Encanto
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| Encanto | ||||||||||||||||||||
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 "Welcome to the family Madrigal!"
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Encanto is a 2021 American computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures set in a fantasy version of Colombia. The 60th film produced by the studio, is directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush, co-directed by Charise Castro Smith, and written by Bush and Castro Smith with songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Encanto premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on November 3, 2021, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 24, 2021, in 2D, 3D, RealD 3D, and Dolby Cinema formats.
Plot
The Madrigals are an extraordinary family who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia in a charmed place called the Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift -- every child except Mirabel. However, she soon may be the Madrigals' last hope when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is now in danger.
Why It's Fantastical and Magical
- The premise of every child but one in their magical house having been granted a unique ability such as strength or healing powers is unique and creative.
- The animation is very well done, it's smooth, fluent, and good. It helps that Walt Disney Animation Studios animated the movie, the sound effects are decent as well as the soundtrack is good and dramatic at the same time. So we can give credit to the producers for doing their jobs correctly and making this film possible!
- The voice acting is good, and decent, especially the singing. Stephanie Beatriz (who also portrayed Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Sweet Mayhem in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Batwoman in Catwoman: Hunted, Gertie in Ice Age: Collision Course, Gosalyn Waddlemeyer in DuckTales (2017), Nimue in Tales of Arcadia, and Chimi in Maya and the Three, Pepper in Dogs in Space, and later Vaggie in Hazbin Hotel.), in particular, did an excellent job voicing Mirabel.
- The backgrounds are nice to look at.
- Once again, the soundtrack is good and decent, done by Germaine Franco and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
- There can be some moments that deserve a chuckle like
- "And that's why coffee's for grown-ups!"
- And the opening song, adequately introduces the Madrigal family. And the quote "WE DON'T TALK ABOUT BRUNO!", is hilarious to some!
- "My dad Agustín, well, he's accident-prone — but he means well!"
- The idea of having a Colombian family is pretty cool! And it's nice to see a Disney movie having more diversity.
- Well done and amazingly catchy musical numbers, especially "Surface Pressure" and "What Else Can I Do?", which tie into both Luisa and Isabela having too much pressure being put onto them as a result of their gifts, "We Don't Talk About Bruno", a fun tango-themed ensemble piece that adds onto the mystery of Bruno, and "Dos Oruguitas", a heartbreaking delve into Alma's backstory.
- The Madrigal family is very likable and fun to the point where every major character has become a fan-favorite.
- Mirabel Madrigal is the main protagonist of Disney's feature film Encanto. She is Julieta and Agustín's youngest daughter, as well as the younger sister of Luisa and Isabela and the youngest granddaughter of Alma. She does not possess a magical gift, unlike the rest of her family. Mirabel is a free-spirited and open-minded young woman who is optimistic, but slightly insecure because she lacks magical powers, unlike her family members. She devotes herself to saving Casa Madrigal and the magical world of Encanto when Casita cracks, showing her bravery. She loves to solve problems and tries to make friends with people a lot, especially her family members. Mirabel is lively and always open to help her family. She is beautiful on the inside and the outside, which is very special.
- Luisa takes care of all the family's chores and her friend's chores with her super-strength and is relied upon a lot, but not a lot of people ask how she feels about doing all the chores. She is outwardly tough and strong and does not care about the expectations set on her, and only shows her positive sides such as her kind side, her brave side, and her obvious strong side. However, Luisa also has anxiety about what will happen when she messes up and can no longer be relied on, which she hides from people around her. Luisa is a dutiful and hardworking young woman, committed to serving her family and community. But on the bright side, Luisa is shown to be very tolerant doing anything anyone asks of her with no complaint despite people rarely ever showing her appreciation. She's also very patient, this being shown when she was putting out food to set up for Antonio's gift ceremony and the younger children were hanging off of her arms and back while she was holding a plate of snacks. She also kept her patience with Mirabel when Mirabel kept asking her about what was going on with the magic while Luisa was busy with her work helping people in the community. When Luisa snapped at Mirabel and yelled at her while trying to insist the magic was fine, Luisa's outburst was a surprise to the both of them.
- Camilo Madrigal is a supporting character in Disney's 2021 film Encanto. He is the middle child of Pepa and Félix, younger brother of Dolores and older brother of Antonio. His magical gift is shapeshifting. Camilo is best described as a prankster with a heart of gold. He uses his powers to entertain the children, while also poking fun at people, such as when he sang his part of We Don't Talk About Bruno and when he tried cheering up Antonio by mimicking his father. He's also known to pass a few snide remarks here and there, such as when he remarked on the fact that the family was homeless after Casita was destroyed. He has a softer side to him, shown when he tries calming his mother Pepa by giving her tea, even affectionally calling her Mami. Like everyone else, he cares deeply for his family and Casita.
- Mirabel even got some character development! Which was nice to see.
- There can be some heartwarming moments here and there and there are tearjerkers that can make you cry
- This is how you write a strong yet vulnerable woman (who happens to be of a foreign culture) without pandering to the masses or preaching.
- It steps away from the infamous "twist villain" cliche prominent in Disney movies of late. It reverses that complex by having an apparent evil person who turns out to be good; here, the Madrigal family introduces Bruno as this malevolent and antagonistic man only for him to turn out to be very likable, shy, and someone who still loves and cares about his family despite being vilified by them over the years.
Qualities That Aren't Magical
- The ending of the film, despite being emotional, can be predictable and cliché to some, even viewers who are unfamiliar with the story.
- The plot contained a couple of overused clichés, even though they were executed well:
- Abuela Alma Madrigal has the "strict matriarch who overlooks the family" cliché, which comes to mind in characters like Endeavor from My Hero Academia. Also, despite her earlier tragic and traumatic experiences, she could be unlikable sometimes, as she neglected Mirabel for not possessing magic like the rest of her family while blaming and even excluding Bruno for their troubles; not to mention that she lied to the people of Colombia to keep up her family's image (with the saying "We are strong").
- Mirabel has the "main character is different than everyone else" cliché, despite being admired by the community.
- Bruno has the "person everybody hates" cliché.
- False advertising:
- In most trailers, Mirabel was shown to go on an adventure with a toucan as a partner to a place that can provide clues to save the house and its magic, but in the film, she only went deeper by herself into unknown parts of the house which contain several paths that include clues to find Bruno who was missing.
- In some posters, Mirabel and her family (even each of them has their own posters) are seen as main characters, but despite being heavily advertised, Mirabel, Bruno, and Abuela Madrigal had much more screen time than the rest of the characters.
- The Indonesian dub version of this movie suffers from extremely bland dialogue as around 95% of the movie was mostly a direct translation from the original English, with the songs stripped of their core in favor of a much more direct translation of the lyrics from English rather than adapting to the rhyme and structure of the song, unlike the other dub versions like the Malay, Japanese or even Latin American Spanish version, with "We don't talk about Bruno, no-no-no" being interpreted as "Jangan bicara tentang Si Bruno" without the "no-no-no", even though that there are a few exceptions such as Surface Pressure (unless you count the repetition of "drip", "tip", "grip" and "tick" in the chorus being written over).
- Bruno can come off as a Gary Stu sometimes.
Reception
Encanto received critical acclaim for its emotion, music, animation, characterization, and cultural fidelity. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 183 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.50/10. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Encanto's setting and cultural perspective are new for Disney, but the end result is the same -- enchanting, beautifully animated fun for the whole family.", while the audience consensus reads, "Whether you're looking for gorgeous animation, catchy songs, a heartwarming message, or all of the above, Encanto delivers.". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an 88% positive score, with 70% saying they would recommend it.
Trivia
- The film's soundtrack became a viral phenomenon and enjoyed widespread popularity on the internet. In fact, "We Don't Talk About Bruno" surpassed "Let it Go" as the highest-charting song from a Disney animated feature film in 26 years.
- In February 2022, following the film's success and popularity, Bob Chapek, the former CEO of Disney confirmed that Encanto would expand into an entire franchise.
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