Review: Disney Staples Make 'Encanto' A Standard Animated Outing
“You’re just as special as anyone else in this family.”
In the Madrigal household, every family member has a special power, everyone that is except for Mirabel. Her younger sister can grow flowers instantly. Her older sister lifts objects with ease. Her uncle sees into the future. Her cousin hears everything. Her mother heals ailments with her cooking. And Mirabel, well, contributes where she can using regular means. As the collective stewards of their remote town in the mountains of Columbia, the Madrigals choose to use their powers to help the locals who have fled political conflict in the cities.
For Mirabel, being the sole individual deemed normal can feel like anything but when your entire family is leverages their abilities for the greater community. She has a desire to prove herself, and in doing so, she hopes to discover what makes her exceptional. Such an opportunity arises when the glowing candle that grants the Madrigals their power starts to go out. If extinguished, everyone would lose their powers, and the peace and prosperity that the village has known for decades would be in jeopardy.
Encanto is your classic family outing from Disney. The story arc is as much about self-discovery and one’s place within the family dynamic as most other Disney animated films. The music works fine to advance the plot and convey emotional sentiments — provided you can stomach contemporary hip-hop rap injected into the songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. And the animation matches the homogenous CGI style pervading the industry for much of the 2010s, made moderately impressive by the annualized advancements in computer generated images. On the list of Disney staples, Encanto checks most of the boxes.
That isn’t to say there isn’t a new coat of paint applied to liven things up. The Columbian setting is lush and detailed with clear efforts from the art department. The plot does not cater to conventional ‘grand-adventure’ story beats that past Disney films have deployed, making for something that is much more insular and small scale. And there are a band of new characters who fill in roles with distinction. The culmination of all of this, both good and average, amounts to a perfectly fine sing-a-long Disney movie for parents to take their kids to throughout the holiday season. When the film’s intentions are so clear, it’s hard to knock it for being so familiar, but at the same time, it’s always fair to ask for more.
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