Encanto - Another Disney's Movie with Interesting Characters, Lovely Animation and Lots of Touching Moments

Like in the past few weeks, my wife and I opted to see a new movie that was released during the weekend. This time, it was an animated one from Walt Disney Animation Studios whom we loved as they have produced some wonderful movies in the past. All right, let's get right to it then.

Brief Story Line

The Madrigal family had been known to have magical gift where they live together in a magical house in Colombia, referred to as "Casita". Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz - Brooklyn Nine Nine TV series etc) was the only one who did not posses power, which made her grandmother/Abuela (María Cecilia Botero) and herself depressed. Especially when it was compared with Mirabel's older sisters, the perfect Isabela (Diane Guerrero - Doom Patrol TV series etc) and the strong Luisa (Jessica Darrow).

Despite the undeniable love from her mother Julieta (Angie Cepeda - Love in the Time of Cholera etc) and father Agustin (Wilmer Valderrama - From Dusk Till Dawn TV series etc), Mirabel still felt a bit down. But when it seemed that the Casita was in danger, Mirabel tried her best to save the house and her family.

So how would the story conclude? Find them all in this beautiful and touching animated movie.

End of Brief Story Line

So Disney did it once again. This movie was amazing from the start, when we were shown the background story of how the Madrigal family got their magic and the introduction to the characters. Even though it was done through a song (which should not have surprised me that this is another musical film), it was fun to listen to. Throughout the whole movie, it probably had 5 or 6 songs, but because majority were somewhat exciting, I could still enjoy it. Being not a major fan of musical movie, it was a big feat for me personally. 

The characters in this movie were all engaging and were what made us love it. I like the way the big family's interaction with one another, the magical gift that each member possessed and obviously Mirabel who had to endure the challenge of the only one in the family who did not have such power but still maintain positive attitude. Her adventure of finding ways to help the Casita was fun and did not feel depressing even though it seemed a bit dangerous. I think it was aided by the smart insertion of a bit of humor here and there (for instance the appearance of a bird during the exploration in the place with lots of stairs).

Just like in all other Disney animated movies, the animation in here was truly awesome. The setting was lovely, the mimic or people's expression was fantastic and combined with the incredible voice acting from all the cast, made this film just fabulous. Talking about the cast, I love how they manage to perform their roles wonderfully. I did not realize that the lead cast was Stephanie Beatriz whom I have known from her eccentric role in that comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which only made it more admirable because of her completely different characteristics. Other cast were equally great as well. In addition to the names I mentioned above, there were also support voice by John Lequizamo (Ice Age: Collision Course, Romeo + Juliet etc), singer Adassa with Rhenzy Feliz (Marvel's Runaways TV series etc) as Mirabel's cousins Dolores & Camilo respectively and few others. 

I mentioned earlier that majority of the songs were still enjoyable to me but the one that I thought felt beautiful was the acoustic version of I think "Dos Oruguitas" sung by Sebastian Yatra, even though I did not understand a word of it. Somehow it felt perfect for the mood of the scene then. Btw, all songs in the movie were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Mary Poppins Returns, Hamilton etc) who is gaining more popularity as his works have been widely recognized.

Overall, this is a beautiful movie with interesting characters, lovely animation and many touching moments (my wife was emotional throughout the film that after it was finished, her eyes were still tearful). The movie has a duration of 109 minutes, which I think is not too long but not too short either. There was no mid or post end credit scenes but if you want to enjoy more music, then you are welcome to watch it till finished. Oh before I forgot, there was a beautiful short animated movie before the start of the film. So do not miss that one as it set up nicely for the movie later. To quote my wife's saying: "It's always a pleasure watching Disney's animated movies".

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars