Encanto is Disney's latest animated musical featuring songs written by the one and only Lin-Manuel Miranda. The movie follows a family each with their own unique magical powers that bring life to their village.

Encanto is basically what everyone has come to expect from Disney's musicals: funny, incredible animation, catchy songs. The movie is very similar to Moana and Frozen. If you enjoyed either of those movies then you will probably enjoy Encanto. I wouldn't expect Encanto to become as popular as either of those movies (which would be hard to accomplish) as I don't think it hits its target audience right on the mark as Frozen and Moana did. That is not to say that it won't be loved by many. I certainly loved it and would be willing to watch it again.

Now, we've got to talk about Bruno (and all of the other catchy songs in Encanto). We already know that Lin-Manuel Miranda is an absolute genius and is best at blending typically opposing musical genres. We have seen this from his work on Hamilton, In the Heights and Moana so when it came to writing catchy Disney songs incorporating a Latin style of music, Lin-Manuel Miranda was the obvious choice. And he certainly did not fail. He managed to introduce a whole range of obscure musical styles such as bambuco, vallenato and bachata to a whole new audience all the while, adding many more tunes to his catchy repertoire. After the first chorus of all of the songs, the melody was already stuck in your head. And it seems that most of the world agrees as "We Don't Talk About Bruno" (the most catchy of all the Encanto songs) remained first on the Spotify charts for over seven weeks.

However, the songs of Encanto carried most of the weight of the movie's popularity. This isn't to say that everything else in the movie was bad, it's only that the songs were much better than most other elements in the film and some just didn't meet the high standards of Disney films. For me, the story was one of the weaker points. It wasn't very predictable, however, this may have been its downfall. The various turns in the plot led to a harder-to-understand film, especially for younger viewers. Another weaker point was some of the singing voices. They weren't up to the high standard that is generally seen in Disney movies and, combined with Lin-Manuel Miranda's fast lyrics, were at times hard to understand.

Encanto was a must-see when it came out in cinemas prior to the Summer school holidays in Australia. It remains a must-see now that it can be accessed on Disney+ and DVD. Although the movie has its flaws, Encanto's catchy songs, incredible animation and perfect sense of humour make it a really enjoyable movie.

Director: Jared Bush, Byron Howard

Starring: Stephanie Beatriz, María Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo

Year released: 2021

My rating: 7.75/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 07/08/2022