Encanto is the newest Disney animated film. Initially released in theaters this past Thanksgiving weekend and a month later on Disney’s streaming site, Disney+, the movie has been shattering records with it’s stellar soundtrack, diverse cast, and incredible story.

The story focuses on the Madrigals, a Colombian family living in the town of Valle de Cocora. Each of the Madrigals possesses a blessing or as they call it in the film, a gift, except protagonist Mirabel. The movie focuses on the destruction of their magical gift and home, their Encanto, and the friction in the family that follows it’s slow decay. It falls upon Mirabel to save their home and fix the internal struggle within their family. 

Disney has been lagging behind in the animation industry. With their last two animated films suffering heavy profit losses due to COVID-19, movies SOUL (2020), and Luca (2021) both had charm but were lacking the musical touch that graces Encanto, which fans have come to expect from Disney and their films. Encanto, however, has pushed the musical angle tenfold.  From incredibly catchy numbers like “The Family Madrigal” and the chart topping “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, to the tear-jerkers like “Waiting On A Miracle” and “Dos Orugitas”. The animation is out of this world with bright colors that seem to breathe life into the screen.  The top notch animation is enhanced by it’s all star voice cast featuring latino celebrities like Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz, Ice Age’s John Leguizamo and Hamilton star Lin-Manuel Miranda as a producer. 

The critically acclaimed film brought in 93 million dollars from just the box office not including the profits its made from streaming on Disney+. The movie has also received a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 93%  audience score. Considering Disney’s past few films, it seemed as though the future of Disney’s animation films were at risk. There were, and still are, a lot of rumors about the company’s fractured relationship with Pixar, and the fact that this movie was made with  zero help from Pixar, serves to elevate those rumors. However, even without Pixar this movie oozes love, and if Disney keeps up with this level of film quality, then the future looks bright for them and their animation film empire. 

Overall this film is a must see. It takes a hard look at the effect of colonization on Latino families and teaches everyone a lesson about the importance of family. From dazzling musical numbers to jaw dropping animation, the total score for this film is a 4.7 of out five stars.