Encanto

Grade: B

Lin-Manuel Miranda knows the rhythm of musical theatre. He knows how to use the dialogue as a springboard to propel the action into a song. We know this very well by now. His original songs are eclectic in style and always interesting to listen to. Just when I think I can predict the chord progression, he’ll throw in an unusual one to keep the flavor fresh.

The songs in Encanto (for which he has credits for “story by” and “original songs by”) are lively and never boring, even the slow ones. I’m going to talk about “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” It shares some melody and phrasing with Maroon 5’s “She Will Be Loved,” which was distracting for me. Other than that, I loved the music in Encanto across the board. “Dos Oruguitas” is the one that’s nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar, but really, they could have just closed their eyes and pointed to one at random to nominate, and it would feel right. My favorite song was the opening number, “The Family Madrigal.”

Is it possible to praise a cartoon movie for its “cinematography?” Encanto has great visuals – I love the colors. With Mirabel, our herione, Disney gives us their best spunky and awkward-as-cute character since Anna in Frozen. Stephanie Beatriz (In the Heights, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) voices her, and nails it. The other two highlights for me were John Leguizamo as Bruno, and Wilmer Valderrama as Agustin – nice to “see” them again.

The plot was just okay. I weaved in and out of investment in it. It is very top heavy with conflict, only to become Johnny on the Spot with a lightning-quick resolution in the last few minutes. I lamented that everything in Frozen II happened too easily. No major character who is killed stays dead, and magic solves everything. There is lots of magic involved in Encanto, yet refreshingly, it’s the magic-less everyday ordinary manpower that fixes the main plot point. It was nice to finally see Encanto, and to meet Bruno, and to find out why we don’t talk about him.

Grade: B