Review: Encanto
After a long wait, Encanto is finally here.
Accomplishing a huge milestone, the 60th film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios celebrates a South American country, Colombia, its culture, lush forests, gastronomy, colours, music and passion.
Directed By Byron Howard, Jared Bush and Charise Castro Smith, the film tells the extraordinary story of the Madrigal Family, a displaced clan on whom a miracle was bestowed in their darkest moment and who learned to serve and lead their community in the mountains of Colombia.
This family musical exhorts the traditional sounds of Colombia. Encanto’s music composer, the Academy Award nominee Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote eight original songs for the movie, including “Colombia mi Encanto” featuring voices of Latin superstars like Maluma, Sebastián Yatra, and Carlos Vives.
The Madrigal family include a visible mix of Afro Latino, Indigenous and mixed-race members – reflective of the ethnic diversity of Colombia. Traditional food like the arepa with cheese, coffee, ajiaco and corn are also delightfully displayed throughout the movie while showcasing the fauna and flora as part of the common thread.
Encanto gives Colombia the chance to redeem its image, making its people proud of their culture and diversity, showcasing the magical realism and the yellow butterflies that the literature Nobel-Price Gabriel Garcia Marquez once exhorted.
Encanto is a charming and modest recreation that embraces compassion, community, and yes – enchantment, moving away from the traditional heroes and princesses.
Encanto is in cinemas now.
