Movie Reaction: Encanto

Formula: Coco – 16 degrees latitude

 

Disney Animation is a formula. No one is denying that. It changes over time, but the change is incremental and slow. The intent is never to blow audiences away at the time. It’s more concerned with staying power. The company literally kept the lights on for years thanks to being able to re-release the classics in theaters. Fittingly, Encanto feels really similar to a lot of other animated Disney films while being just different enough to work.

 

Encanto tells the story of a magical family in Columbia who all have powers they use to help the community. It centers on Mirabel, the one family member who doesn’t have powers. She loves her family but is often the black sheep because of her lack of powers. When the powers are threatened one day, Mirabel is blamed or at least feels she is to blame and decided to figure out how to stop the family from losing their powers. Disney loves doing stories about the one outcast in the family. Frozen is about that. Zootopia in a lot of ways too. And Wreck-It Ralph. So it’s no surprise that they get the emotional beats of it right here.

 

There’s a little Moana in this too with Lin-Manuel Miranda doing the music for Encanto. I didn’t love this music though. Nothing really stuck in my head. The way a lot of the music was mixed in the movie didn’t help. The instruments often drowned out the words, so I missed a lot of what sounded like clever lyrics. Some of it will probably grow on me. Moana certainly did. A lot of Disney movies work like that. They are OK until one day you realize they are classics. That’s likely to happen here.

 

The voice cast opts for accuracy over domestic star power, which I like. I recognized a few names like Stephanie Beatriz (as Mirabel), Diane Guerrero, and John Leguizamo. Many of the actors are maybe more famous in Latin America. I certainly don’t know them, but they work for the characters. I appreciate that Disney isn’t huge on the star-chasing. I imagine they also realized they can’t get away with having white actors doing accented work anymore.

 

At some point, it’s going to start feeling like Disney is working off a checklist of countries or areas to set a movie in, but as long as the movies are enjoyable, I can’t complain. I appreciate that Encanto is Disney making a movie about the Jan Bradys of the world. I really like the messaging of this one. It’s similar to the Monsters University message but more elegantly said. At the moment, this isn’t a top tier Disney Animated movie for me, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it grew on me. Regardless, it’s thoroughly enjoyable.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend