Encanto Review

Disney has done it again after a few less than exceptional movies Disney has truly returned to form with this film. Encanto is a very well-put-together movie with a great story to tell. This movie tackles themes of generational trauma, pressure from elders to be perfect, and being outcasted from one's own family.

The story begins with the main character Mirabel being explained the importance of a candle that gave her family powers. It then transitions into her about to receive her gift, but just as she is about to receive it she is denied a gift for reasons not fully explained in the movie. From there, there is a time jump to later in her life where she is grown up and trying to help the family and town in any way she can. Even from this point, we can see her grandmother being extra hard on her for small things and this is only the beginning of what is to come. Later it shifts to her younger cousin receiving his gift and it can be seen even in him that he is already stressed about the responsibilities that their Abuela puts on all of them. After the ceremony, he is given the power to speak to animals and Mirabel feels down about her not having powers and leaves to clear her head, but as she leaves she notices her magic house begins to show signs of decay as there are massive cracks in it. She returns to tell her Abuela about this and as a result, everyone at the party goes to see what is happening, but upon arrival, all the cracks are gone she is scolded by her Abuela. The next day she is determined to find answers and in her search, she discovers something else that is equally as upsetting. Her sister who has the power of strength is feeling the weight of all the pressure from her family. This is the point where the theme of pressure from one’s family truly starts to show. Her sister Luisa is slowly losing her gift and she doesn’t know how to react as she doesn’t want to be seen as less than perfect in her Abuela’s eyes. From there she looks for her estranged uncle who left after he used his power to see a vision of the future and didn’t like what he saw. After she does find him she finds out that his vision showed her either destroying the family or restoring it and it is revealed that the reason he left was to protect Mirabel as if the vision had gotten out she would have been even more distanced from her family as any time he showed them a vision of something undesirable they blamed him for the outcome, once again showing the theme of pressure and needing to be perfect. Once she does find him she has him see another vision in which she has to get along with her sister that she doesn’t like in order to restore the house and its magic. After she does go to see her she finds it difficult to connect with her as her power is being perfect/controlling plants. Although during this conversation she finds out the burden she has in always needing to be perfect and after talking to her about it shows her that she doesn’t need to be perfect and can just be herself. After she makes up with her sister the house starts to repair itself, but then her Abuela finds out that she told her sister she doesn’t have to be perfect and Abuela is furious with Mirabel which leads to an altercation where she yells at Abuela telling her she is the reason the magic is failing and the family is falling apart. This causes the house to become completely destroyed and Mirabel leaves to be alone. It is in this part where the Abuela sees the error of her ways and goes to find Mirabel. She eventually does find her beside a river and tells her that is the place where she got the miracle and describes the circumstances of that night. She and her husband were fleeing trying to find a new home when soldiers caught up to them and her husband gave his life to protect his family and thus the miracle was made. Mirabel now understands why her Abuela did what she did, but her Abuela finally sees that expecting her family to be perfect was something she never should have done. Only after this revelation and then rebuilding their house does the miracle come back, showing that it was always fueled by the love the family had for each other.

All in all this film was very well put together and the themes it tackled were very mature for a Disney film but were put in a way that could be understood by younger audiences. It is definitely a must-watch and can be watched on Disney Plus.