Encanto Review
Encanto (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Charise Castro Smith and starring Stephanie Beatriz, Maria Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitan, Diane Guerrero, Wilmer Valderrama, Rhenzy Feliz, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Adassa, Maluma, Juan Castano, Sarah-Nicole Robles and Hector Elias.
Encanto is Disney’s 60th animated film and it is one of the studio’s most groundbreaking movies. An ambitious project with multi-layered characters, Encanto is easy to enjoy but hard to analyze perfectly on a single viewing. There’s so much rich detail in the characterizations and the story line that it becomes hard to predict what’s going to happen throughout the film. It’s no surprise that several writers are credited to have worked on the screenplay and it shows. There is just so much detail and originality embodied in every single moment in Encanto.
In the picture’s most touching moments, the film showcases the truly original character of Mirabel (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz), a teenage Colombian girl without a “gift” in a family full of gifted heroes. Mirabel is a character much like Merida from Brave or even Elsa or Anna from Frozen in that Mirabel will most likely inspire plush toys and video games thanks to her smart, sweet character. She’s one of the most relatable Disney heroines of all-time with her big eyes, glasses and dark, curly hair. She feels ordinary even though she is anything but ordinary as a character. Young girls will definitely relate to this highly intelligent and motivated character.
This film captures a lot of different themes in its story. One very effective character is that of Luisa (the voice of Jessica Darrow) who is asked by her friends and family to do a lot of different physically challenging tasks such as moving heavy things from one place to another. This character resonated the most to me out of the supporting characters in the film. For one, she is always depended on and, a lot of the time, she is taken for granted. When she loses her power, she feels a bit like less of a person. That’s because of the fact that the Madrigal family the film portrays is used to living a good life but definitely not a perfect one. Mirabel believes she hasn’t lived a good life because of her lack of a “gift” but she’s about to learn some very important lessons in life as the film progresses.
There is a character in the film who is part of the extended family the movie features and this female character seems as if she lives a charmed life. She’s seemingly almost like a true princess and the name of her character is Isabela (the voice of Diane Guerrero). When she’s about to be proposed to by the perfect guy who really isn’t so perfect to her, that’s when the film’s central story line kicks in as Mirabel’s relationship with Isabela is challenged immensely for reasons I won’t reveal here.
The relationship between Mirabel and Isabela is a lot like Elsa and Anna’s in Frozen except in reverse. In the original Frozen, Elsa was ashamed of her powers and that hurt her relationship with Anna who loved her nevertheless. Isabela had the power of growing flowers at the film’s beginning but Mirabel didn’t have any powers yet Isabela somewhat holds a grudge against Mirabel who, in a hysterical scene, seeks out a hug from Isabela to secure their family bond. These characters in the new film are well written and unique despite any obvious but slight similarities to the girls from Frozen.
Into the middle of the movie is thrown the story of a man whose unpredictable visions of the future have challenged Mirabel and her family for a long time. It’s Mirabel’s uncle Bruno (voiced by the always reliable John Leguizamo) who now lives away from his family with a bunch of rats in seclusion distanced from them. Mirabel and her uncle Bruno form another strong bond as the film continues to progress and create a very believable friendship.
Maria Cecilia Botero voices Abuela Alma who lost her husband but saved her children and grew to raise them with results that turned out a lot different than she expected. Abuela Alma is another strong central character who has an interesting relationship with Mirabel as it seems both of them undervalue each other. There are a lot of touching moments between these two characters towards the film’s conclusion.
Lin-Manuel Miranda did the songs for the film and they move the picture along at a quick pace keeping the audience entertained throughout a very complicated plot which is eventually tied up quite neatly at the film’s conclusion. This film will appeal to families throughout the holiday season and may even bring families together in ways that they never thought were possible. The movie is ultimately about the strength of family and that unbreakable bond that can carry families through even the most difficult of times. It is recommended.
Rating: 8/10
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