Disney’s ‘Encanto’ has brilliant looks, but its story never quite hits home | Movie review

There is much to appreciate with “Encanto.”

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 60th feature film is almost unbelievably gorgeous. (We say “almost” only because the studio’s previous production, March’s “Raya and the Last Dragon,” was similarly striking.) The film’s Colombia-inspired designs and brilliant specular highlights suggest that, a few months from now, this should be the film you see on every 4K HDR television set when you walk into a Best Buy.

Plus, “Encanto” is most interested in exploring themes that stem from being part of a large extended family. In this case, it’s a family full of magical abilities, but, really, the dynamics at play can be found in families the world over.

And yet the story told in “Encanto” never reaches magical levels.

Sure, it is pleasant enough, this music-infused tale of a girl struggling to find her place within her family. But in the hands of “Zootopia” director Byron Howard, it never lands a hard-hitting emotional punch.

The girl is 15-year-old Mirabel (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz), whose extraordinary family, the Madrigals, live hidden in the mountains of Columbia, in a magical home with a personality all its own.

The Madrigals are important to the villagers who live around them because when a member of the family turns 5, he or she is gifted a special ability via a magical door that appears in the house and opens to an enchanted space. For instance, Luisa (Jessica Darrow of “Feast of the Seven Fishes”), one of Mirabel’s two sisters, is strong and powerful, so much so that she spends her days in the village doing all the needed heavy lifting. And then there’s her other, seemingly perfect sister, Isabela (Diane Guererro, “Doom Patrol”), who is able to make plants grow and flowers bloom.

And Mirabel’s gift? Well … her ceremony kind of came and went without anything being bestowed. Nonetheless loved by her family — especially her supportive parents — Mirabel carries on as if her normalcy is no big deal. She’s happy to help the family in any way she can.

“Maybe your gift is being in denial,” a girl in the village suggests to her.

Wow. Tough burn, kid.

On the day of the ceremony for Mirabel’s 5-year-old cousin, Antonio (Ravi Cabot-Conyers, “#blackAF”), magic-obsessed family matriarch Abuela Alma (María Cecilia Botero, “Enfermeras”) asks Mirabel to kindly stay out of the way.

That proves to be difficult for Mirabel to do in general as “Encanto” progresses. She begins to fear the family is losing its magic — something her grandmother doesn’t want to admit, at least not to anyone other than herself.

Mirabel begins to believe the clues to what is happening may reside with her estranged uncle, Bruno (a reasonably funny John Leguizamo). His doom-and-gloom visions are the reason, as the family sings, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” — one of eight original songs composed for the film by Lin-Manuel Miranda of “Hamilton” fame.

Can Mirabel, with Bruno’s help, solve this mystery before the cracks increasingly forming in the structure of the house actually tear the family apart?

Just as a large family gathering can be, “Encanto” is big and often messy.

Its story — credited to Howard, Miranda and co-directors Charise Castro Smith, a playwright, and Jared Bush, who also co-directed “Zootopia” — unfolds in fits and starts and never truly finds its rhythm. Whereas megahit “Zootopia” was too slow, “Encanto” mostly is too fast considering all the characters it is trying to juggle. You don’t get much of a feel for many of them, which is disappointing.

It probably doesn’t help matters that this is a cartoon without a true villain. Yes, her grandmother antagonizes Mirabel at times, but she is a good woman who long ago was forced to flee her home with her husband and their triplets. Ultimately, it is the situation that is the antagonist of “Encanto,” and that works only so well as a storytelling device in the film.

Furthermore, key elements of an animated musical — the voicework and songs — are fine here but not anything special.

Beatriz, who appeared in this year’s big-screen adaptation of the Miranda musical “In the Heights” and was consistently fun as tough cop Rosa Diaz on the delightful, recently concluded sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” certainly is acceptable as Miribel. But you can’t help but wish she found a way to elevate what is an appealing character, one with whom it is not hard to relate.

Turning to Miranda’s songs — starting with the toe-tapping, scene-setting opening number, “The Family Madrigal,” and including key Miribel-Isabela duet “What Else Can I Do?” — are enjoyable but generally not terrific. That’s surprising if only because of Miranda’s immense talent.

When you factor in its spectacular looks, “Encanto” has enough going for it that it isn’t hard to give it a recommendation. It certainly would be an appropriate choice for an extended family outing over the holiday weekend.

Nonetheless, with its universal themes and clever ideas, it feels as though it could have been much more than the sum of its well-intentioned parts.

‘Encanto’

Where: Theaters.

When: Nov. 24.

Rated: PG for some thematic elements and mild peril.

Runtime: 1 hour, 49 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.5.