Encanto

Released in theaters on November 24, 2021

Released on Disney+ on December 24, 2021

Runtime: 1 Hours 42 Minutes

Rated PG

A mother of three twins fleeing from evil men loses her husband, but it blessed with a miracle…or an encanto which means charm. The miracle comes in the form of a magic candle that creates a magical house with a personality and blesses each of her children with a magical ability/gift. Eventually, her grandchildren also receive gifts, except for Mirabel, the main character. A village grows up around the magical house and the Madrigal family becomes the heroes and leaders of the town.

Themes:

Themes in the movie includes family, jealousy, self worth, perfection, unreachable expectations, mistakes, forgiveness, family quarrels, family secrets, running away, responsibility, community, family hierarchy, accepting good and bad news, accepting people who are different, blaming others, arranged marriages, hypocrites, and unconditional love.

Language:

There is some minor name calling (weirdo, average loser, etc.), but no bad language. Jeez and Gosh are as bad as it gets. There is some intense arguing with people saying some hurtful things.

Stuff to be aware of:

Part of the story is that the magical house is going to break and fall down. There are some intense moments with the house cracking and coming apart, but nothing too scary. There is a hooded figure that shows up that seems a bit scary at first, but it isn’t long before this character isn’t scary and actually becomes somewhat funny, in a sad way. There is a lot of family dysfunction that is covered up by masks and people “faking” being happy and okay. One character is going to get married for the cause of the family, even though she doesn’t want to.

Overall:

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the music in the movie, who is famous for the Broadway hits Hamilton and In the Heights. He also helped write music for Moana and Mary Poppins Returns. I’m a fan of the music from Moana and Mary Popping Returns, but I tried to watch his two broadway hits and couldn’t get into them. I couldn’t keep up well with the “fast talk to music” style he uses in them. So, I went into this not really sure what to expect. The songs may not get you on the first viewing but they will once you’ve heard them a few times. They will get stuck in your head. I watched it with the subtitles on which helped me understand some of the lyrics. In Encanto it is important to understand the lyrics of the songs because (like a Broadway musical) bits of the songs tell parts of the story that you need to know about.

As far as the story goes it was good, but don’t expect to have all your questions about the magic and different characters answered. In this story not everything will make sense, but magic doesn’t always make sense. I think the main themes in the movie about hiding behind masks and faking happiness to keep the reputation of your family intact may be lost on some of the younger children, but the message is very good one. Everyone should be able to relate to the idea of “expectations” and accepting that we can’t do everything on our own. There were a few times I got misty eyed.

Update:

my children watched this three times today. The songs have grown on me and I caught a few things I didn’t the first time around. It’s a fun movie