Saturday, 11 December 2021

Encanto

Official Australian release date: 2/12/21. Viewed: 12/12/21.
Directors: Jared Bush, Byron Howard & Charise Castro Smith  
Actors: Stephanie Beatriz, Jessica Darrow, Diane Guerrero, John Leguizamo
Genre: Animated / Family
Rating: PG

 


‘Encanto’ is a Disney (not Disney-Pixar) animated story from the directors of ‘Zooptopia’, this time about a Colombian family (the Madrigals) who have inherited a miracle/enchanted candle and house that gives them all some sort of gift/power – except Mirabel (Beatriz – “Rosa” from Brooklyn Nine-Nine). Therein lies her trying to fit in with her sisters – “strong” Luisa (Darrow) and “perfect” Isabela (Guerrero), as well as her aunts, uncles, parents, cousins and grandma/abuela (Botero), who all live in the reverse-haunted-house.

Apparently all the songs are written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, there’s only 5 or so of them and most are not memorable. There’s a bit of a mystery surrounding what happened to Mirabel’s uncle Bruno (Leguizamo, interesting hearing him not as Sid!), which Mirabel sets out to solve. There’s some action sequences and a few trippy bits during some of the songs, but nothing scary for kids.

Great animation and colours/lighting throughout, and not too long. The resolution of Mirabel not needing powers to love/help her family and her abuela realising her mistakes with Mirabel and Bruno are quite touching and seem realistic. Certainly a good moral – you don’t need to be “special” to help/love/be nice to others.

Overall: Good family story.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

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