During the 2022 Golden Globe Awards, Disney’s latest movie, “Encanto,” won the Best Animated Feature Film, it also received a whopping 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Considering how positive the critics were about the new movie, I decided to see for myself whether or not it lived up to the high expectations. 

This family-friendly movie starts off by revealing that the Madrigal family was blessed with a magical candle that eternally burns.  Grandma Alma (Maria Cecilia Botero) was the one who found the candle. The film suggests Alma was blessed with the magical candle because she had just lost her husband and her home and was left with her three children to take care of by herself.

The magic candle provided a home for them to live in. It also gave each member of the Madrigal family a special power, except for granddaughter, Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz). Some family members had powers like talking to animals, controlling the weather, and super strength. 

As time went by her children grew and married and had children of their own.They all lived together in the house the magical candle built.

In the beginning, Alma was very standoffish towards her grandchildren, which made her an unlikable character to me. However, by the end of the film, she became a character I was fond of because I had a lot of sympathy for what she went through. 

When she grows up, Mirabel tells everyone that the fact that she never got powers doesn’t bother her, but secretly she has always longed to know why. I think the writers did a notable job of making the audience fall in love with Mirabel, as I was rooting for her the whole time. She made me feel like it’s okay to be different from the people around you.

The family gets ready for Antonio (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) to get his power by touching the magical door that shows them their power. As this was happening,  Mirabel starts to think of her uncle Bruno (John Leguizamo).  Bruno left the Madrigal family years ago and nobody knows why or where he went. The family speculates that his leaving is because of his dangerous power of being able to see the future. 

After Antonio’s got his power Mirabel was left completely alone in the house. She begins to see the tiles on the floor start to crack. Then, the crack grows throughout the house. When she goes to get help, the cracks disappear.  Grandma Alma begins to get annoyed with Mirabel for making such a scene for no reason, but later that night Mirabel hears Alma talking to her late husband about how the miracle they were given is dying and needs to be saved. Mirabel then decides that it is her job to save the family and fix the miracle. The rest of the movie is her doing just that.

Throughout the whole movie, there are numerous songs that the cast performs. While audiences rave about the “outstanding soundtrack,” I think otherwise. The songs were way too fast and you could barely understand the lyrics that they were singing.  I often felt like some songs came out of nowhere and weren’t tailored to what the characters were talking about. 

This heart-warming story about a girl who embraces her differences and always stands by her family will tug at your heartstrings. It will teach you that family and community are some of the only things that are important in life.  Overall, I give this movie a 4/5. It kept me entertained and left me satisfied.