Review: We don’t talk about Bruno

“Encanto” is helping to normalize rocky family dynamics and encourage viewers to embrace what makes them weird

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Walt Disney Pictures

Encanto helps to spread the love with a deep familial connection and an understanding that all members of a family are important.

Freedom Tomasello, Staff Writer

Disney’s new movie “Encanto” helps to diversify and expand to new horizons by introducing the colorful culture of Colombia. The catchiness of the songs in the movie have helped “Encanto” explode in popularity due to its spread on social media.

“Encanto,” produced and directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard released into theaters Nov. 24. The film is set in a Columbian village and focuses on the family of the Madrigals, each of the relatives has been blessed with gifts, granting them special abilities to help the people around them. Along with a magic house that does everything for them called la casita.

The one exception to this household is the protagonist Mirabel, who was not given a gift at her ceremony. During her journey, she continues to see visions of the magic holding her family together tragically failing. Mirabel goes to all lengths to help to keep the magic safe, even by taking the chance of finding her lost uncle Bruno. Bruno, who was frowned upon by the family and public, had the ability to see the future. With Brunos help Mirabel works to save the magic of la casita and help to bring her family together.

With music written by Lin Manuel Miranda, best known for his broadway musical “Hamilton” the songs in this film really help to tie the story together. Songs such as “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” and “Surface Pressure” show the hardships and importance of certain characters through the lyrics. Along with the great vocals and incredible instrumentals, these songs are bound to get stuck in the head of viewers. 

As well as the fun music, the animation of the movie gave it the familiar Disney feel. The bright colors and cute art style made it very appealing and fun to watch. It was the perfect fit to Disney’s previous movies, but still had its own sense of originality with the plot and introductions of new cultures.

The few issues with the movie is how rushed everything felt. The conflict of the movie was introduced very early on, along with other side problems that seemed to be solved almost instantaneously. With this it was a hard to follow movie and very easy to get lost in what was happening.

Overall, the movie greatly represented Columbian culture and had a fun storyline. Although the film is geared towards a younger audience and has its flaws it is definitely worth the watch.

“Encanto” is available to watch on Disney+.