Encanto (2021)

Disney can be counted on for feel good, family friendly animated movies that you do not have to scratch your head too long to figure out what the underlying take home messages might be, and this movie is no exception. Except for one thing, it centers on a Spanish speaking culture and ideas and beliefs that are outside of the mainstream western norms that Disney has been slowly but consistently breaking out of. This story is a Colombian magical realist tale of a family that received special powers after surviving a tragedy. Now, a few generations later, they live together in a magical house and each member develops their own talent, like the ability to control the weather, shapeshift into other people, and talk to animals. Their house responds to the family’s requests and responds to their moods. Each bedroom is magically tailored to the relative and their magical gift. All except for one, Mirabel--she is pointedly without magic, and even her grandmother--especially her abuela--holds against her. Well, you can see where this is going from all angles and a mile away, but it does so against a magnificently rendered animated landscape that is breath taking to behold.