REVIEW: Encanto

It was around Disney's 50th animated feature, Tangled, that this critic first came into film discourse. A lot has changed within the House of Mouse in the years since, and we now find ourselves the recipient of the Disney canon's 60th feature film, Encanto, directed by Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Charise Castro Smith. What does this latest entry contribute to the library? Turns out, quite a bit.

Nestled in their enchanted house, Casita, the Madrigal family dazzles their community with their fantastical gifts. Elegant Isabella makes flowers grow in her footsteps, young Antonio chats it up with the local wildlife, and Mirabel ... wishes she had a gift like the rest of her family. It's hard to feel important when you're the only one in your family without a superpower, especially with your grandmother constantly shoving you into the corner. But all is not right in paradise. The magic is fading from Casita, and Mirabel is the only one who can keep her family together, but only if she can discover for herself what no one else will offer her freely: her purpose.

There are something like a dozen Madrigals in this cast, a dozen points to this star, each of them distinct from not only each other but also character types as a whole. What precedent is there for a muscle-clad, dress-wearing, donkey herder with anxiety problems? Stereotypes appear only long enough to be dissected and subsequently dismantled, and the whole cast feels fresher for it.

Mirabel is herself a rarity among animated films of all brands. Nerdy teenage girls finally get their day with Mirabel, the rare animated heroine who doesn't look like she fell off the barbie doll shelf. Voice actress Stephanie Beatriz neither disguises nor exaggerates Mirabel's innate geekiness, instead carving a whole human who is insecure but not self-deprecating, warm but not saccharine. We also have Ms. Beatriz to thank for supplying our heroine with a beautiful singing voice, which we have the privilege of hearing across a full deck of musical numbers.

We may have heard catchier tunes from Mr. Miranda (then again I have been singing about Bruno-no-no-no for hours since my viewing), but we've seldom seen musical numbers staged so beautifully. Each number has the characters sliding between vivid stages that seem to be made from light itself. Remember how your jaw dropped watching Elsa dance among the clouds of living ice crystals? There's more where that came from. A lot more.

Where adventure quests are de rigeur for animated films, Encanto chooses to stage all of the action within the Madrigals' "Casita." The film takes a page from the likes of Hogwarts or the castle in Super Mario '64 and keeps all the plot's dungeons within a singular, magical house.

It is somewhat underwhelming that Mirabel never has to travel as far as her backyard to collect her Holy Grails. But even that frustration is thwarted by the quiet genius of this wrinkle. Sure, many of us might climb mountains or slay dragons to save the day, but going one door over to make amends with your sister? That's one ocean few of us are daring enough to cross.

In a way it's refreshing that the plot is propelled forward by Mirabel basically having little therapy sessions with her relatives. Mirabel challenges her family's schema for the perfect familial unit, but Mirabel's honesty and insightfulness may be just what her family needs to become the best version of it's self.

Much like Mirabel's contribution to her family is undervalued, Encanto's offering to the Disney family is a little hard to describe because the film's connection is tenuous. The songs aren't like your usual Disney songs. The story isn't like your usual Disney story. The heroine isn't like your usual Disney heroine. For that, a lot about Encanto is weird. Like an awkward youngest child of an extraordinary family of films, one that maybe we don't quite know what to do with yet. But each new discrepancy also carries something like revelation, something that might bring life and variety to the family. Given little time, I think we'll be happy to welcome this one to the clan.

--The Professor

Comments

ALGDecember 6, 2021 at 4:56 PM
My daughter is a Disney aficionado, and this one just didn't resonate with her quite like other Disney classics (e.g., "Alice in Wonderland") and recent Disney soon-to-be classics (e.g., "Coco") have. That may change with time but, like you, she found "Encanto" occasionally "weird." Interesting review, nonetheless! I haven't seen the film, but you've evidenced that it is worth at least a look.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

REVIEW: You, Me & Tuscany

I've learned not to be ungrateful for movies like You, Me & Tuscany . It's the kind of picture that can be easily written off as predictable or derivative. And Kat Cairo's film definitely rides on some genre shorthand. Halle Bailey's Anna has very similar flaws to most rom-com heroines as this untethered 20-something trying to figure out how to stretch a check. And the story itself lands about where every one of these movies do. (Though, remind me, how does every Tom Cruise movie end?) After the screening concluded, one of the ladies sitting behind me even said something much like, "Yeah, that was a lot like While You Were Sleeping ." But she didn't sound smug in her assessment. Her pronouncement was more encoded with the excitement that comes with discovery--the realization that she had found something like a worthy successor. And as a fan of Sandra Bullock's second-best rom-com, I was inclined to agree with this la...

All The Ways Sunset Boulevard Has Aged Gracefully

So, stop me if you’ve heard this before: Hollywood has a dark side. Particularly in the wake of something like #MeToo or the double strikes of 2023, you can really get a sense for just how famishing, even degrading, it can be trying to make a living in Hollywood. But of course, it all goes back much further than those. One of my very first essays for this blog was a catalogue of all the ways Hollywood ravaged Judy Garland , to point to another example. Yet for all its mess, we cannot take our eyes off of Hollywood, or the people who build it. Stardom in particular becomes a popular focal point—what is it really like being on the other side of all that spotlighting? And Hollywood has naturally supplied the market with all sorts of imaginings for this as well. Thus, each generation gets its own version of A Star is Born. John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man (1952) Ty Burr wrote in his landmark work,...

PROFESSOR'S PICKS: 10 Movie Theater Experiences That Changed Me

So, January 2012: Disney is rereleasing their 1991 animated masterpiece, Beauty and the Beast into theaters, and in 3D format, and I'm able to coerce a friend into seeing it with me. This was a big deal because, as with most of the Disney movies we'd call "classic," Beauty and the Beast had its day in theaters before my time, and this was an opportunity to experience the movie in its proper element, and maybe imagine what it would have been when the legendary tunes by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken graced the public for the first time. My larger circle was none-too-impressed with my choice. Didn't I know that the movie was already on DVD? That I could just watch it anytime in the comfort of my own home without having to pay for another ticket? How could I be so careless with my finances? (Incidentally, many of these same friends would pay top-dollar to see the Beauty and the Beast remake five years later on opening weekend ...) ...

What's Up, Doc?: Why Everyone Needs the Rom-Com

Though the library of master songwriter, Stephen Sondheim, reaches a pedigree of acclaim that is perhaps unrivaled, his most profound work is arguably his Tony award winning show, Company . Premiering in 1969, Company follows Bobby, the only bachelor among his loving network of married friends. Yeah, I know Bobby is sometimes played as a woman, but this particular metaphor is more clear with a male protagonist The story is presented through a series of snapshots showing Bobby’s interactions with his coupled friends intercut with scenes from Bobby’s own romantic pursuits, and it’s through these little vignettes that we understand what it is that keeps Bobby tethered to single life: Bobby fears the chaos of being married to another person. Seeing up front all the turmoil that his married cohorts are subjected to, and faced with his own relationship woes, Bobby contemplates h...

Reveling in the Mixed Messages of Miss Congeniality

In book ten of Metamorphoses, Greek poet Ovid tells the tale of Pygmalion, a talented sculptor living in the height of ancient Greek society. According to the story, Pygmalion’s sculpting prowess was so impeccable that one of his pieces, a marble woman he christened Galatea, was said to be the lovelier than any woman of flesh and blood. Pygmalion was so taken by his creation that he brought her exotic gifts, kissed her marble cheeks, even prepared a luxurious bed for her. Pygmalion so pined to be loved by Galatea that he prayed to the goddess Aphrodite to allow Galatea to reciprocate his love and affection. Aphrodite was apparently in a good mood that day, so she granted Pygmalion’s wish, giving life to Galatea, whom he then wed. The story of Pygmalion is in essence the story of a man who creates his own idealized woman out of whole cloth (or more appropriately, marble), endowing her with all the traits that he finds appealing or alluring. The story also provides a m...

The Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Question

I spend a lot of effort in this space trying to champion the musical genre as the peak of cinematic achievement. And so it sometimes surprises my associates to find out that, no, I wasn't at all raised in a household that particularly favored musicals. I wasn't the kid who went out for the annual school musical or anything. My environment wasn't exactly hostile toward these things, but it actually did very little to nurture my study of the genre. Cinderella (1950) I obviously had exposure through things like the Disney animated musicals, which absolutely had a profound effect on the larger musical genre . But I didn’t see The Sound of Music until high school, and I didn’t see Singin’ in the Rain until college. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers , though, it was just always there. And so I guess that's really where I got infected. I'm referring to the 1954 musical directed by Stanley Donen with music by Gene de Paul ,...

"When Did Disney Get So Woke?!" pt. 1 The Disney of Your Childhood

So, I’m going to put out a somewhat controversial idea here today: The Walt Disney Company has had a tremendous amount of influence in the pop culture landscape, both in recent times and across film history. Further controversy: a lot of people really resent Disney for this. I’ve spent a greater part of this blog’s lifetime tracking this kind of thing. I have only a dozen or so pieces deconstructing the mechanics of these arguments and exposing how baseless these claims tend to be. This sort of thing is never that far from my mind. But my general thoughts on the stigmatization of the Disney fandom have taken a very specific turn in recent times against recent headlines. The Walt Disney Company has had some rather embarrassing box office flops in the last two or three years, and a lot of voices have been eager to link Disney’s recent financial woes to certain choices. Specifically, this idea that Disney has all the sudden “gone woke.” Now,...

REVIEW: AVATAR - Fire and Ash

The "Avatar" chapters have generally renewed their interest to the masses based on which exciting new locale and which new culture whichever film opts to explore. Following that dance, "Fire and Ash" introduces yet another Na'Vi clan, this one hailing from the scorched plains under the shadow of an erupted volcano. But their biome is decidedly less spectacular than the lush jungles of the Omaticaya or the rich coral reefs where the Metkayina dive. Between the ashen grounds of the volcano clan and the metallic fortress of the humans, this is comfortably the most monochromatic of the three Avatar films. And yet, Avatar: Fire and Ash is no less gripping for it. And this is where the internet really starts to reckon with what us fans of the franchise have always kind of known: that the many screensavers offered by the Avatar world ... they have been nice . But these films would have never made the impact they have if th...

The Case for Pre-Ragnarök Thor

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become such a fixture of pop culture that it’s difficult to imagine that the whole ordeal was actually a massive crapshoot. The biggest conceit of the MCU has been its ability to straddle a thousand different heroes—each with their own stories, casts, and universes—into one cohesive whole. It’s a balancing act like nothing that’s ever been attempted before in the hundred years of filmmaking. A lot of the brand’s success can be attributed to the way that each individual story adheres to the rules of its own specific universe. The Captain America movies serve a different purpose than the Spiderman movies, and all the movies in the Captain America trilogy have to feel like they belong together. There are, of course, questions posed by this model. In a network of films that all exist to set up other ...

REVIEW: ELIO

Here's a fact: the term "flying saucer" predates the term "UFO." The United States Air Force found the former description too limiting to describe the variety of potential aerial phenomena that might arise when discussing the possibility of life beyond earth. There may have to be a similar expansion of vocabulary within the alien lexicon with Pixar's latest film, Elio , turning the idea of an alien abduction into every kid's dream come true. The titular Elio is a displaced kid who recently moved in with his aunt after his parents died. She doesn't seem to understand him any better than his peers do. He can't imagine a place on planet earth where he feels he fits in. What's a kid to do except send a distress cry out into the great, big void of outer space? But m iracle of miracles: his cries into the universe are heard, and a band of benevolent aliens adopt him into their "communiverse" as the honorary ambassador o...

Films and Feelings

Search This Blog