Encanto, Another Deep Family Trauma Exploration Film With A Sheesh Level Soundtrack!

While this is not the horror trauma exploration and therapy session from the latest Scream film, yet, this episode will tackle some of those same emotional emotions, in the way that only a Disney movie can.  The latest big animated film, Encanto, is now available on Disney+, so now is the time to watch it!  If you want sentient furniture like Beauty and the Beast, amazing music like Coco, a unique take on story villains like Frozen 2, and emotional catharsis and moments also like Coco, this is the movie for you.  I can and will say a ton of great things about this movie and have a true heart to heart with you over the podcast airwaves, so get down to some great beats and some amazing therapy, all that and more, on the latest episode of Nick Nack Goes To The Movies.  What did you think of Encanto though?  Make sure to let me know on social at either @NickNackMovies or @NickNack_IC on Twitter, Letterboxd, Instagram, and Tik Tok!

Transcript

Nick Nack Goes to the Movies Pod S3E3

-Intro

-Well I can’t kick off with Scream the first 2022 movie yet, we will have a guest joining us, I instead wanted to talk about the latest from Disney+ that I waited for on on-demand, it really takes a special Disney movie to get me to the theater, and while this may be like Luca, where I was blown away, that is what ya gotta listen to the episode to see after all, let’s take a foray to see if this Encanto is strong, or if it just has really good music, because I will tell you, I have been listening to Surface Pressure for 2 days straight at work on Spotify, and that song truly slaps, and one day I may have to update that Disney Music that Slaps list from way back in 2020, a fan favorite episode that is our second most listened to episode.  So if you have already listened to that episode, you can come on and proceed to this latest musical movie.

-Actors

-So to start with the actors stuff, Jessica Darrow, that Surface Pressure song is fire!  But besides that, If I had seen Brooklyn 99 I am sure I would know a bit more about Stephanie Beatriz, I feel like I enjoy every clip of this show on Tik Tok that comes my way, but there are just so many shows to watch, but that cast seems super fun and she is a big part of that.  We actually have Marvel and DC show alums in both Rhenzy Feliz (Runaways) which I really want to get back to, and Diane Guerrero (Doom Patrol), which somehow, Like Titans, I have yet to start up, and now with Pennyworth on HBO Max, the DC tv show list continues to pile up. 

-Look, you need a fun voice actor, you gotta rock with Alan Tudyk, that is just industry science 101.

-But lets talk about both John Leh-Gwuh-zah-mo and Wilmer Valderamma.  I am sure Valderamma is not known specifically for this, but if you ever get a chance to watch the TV show adaptation of From Dusk Till Dawn, you will no doubt appreciate all that he brings to this show.  Yeah you may not have all the amazing name branders like Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, a surprising larger acting role for Quentin Tarantino, most people’s first introduction to Salma Hayek, and of course it has Danny Trejo, which is just perfect.

- Leh-Gwuh-zah-mo is in so many things, you have seen him in something, be it the probably too ahead of its time with bad special effects Spawn to the amazing and quirky Romeo + Juliet, if you haven’t seen that, go watch a trailer and be amazed, and he was in a few John Wick’s to boot, which is the franchise that gave us back awesome Keanu, not like the latest Matrix requel, I only talk about it because it still hurts my heart and soul what happened there.

-Encanto

- So to the plot of this movie, I swear I will try to not get too distracted by the music, the music is not the plot, but every Disney movie with music is for sure better.

-Disney movies also find this way to make magic never feel too goofy or cheesy, and Encanto is another one of those that make it so.  From the charming sentient objects like Beauty and the Beast and just the origin of magic, these movies always find a way to make me feel like Harry Potter not only in that first movie/book, but even as he grows and becomes a part of the wizarding world, he is always still in awe of it as a concept, I guess that is a great way to illustrate my passion for Disney/Pixar movies, well most of them anyway, some of those direct sequel movies are just not it.

-Yeah, the animations of magical house things are super cool, and the music is mad catchy, some of these songs might be a bit formulaic at times, just a bit, and that does not make them less good, just an observation

-So as a super hero nerd, I gotta analyze these powers as we go, so far if I had to have one, healing people with food is pretty sensational.  Sure, the super strength one would be grand, lord knows I need to get better at gym going to get back to my under 170 weight, but I gotta stop work snacking to, working on it to be the fit podcast guy you wanna listen to and see perform goofy Tik Tok dances and be a true influencer.

-Also, yeah there is something hilarious about not wanting to talk about Bruno, where that was a hilarious running joke in Luca, man, Luca, what a movie, and the way these Disney/Pixar movies relate to one another is always a great time!

-As colorful as this overall look is, there is some massive emotional damage and trauma all over the place.  If you are in for some real-life horror of trauma and grief exploration, buckle up and get comfortable, because from the jump that is a huge part of this movie.  And man can we all relate to the movie lead of Stephanie Beatriz, feeling like an outside, unexceptional, and many other descriptors that make you want to just put on Making Love out of Nothing at All by Air Supply or something equally sombering.

-This movie crushes the sad damage parts, and having our leads flashbacks to her ceremony of getting a gift, and instead being magic house rejected, it finds a great way to balance a new younger member of the family getting a gift and somehow that feels like her whole situation is more personal and it is tough for her to not feel like an outside, brutal to constantly being told that you are not perfect or special, especially not being included in family pictures or moments.  

-That being said, the first look at these magical rooms, nature room and talking to animals is pretty cool!

-In the same way that I super related to Eponine in Les Mis, destined to never find true love or whatnot, I can see this relating to a ton of people, I mean, we all compare ourselves to others, social media and what not, and this movie reminds me a bit of how much I want to like prove myself constantly and seek validation, damn I wasn’t ready for an open book therapy session on the airwaves, but maybe you can relate and we can bond over this all together

-So, the conflict could not just be internal, there had to be some sort of big call to action, literary storytelling 101, and visions of the family and house losing magic, that is about as scary as anything in this world and community that relies heavily on it

-And finally seeing the under the surface song, it is visually great, it has a Hercules reference, which you know I love.  I am all about this, and this song too shows that how everyone is stressed or feeling this inadequate feeling that either we put on ourselves or someone throws on us, I mean overall, we can constantly relate to this all.

- I am pretty interested in this overall, the mystery, the suspense, the conflict, things are going pretty well.

-Kind of like frozen 2, at times it feels like this movie has no true villain, at times the villain there was just the unknown.  Sure, everyone is all on the Bruno hate train, and people are all anti the powerless Madrigal daughter.  I mean the emotional villain is of course Abuela Alma, but none of this is a true Ursula or evil queen villain

-And when we do finally get to meet Bruno, of course the similarities are there with Mirabel, our protagonist.  I mean he has powers, but he is truly misunderstood and has no clue where to go from here with them, and he is the injection of humor in this movie, like sad depressing humor at times, a tragic figure, but I am all about using humor as a coping mechanism, and I know I ain’t the only one who does that.

-Also, that Bruno song is amazing and catchy, so yeah, this music is pretty good.

-Oh man, this movie at times feels like nothing is happening, but there is so much emotional storytelling going on, growth of most of our characters in the Madrigal family, people opening up about their own concerns, fears, traumas, no one is perfect, ever perfect flower daughter, we all have trauma and issues, and man I am vibing with this, like we said already, and constantly, the therapy of this and some of our newer Disney movies is just sublime, and it takes a super interesting take on family and family roles, color me super intrigued, as someone who grew up saying he was on the math farm, I thought creative me was an outsider and as I’ve grown I know that creative me is what makes me, well me, emotions aplenty!

-This is a great coming of age story more people need to see, Onward never truly hit the mark for me, missing out on some bigger grander narrative, but this movie has so much pain, like deep seeded years of therapy pain, and when the family breaks being too focused to be perfect and strong and my word when it all falls to crap is it something.  There is something about the amazing nature of the house constantly protecting Mirabel, it feels like there is some true connection, like the house continuing to look after her when some of her family members are just, not with her for big parts of the movie.

-I have to say this movie has some pretty specific moments of clear visual of war or at least civil unrest.  I know Disney movies can be dark, Frozen 2 had some of this, but this felt more seen, and this felt like a new level of this, and I was all about the stakes and hardships seen I this movie with conflict, a lot of emotional conflict, but it is a hard and truly uplifting narrative, dang, like Luca, I did not expect it.

-I don’t know if I expected to see like true evil from Abuela, kind of like Tangled.  But instead the true villain of this movie, is emotional walls, not talking to one another, and just bad communication, I am truly speechless

-What a movie, it is a journey to get to that happy ending, but it is worth it, and the metaphors for needing a new foundation for their destroyed house as well as a new foundation for their family, I mean, come on, there you go again crushing it.  If a movie makes me cry at the end, yeah, it is a good one.  It is not Coco, no, but it is pretty gosh darn good I have to say, the emotions of everything and how connected the family and town all are, and of course having Mirabel bring the magic back to the house, super important and powerful.  And when the whole family is back together, Bruno included, for the big photo, perfect ending.  And while I wonder if the whole true gift all along angle is better, or she not needing a specific tangible gift is better, I like that she didn’t just get a big special gift in the, that might have cheapened it a bit.  So if you want to say she wiped her hands before touching the door wiped the magic away, the she had the magic all along, or the power of love.  Either angle, they are all different but good.  I will go with she did not need a gift to be special, I mean this ordinary girl brought her family together in a more healthy way and helped them all discover and embrace other sides of themselves, if you ask me, that is pretty special.  

-Letterboxd ratings

- Encanto – 4 stars

-Look, there is a lot of good here, the colors, visuals, the music, the emotions, all are spectacular.  But there are some parts where things slow down a bit or just are a bit slow overall.  But this is a really good movie, go watch it.

-wrap and call to action 

-So that was Encanto, another great movie from the minds at Disney, I have talked ad nauseum to you all about how much I love horror seemingly because of the grief and therapy exploration.  You also know I truly believe the best Disney movies have the best music, I will rank this up there eventually with the others, but this movie combines a lot of good.  And with therapy from Disney this week, next episode we can talk about those same notions in the latest from the Scream franchise.  But what did you think of Encanto?  Let me know however you keep up with us on social, on Tik Tok, Twitter, Instagram, and more on Nick Nack underscore IC and Nick Nack Movies.  So as always, until next time cinephiles.