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Original poster

Encanto

55 replies

bluebeardswife7 · 15/04/2023 20:24

The golden child and the scapegoat

OP posts:
SpudleyLass · 15/04/2023 23:04

I relate very much to Luisa and think Surface Pressure is the best song.

Coco is definitely better though.

AngryGreasedSantaCatcus · 15/04/2023 23:16

The issue with it is that it's pretty and that's it.

Given the theme, they rushed it and it all fell really flat and felt superficial. Here's some forgiveness and a hint at being sorry during a weepy 5 minute section because we need to end the movie.

Tadaa! Intergenerational trauma solved. Let's dance!

When they could've actually focus on the story and the development of characters (like Moana and Brave) and did something with it.

It's pretty to look at, it's not actually worth watching.

mentalblank · 15/04/2023 23:24

We adore Encanto in our house... A more interesting story than the standard Disney quest narrative, amazing music, and a last couple of scenes that are one tear-jerker after another (the family forgiving Bruno, the townsfolk coming to help, Antonio leading Mirabel to the door, etc etc... 😭😭😭)

Phantomime · 15/04/2023 23:27

Finally I have found my people then! Absolutely hated it. Aside from Bruno I couldn’t sing you another song from it. Completely forgettable. I really don’t get the hype for it.
I loved Coco but that came at a time when my own Mothers death was very raw so it really did floor me.

DH has never understood my utter joy at Wall-E either, another underrated one I thought.

Yyfandes · 15/04/2023 23:36

I really enjoyed the music to Encanto, but found the storyline really triggering. And it made me angry. Those of us dealing with people like the grandmother character know that they never see what they are doing wrong, and they never apologise or change. So that was bullshit.

Megamopyeah · 15/04/2023 23:40

Agree with others, it was completely forgettable and flat. Coco was far superior in every way for me, along with Moana.

UndercoverCop · 15/04/2023 23:48

Aren't all Disney films something you sit through with a child because they will enjoy it, rather than something you'd seek out though? I wouldn't watch one on my own and hadn't seen any since my own childhood, until DS came along and COVID hit.
I didn't think it was that bad, which is how I feel about most of the Disney films I've watched.

Phantomime · 15/04/2023 23:51

UndercoverCop · 15/04/2023 23:48

Aren't all Disney films something you sit through with a child because they will enjoy it, rather than something you'd seek out though? I wouldn't watch one on my own and hadn't seen any since my own childhood, until DS came along and COVID hit.
I didn't think it was that bad, which is how I feel about most of the Disney films I've watched.

Why? You can enjoy a movie no matter what. DH and I recently watched and enjoyed the Cars series on Disney+. Our kids are 24 and 28 and neither live at home.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 16/04/2023 00:53

UndercoverCop · 15/04/2023 23:48

Aren't all Disney films something you sit through with a child because they will enjoy it, rather than something you'd seek out though? I wouldn't watch one on my own and hadn't seen any since my own childhood, until DS came along and COVID hit.
I didn't think it was that bad, which is how I feel about most of the Disney films I've watched.

No?

I'm 34 and don't have children and regularly sit and watch a Disney film!

BouleBaker · 16/04/2023 03:58

Absolutely love Encanto. The music is fabulous and I can't wait to see what Lin-Manuel Miranda does next. Lots of Disney movies have brutal family dynamics in, pretty much all of their movies involve parental death or succession drama and most of the main characters could really do with some serious counselling. the fairy tale endings surely are about redemption, overcoming trauma and moving forward.

JulieHoney · 16/04/2023 04:07

The problem with Coco - as good as it is - is that Book Of Life took a very similar story a few years earlier and did it better.

Kitcaterpillar · 16/04/2023 07:28

UndercoverCop · 15/04/2023 23:48

Aren't all Disney films something you sit through with a child because they will enjoy it, rather than something you'd seek out though? I wouldn't watch one on my own and hadn't seen any since my own childhood, until DS came along and COVID hit.
I didn't think it was that bad, which is how I feel about most of the Disney films I've watched.

I know it's really hard to imagine but not everyone is you. Hope that helps clarify things.

UndercoverCop · 16/04/2023 08:39

@Kitcaterpillar I don't know any adults who watch Disney films for themselves , clearly as shown here some do. I just don't think any of them are great films in their own right, so wouldn't watch unless I was with a child who wanted to. So it's surprising to me that there is a thread talking about how mediocre Encanto is compared to others, because adults aren't the target audience. Do the children like it, yes, well then Disney did their job. It doesn't matter what adults think

AnuSTart · 16/04/2023 08:51

I hated it and thought it was just me. Huzzah!
The story is so linear and gets boring very quickly. Songs forgettable.
It looks pretty but that isn't enough.

Bigpinktrain · 16/04/2023 08:59

Encanto was my least favourite of the modern Disney/Pixar.

agree Coco is better, Inside out makes me weep, also love Moana.

Interestingly as someone mentioned it, the execs on Encanto thought Surface Pressure was a better song as that was put forward for an Oscar nomination. It was a surprise to them that we don’t talk about Bruno was the song of the movie.

Sceptre86 · 16/04/2023 09:08

I loved it, it is one of our favourites. I couldn't connect to coco and I didn't care for any of the characters. In encanto each of the characters were more interesting to me. It did deal with some pretty heavy topics, civil war, murder, refugees, single mum dealing with trauma. The grandma wasn't evil, she did love them all but held on to the notion of keeping the home, for her it was a symbol of sacrifice that her dh had made. She raised triplets on her on during a period of civil unrest, lost everything and had to start from scratch. They all forgave her because she saw the error in her ways and opened up about the pain she had gone through which had shaped her.

Hellsmovie · 16/04/2023 09:26

Lion King- Simba watches his uncle murder his father in front of him and then spends time whimpering at his father’s body

nope. That's not what happened. Otherwise simba wouldnt of spent most of the film after that think he killed his dad.

DumbPrinceAndHisStupidWife · 16/04/2023 09:27

UndercoverCop · 16/04/2023 08:39

@Kitcaterpillar I don't know any adults who watch Disney films for themselves , clearly as shown here some do. I just don't think any of them are great films in their own right, so wouldn't watch unless I was with a child who wanted to. So it's surprising to me that there is a thread talking about how mediocre Encanto is compared to others, because adults aren't the target audience. Do the children like it, yes, well then Disney did their job. It doesn't matter what adults think

My kids didn't like it either 🤷‍♀️ it's the one Disney/Pixar that we haven't rewatched.

Moana was far better, IMO.

Hellsmovie · 16/04/2023 09:29

The first time I watched enchanto I thought it was a bit meh. 2nd time I actually enjoyed it

NotAnotherBathBomb · 16/04/2023 11:21

SunnyLion · 15/04/2023 20:40

Peronally I think this is one of Disneys worst films.

I wouldn't say the worst, but it's definitely overrated. I find LMM overrated as a creator in general 🙈 but he has a massive fan base

Songs are catchy though

DumbPrinceAndHisStupidWife · 16/04/2023 11:30

Songs are catchy though

That's a polite way of putting it 😁

That Bruno song was bloody awful 😬

goldfootball · 16/04/2023 11:40

@riotlady I’d actually love to know the story of The Hunchback of Notre Dame getting made 😂 I was fascinated by it as a kid because I wanted to be Esmeralda but the story is insane for a kids film. I watched it as an adult and couldn’t get over the hellfire song about how much the bad priest wants to sleep with Esmeralda. It’s all so off brand for Disney even in comparison to the trad ‘dead parent’ oeuvre.

I actually love Encanto but it was so far off I was expecting - the fact it’s obviously about intergenerational trauma is pretty interesting!

NeverDropYourMooncup · 16/04/2023 11:46

riotlady · 15/04/2023 22:14

Is it unusually brutal for Disney? Maybe compared to Frozen but not so much for the older Disney films

Lion King- Simba watches his uncle murder his father in front of him and then spends time whimpering at his father’s body

Bambi- mum gets shot

Dumbo- mother and baby get tragically separated by the circus and then she cradles him through the bars of her cage

Hunchback of notre dame- religious figure, intent on the genocide of the Romany people, “accidentally” kills a woman by dashing her brains on stone steps, considers drowning a baby and then instead decides to raise it as an emotionally abusive parent and teach it to hate itself for being disabled. Later burns down the entirety of Paris in search of a woman he both racially hates and sexually desires and ultimately plunges to his death in a sea of molten metal in what is a clear allusion to him going to hell (now that one is intense!)

Show quote history

Lion King - not what happened. And Scar receives his due from the hyenas after demonstrating throughout that this is the result of a personal quest for power.

Bambi - not seen or anywhere so explicit. Hunter is doing what happens to animals. Moves quickly to happy adulthood.

Dumbo - all is happy ever after.

Hunchback - bad person does bad things for personal reasons, gets his just desserts at the end.

Encanto - Mass murder, possible ethnic cleansing, civil war/wartime atrocities - young woman spends the scene running in terror with her babies and other villagers having witnessed murders and then her husband sacrifices himself to give her time to escape whilst Colombian soldiers gallop towards him with swords making it clear how he will die, then they may have been killed by a magic candle turning into an IED. There's no reason given for the massacre, so true resolution, meaning that it could happen again (one of the reasons why the GM is so abusive towards her son and controlling of everybody). Also significantly more likely to have been or could become the experience of a number of children watching the movie, compared to being a young Prince, flying elephant or beautiful gypsy woman.

It's brutal in that what happened (excluding the magic) happens to children and their parents across the world every day and is directly relatable because they are human, not animals.

interest12 · 16/04/2023 11:53

UndercoverCop · 15/04/2023 23:48

Aren't all Disney films something you sit through with a child because they will enjoy it, rather than something you'd seek out though? I wouldn't watch one on my own and hadn't seen any since my own childhood, until DS came along and COVID hit.
I didn't think it was that bad, which is how I feel about most of the Disney films I've watched.

I’d agree with this. All are better than sitting through more Elmo

goldfootball · 16/04/2023 12:01

@NeverDropYourMooncup tbf having just gone and watched some clips from hunchback of notre dame pretty much every thing you’ve written about Encanto also applies!

as a kid I remember Dumbo and Bambi being absolutely emotionally devastating so much that I couldn’t finish watching them/never rewatched them! Bambi’s mum dying is one of those ‘known’ moments that really leaves an impression. I don’t think Encanto has the same kind of impact on little kids because, like when I watched Hunchback of Notre Dame when young, a lot of it juts goes over your head!