I'm not going to go too in-depth here, but there will be some spoilers ahead.
So to start off with, in my master Canon list, Encanto currently sits somewhere in the early 30s. I definitely like it more than Meet the Robinsons and less than Snow White. I'm still not entirely sure how much I like it compared to the other two films in that area (Pinocchio and Lilo & Stitch).
The blurb I would have given it if I had added it to the Listmas entry would be "This film has a fantastic setup but something rubs me the wrong way about the resolution".
Musically, there's two songs I adore (the two songs EVERYONE adores), one that I enjoy more for the part of the story and message it's telling than as a song in its own right, and I'm indifferent to the rest of the soundtrack.
I'm usually good at picking out voices, but not only did I not recognize John Leguizamo and Wilmer Valderrama until the end credits, but halfway through I was like "Wait, is Luisa the tough woman from Brooklyn 99?" (which I haven't watched since the first season aired but she made an impression on me). No. No, Luisa was not the person I was thinking of from Brooklyn 99...MIRABEL was! Major oopsie doopsie from me.
Let's talk about Bruno. Bruno is easily my favorite character. I love what they do with him, I love how he fits into the story. I love how he subverts everything he was built up as. Buuuut....a teeny tiny part of me, the part of me that loves Disney Villains as a brand and laments we haven't had a proper Bad-As-I-Wanna-Be Main Story Antagonist that wasn't a third-act twist in over a decade, that part would have loved to see the version of Bruno from Camilo's verse. The one who sees your dreams and feasts on your screams. Again, I love the Bruno we have to death and he's perfect for the story being told here. I just see potential for another timeline.
Finally, the one big sticking point for me is the ending. Now, I want it to be a happy ending. It's Disney, I want things to work out. So of course I want the family to reconcile. However...I still think Abuela Alma has a lot more apologizing to do before she deserves full reintegration into the family. Look, I fully understand and sympathize with her trauma. I recognize that rebuilding the casita allowed the possibility for more of this healing to be done offscreen, and again I want a happy ending where everyone reconciles but...I don't think I saw Abuela earn it. This is 2022; we learn now more than ever that any kind of relationship staying together after a lot of toxicity is not always the best and most healthy solution. And I feel like Mirabel's "Nothing we can't do together" speech after just the bearest admissions of guilt from Abuela could be construed as promoting a "family is always important to keep as family even if they mistreat you" attitude which kind of goes against the rest of the story's moral in addition to being an unhealthy social norm that needs breaking. Obviously you should try to reconcile and invite reform, but if you base importance on blood family above anything else, you run the risk of continuing to enable abusive behaviors. And to anyone who would counter with "this is very true to this particular culture "...that affects nothing I have just said. I dunno, like I said it's ambiguous enough and narratively minor enough that I can't count it against the film objectively, it just gives me a red flag.
That's all I have to say about it, really. We'll see how my thoughts coalesce upon rewatches.
No cracks, no breaks, no mistakes, no pressure.
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