#aside from Zootopia Encanto and Wreck it Ralph

[miss-stereo]

I know it's been days since Wish was released, but I finally watched it and...

I still think Enchanted (2007) is the Disney movie that celebrates the classics while bringing an original story to all audiences.

It has romance, music by Alan Menken, 2D animation, a cool villain, and a amazing cast!

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Encanto - an unsurprisingly charming Disney film

I have been a big fan of Disney animation films since Disney renaissance. My sister used to make me watch all the princess movies with her and I am not all ashamed to say that I loved them then and I still do close to two and half decades later. Disney animation caught a second wind for me starting with Tangled. Since then, I have liked or loved almost all the Disney animated output. Frozen II was kind of meh I guess, trying a bit too hard to capture the magic of the first, but I loved Raya and the Last Dragon earlier this year and I felt bad that it got lost in the covid pandemic. Have loved films like Tangled, Zootopia, Big Hero 6, Wreck-It Ralph, Moana, Frozen etc... I hadn't seen much of the promotions behind Encanto so I actually knew very little about the movie going. Unsurprisingly, Encanto is yet another charming Disney movie with a lot of heart and gorgeous animation.

Disney has obviously been making attempts through their animation films to give spotlight to different cultures. I can't speak to the accuracy of how the film portrays Columbian culture but it delivers it with a lot of color and vibrancy. The animation is reliably wonderful. Stephanie Beatriz, whom I know and love from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, does a wonderful job as the main character Mirabel. The characters are immediately all unique and interesting. Mirabel is someone very easy to root for because the character is an underdog in the family. But each of the other family members is distinctive and they almost all get a bit of a showcase. The humor is genuinely funny and the pacing of the film is snappy. The film never drags. It also almost completely takes place inside the magical house and its just wonderful how the house is designed. It is a character in itself. The film also has touches of real darkness and tragedy. The backstory to Abuela is genuinely dark. Then there is also the character of Bruno, who is a character with tragic backstory and someone dealing with serious baggage. Its obviously dealt with in a Disney way and another animation studio may have delved into these things with more depth, but the fact that its not all happy and fluffy is something that is welcome.

When it comes to flaws, my only real issue is that the mythology is a little hard to follow. I don't think the movie made it clear why Mirabel didn't get a gift. At least not to me. Also, the music, while fun to listen to in the movie and coupled with some fun animation, especially 'We Don't Talk About Bruno', aren't particularly memorable taken individually. There's no 'I see the light' or 'Let it go' etc... So its not the strongest soundtrack which is surprising since Germaine Franco composed the songs, who also composed songs for Coco, which had lovely music, along with Lin-Manuel Miranda, who seems to be everywhere these days.

But honestly, these few flaws aside, its a really enjoyable film that leaves you with a smile on the face and delivers on the life lessons. A solid 8/10.