Encanto

Encanto is a creative movie featuring beautiful and vibrant animation. However, the story feels a little underdeveloped. While there are some magical and emotional moments, it seems as if they didn't know how to end the movie. The lack of a strong villain also makes this movie a little less compelling. Nevertheless, the music is fun, and we enjoyed watching Encanto together as a family.

I absolutely loved all the characters, the songs, the animation, the concept, literally EVERYTHING was perfect.

BUT and this is a really big but, it felt so rushed since the moment the house breaks down, it just feels like they run out of ideas for the ending or something, which really sucks because it just left me with the feeling of, "this is a great movie, but this is also a very bad movie"

The trailer, for this movie, does not seem to do a good job of setting up the plot.

The setup - This movie is about a Colombian family, who's matriarch (in her darkest moment - her husband disappearing and the loss of their home) found a magical candle. This magical candle gave them a "living" mansion and bestows magical powers to her descendants. However, one of her granddaughters, Maribel, is not given powers. This makes her a figurative outcast, with her family (except her parents and one of her cousins). This rift is especially wide with her grandmother.

Pros - The characters (who you are supposed to like) are likeable, when they need to be. The music and songs are done really well. The animation and graphics are well done. The plot is mostly well put together and is deeper than a lot of people seem to give it credit for being. There is a lot of well-placed humour and fore-shadowing.

Cons - They do not explain what happened to the patriarch. They do not explain where the main plot device comes from. They do not explain two minor things that happen.

People Might Consider to be Cons - They bounce between Spanish and English (which can be off-puting). Some things seem a bit too coincidental. Some people might not like the exposition in the songs.

Maribel is now one of my favourite fictional characters.

Encanto is another Incredible Disney animated movie that continues their winning streak with a fun, extremely vibrant and emotional film that also has great messages and mature themes, even if the narrative is predictable.

Stephanie Beatriz gives an incredible lead performance and María Cecilia Botero, Diane Guerrero, Jessica Darrow and John Leguizamo all give great supporting performances.

The direction by Jared Bush, Bryon Howard and Charise Castro Smith is superb, it's constantly visually inventive and extremely well paced. The animation is reliably perfect, ridiculously colourful and consistently visually stunning. The songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda are excellent.

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.