Encanto - Cheap Thoughts

Not to turn this into a recurring theme of Disney films being stifled under their corporate overlords, but between this and Eternals there is certainly a pattern forming across these reviews. Encanto’s heart is a story of people wanting to break the mould of what is expected of them. A family of people with unique super powers all with the purpose of helping the community around them. This leads to them all having certain roles to fulfil in that society and in a fun turn of events we now have a film of a lead protagonist wishing to change themselves to fit the mould while the supporting cast around them tries to break free. Two of the songs in this musical are about the protagonist’s sisters wishing to change their own narrative, Luisa the strong one who can carry any burden and Isabela, the perfect child who can do no wrong, and yet in secret the two are crumbling from the expectations of others and feel unallowed to live the lives they wish to.

This may be one of the most fleshed out supporting casts in a Disney film in recent years, and yet because it is a Disney film, there is only so far they are allowed to break free. The Mouse is the mould, and the characters can only break free as far as The Mouse is willing to let them. They still have to be appealing to audiences, marketable as toys and admirable to children. The fact the creators had to fight to have Luisa be muscular due to corporate fear that might make her less appealing says enough. It hollows out the film as while the characters may cheer about change, it’s all corporate approved change, there is no actual rebelling against the system, mere illusion. It’s not just with these examples, but in the film’s very DNA, everything is designed to be easy to understand, squeaky clean and unthreatening, with nothing too extreme in its subject matter that would alienate even a single audience member. Sometimes the film is able to move itself in favour of this, for example having Lin-Manuel Miranda write the music, naturally you can imagine he was chosen as he is a talented musician with a history of embedding his Hispanic heritage into his work – and it was very much the right choice because this music is the best part of the film - but at the same time there was someone in marketing who approved of him because he’s popular and could be used as a selling point. Sometimes you get the best of both world elements like this, but there are other times it shows how limited the film was in its options.

It’s hard to say where Encanto will land in the Disney legacy, it is definitely a big step in terms of representation and because the formula has been perfected there is certainly a level of quality storytelling to entertain general audiences, but will it fall into the category of modern classics like Moana or Frozen? Don’t bet the house (Watch as this ages like milk).

-Danny