- the burden of not being the special one, of feeling like you have something to give the world even if you haven’t been blessed by the divine or fate or random chance with the abilities of your fellow men and women. The movie celebrates the self-made miracles that follow in the wake of those individuals, who likewise struggle with self-doubt and certain hurts, but who also do the hard work of making things better without the magical boosts the chosen ones have in tow.
The center of the story is a young woman named Mirabel, the lone powerless member of the magical Madrigal family. Since her abuela first discovered the titular “encanto” (or enchantment), every Madrigal child received a wonderful “special gift” when they came of age. It could be super-hearing or the ability to speak to animals or even the power of prophecy. But whatever the gift, the family uses their collective talents to help build and protect their town.
The film is, effectively, a tug of war between Mirabel, who feels left out of the family due to the encanto mysteriously skipping her, and her grandmother, who is fiercely devoted to holding the family, the miracle, and the home and town both fuel, together at any cost. Mirabel labors to do good, to contribute, despite being the lone non-magical Madrigal under their roof. And Abuela Alma pressures everyone in the family, including herself, to use their powers to the peak of their potential in order to be worthy of the mysterious gifts they’ve received.
It’s a potent metaphor for the story of so many immigrant families. The older generation is acutely aware of the sacrifices necessary to scrape together what their family has, so well-meaning parents and older relatives push their progeny to climb higher, do better, to hold onto it and be worthy of their blessings. The younger generations, in turn, can mean well but crack under that pressure, feeling as though they’re not good enough or that if they stumble, even a little, they’ll be letting “the family” down. The resolution of those two sides, the harmony it finds in intergenerational understanding, is Encanto’s greatest strength.
But hey, the pure aesthetics and artistry of the presentation aren’t bad either! The family dynamics Encanto deploys are universal, but it’s a devotedly Colombian movie. Along with other recent Disney animated films, that cultural specificity gives it a greater flavor and a rich tradition to pull from when filling in the corners of its world. The colors, architecture, flora, fauna, food, and dance all have a distinctive flair, which make the movie an inviting and enervating experience.
To that end, the studios’ animators continue to outdo themselves. There’s an incredible amount of expression in the movements of Mirabel and her family, whether they’re salsaing or arguing or heaving donkeys around. In both traditional music numbers set within the heightened (and radiant) reality of the film, and in more impressionistic numbers with fantastical representations of the characters’ wishes and anxieties, the directors and animators catch the eye with fabulous movements and inventive imagery. As pure visual expression, the movie wows.
The same goes for the music. With original songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, there’s an almost effortless sense of high quality melody and verse at play. Miranda’s trademarks, with fast-talking verbiage and a cacophony of parts stacked on top of one another, return here with the composer’s usual alacrity. But so too does his ability to stir the soul, in inspirational tunes and sentiments that could come off saccharine were the craft not so good and the harmonies not so piercing. The artist remains Disney’s cheat code, with songs that soar nearly as well as those in the Miranda-assisted Moana.
That film scans as Encanto’s closest predecessor, another tale of a young woman finding her place in the hierarchy of her family and village, grappling with how she differs from expectations. The film pulls from other pieces of Disney history, with a second act sequence that evokes the Cave of Wonders escape from Aladdin, and a delightful living house character that feels of a piece with Beauty and the Beast. But it’s Moana, with its similar musical stylings, comparable visual flair, and lack of a villain in favor of reconciliation and self-actualization, that proves the closest analogue.
And yet, in its own way, Moana is also a chosen one story, while Encanto marks new territory for the House of Mouse, in exploring how those less “burdened by glory” can still make the grandest contributions. In the end, Mirabel not only unravels the mystery (more or less) of what her missing uncle Bruno prophesied, but discovers that the family members she envied for their abilities struggle just as much as she does to live up to expectations, in a way that went unseen by their abuela. It reconnects her with the family members she bristled with or otherwise felt apart from.
More than that, though, when the miracle does fail, when the family home does crumble, when the town they support does crack, it’s Mirabel who gives everyone the strength to rebuild it, magic or no magic. In the absence of those gifts, she learned to be strong without it, to rely on herself, on hard work and empathy, to make the difference, which turns out to be exactly what the family needs. The town, rather than turning on the Madrigal, comes to help in the effort, completing the “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for” sensibility of the fable.
In the effort, Abuela Alma recognizes that Mirabel is the miracle, that her children and grandchildren matter far more as who they are than the gifts that they bear. It’s a lovely, life-affirming sentiment, where both generations truly see one another and recognize both their mutual struggles and the good intentions behind them.
The Madrigal family that reunites under a new banner is a slightly scrappier one, falling short of the standards of perfection both chosen ones and immigrant families hold themselves to. But it is also one which is more whole and full of acceptance, where all of the cousins and kin are allowed to relax and express themselves, where those who remain unblessed by the supernatural or fated still find ways to be extraordinary.