Film of the Month: Disney’s Latest Animation Encanto is The Perfect Family Watch for The Holidays
PUBLISHED December 6th, 2021 06:00 am | UPDATED July 25th, 2024 02:30 pm
A story filled with abundant magic, Encanto is Disney Animation’s 60th film and the perfect watch this December. Named after a magical village set in Colombia, the narrative centres around the Madrigals, a family where (almost) every child is blessed with magical powers – a compensation for the heart-wrenching tragedy the family survived.
And the family’s youngest daughter, Mirabel, accounts for that ‘almost’. In a (literally) magical house full of healers and shapeshifters, not forgetting her own sisters – one with incredible strength and the other with the ability to make spring effortlessly happen – it might be an understatement to say Mirabel’s shortcoming was noticed.
Mirabel doesn’t just feel like a misfit amongst the Madrigals, she experiences an internal struggle being on a limbo between patiently hoping to receive her gift and accepting that she may never have one. But when she realises that the family home and her loved ones were being stripped off their magic, she suspects that there may be deeper reasons underlying her lack of special powers. The rest of the story trails Mirabel as she gets to the bottom of this issue – by garnering support of a handful of trustworthy loved ones, connecting with an estranged family member (the family doesn’t talk about) and uncovering lessons the magic was trying to teach.
The film as a whole may feel like a caricature of many other Disney films. In fact, it may even dull in comparison to other similar stories about family, like Coco. But there are still a couple of reasons why I still feel Encanto was still a win. Right off the top of my head – the quality of animation was off the charts. The colour, the vibrance, the seeing-texture-on-2D, made the film a visual spectacle.
The original songs come in a close second for me. I understand, this goes against popular opinion. For the record, Encanto’s The Family Madrigal is no Let It Go from Frozen. But, Lin-Manuel Miranda comes shining through with Broadway-esque pieces like ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’. Such Hamilton-toned songs are refreshing in Disney films, something that may slightly be ahead of its time.
Amidst the many things the film does right, let’s talk about how the film celebrates diversity. It doesn’t just inject lingo from the Latin culture, into the dialogues, for namesake. Rather there was layered representation through the sizes, skin tones, hair styles that signified deeper engagement with the culture.
It is also applaudable that the film featured migration brought on by armed conflict. The refuge crisis is a complex issue to discussed anywhere. So it is remarkable, the way the film, through Madrigals’ backstory, sensitively articulates the physical, emotional and mental struggles faced by communities and individuals when they are forced to leave their homes and land. Particularly, the loss and pain they experience both immediately and for generations to come – in the process of rebuilding their homes and community elsewhere.
Encanto is in theatres and will be available on Disney Plus from 24 December 2021.
Top image: Snapshot courtesy of Encanto’s official trailer (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
