Whilst this is set in Colombia, it is easily and readily transportable to any location in the world where an extended family/community live and work together harmoniously. This feature adds a magical aspect to that existence, with each child being born there being given a gift by their sacred candle. Some of these gifts are more useful than others, it has to be said, but when "Mirabel" is born without one and when a few years later their whole existence seems on the brink of collapse, it falls to this young girl and her cousin "Bruno" to try and save their close knit family as the gifts and the candle start to fail. I am not really the greatest fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda's lyrics, I find they rely too much on repetition, but here he has quite a few toe-tapping numbers - though no real killer-song, to complement a kindly script with a soup?on of humour and plenty of high quality animated antics that easily passes 100 minutes. As with most Disney movies, there is an underlying moral about trust, integrity, nature and family - but it's not too overwhelmingly delivered, nor too sentimental, and there is still plenty of fun to be had whilst watching (so long as you are not one of the donkeys!). It's not really a film I suspect i will remember next month, but it looks good on a big screen with decent audio and I did quite enjoy it.
4 out of 5 stars.
Encanto is a cute family film. That delivers a family theme story. Beautiful and colorful animation with a talented voice cast. The musical sequences are good but not as outstanding and memorable like most Disney films.
I think part of the problem was the therater I went to see this movie in, had a problem with the sound being too loud. It was hurting my ears. I had to plug them each time a song happened.
I also didn't like the formula. It was a typical Disney movie with Pixar influences. Animated, large eyes of characters, typical predictable script, simple and immature songs. A typical ending.
I did enjoy a few individual scenes, but it wasn't worth the $15 for the viewing. I ended up being able to predict the ending within the first fifteen minutes.
I dislike formulaic movies and this one fits that exactly. It is a cookie cutter movie. Cheap, unworthy and not a movie I want to ever watch again.
Encanto (2021) :Movie Review -
Walt Disney Animation Studios seems to be having a good run this year. Their previous outing this year 'Raya And The Last Dragon' was a fabulous standalone (All-alone Disney Production) animated film. It was probably their first ever solo production (outside Pixar mostly) which recieved high critical acclaim since Cult Classic 'The Lion King'. Now, the same production has brought another animated flick on the occasion of Thanksgivings, and the end result is nothing bad but a perfect treat for families. Encanto may not surpass Raya And The Last Dragon-visually and emotionally, but it has some brilliant visually appealing scenes of its own and plenty of entertaining musical numbers to keep audience hooked for the entire runtime, with of course conditions applied. One can say that watching Encanto on Thanksgiving weekend with your family would give you a better experience than any other time.
Encanto is set in a whole new fictional world, just like a fantasy park. Better say a Disney Park. In the film, we see a family called the Madrigals who live in an enchanted town in the mountains of Colombia. Every child but one in their magical house has been granted a unique ability such as strength or healing powers. Mirabel, the only ordinary Madrigal, discovers that the ancient magic is under threat and then she goes on to find hidden, unknown visions to make things right. Whatever is the runtime of Enchanto, it doesn't really matter because Jared Bush and Charise Castro Smith's screenplay keeps it swift. A lot of portion in the middle is little slow and boring though.
In an animated feature, the voice roles play important part as the expressions and acting never really matter. The voice cast includes Stephanie Beatriz, John Leguizamo, MarĂa Cecilia Botero, Diane Guerrero, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda and Wilmer Valderrama and to some sort, everybody has given something different. In two-three scenes, those verbal expressions and that cuteness in voice makes you feel those moments. Germaine Franco's musical numbers are vibrant and delightful and every song has got a different mood set in different situations. The language could be a problem sometimes, but that shouldn't be an issue for someone who cares about tunes.
Talking about the visuals, Encanto is extremely enchanting. Creating that fantasy world with human-looking characters is always difficult but Disney's animators have done it before and here Encanto is just another spectacular addition in their list. Technical aspects of the film are fairly decent. It could have done better with the background score, especially in those emotional moments.
Encanto is Directed by the duo Byron Howard and Jared Bush, who have previously collaborated for a successful film like 'Zootopia'. Encanto, being their first-ever joint directorial, is not that great but like mentioned above, it has its own moments. This isn't the first time we are seeing family values being redefined in an animated feature and expecting something wonderful like Pixar's 'Coco' would be too much. So, let's just be happy with this fairly enough family-film. In a nutshell, Encanto offers a sweet mixed-dish of entertainment, family drama, fantasy elements and emotional connect that can be enjoyed by the entire family together with normal expectations.
RATING - 6/10*
"No one is youer than you." - Dr. Seuss
I interpreted "Encanto" to mean that one's strength is not determined by traditions or other people's understanding of strength. Strength is about knowing the ethical thing to do, even if it challenges tradition.
And of course, it's good to see the depiction of a woman who isn't defined by her relationship to a man. Impressive movie.