Encanto Review

Encanto is the latest animated musical from the House of Mouse. This film takes the Disney musical to Colombia.

The Madrigal family are the de facto leaders of a small town in Colombia and they use their powers to help the townspeople. All the Madrigals are bestowed with superpowers at a young age, except Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz). However, Mirabel has a vision where the family house gets destroyed, and the candle that gives the Madrigals their powers get extinguished. It’s up to the powerless Mirabel to save the Madrigals’ gifts.

Fans of Lin-Manuel Miranda have been blessed this year because Encanto was his third musical film to be released this year. The other two were In the Heights and Tick, Tick… Boom. Encanto is the second Disney musical he was involved with; his previous Disney film was Moana which was one of my favourite Disney musicals. Plus, it had the talented Stephanie Beatriz, AKA Rosa Diaz from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, in the lead role. So, there were a lot of reasons to be excited.

Like many films from Disney the film delivers the expected high levels of animation and music and has the usual mix of light-hearted humour and pulls on the heartstrings. Encanto also follows the recent trend in Disney films of twisting the usual formula for a Disney Princess adventure.

Since Disney has returned to making princess films and animated musicals the studio has gone to great efforts to twist the formula in some way. Tangled, Frozen, and Moana have all shown their main characters going on a quest and subverting expectations. Encanto had two twists. The first was the film mostly took place in the family home and the nearby town. Mirabel didn’t go on a quest even though the trailers implied it.

The smaller-scale setting plays into the other big twist of the film because Encanto was a family drama. Mirabel was the black sheep of the family because of her powerless status. This was perfectly shown in Mirabel’s emotional solo ‘Waiting on a Miracle’ where Mirabel was left out of a family photo. Family members treat Mirabel differently. Isabela (Diane Guerrero) treats her younger sister with antagonism and mockery and Mirabel’s aunt, Madrigal (Carolina Gaitán) looks down at the young character. Mirabel’s status was so low that she had to stay in the nursery with her young cousin.

The main antagonist in the film was Abuela Alma (María Cecilia Botero), Mirabel’s grandmother. Alma was a domineering matriarch who oversaw the family. She saw Mirabel as worthless because she had no powers and belittled her youngest granddaughter at any opportunity. Yet what Mirabel didn’t realise was Alma put pressure on all the family, as symbolised with Luisa’s (Jessica Darrow) song where the character with super strength who had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

This smaller scale and family drama made Encanto stand out amongst the usual Disney princess/musical stories. It was a more personal story and there was a level of reliability because many people would have lived in the shadow of someone else and compared themselves to others, whilst other people would feel the pressure no matter how good they are. Mirabel’s role was to try and fix her family and act as the glue to bond them.

However, the stakes in Encanto felt much lower than in other recent Disney films. Frozen, Moana and Raya and the Last Dragon all focused on characters trying to prevent the apocalypse and Tangled was about the main character escaping from captivity. Encanto seemed like it would have worked better as an animated series because of the town setting and large cast of characters. I could picture the Madrigals getting into trouble helping the townspeople and the series could mix up the dynamics. Disney could make a spin-off series based on Encanto as they did in the ‘90s with The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Hercules.

Encanto continues the recent trend from Disney and Pixar by casting culturally appropriate voice actors. Most of the cast in Encanto was Colombian or from Colombian heritage and many of them provided their voices for the Spanish language version. The most recognisable actors were Beatriz and John Leguizamo because they’re big-name stars. The only non-Hispanic actor in the cast was Alan Tudyk and that’s Disney just keeping up a tradition.

Beatriz is an incredible actress – just compare her role in Brooklyn Nine-Nine to how she is in real life. Beatriz’s role in Encanto was more like her real-life personality because Mirabel was outwardly cheery, quirky, and a little awkward. Beatriz is a loveable person in real life, so Mirabel was also likeable.

Whilst other Disney films were influenced by other cultures, e.g. Tangled’s world was influenced by Germany, Arendelle was based on Norway, and Moana had a mix of Polynesian cultures. Encanto wasn’t set in a fictional country, the film states it was set in Columbia. It’s the first time since Mulan where a Disney film fantasy was set in a real nation. The film aimed to be a celebration of Colombian culture, with all the festivities on display and a sense of community.

Encanto was a bright and colourful film that fans of Disney musicals will love and the different type of story is appreciated. However, the lower scene of peril did impact the film and prevents Encanto from being a Disney classic.

The short film Far From the Tree was released with Encanto. It was a beautifully animated film that was done in a hand-drawn style. It followed a young raccoon and its stern parent which made it a fitting companion piece to Encanto.