Encanto

Well this ain't making the top 10 list.

I know. I'm a jaded, hateful, bastard of a man. I have no qualms admitting this, but while I wasn't expecting great things from Encanto it didn't do much for me. Yes the animation, colors, and character designs are outstanding. I mean this is a gorgeous film, and a visual feast to the eyes, but that story man was what brought it down so low. Stop me if you've heard this one, a young girl who is born into a family of highly gifted members has no special power of her own and yet is called to save not only her family but her home from disaster. Sounds pretty damn predictable right? Well that's what I got out of the trailers and it ain't much different in the film. It really didn't pull me that much in besides the visuals, and I don't want to be that guy, you know the guy. Who is not impressed with anything, pokes holes in a mostly harmless children's film, and gives it so much harsh criticism you could swear they have a vendetta against it. So let's talk a few more positives. I dig our lead character Mirabel, she has such a nice design, very sweet and understandable, her mannerisms and voice are endearing so I'm there with her from start to finish. Her sister Luisa has a understandable dilemma and I am a fan of a gentle giantess, I knew she was gonna be one of my favorites from the trailer. I like the magic elements in it, albeit they are very circumstantial and really need to be fleshed out more. Wasn't I talking about the things I liked? Well it's one of those, every good thing I have to say has a note to it saying 'could have been done better'. I'm not the biggest fan of the family and their dynamic throughout the movie, every one treats Mirabel like garbage because she's not special or has a power which had no trouble infuriating me as an individual often looked down upon in my life, so I was like screw this babe, love yourself, let them crash and burn because you are better. The grandmother struck me way more as the true villain I mean she flat out had cult leader vibes who was power mongering for more gifted grandchildren, and even when she has this big boo-hoo apology nonsense I held no sympathy for the devil and didn't care. Almost every character has an arc that occurs in the average at best music numbers, they go from basic trope to changed individual in roughly 3 minutes. Because why have actual character development and interesting dynamics as the story goes along? There's really no stakes that had me invested and this just occured to me, but...are Disney villains just dead? I haven't seen a new Disney movie with a villain in a long, long time. They fake out here with a disappeared family member, but he's really not so bad you guys, so I couldn't care about their predicament. And yeah the music numbers are like more exposition than they usually are in these movies, with often plot elements and character's point of views expressed but I had a rough time trying to keep up with the lyrics, these suckers' tempo would put thrash metal to shame at times. When a song has the same speed and fast vocals as Yakko's World, seek help. Heck I was really there for the central and southern american culture, with the architecture, clothing, and bits of language peppered throughout. It's cool to see that, least of all in a major animated family film. It's nice to see Disney films shift from mostly if not entirely european settings in their early years and expand into different countries and lots of cultures like in the 90s, now they're going for even more. Hell yeah, educate me by showing bits and bobs of different countries! So I'm really not trying to rip this film to shreds because it did have something to it. But sweetheart it needed more, I respect the message, I appreciate the different setting and folks we see, but it was just okay to me. 2.5 stars, 7/10. And knowing me I'm writing another review tonight before pie day and I gain an additional 30 pounds in record breaking time and slumber amongst the ancients. See you soon everybody.