I've watched this movie 3 times now and I've got a lot to say about it so let me just get into it.
Disney have smashed it out of the park with this movie, an amazing movie for Disney's 60th Theatrical release, probably my second favourite Disney movie so far of the decade (behind Raya and the Last dragon) and yes I know we are only 2 years into this decade but it's a very solid movie that I'd recommend to anyone. The rest of this review will contain spoilers so if you haven't watched this movie and care about spoilers you can watch it on Disney+, in cinemas or you could just go on a piracy website and pirate the movie, your choice!
𝐿𝐼𝒦𝐸𝒟: Alright, I was hype this movie from the very moment the trailer came out, I was excited for another Disney movie since the flop of Frozen II. I'm quite sad this underperformed as much as it has at the box office, because it really is a great movie and deserved so much more, but I should stop talking about how great it is and start talking about why it's so great. Firstly, the characters, I was a bit worried of how they would flesh out 12 characters in a Colombian family, I thought some would fade into the background *looks at Julieta and Antonio* but they did a really good job. Every character had memorable moments and the powers each of them had were very distinct and it was great to watch the family dynamics. Mirabel is a fantastic protagonist, there's no reason to hate her since she's just so bubbly and happy even though she doesn't have a gift. Luisa and Isabela are amazing and I loved watching their story arc learning that they are so much more than their gift despite all the pressure that been put on them from Abuela. Pepa was funny, probably the one I related to the most since I can be moody like her. My favourite two however were Dolores and Camilo. It's such a crime that both of these legends didn't get enough screentime, but man they make their presence known. Dolores having feelings for Mariano was quite sweet, despite him liking Isabela, she isn't jealous at all and just allows Isabel to date Mariano; so overall it was nice to see her get with Mariano by the end of the film. The house was amazing aswell, so much personality! Moving onto the songs, Some of the best Disney songs in decades. Surface Pressure and We Don't Talk About Bruno are just top tier Disney. Waiting on A Miracle is an amazing I Want song, performed beautifully by Stephanie Beatriz and What Else Can I Do is another standout. They all had really nice visuals to go with it to, they spent the budget really making pretty scenes and it's payoff is so amazing. Animation stellar. That pretty much summed up everything I liked about the movie, Moving onto the dislikes! The message was really nice, that you are more that what people see of you, and a message about pressure which would resonate for anyone who is labelled a "perfect child".
𝒟𝐼𝒮𝐿𝐼𝒦𝐸𝒟: I didn't have that many dislikes for this movie. My main issue and what I wanted more out of the movie is the fact I wanted to see more of Antonio & Mirabel's friendship! They really built it up nicely at the start with Antonio gift ceremony and I was really loving the friendship they have for each other, and then we don't see them together for the rest of the movie par two scenes, I can just think of all the scenes they could have had, it just felt like a missed opportunity for an amazing duo. Abuela annoyed me at times aswell. I understand she very overprotective over the magic after her husband was killed, but she was just acting super irrational, came across very unlikeable, although she did redeem herself at the end by taking the blame for destroying the house and putting too much pressure on her family along with causing cracks in the house dynamics, figuratively and literally. The plot of the movie kinda dragged on after a while and the movie overall had very low-stakes, which isn't bad but it would've been nice to have had a twist, I literally predicted most of the stuff that happened in the movie: oh Mirabel doesn't get a gift, when the cracks startied to appear I correctly guessed that when Abuela and the rest come out to look it will be back to normal, just a very predictable plot that could have been hashed out a lot better. One neat idea that I had was for them to say that Pedro (Abuela's husband) was actually the house and after he died his spirit was lifted into helping Abuela and her kids. It would be nice to think about that Mirabel is talking to her grandfather when she is speaking to the house. Also everyone changed their opinion of Bruno VERY quickly. I do think characters like Julieta could have had a bit more time to have been fleshed out cause she really had potential to be great but she was really in the background.
I think I would give this movie a solid 9/10, I may have rambled with my dislikes but they are very small and compared with the things I liked, it really is insignificant my tiny nitpicks. I really enjoyed writing this, I might do more Disney + Pixar reviews since I've watched every one, so leaves some suggestions of reviews for me to do. What was your thoughts on Encanto.
