{"id":23902,"date":"2021-11-22T17:10:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T01:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=23902"},"modified":"2021-11-22T17:10:32","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T01:10:32","slug":"encanto-slowly-casts-a-spell-and-charms-viewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=23902","title":{"rendered":"ENCANTO Slowly Casts a Spell and Charms Viewers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This animated feature from Disney will be opening at\ncinemas on November 24th<\/sup>. It will then be available for streaming\nDecember 24th<\/sup> on Disney+. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Pixar has always been considered the gold standard when it comes to animated family features, Walt Disney Animation Studios have also produced their share of fantastic features, including Wreck-It-Ralph<\/em>, Frozen<\/em>, Zootopia<\/em> and Moana<\/em> to name but a few. Encanto<\/em> is their latest, a musical\/fantasy about finding one\u2019s calling in life. It isn\u2019t the best feature from the studio, but it does build goodwill over its running time and ends up serving as a bright and enjoyable entertainment that will appeal to most young viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story involves the Madrigals, who possess incredible\npowers and live in a scenic Columbian village. Heck, even their house possesses\nmagical qualities. When each child reaches a special age, a ceremony is\nperformed by stern but caring family matriarch Abuela Alma Madrigal (Maria\nCecilia Botero) and their unique gift is revealed. Or at least, that has been\nthe pattern for all but one. Sadly, good-natured Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz)\ndid not receive a special ability on her big day and now spends her time\noffering advice and kindness to others preparing for their remarkable moment.\nMirabel tries to stay positive, but finds it difficult when everyone around her\nis so special. When she witnesses an ominous omen on the family property, the\nlead decides to investigate and learns that the Madrigal powers may be\nweakening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surprisingly, the story takes a little bit of time to build\nup momentum. Each individual family member is introduced in a lengthy opening\nnumber, but most of the early gags earn chuckles rather than big laughs. It\u2019s\nall very cute, but not exceptionally hilarious or captivating. As the story\ndevelops, things do improve significantly. When Mirabel discovers that some of\nher family, including strong women Luisa (Jessica Darrow) and beautiful but\nvain sister Isabela (Diane Guerrero) are having difficulties with their gifts\nand are actually unhappy with their lot in life, some entertaining events ensue.\nThe Luisa musical number is a real highlight as she complains about the high work\nstandards that she is expected to continually provide for those in the village.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In general, there is a lot of singing and dancing in the\nmovie. Thankfully, most of the music is quite catchy and is often used to display\nthe remarkable talents of various family members. These tunes are written by\nLin-Manuel Miranda and several songs make an impression. And of course, as with\nother animated titles from Disney, the movie looks spectacular. The green,\nmountainous village environment is wondrous to behold and just about every\nframe pops off the screen with vibrant colors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, when Mirabel discovers the truth about an\nuncle named Bruno (John Leguizamo) who disappeared years before because of his disturbing\nvisions of the future, things improve dramatically. Numbers featuring this\ncharacter are another highlight and he livens up proceedings when secrets begin\nbeing revealed about the family. It soon becomes clear that while things seem\nperfect on the surface, tension within the Madrigals is simmering and literal\ncracks are appearing under their seemingly beautiful abode. And since all of\nthe characters have remarkable skills, word and panic about what might happen\nspreads and the consequences result in a few big laughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As one might expect, this is a Disney picture, so things are always kept light and frothy. Mirabel must help the family address deeper issues in order to save their home and the community. Admittedly, the movie starts off a little slowly and doesn\u2019t offer anything overly unique story-wise. However, the characters and their abilities are enjoyable to witness and, as the story progresses, the movie gains energy and comic momentum. In the end, Encanto<\/em> isn\u2019t the best Disney flick ever made, but the tunes, interesting characters and second half complications eventually cast a spell and charm viewers over.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Note: A sweet short called Far from the Tree<\/em> will also be playing before the feature in cinemas. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This animated feature from Disney will be opening at cinemas on November 24th. It will then be available for streaming December 24th on Disney+. While Pixar has always been considered the gold standard when it comes to animated family features, Walt Disney Animation Studios have also produced their share of fantastic features, including Wreck-It-Ralph, Frozen, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[206,1455,4643,5839,5922,6962,6963,6964,6965,7283,7314,10652,10879,12916,13202,19022],"class_list":["post-23902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-206","tag-animated","tag-columbia","tag-diane-guerrero","tag-disney","tag-encanto","tag-encanto-film-review","tag-encanto-movie-review","tag-encanto-review","tag-family","tag-fantasy","tag-jessica-darrow","tag-john-leguizamo","tag-magic","tag-maria-cecilia-botero","tag-stephanie-beatriz"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}