Psycho's Movie Reviews #243: ENCANTO (2021)

Encanto is a 2021 American computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 60th film produced by the studio, it was directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, co-directed by writer Charise Castro Smith who co-wrote the screenplay with Bush, and produced by Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer, with original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The film features the voices of Stephanie Beatriz, María Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitán, Diane Guerrero, and Wilmer Valderrama. It follows a multigenerational Colombian family, the Madrigals, helmed by a matriarch whose children and grandchildren—except for Mirabel Madrigal (Beatriz)—receive magical gifts from a "miracle" that helps them serve the people in their rural community called "the Encanto". When Mirabel learns the family is in danger of losing their magic, she sets out to find out what is happening, to save her family and their magical house.

The film premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on November 3, 2021, and was released in theatres in the United States and Canada on November 24 over a 30-day theatrical run in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It received critical acclaim for its emotion, music, animation, characterization, and cultural fidelity. Despite its theatrical underperformance, the film grossed over $223 million worldwide and became the second highest-grossing animated film of 2021, behind Sing 2. It achieved wider commercial success after its release to Disney+ on December 24, 2021. Its soundtrack went viral and topped the US Billboard 200 chart, with the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming the first Disney song to reach number 1 in the United Kingdom. It received three Golden Globe nominations, winning for the Best Animated Feature Film.

Plot

Forced by an armed conflict to flee her home, a young Alma Madrigal loses her husband Pedro but saves her triplet infant children: Julieta, Pepa, and Bruno. By a "miracle," her candle attains magical qualities, blasts away their pursuers, and creates a sentient house, the Casita, for them to live in, along with a magical hidden town bordered by tall surrounding mountains—an encanto. Fifty years later, the candle continues to burn and the town thrives under its protection. The candle's magic grants superhuman abilities to each Madrigal child, which they use to serve the villagers. However, Bruno, vilified for his gift of precognition, disappeared ten years earlier. Meanwhile, Mirabel, Julieta's youngest daughter, is treated differently for mysteriously not having received a gift.

Pepa's youngest son, Antonio, is gifted with the ability to communicate with animals, and the family poses for a picture but neglects Mirabel. She suddenly sees the Casita cracking and the candle's flame flickering, but her warnings go unheeded when the Casita appears undamaged to the others. She resolves to save the miracle's magic. The next day, she talks to her super-strong older sister, Luisa, who suggests that Bruno's room, in a forbidden tower in the Casita, may hold clues to the phenomenon. There, Mirabel discovers a cave and recovers pieces of a slab of opaque emerald glass, which forms an image of herself being the cause of the failing magic. After Mirabel narrowly escapes the cave, Luisa discovers that her gift is weakening.

Later that evening, Mirabel's oldest sister Isabela, who can make flowers grow at will, is scheduled to become engaged to neighbor Mariano Guzman. Mirabel's oldest cousin Dolores, who possesses superhuman hearing, blurts out that she overheard Mirabel talking with her father about Bruno's vision. The Casita begins to crack again, causing everyone's powers to go haywire, ruining the night and Mariano's proposal when Pepa inadvertently conjures a downpour. As everyone flees the chaos, Mirabel follows a group of rats and discovers a secret passage behind a portrait. There she encounters Bruno, who reveals that his vision of Mirabel could have put her at odds with the family (and potentially the townsfolk who relied on the magic for their everyday lives)—so he broke the vision and went into hiding to protect her, concealing himself within the house's walls so he could still be near them. At Mirabel's urging, he reluctantly conjures another vision, which shows the Casita's inevitable destruction and an image of Mirabel embracing a young woman, whom they identify as Isabela.

Mirabel apologizes to Isabela and accidentally provokes a cathartic confession: Isabela does not want to marry Mariano and is burdened by her image of perfection. Mirabel helps Isabela blossom into her true, imperfect self and they embrace, seemingly strengthening the candle and healing the cracks. However, Alma sees the two of them, with Isabela growing whatever she wants, and accuses Mirabel of causing the family's misfortunes out of spite for not having a gift. Mirabel blames Alma for the immense pressure she imposes on the family. Their rising argument creates a fissure that demolishes the Casita—and despite her efforts to save it, the candle dies in Mirabel's hands, leaving all the Madrigals powerless. While the family and several locals assess the damage, a guilt-ridden Mirabel abandons the town.

After a few days of fruitless search, Alma finds a tearful Mirabel back at the river where Pedro died. She explains how, in her determination to strengthen the magic, she ignored the toll it took on her family and finally takes responsibility for what happened. Finally beginning to understand her grandmother, Mirabel tells her that, despite her flaws, she is the one who brought the family together. As they reconcile, Bruno appears and confronts Alma, but unexpectedly cheers her up with his return. They reunite with the Madrigals, and the townspeople arrive to help them rebuild the Casita. When the house is finished, the Madrigals give Mirabel a gleaming doorknob with her (as well the family's) initial on it. When she places it in the front door, the magic springs back to life, restoring the Casita and all the family's gifts. The Madrigals pose for another family picture with Mirabel and Bruno included.

Production

Development

During a November 2016 publicity tour for Moana, Miranda revealed that early-stage work had begun on an animated project that John Lasseter, then the chief creative officer of Disney Animation, had presented to him and Howard.

Howard and Bush subsequently revealed that after finishing Zootopia (2016), they knew they wanted their next project to be a musical—which turned into a Latin American musical after Miranda came on board. Howard and Bush had already worked on buddy films "where two characters go out into the world and learn about each other" and wanted to try something "completely different." The three men discussed their common experience of having large extended families, and decided to make a musical film about a large extended family with a dozen main characters.

Howard and Bush started to discuss Latin American culture at length with Juan Rendon and Natalie Osma, who had previously worked with them on the making-of documentary Imagining Zootopia. Rendon and Osma both happened to be from Colombia and repeatedly drew upon their personal experiences with Colombian culture in their discussions, which caused Howard, Bush, and Miranda to focus their research on that country. Rendon and Osma became the first two of several cultural experts hired by Disney Animation as consultants on the film, who collectively formed what Disney called the "Colombian Cultural Trust."

In 2018, Rendon and Osma accompanied Howard, Bush, and Miranda on a research trip to Colombia. During their two weeks in the country, they met with architects, chefs, and artisans to immerse themselves in the country's culture. They also visited the Gabriel García Márquez foundation. They visited big cities like Bogotá and Cartagena, but they found inspiration in small towns such as Salento (terrain) and Barichara (architecture). In Barichara, they befriended a local tourist guide, Alejandra Espinosa Uribe, who showed them around the town, and later hired her to consult on the film's historical and cultural authenticity. Espinosa Uribe was an inspiration for several aspects of the film's protagonist Mirabel, including her curly black hair, large eyeglasses, and gestures. The design of Mirabel's skirt was inspired by traditional skirts woven in the Vélez area.

Bush noticed that "every town we went to had a very specific personality," because of how the country's mountainous terrain divides and isolates them. According to Disney fan club publication Disney twenty-three, this isolation became the key to placing the Madrigals' residence in a "remote 'encanto'—that is, a place that's 'charmed,' or spiritually blessed, a domain where magic and reality merge."

The film is deliberately vague as to the timeframe in which it is set, but drew inspiration from early 20th-century Colombia. At the beginning of the 20th century, the country endured the Thousand Days' War, which resulted in the populations of entire villages fleeing to save themselves as depicted in the film.

As the film steadily became more complex, with an entire family to develop, multiple songs, and a rich cultural setting with a deep tradition of magic realism, Howard and Bush realized they needed a second screenwriter to help write the screenplay. They selected Charise Castro Smith for her strong background in magical realism and experience with handling "real-world family dynamics." According to Howard, as the plot evolved over several years, "the core of the whole film" was always the relationship between Mirabel and Alma. Their "true north" was the theme of perspective, "about how you see the other people in your family and how you're seen."

Animation

From working on Moana, Miranda knew that film's protagonist, Moana, originally had eight brothers before they were removed to streamline the film's plot. As Miranda had expected from that experience, Disney Animation initially resisted moving forward with a dozen main characters for Encanto. Miranda deliberately wrote the film's opening number, "The Family Madrigal", to prove to Disney Animation that it was possible to efficiently introduce such a large family and its internal dynamics to the audience. In turn, Encanto was the "hardest film" to date for heads of animation Renato dos Anjos and Kira Lehtomaki because they were asked to fully develop a dozen characters, as opposed to other animated films which primarily feature two or three characters out of a large cast. The animators were challenged by the directors to make Mirabel distinctively different from all prior Disney heroines; she had to be both capable and imperfect, but not merely just clumsy. The Casita was inspired not only by traditional Colombian homes but films in which houses come alive, especially Beetlejuice (1988).

The production team learned in their research that music, dance, and rhythm are core elements of everyday life in Colombia. As a result, Encanto was the first Disney Animation film to have choreographers involved in the development process from start to finish, meaning they worked closely with the production team to develop songs, characters, and story. This is in contrast to older films where the story was already in place by the time a choreographer was hired to consult on specific scenes. For Encanto, Disney Animation initially hired African-American choreographer Jamal Sims, who insisted on immediately hiring Colombian-American dancer Kai Martinez as the film's animation reference consultant. They worked together with a team of dancers to prepare choreography reference footage for each scene, and then gave feedback to the animators on scenes as they were animated. They developed different dance styles for different characters; Luisa's style is reggaeton, while Mirabel's style is Cali salsa.

On January 29, 2020, it was reported that Disney Animation was developing an animated film centered on a Latino family. Howard and Bush were announced as the film's directors, with Bush also involved in writing the film's screenplay, while Spencer and Merino were named as the film's producers.

Disney Animation was planning to send many of its animators to Colombia starting on March 15, 2020 in preparation for the film's transition from development to production. This second research trip had to be cancelled after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The studio's animators ended up having to work remotely with the Colombian Cultural Trust; for example, Espinosa Uribe gave the animators a virtual tour of Colombia with the help of her cell phone.

On June 18, 2020, the tentative title was revealed to be Encanto. The project was also confirmed to be the film Miranda was involved in, and it was reported to be about a girl in a magical family. While initial reports had said the film would be set in Brazil, Miranda stated on June 22 that it would actually be set in Colombia. The same day, it was also reported that Castro Smith would be a co-director in addition to co-writing the screenplay. On December 10, 2020, the project was officially confirmed at a Disney Investor Day meeting, where a clip was shown, a fall 2021 release was announced, and magical realism was referenced.

Soundtrack

In June 2020, Miranda publicly revealed that he had begun to write the film's music, which would have eight original songs in both Spanish and English. After the film's premiere, he disclosed that he had been writing songs for the film from the very beginning. On September 8, 2021, Germaine Franco, co-composer of the songs for Coco (2017), began to score the film. The soundtrack was released on November 19, 2021 and reached number one on the US Billboard 200, becoming the first Disney soundtrack since that of Frozen II (2019) to top the chart.

{Though what I will say is this... I'm not a big fan of Lin Manuel Miranda. Don't get me wrong he's an amazingly talented song writer, I just think that that's what he should remain. I mean it's one thing writing movies and the songs for movies, but then casting yourself as the lead - which he does sometimes (Vivo, In The Heights, Hamilton, etc) - I don't know. He just gives me this self-absorbed, vein type. I mean cast yourself in a movie that you helped create, sure. But cast yourself as a side character, or just not the leading role. Because don't get me wrong he's a good singer, just when he's in something he's always the weakest singer. But hey that's just my opinion}

Release/Reception/Box Office

Disney held the film's world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on November 3, 2021, and also held a Colombia premiere at the Teatro Colón in Bogotá, Colombia on November 23, 2021. The film was theatrically released in the United States on November 24, 2021, in RealD 3D and Dolby Cinema. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film had an exclusive 30-day theatrical run before being released on Disney+ on December 24, 2021. The film was paired with the short film Far From the Tree. Encanto was released in China on January 7, 2022.

In October 2021, Jakks Pacific announced it would release a new line of toys for the film. The new Funko Pop! figures of several characters from the film are available for pre-order and it started shipping in January 2022.

For its opening weekend at the box office, Disney spent $14 million on television advertisements to promote the film, generating 1.26 billion impressions. Deadline Hollywood said the marketing failed to distinguish the film from other Disney properties, causing audience members to believe that it would be similar to Coco.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 183 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.50/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Encanto's setting and cultural perspective are new for Disney, but the end result is the same – enchanting, beautifully animated fun for the whole family." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an 88% positive score, with 70% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Various commentators have identified intergenerational trauma as the major theme of the film. Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press said, "It's only appropriate that Encanto—fueled by eight original songs by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda—turns into that most special thing of all: A triumph in every category: art, songs and heart." Kristen Page-Kirby of The Washington Post gave the film 3/4 stars, praising the film's visuals, characters, and message, describing the story, "more complex than your standard fairy tale." Christian Holub of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B grade, writing: "A smiling tale about familial reconciliation and learning to see your relatives for who they are rather than who you wish they were is never unwelcome." Edward Porter of The Sunday Times gave the film 4/5 stars, describing it as "A deluge of clever, brightly coloured images and bouncy songs." Simran Hans of The Observer also gave the film 4/5 stars; she described it as a "sparky musical". John Lui of The Straits Times gave the film 3/5 stars, writing that the effort put into the movie makes "plainness interesting" and that it almost "succeeds". He also stated that the songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda as well as the visual designs help bring the movie to life. Film critic Ben Travis called the film "a story with real heart." John Serba of The Decider wrote Encanto is "thoroughly enjoyable, witty and intelligent, robust in its multigenerational appeal."

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw was more critical, writing that "Encanto feels like it is aspiring to exactly that sort of bland frictionless perfection that the film itself is solemnly preaching against", but said that there are a few good moments. Jake Wilson of The Age gave the film 2/5 stars and criticized Smith and her team saying that "Encanto isn't a realistic story of family dysfunction but a fairytale." Tara Brady of The Irish Times stated that "it always feels like a movie manufactured by a committee." IndieWire's Kristen Lopez found that it is "beautiful but trite" while still acknowledging the film's stunning visuals. Aparita Bhandari of The Globe and Mail wrote that Encanto is "overwrought rather than enchanting."

As of January 20, 2022, Encanto has grossed $93.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $130.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $223.5 million. Factoring in both the film's production budget and marketing expenses, along with the theatres' share of revenues, it is estimated to need to gross at least $400 million worldwide to break even.

In the United States and Canada, it was released alongside House of Gucci and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, and originally projected to gross $35–40 million from 3,980 theatres in its five-day opening weekend. It opened nationwide on Wednesday, November 24, 2021 (the day before American Thanksgiving), and made $7.5 million on its first day, including $1.5 million from Tuesday night previews. It went on to make $40.6 million in its first five days. Of the 3.7 million moviegoers who saw it, 52% were Latino and Hispanic, 51% were families, and 62% were female. Though its five-day opening gross was lower than Pixar's The Good Dinosaur ($55.4 million), which failed at the box office in 2015, Encanto had the best opening weekend for an animated film during the COVID-19 pandemic. In its second weekend, it made $13.1 million, less than the second weekend results of The Good Dinosaur ($15.3 million) and Tangled (2010) ($21.6 million) but higher than The Princess and the Frog (2009) ($12.1 million). It went on to finish in second place in its third and fourth weekends, earning $10 million and $6.5 million respectively. In its fifth weekend, it made $1.8 million and dropped to ninth place at the box office. In its sixth weekend, it finished in tenth place with $1.08 million. It dropped out of the box office top ten in its seventh weekend, finishing eleventh with $613,501.

Outside of the U.S. and Canada, it made $29.3 million from 47 markets in its opening weekend; the top countries in its first five days were France ($3.5 million), Colombia ($2.6 million), the U.K. ($2.4 million), Korea ($2.2 million) and Italy ($2.1 million). It earned $20.7 million in its second weekend and $13.6 million in its third. In its fourth weekend, it became Colombia's second highest-grossing animated film of all time. In its fifth weekend, it crossed the $100 million mark outside the U.S. and Canada. It earned $3.5 million in its sixth weekend, $5.8 million in its seventh, and $3.6 million in its eighth. As of January 9, 2022, its largest markets are France ($18.5 million), Colombia ($10.2 million), the U.K. ($8.8 million), Spain ($7.3 million), and Japan ($6.6 million).

Budget $120–150 million

Box office $223.5 million

My Review

{No joke, this movie has become one of my favourite Disney movies!!! The fact that this came after the mass disappointment that is Raya And The Last Dragon, literally insane}

"Encanto" is a computer animated film from Disney that must be a disappointment to the studio. After all, it's overall score on IMDB is currently 7.1 (not great compared to many other Disney CGI films) and the reviews are VERY mixed. I think I understand why, as the film is NOT what most viewers would expect. Unlike other Disney CGI films, this one is NOT one I'd recommend to most children as the story is highly metaphorical and not at all cutesy or kid-oriented. Additionally, the songs are nothing like what you'd expect and were purposely made singable to most non-professional singers. Now this might sound like I disliked the movie, but I didn't. I appreciate that it tried to be very different and the animation is simply gorgeous.

I appreciated how much of the story was up to the interpretation of the viewer. However, I could also see this as a problem for SOME viewers...particularly if they come from problematic families. This is because a message you can get from the film is the difficulty folks have living up to expectations. Another is that families in crisis often attack someone who points out this problem. There are probably many other interpretations and messages. As for me, I just loved that the film was unique and tried to be different....very, very different.

This movie was hands down amazing, I was stunned on how good the animation was, every new Disney movie that comes out- the animation is like 3x better. I really loved all of the songs too! They were all so catchy and my sisters and I all loved ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ because it was very catchy and the voice actors sung it very good. Plus, I think everybody that heard ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ enjoyed it to be honest lol. I also love how the Madrigals have unique gifts and not just common ones people would expect, I also think that Bruno is a very good deuteragonist in this movie. The detail in this movie is INCREDIBLE, the animals are detailed, the characters’ hair looks very realistic, and Mirabel’s dress is very detailed and has such cute designs on it. Also, I don’t know if anybody really payed attention to the shadows of Mirabel’s glasses when she moves her face, her glasses’ shadows moved very well and that deserves a whole star itself out of this rating. There is no way I’m gonna comment on this movie without talking about the donkeys, I loved them so much and they are so cute! I was also laughing hard when I saw the donkeys dancing with Luisa. Their fur is also really realistic as well, kinda like the Zootopia characters which had very detailed fur and skin. There was no antagonist to the movie but it kinda felt like the Abuela was because her negativity towards Mirabel. I also really loved Camilo, he was very funny and made me and my older sister laugh very hard. Especially when he called for Mirabel in a high pitched voice. One of my favorite lines from Camilo was when he was like, “Okay so, we gonna talk about Bruno?” it was like For Real! But all of the characters are funny and cute. Bruno’s voice fits him so nicely. OVERALL, I think you should watch this movie, it was incredible and I loved watching it. I waited since the day it came out but I wasn’t able to go to the theaters lol. It’s on Disney+ so go invite your family and watch it with them! This movie is great to watch with family and you’ll enjoy it! Watch Encanto!❤️ 10/10

{I'm sorry but all the songs from this film are amazing. So to cut a long story short, I'm gonna show ya'll my ranking of them all in order of my favourites}

{#8- A nice, lively, heartwarming bop to compliment such a beautiful country... In comparison to the other songs it doesn't quite take the cake}

{#7 - A nice, heartwarming ending song. I kinda wish life had a lot of these family unite songs}

{#6 - My god Disney, you're gonna throw the feels at us this hard?!?!}

{#5 - The fact at how much I relate to Mirabel in this song is unreal}

{#4 - A lively, upbeat intro, expositional song that I wish every Disney musical had}

{#3 - I was thinking Isabella was going to be one of those annoying older sisters that nobody was gonna like, that was until this song; we learnt the truth, the real side of her (hating being perfect). It took me by surprise}

{#2 - It was very close between this one and #1 - Everything about this one is amazing. The dancing donkeys are iconic}

{#1 - My/Everyone's Favourite - It's the best song in the movie, PROVE ME WRONG!!! Disney hates people called Bruno don't they? *Flashback to Luca - "Silencio Bruno!"}