Encanto (2021)

Encanto (2021)

 

7/10

 

Starring the voices of

Stephanie Beatriz

María Cecilia Botero

John Leguizamo

Mauro Castillo

 

Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard

 

 

I must be honest it has been a while that I watched a Disney animated musical and enjoyed the songs, in that area Lin-Manuel Miranda delivered. Encanto is Disney’s 60^th animated production and it does not try to set itself apart from familiar fantasy stories we all seem to have grown to know. The way Frozen sets its own story a little bit different from the regular. Or the comedy masterpiece that Zootopia delivered. Encanto has an average production with an easy-going story which makes it easy to enjoy as Disney continue to deliver family fun.

The movie is set in South America, and it tells the story of the Madrigal family, which is led by Alma. She suffered a casualty during their refugee run when their town was attacked. Pedro, Alma’s husband died protecting her and their three children. His sacrifice opened a magical door which blessed Alma with a magical home and a magical candle. The candle then blessed the three children with magical powers and Alma’s grandchildren. Well, that hit a little snitch when it was Mirabel’s turn. She did not get any magical gift and in a way, you can sense where the movie is going from here.

From this point the movie fell into the regular formula we know, the one person not blessed will be the one tasked with saving everyone. What you will expect happens, even though the family loves her and the new society which they live adore her for being so cheerful, she was treated differently. She was excluded from a lot of things, and she had to deal with it, being left out of things because she was different. There was a certain fear in the air, since Mirabel never got powers, it was time for her nephew Antonio, so they were worries that he may not get too, but he did get his and Mirabel was cut out of the separation, it was then she saw it. The magic in the home was failing.

She is now tasked with figuring out why, (tasked by no one mind you). In her search she comes across her uncle who has been set aside from the family. He left them behind because his powers were to see the future and people did not like what his predictions brought.

With his help, she must now sort out the reason why the magic is failing and then stop it before the family loses their magic.

Encanto is good, a fun family movie with musical numbers that are easy to digest. It is not going to break any ground financially is why it is now available on Disney+ and didn’t dominate the box-office. The way it is set is also a little disappointing as the story could have been much more, but instead they settled for the conventional plot.

Disney may have delivered a musical wonder with a super easy story, but what breaks the bank in the box office is the unconventional. But you should see this and know why we do not talk about Bruno.