Encanto
Encanto
Starring Stephanie Beatriz, Maria Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Diane Guerrero
Directed by Jared Bush & Byron Howard
While fleeing their homeland, Abuela Alma Madrigal (Maria Cecilia Botero), her husband, and three infant children find themselves under attack by the rebel force, and her husband pays the ultimate price, but he leaves behind a magical candle that gives birth to Abuela's Casita - a magical house that interacts with its inhabitants and proves to be the ultimate home for the Madrigal family. Each member of Abula's family is given a gift at a certain age - from controlling the weather to healing to super strength and communication with animals - but Abuela's son Bruno (John Leguizamo) is gifted with the ability of seeing into the future, and it's something Abuela doesn't agree with because she sees it more as a negative gift than one that can benefit the growing town around the Casita - and Bruno is shunned and abandoned.
When it comes time for Abula's granddaughter Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) to receive her gift, she is left without one for the first time, causing Abula to worry about the magic in the house. She treats Mirabel with a more harsh tone than everyone else in her family, while Mirabel just wants to help out in any way she can. When she notices cracks forming in the house and the magical candle's light fading, she tries to warn the others, but either they don't believe her or don't want to come to terms with what's happening, leading Mirabel on a quest to save the magic, her family, and herself in the process.
"Encanto" is a special type of film done in the style of "magic realism" - a work of fiction that mixes both the realistic view of the modern world with magical elements. The setting is in a small Colombian village, but the house at its center is magical, along with most of its inhabitants. The Madrigals use their gifts to bless the town around them, and you can sense the blending of the realistic and magical with every color-filled moment.
"Encanto" also doesn't shy away from Disney's bread-and-butter: turning a nobody into a somebody, and showing the audience that anyone who thinks they're a nobody can also indeed be a somebody. This time, it's Mirabel Madrigal's time to become the newest Disney Princess (also the first with glasses), and she proves that anyone can achieve royalty when it comes to Disney. Mirabel is the only member of her family to not get any gifts, and you sense the deep hurt and sadness she feels as she tries to be a part of a magical family while exhibiting no magical talents at all. She laments that she's not as strong as her super-strength sister Luisa or the simple perfection that her other sister Isabela possesses, and she's treated as a black sheep of the family, especially through the eyes of the stern Abuela, who sacrificed everything to create the Casita and protect her family therein. Despite not having magical powers, Mirabel continues to inspire and believe in her family and learns that even though her family is full of magical people, they're still just people - they have insecurities, doubts, fears, and sadness that they suppress in order to maintain a strong facade.
Lin-Manuel Miranda has had an action-packed year, from his stage play
"In the Heights" (which also starred Beatriz) coming to the big screen,
his animated work "Vivo" hitting Netflix, to his first directorial film
"Tick...Tick...Boom," and he lends his own unique voice to "Encanto" as
well, providing the songs for the film. As it is with everything else he
does, he delivers with exemplary precision, only adding to the visual
magic on the big screen.
"Encanto" entertains through the use of vivid animations and exciting action as Mirabel goes on a journey to discover how to save the magic before it disappears forever, yet the film isn't entirely an action epic - in fact, nothing takes place outside the small community they live in, as the Casita itself is magical and harnesses exceptional, beautiful landscapes like Amazonian jungles and desert landscapes that reside within the house itself. There's not a moment where you're not in awe of the fantastic animation work, and yet it's also something you'd come to expect from a Disney feature, the second in one year (after the equally enthralling "Raya and the Last Dragon," which also gave birth a unique Disney Princess). Stephanie Beatriz shines as the voice of Mirabel, as she delicately blends sadness, resentment, pain, and doubt with love, sincerity, hope, and confidence in a way that makes Mirabel incredibly endearing and lovable, a true Disney underdog.
"Encanto" enlightens us as it's Disney's first soiree into the Colombian culture, and much
like how it paid tribute to the Mexican culture in "Coco," it does the
same for the Colombian culture here. From its unique use of animals that
are native to the land to the flowers, costumes, and use of songs that
match their cultural palette, "Encanto" is a loving story that
celebrates the culture of the Colombian people and offers a different
worldview that most people never get to experience - all with a magical
touch.
"Encanto" also emboldens us to achieve the impossible, no matter what we might be lacking. Mirabel has no magical gifts, yet she finds the strength inside herself to save the magic, and the family, despite being the "weakest" of the family. While her Abuela shuns her, she keeps striving to fix that which is broken, and does so with a sincere heart and love. She gives us hope that we, too, can achieve the impossible despite not being "special" in the eyes of others, and is a prime example of an ordinary person who does extraordinary things. It also emboldens us to love our families more fiercely, to celebrate the differences in each one of us, and to help us understand that - even in this tumultuous climate - we're all neighbors, and we need to look out for and protect each other. It's a magical film indeed, but also shows that the true magic lies with the family we have, and the lengths we'll go to protect them.
Celebrating the Colombian culture with a mix of magic and realism, "Encanto" is a bright addition to the long lexicon of Disney animated films, showing that anyone can be a Princess and that the real magic in the world comes from the family we share.
The Score: A+
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