“Without our magic, we risk losing ourselves.”

Safe, familiar, and bland; Disney’s newest animated feature film is sure to please with it’s brightly colored animation, easily digestible story, and inoffensive/ forgettable songs. Following in the footsteps of their summer release, Luca, Encanto begins to weave a tale fun enough for children, with tones and messages important for parents in a modern age, and then falls flat at the end with a safe and palatable dialogue sure not to offend even the most conservative of families.

Telling the story of the enchanted Madrigal family, Encanto follows the struggles of Mirabel, the only Madrigal to not be blessed by the “miracle” since its inception. She is fun, quirky, kind, relatable, and Disney’s big inclusive move here is that… she wears glasses [try to hold your applause]. Everyone in her family has a magic power of some sort except for her, and when that power is threatened by an unknown force, she is the only one that can save them [think Disney’s 2000 release, Up Up and Away but set in Columbia].

I don’t want to harp on Encanto’s shortcomings too much here, just know that they are the typical affair of modern Disney productions. Utilizing their near infinite budget to produce high gloss films; they don’t take risks, they don’t say anything that might raise the hackles of their viewers, and they don’t raise the bar on animated storytelling in almost any way. If you want to enjoy a simple, animated film on par with most other things out there, Encanto is completely up to snuff.

The family dynamics in Encanto are interesting and well thought out with some orthodox hierarchies called to challenge, the animation is stunning and modern, and it was refreshing to have a tale without a villain to be “defeated” as is commonplace within the artform… Even if the resolution was quite revolutionary. Like most fantasies, Encanto will resonate with some viewers more than others, but if the themes of familial pressures and ostracization don’t vibe with you, I think this one will glance off in a particularly forgettable way. It isn’t bad by any stretch, it just doesn’t offer anything for someone without specialized experiences to grasp onto.

Where June’s Luca had interesting digital cinematography and an almost entirely immemorable narrative, Encanto has a better narrative… but no real framing or presentation to speak of. The two films tell a nearly identical story catalyzed by slightly different events and represented by different sets of cultural boundaries and expectations. If you see one, you can skip the other.

Overall, Encanto is a totally serviceable, but ultimately forgettable experience that some will “really like” and some will “think is ok” but I doubt any will “absolutely love” or “totally hate”.

I hope that the social norms cast aside in the film are indicative of Disney finally working towards making stronger statements with their large-scale animated works. I’d love to see them use their prowess and influence over the genre [and film as a whole] to inflict positive change instead of upkeeping the status quo of financially motivated business models.

“Maybe your gift is being in denial.”