Encanto

My two year old was home sick for a few days, so we brought in a new Disney movie as something to do. She’s heard the Encanto songs a lot because they are awesome, so it seemed like a solid next choice for her ongoing movie education. I liked Encanto back when I saw it without kids, and after seeing it with my daughter, I think this is the most adult-oriented Disney cartoon.

There are some dark themes here, but more importantly this movie is comparatively subtle. There isn’t an evil queen, or hunter, or Gaston, or Jafar, or any of the other traditional villains to root against. The main characters in the movie are competing against expectations, self image, and other things that are way beyond my daughter’s ability to understand. There’s also no adorable companion to crack jokes (Mushu, Puumba, Sebastian, Abu, Olaf, etc), which might be the biggest departure from the normal Disney film.

That being said, the movie is beautiful and the songs are the best from any Disney movie, so my daughter enjoyed it. I also enjoy the adult themes more than the normal Disney adventure stories, so none of these are complaints. I’ll give it a 9/10 and say it is an excellent Disney movie.