[Disney] Encanto

[Isgrimnur]

[Skinypupy]

We took the kids to see this today. I came in expecting nothing and ended up thoroughly enjoying it.

Really fantastic film.

[El Guapo]

We watched this on Christmas Day as part of our usual Jewish Christmas usual. Very good.

[AWS260]

This was really delightful. Strong recommend.

[stessier]

Saw it over the weekend and really enjoyed it. I thought the songs were great, but I'm a Miranda fan, so I'm probably biased.

[LawBeefaroni]

My 11 YO found the plot problematic, and I agree, but overall consensus was that it was thoroughly enjoyable.

[Skinypupy]

That “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” song is a horrifically insidious earworm.

[LordMortis]

My 11 YO found the plot problematic, and I agree, but overall consensus was that it was thoroughly enjoyable.

11?!?! wasn't she just 3 or 4 like at the last Octocon?

[stessier]

My 11 YO found the plot problematic, and I agree, but overall consensus was that it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Can you share what the issue was?

[coopasonic]

Saw it over the weekend and really enjoyed it. I thought the songs were great, but I'm a Miranda fan, so I'm probably biased.

These words are mine as well.

[Jaymon]

Full enjoyment from my family. Its on disney+ now, no extra charge, so we have had multiple viewings.

[LawBeefaroni]

My 11 YO found the plot problematic, and I agree, but overall consensus was that it was thoroughly enjoyable.

11?!?! wasn't she just 3 or 4 like at the last Octocon?

Probably. Maybe 5 or 6?

Crazy, huh?

[LawBeefaroni]

My 11 YO found the plot problematic, and I agree, but overall consensus was that it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Can you share what the issue was?

Spoiler:

There was little to no explanation of why the house/powers died. No explanation of how it appeared in the first place (born of Pedro's sacrifice maybe?). How the entire town sprung up, fully formed and aged, in one generation. Why Mirabel didn't get a power. How they completely rebuild the house in one day, even with the town's help. How Mirabel gets her power despite the candle/source of power gone. How that restores everyone's power and Casita. I guess mostly no explanation in the myth. If there are rules, which there apparently are, they need to be explained and internally consistent.

It was like a bunch of great sequences connected with very hard to follow magic stuff. It is possible that it is playing on cultural assumptions that I don't understand. It is also possible and more likely that it's just kind of vanilla and lazy, lacking deep world building.

[stessier]

My 11 YO found the plot problematic, and I agree, but overall consensus was that it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Can you share what the issue was?

Spoiler:

There was little to no explanation of why the house/powers died. No explanation of how it appeared in the first place (born of Pedro's sacrifice maybe?). How the entire town sprung up, fully formed and aged, in one generation. Why Mirabel didn't get a power. How they completely rebuild the house in one day, even with the town's help. How Mirabel gets her power despite the candle/source of power gone. How that restores everyone's power and Casita. I guess mostly no explanation in the myth. If there are rules, which there apparently are, they need to be explained and internally consistent.

It was like a bunch of great sequences connected with very hard to follow magic stuff. It is possible that it is playing on cultural assumptions that I don't understand. It is also possible and more likely that it's just kind of vanilla and lazy, lacking deep world building.

Spoiler:

Yeah, it's true that the house's power aren't explained fully, but is that really rare in myths? Where did Rapunzel's hair get it's power in Tangled? Why did Moana get chosen? The grandmother did say she believed the power was born of the Pedro's sacrifice, but that she didn't really know either. Mirabel thought it was born from Abuela's grief/sacrifice in losing Pedro.

The town sprung up because a whole town fled danger and the family used their gifts to help it flourish. This doesn't seem like much a reach to me.

There are a lot of rumors swirling about why Mirabel didn't get a power. No one knows for sure. I like to think the power was giving the town what it needed. Mirabel's gift was showing the others that they were special for being themselves, not their gifts and she did that by...not getting a gift.

There's nothing that says Casita was rebuilt in a day. If anything, the song and accompanying vignettes suggested to me it took several weeks.

As for the end, Mirabel's power seemed to be keeping the family together and that as long as they are together, they all have gifts to help the village.

[LawBeefaroni]

My 11 YO found the plot problematic, and I agree, but overall consensus was that it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Can you share what the issue was?

Spoiler:

There was little to no explanation of why the house/powers died. No explanation of how it appeared in the first place (born of Pedro's sacrifice maybe?). How the entire town sprung up, fully formed and aged, in one generation. Why Mirabel didn't get a power. How they completely rebuild the house in one day, even with the town's help. How Mirabel gets her power despite the candle/source of power gone. How that restores everyone's power and Casita. I guess mostly no explanation in the myth. If there are rules, which there apparently are, they need to be explained and internally consistent.

It was like a bunch of great sequences connected with very hard to follow magic stuff. It is possible that it is playing on cultural assumptions that I don't understand. It is also possible and more likely that it's just kind of vanilla and lazy, lacking deep world building.

Spoiler:

Yeah, it's true that the house's power aren't explained fully, but is that really rare in myths? Where did Rapunzel's hair get it's power in Tangled? Why did Moana get chosen? The grandmother did say she believed the power was born of the Pedro's sacrifice, but that she didn't really know either. Mirabel thought it was born from Abuela's grief/sacrifice in losing Pedro.

The town sprung up because a whole town fled danger and the family used their gifts to help it flourish. This doesn't seem like much a reach to me.

There are a lot of rumors swirling about why Mirabel didn't get a power. No one knows for sure. I like to think the power was giving the town what it needed. Mirabel's gift was showing the others that they were special for being themselves, not their gifts and she did that by...not getting a gift.

There's nothing that says Casita was rebuilt in a day. If anything, the song and accompanying vignettes suggested to me it took several weeks.

As for the end, Mirabel's power seemed to be keeping the family together and that as long as they are together, they all have gifts to help the village.

Spoiler:

Yeah, it's true that the house's power aren't explained fully, but is that really rare in myths? Where did Rapunzel's hair get it's power in Tangled? Why did Moana get chosen? The grandmother did say she believed the power was born of the Pedro's sacrifice, but that she didn't really know either. Mirabel thought it was born from Abuela's grief/sacrifice in losing Pedro.

True, these things aren't usually explained in-depth. But at least the relevant, contemporary bits are explained. Rapunzel's hair got her power because some witch used a magic flower to bring her back to life or something, IIRC [EDIT: I just looked it up, the movie explains it in detail although I had the specifics a bit wrong]. This was pretty explicit. But the important details were what it could do and what would happen if you cut it. They were relevant to the story and were very much explained. Moana was chosen because of her lineage. But again, not as important as the rules that applied to her and Maui on their quest, which were explained in detail. We don't get any of this in Encanto. All we get is that (1)Descendants get gifts, they always get gifts, (2)magic is waning for some reason. Mirabel doesn't get a gift which breaks #1, next descendant gets a gift contradicting #2. The questions and rules are never resolved.

The town sprung up because a whole town fled danger and the family used their gifts to help it flourish. This doesn't seem like much a reach to me.

I get how it existed but not why it appeared to be generations old. It would be 50 or so years old but it looks a lot older. Magic, I guess.

There are a lot of rumors swirling about why Mirabel didn't get a power. No one knows for sure. I like to think the power was giving the town what it needed. Mirabel's gift was showing the others that they were special for being themselves, not their gifts and she did that by...not getting a gift.

Sure, I can buy that. But it seems like a bit of a cop out narratively. Everyone got physical powers/abilities. Bruno you could say was mental but it's still a "superpower". She gets love/togetherness/intangible good thing. I think you still get the same result and message if she did all she did and didn't get the flashy door gift reveal. She just did what she did and didn't have to get her trophy to prove it. Family photo, she's in it, Casita is back, the end. If you're going to go mystery and leave stuff up to interpretation, lean into that. The doorknob/gift scene was unnecessary.

There's nothing that says Casita was rebuilt in a day. If anything, the song and accompanying vignettes suggested to me it took several weeks.

I can see that.

[disarm]

My take on the magic...

Spoiler:

The magic came either as a response to abuela's grief or the loss of her husband...doesn't really matter either way. It was a response to love and sacrifice. As for why Mirabel was not given a power and the magic began to fade, I saw it as "the magic's" way of teaching the grandmother a lesson and making the family realize what's important again. As time passed, abuela began to lose sight of the fact that the family itself is more important than the power of the house, and the family took the magic for granted. Mirabel didn't receive a power because the house/magic knew that the family needed to learn a lesson. When the family (especially the matriarch) began to look down on one of their own just because she didn't have a power, the magic began to fade. The magic came from love, and the family's neglect of two members (Mirabel and Bruno) contradicted that.

The magic was restored when the family realizes that it's the love for each other that makes their family special, not the magic/house itself. At least that's my take...

[LawBeefaroni]

My take on the magic...

Spoiler:

The magic came either as a response to abuela's grief or the loss of her husband...doesn't really matter either way. It was a response to love and sacrifice. As for why Mirabel was not given a power and the magic began to fade, I saw it as "the magic's" way of teaching the grandmother a lesson and making the family realize what's important again. As time passed, abuela began to lose sight of the fact that the family itself is more important than the power of the house, and the family took the magic for granted. Mirabel didn't receive a power because the house/magic knew that the family needed to learn a lesson. When the family (especially the matriarch) began to look down on one of their own just because she didn't have a power, the magic began to fade. The magic came from love, and the family's neglect of two members (Mirabel and Bruno) contradicted that.

The magic was restored when the family realizes that it's the love for each other that makes their family special, not the magic/house itself. At least that's my take...

Spoiler:

I agree that that is the message: love, acceptance, and family. And it's conveyed well. But without a mechanism it's just some kind of omnipotent god rather than any sort of "magic."

And it probably bears repeating that we really enjoyed it. These are just things that I got into a discussion with the kiddo about afterwards. I think we both wanted a bit more universe building. We still came away happy with it.