Encanto
Disney’s sixtieth animated feature boasts a whole new songbook by Lin-Manuel Miranda but fails to capture the heart.
It is hard to fault the production values, attention to detail and life-affirming energy that Disney invariably brings to its animated features. The studio is also to be commended for its cultural breadth, drawing its inspiration from Native American folklore, the Greek myths and classic fairy tales. For Encanto, the Mouse House moves to South America, in particular the forested mountains of Colombia. It is here that the Madrigal family thrives, having escaped an onslaught from four horsemen of the Apocalypse, and set up shop in a magical oasis. Indeed, the very casa in which they live has a life of its own, while each family member is imbued with a particular gift, such as precognition, inordinate strength or supernatural hearing. And then there is Mirabel Madrigal.
Unlike the rest of her family, Mirabel has no exceptional powers, has unmanageable hair and is bespectacled like Harry Potter (and Harry Palmer). And in contrast to most Disney heroines, she is not the Barbie archetype, although she makes up in goodness and fortitude what she lacks in magic. It is her older sister Isabela who has inherited the Disney looks, with her flowing black hair and a knack for conjuring up flowers wherever she goes. But where there’s a Disney cartoon there’s a message, and, children, we’re all special in our own way…
Quite why Encanto’s back story had to be so convoluted is a shame, but it may explain why six different writers are credited for coming up with it. There is a sense of too many chefs in this particular kitchen, and while there are two directors on board, the chef de cuisine is undoubtedly Lin-Manuel Miranda. These days Miranda can’t seem to help himself. Not content with directing his first film (tick, tick… Boom!), the Hamilton man voiced the central character in the Netflix musical Vivo, wrote all the songs for that, and has supplied the numbers for Encanto. He may be stretching himself a little thin. This summer saw the release of the film of his stage hit In the Heights, which showcased his lyrical genius. Here, his songs are, well, a little ‘meh’. Rhyming ‘Bruno’ with ‘no-no-no’ really doesn’t cut it.
Even so, while Encanto is no Disney classic, it has the power to cheer, with its vivid colours, photo-realistic backgrounds, uplifting music (by Germaine Franco) and comic timing. And we should thank Stephanie Beatriz for her spirited reading of Mirabel, belting out her songs with clarity and verve (she played Carla in In the Heights). And even if your kids have no idea of what is going on, there are enough hair-raising escapades to keep them glued to their seats. But maybe we expected a little more from Disney…
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Voices of Stephanie Beatriz, María Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitán, Diane Guerrero, Wilmer Valderrama, Alan Tudyk.
Dir Jared Bush and Byron Howard, Pro Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer, Screenplay Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush, from a story by Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Charise Castro Smith, Jason Hand, Nancy Kruse and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ph Alessandro Jacomini and Daniel Rice, Pro Des Ian Gooding, Ed Jeremy Milton, Music Germaine Franco, Songs Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sound Nia Hansen, Dialect coach Carlos Garcia.
Walt Disney Pictures/Walt Disney Animation Studios-Walt Disney Studios.
109 mins. USA. 2021. Rel: 24 November 2021. Cert. PG .
