The latest from Disney posits a magical house, in a magical Colombian town, populated by magical people save one. Mirabel (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz) is a misfit, who, unlike Marilyn Munster, is destined to rely on human aptitude rather than hoodoo to save her family and humanity as we know it. The folks at Disney found their North Star the day they realized there’s a profit to turn off ethnicity and that non-caucasian money spends. Encanto continues the Studios’ celebration of remuneration-thru-assimilation with a loud, colorful musical awash with the type of storytelling one associates with Broadway fireball and Encanto songwriter and co-scenarist, Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights). The common thread that links this to classic Disney is a dead parental unit at the outset. Beyond that, good intentions without a story can only carry us so far. Rather than catering to the $300-ticket set, Miranda adjusted his expectations for $5 spectators who can barely see over the seat backs in front of them. (2021) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.