Encanto

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🎙️ EPISODE 414: 03.04.22 There's something about the rhythm and the cadence or pattern of the vocals in Lin Manuel Mirando's songs which rubs me the wrong way. They all sound the mostly same, only slightly different in that they inhabit different 'genres' but all utilize what is essentially a sped-up, slightly tweaked take on the "My name is X, and I'm here to say!" rap. This musical's tunes also have the added (troubling) bonus of yielding several crossover pop hits. Literal chart-toping hits, egads! By far the most suspicious of which, "We Don't Talk About Bruno," sounds like some D-level Gloria Estefan outtake. And, oh would you look at that, I've already broken my dumb rule of "I Don't Talk About 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' in Public." There's a first time for everything.

There's another song, early on, that functions as a "Getting to Know the Cast" introduction, and it feels less like a fun opening, and more like a needed road map because if you stop paying attention to this for five minutes and, listen up fellow adults, of course you will, you will completely lose the who's who and how and why all these characters relate to each to one another. With six screenwriters did you think this was going to be an easy assignment? And, no, the one dude's ears and nose blowing up is not a magical power; he's just allergic to everything! The magic doesn't transfer through marriage, just blood... fucking pay attention!

Mirando is responsible for more kids content than you probably realize at this point, though this release is one of the more (if not the most) high profile ones since Hamil-FUN. As an adult, I like that I could listen to fifteen seconds of one of those songs and then choose never to consume a second more of H*milton-related content ever again. But I've got kids and the kids need shit to watch, so — yup, yeah, no way around it, it's gonna happen— we gonna talk about Mirando yet again.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 413 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 414B ⫸

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Encanto is a 2021 American computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 60th film produced by the studio, Encanto was directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, co-directed by Charise Castro Smith who co-wrote the screenplay with Bush, and produced by Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer, with original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Featuring the voices of Stephanie Beatriz, María Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitán, Diane Guerrero, and Wilmer Valderrama, Encanto follows a multigenerational Colombian family, the Madrigals, helmed by a matriarch whose children and grandchildren—except for Mirabel Madrigal (Beatriz)—receive magical gifts from a "miracle" that helps them serve the people in their rural community called "the Encanto". When Mirabel learns that the family is losing their magic, she sets out to find out what is happening, to save her family and their magical house. It was released on November 3, 2021.