Encanto (2021)
When Pedro Madrigal dies as his family flees armed conflict, his widow Alma and their triplets find protection behind a magic spell which creates a barrier behind which they are safe and brings their home to life, embodied in an everlasting magical candle. As each child of the family gets older, they acquire a "gift", a special ability of some sort which they exercise under the oversight of matriarchal Abuela Alma. All except Maribel, whose "gift" never manifested itself. But Maribel seems to see the magic failing - is it her fault?
Disney's 60th animated feature has much to recommend it. It has some heart, some fantastic visuals, great animation, an intriguing premise, and (as expected) wonderful vocal performances. And, for me, two big flaws.
One is the music. I know that the soundtrack album has done gangbusters, so I'm in the minority, but I found Lin-Manuel Miranda's melodies overly complex. And I also thought that, rather than moving the plot forward, as is usually the case with Disney songs, they tended towards unnecessary exposition (or, rather, exposition which would have been better served by organic narrative disclosure - I would have rather met family members and their powers in the course of the narrative than by trying to catch the details in a tongue-twister lyric).
That leads to my second reservation, which concerns the story. Disney usually has the story nailed down, but here there were gaps and questions all over the place. Where did the other villagers come from? What was the origin of the magic and why did it manifest in the first place? Why didn't Maribel get her gift? And there are even more questions arising from the resolution.
So I enjoyed it, but I felt it was noticeably more flawed than your average Disney animated feature.
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