While it is true that Encanto appeared in theaters a month or so before it dropped onto Disney+, I decided to wait for it since, well, for once the wait between the streaming launch and theatrical release was a lot shorter than usual. With COVID, I have been more selective about what I go out to see, and Omicron variant is making me want to stay home again. I should not be too stressed out to enjoy a Spider-Man movie. But seeing as how both Encanto and Don’t Look Up both dropped onto streaming services the same day, I had something to do on my Christmas Eve.

And yeah, the Disney movie was obviously more appropriate for a Christmas day post.

The Madrigal family live in an unnamed part of Columbia in a house made of magic. The grandmother Alma fled to the spot where her house is after her husband stopped from armed goons from killing her, their infant triplets, and a host of other folks fleeing the chaos. She had a candle that turned out to be magic, and the candle enchanted the house itself, where the house itself seems to be alive and very helpful. As the triplets came of age, they each got their own special door that allowed them to have special powers, and the same happened to most of their own children. The lone exception is Mirabel. Her door disappeared before she could enter it. So, while various relatives have powers like the ability to heal any injury with home cooking, superhuman strength, or the ability to sprout flowers at will. Why does Mirabel have no gifts? There may be a reason for that, but her grandmother is quick to shut Mirabel down. The entire town, apparently, depends on the Madrigals, and Mirabel’s lack of a gift makes the family look bad according to Alma.

But then the house starts to show cracks, and with it, the magical abilities of Mirabel’s relatives begin to wane. Her missing uncle Bruno, the one the others don’t talk about, may have the answer as his gift was seeing the future, but his predictions all seemed to be rather harsh and always came true. Still, Mirabel is the only one who can maybe see the truth about what’s happening as the others either blame her or ignore the problem. Can Mirabel save the house, and with it, her family’s gifts?

Now, I am used to Disney animated features having songs, one where the characters stop and sing a bit to advance the plot and get the toe tapping. However, something about Encanto felt like it had a lot more songs than the last few. I don’t really recall any of the characters stopping to perform a musical number in Raya and the Last Dragon. I am sure there was music, but I don’t recall, say, Raya or the Last Dragon singing one. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall that. Likewise Moana had some nice musical moments, but something about Encanto felt like it had more than most. Is that because Disney got Lin-Manuel Miranda to write the songs? Not a bad choice, and there’s a lot of good music on display here.

However, I can’t say this one grabbed me as much as the aforementioned Raya or Moana. Disney has gotten a lot of top notch CGI animation of late, and the world of the Madrigals is impressive to look at. Additionally, Disney made sure to cast mostly Latino actors, most of them at least partially Columbian, so good on them for that. But it does seem to me that most Disney animated movies of late tend to show the the protagonist needs to reach deep down, get past personal hang-ups, and save the day by being their own best self as the initial impressions of what to do are invariably wrong. That describes Wreck-It Ralph, it describes Moana, it describes Raya, and it almost describes Mirabel, but in Mirabel’s case, it may describe other characters more. It’s a formula that I see in a lot of Disney movies. Sure, the visuals and character work often make them work, and there’s a lot to like about Encanto, but I didn’t think it was quite on par with a lot of Disney’s other recent animated features.

Grade: B+


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