Encanto review: Disney, Lin-Manuel Miranda deliver a musical masterpiece

Encanto, Disney’s newest animated movie, is a fantasy musical — exactly the kind of thing that made the studio’s name over the past 80-plus years. But while the film uses a typical Disney setup of a young misfit finding her way in the world, it focuses on a tighter, more contained story than previous Disney movies, and it’s one of the most emotionally compelling films of Disney’s Revival Era. To ZootopiaJared Bush and Byron Howard are the directors. Bush wrote the script and Charise Castro Smith was the playwright. Lin-Manuel Miranda is music. Encanto is a masterpiece that makes the Disney musical-with-a-splash-of-magic formula soar.

[Ed. note: This piece contains some light setup spoilers for Encanto.]

Image: Disney

Mirabel Madrigal (Stephanie Beatriz) is the only member of her family who wasn’t blessed with a special ability. Each Madrigal has a unique power, from super-strength to shapeshifting, gifted to them by the family’s magical house when they came of age. Mirabel is the exception. Each Madrigal was able to open a brand new door in their house and receive an ability they can use to benefit their community.

All the Madrigals look to family matriarch Abuela Alma (María Cecilia Botero) for guidance. Mirabel is unable to use her powers, but she struggles to please her strict grandmother. On the night of her younger cousin’s gift ceremony, Mirabel notices the house begin to shake, as cracks appear in its walls. Mirabel alerts her family to find that the house is stable and sound. But Mirabel, sure that she has seen something amiss, sets out to discover what’s wrong, and ultimately save the family’s magic.

Magic is an important and fun part of magic. EncantoComplex family connections are the focus of this film. The potential of the Madrigals’ magic vanishing is the catalyst that pushes Mirabel on her quest, but every clue she finds leads her back to her family. In a way, the magic of Mirabel is more profound than any Disney movie.

Each character’s ability more or less correlates to the role they play in the family. For instance, Mirabel’s eldest sister, Isabela (Diane Guerrero), is the perfect golden child, and she makes flowers bloom with just a wave of the hand. Overly emotional Tía Pepa (Carolina Gaitán) brews storms whenever she gets upset. So when Mirabel seeks the cause of the threat, she isn’t out to confront a nefarious villain, or even a traitor in the midst of her idyllic community. In order to discover the source of the problem she will need to examine the relationships between her family and her friends.

Image: Disney

Disney’s animated movies have traditionally featured strong heroes facing scheming antagonists. However, this new story introduces a different type of conflict. It is one that draws on real family situations and magic to help them overcome their fears. Although Disney’s recent movies are less about cackling villains than the classic Disney animated films, they still present big bad threats that can be overcome. These are the In EncantoThe threat to the good and the evil is now smaller and more focused. This shifts the narrative away from the typical good-versus-evil dynamic. Disney is moving in a new direction by using animation, magic and music to tackle more complex and relevant themes.

The following are the guidelines to help balance large casts. Encanto Team smartly cuts out extra characters, fancy settings and adorable animal sidekicks. (There are a few cute animals, but they don’t commandeer scenes.) One family is the focus of the movie, and they are the ones who deal with one problem. But that doesn’t make the movie any less complex than Disney movies that trek across multiple locations, like Judy and Nick city-hopping across Zootopia, or ones with sneaky villains, like Frozen’s Hans.

In fact, because it’s so tightly centered on the Madrigals, the family’s complicated dynamics — including Mirabel’s relationships with her relatives, and their dealings with each other — have more space for fuller explorations. This is a story about family members who love each other, but can’t fully understand each other, leading to beautifully realistic interactions built around affection, expectations, and dysfunction, all bolstered by the magical metaphor woven throughout.

While the story of the family is compelling enough on its own merits, visuals as well as music add a new dimension to the film. Gorgeous visuals can be created from the Madrigal family gift, including the extravagant pocket dimensions used by family members as rooms, and the manifestations of their power. Those splashes of fantasy are especially effective when compared to Mirabel’s relatively small and plain room, and her completely regular non-powered self.

Image: Disney

But even without the magic, the Madrigal house is lovingly rendered with specific detail, from the tiles to the family dining set, which solidify the home’s coziness and the family’s closeness. Each member of the family also has their own character, with Luisa (Jessica Darrow) being super strong and her large muscles to Dolores (Adassa), who is super-hearing and walks around as a cautious cat. This is a family where everyone looks related, even though they don’t look like exact clones of each other. (Cough, Frozen, cough.)

The music is catchy and all songs serve a purpose. Although Disney has many musicals to their credit, not all use music this way. FrozenCough, troll song The music is inebriating from the beginning. EncantoIt is intentional. For example, the first song introduces each member of the Madrigal Family and their personalities. It has a catchy Latin pop beat with fast-paced lyrics and catches the attention much like the opening track of “The Sound of Music”. Hamilton.

Disney has returned over and over to heroes’ journeys and plucky, bright-eyed protagonists looking out on the horizon, dreaming of adventure or romance. EncantoThis isn’t the case. It’s something new And dynamic: a movie about relatives who love each other very much, but have a hard time understanding one another. It’s a movie about trying to hold up a legacy, a movie about one misfit who just wants to make her grandmother proud. It’s a movie where saving the day doesn’t mean questing across a magical land, or defeating a bad guy. But most of all, it’s a movie about family where the hero doesn’t set out on her own, and instead must actually look inward to bridge those family relationships. It’s a rare Disney movie that’s about aFamilies, but it is also More family.

EncantoThe film will open in cinemas Nov. 24,