Is there no Encanto thread?!

[Anonymous]

My favorite song keep changing. I started with "Family Madrigal", then "We Don't Talk About Bruno", and then "Columbia Mi Encanto".

I've just worked my way down to "What Else Can I Do?" At first glance it's a slightly yawn-worthy power ballad but there's a lot packed in there.

One thing is how little the sisters have actually seen each other. Mirabel thinks that everything in Isabela's life is perfect and effortless. Isabela barely sees Mirabel except as the annoying younger sister. They don't know each other at all. "All I know is the blossoms you grow / but it's awesome to see how you rise" is Mirabel finally seeing Isabela, and "I'm so sick of pretty, I want something true, don't you?" is Isabela finally seeing Mirabel, who is a truth-teller in a family that does not talk about a lot of things besides Bruno. Abre tus ojos!

I love the moment when Isabela sings "how far do these roots go down?" -- in the movie she looks so sad when she sings that -- I think that's her dealing with Abuela's past and legacy of pain.

A song I mostly overlooked at first but I'm loving it now!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. I feel very invested in Dolores for some reason. She must know so many secrets! Not all that interested in the shape shifting cousin.

"He told me that the love of my dreams would be just out of reach, betrothed to another." This happened! I think We Don't Talk About Bruno (and how all the subsequent stories about prophecies lined up) is about how 'fate' can be deceptive. The people in the village are like 'your fate is sealed when your prophecy is read' but for the gut and the hair, this is just their own choices. For Pepa, she heard Bruno say there would be rain and it caused HER to cause the rain. Isabella tried to be perfect because he told her she would be but then didn't understand what it meant. Dolores's prophecy was just for a single moment, not the rest of her life. I think that is an important theme of the movie. Bad things happen, are happening, have happened, will happen; but that does not have to dictate the future.

I am also invested in Dolores. I think it is funny that they say she can't keep a secret. When clearly she can, she heard Bruno all this time. She hears everything. She decides what to share, like telling Mirabel about Luisa, like giving her context about Bruno, like bringing the conflict to a head. I think she is great!

Yes!! I love Dolores. First of all, the actress who voices her has a wonderful voice. Second of all, she DOES keep everyone's secrets, all the time, or the town would be in chaos. That's why it's so interesting that she decides to tell about Bruno's prophecy. She's also the only one who from the beginning understood who Bruno was and why everyone treated him the way they did -- that his power was so great that the others couldn't deal with their own lack of comprehension. Dolores 4 eva. I also loved the twist that the meathead Mariano isn't such a meathead, but that she's the only one who really knows that. I hope they are very happy and she enjoys having his 5 babies.

In the song, Dolores is pretty direct on this: "It’s a heavy lift with a gift so humbling / Always left Abuela and the family fumbling / Grappling with prophecies they couldn’t understand / Do you understand?"

[Anonymous]

I’ll have to watch it again.

Bruno character is not a cut and dry victim or family scapegoat.
Since many of his visions turned out untrue (unrequited love) or too vague (maribels role) and others seemed like pranks (rain! Oh you thought about rain and made it rain!) or unnecessary (fyi your pet dies tomorrow! Yours gonna get fat someday!), it’s hard to know. Plus we don’t know what age he was doing any of this.

And was his tunnel door thing the magic door the house gave him upon his ceremony?? That’s f’d up.

The movie and narratives (songs and dialogs) covered a lot of territory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My favorite song keep changing. I started with "Family Madrigal", then "We Don't Talk About Bruno", and then "Columbia Mi Encanto".

I've just worked my way down to "What Else Can I Do?" At first glance it's a slightly yawn-worthy power ballad but there's a lot packed in there.

One thing is how little the sisters have actually seen each other. Mirabel thinks that everything in Isabela's life is perfect and effortless. Isabela barely sees Mirabel except as the annoying younger sister. They don't know each other at all. "All I know is the blossoms you grow / but it's awesome to see how you rise" is Mirabel finally seeing Isabela, and "I'm so sick of pretty, I want something true, don't you?" is Isabela finally seeing Mirabel, who is a truth-teller in a family that does not talk about a lot of things besides Bruno. Abre tus ojos!

I love the moment when Isabela sings "how far do these roots go down?" -- in the movie she looks so sad when she sings that -- I think that's her dealing with Abuela's past and legacy of pain.

A song I mostly overlooked at first but I'm loving it now!

Colombia mi encanto is my favorite, it makes me dance!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My favorite song keep changing. I started with "Family Madrigal", then "We Don't Talk About Bruno", and then "Columbia Mi Encanto".

I've just worked my way down to "What Else Can I Do?" At first glance it's a slightly yawn-worthy power ballad but there's a lot packed in there.

One thing is how little the sisters have actually seen each other. Mirabel thinks that everything in Isabela's life is perfect and effortless. Isabela barely sees Mirabel except as the annoying younger sister. They don't know each other at all. "All I know is the blossoms you grow / but it's awesome to see how you rise" is Mirabel finally seeing Isabela, and "I'm so sick of pretty, I want something true, don't you?" is Isabela finally seeing Mirabel, who is a truth-teller in a family that does not talk about a lot of things besides Bruno. Abre tus ojos!

I love the moment when Isabela sings "how far do these roots go down?" -- in the movie she looks so sad when she sings that -- I think that's her dealing with Abuela's past and legacy of pain.

A song I mostly overlooked at first but I'm loving it now!

Colombia mi encanto is my favorite, it makes me dance!

Me too! So joyful. I know nothing at all about Latin music but I would love to be able to appreciate more music in this vein. I thought about posting looking for recommendations!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll have to watch it again.

Bruno character is not a cut and dry victim or family scapegoat.
Since many of his visions turned out untrue (unrequited love) or too vague (maribels role) and others seemed like pranks (rain! Oh you thought about rain and made it rain!) or unnecessary (fyi your pet dies tomorrow! Yours gonna get fat someday!), it’s hard to know. Plus we don’t know what age he was doing any of this.

And was his tunnel door thing the magic door the house gave him upon his ceremony?? That’s f’d up.

The movie and narratives (songs and dialogs) covered a lot of territory.

I don’t think Bruno’s visions have been untrue at all. The man she loved WAS out of reach - he just didn’t stay that way. And his vision of Maribel was pretty clearly that she was going to either save or destroy the family. In the end, it wasn’t up to Maribel though. It was up to Abuela.

[Anonymous]

This movie was sh*t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This movie was sh*t.

Thank you for that nuanced analysis, deep thinker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:P.S. I also think that in his pre-hiding life, Bruno was a prankster -- he obviously used to dick with people by saying things like "looks like rain" when your sister's sweating, or telling people their fish will die or they'll get a gut etc. We saw what it takes for him to ACTUALLY have a vision and I'm sure he didn't sit in his cave and meditate for any of those things!

I think it’s more likely Bruno has poor social skills, or is on the spectrum, plus had a lot of pressure put on him from a young age.

Having that horrible cave room starting at age 5 would be enough to make any kid go crazy.

I’m sure everyone wanted their future told, so at a very young age he had all this pressure to give people their prophecies when they asked. Most of which he probably couldn’t understand, or were not appropriate for his age. Then people would get upset with him, when he was just doing what was asked. That’s really heavy for a kid. He was likely isolated from other people and children, so he never developed good social skills, hence why he thought living in the walls was a good idea, and why he fumbled when trying to talk to Pepa on her wedding day. He wanted to let her know he saw she was stressed and wanted to help, but it came out all wrong and made things worse.

I also think his prophecies weren’t “set in stone” but were more of warnings. Like getting a gut - totally preventable, and it could have easily just been a warning of “if you keep eating that way, this is what will happen”. But people took them literally and it became a self fulfilling prophecy - if I’m going to be fat anyway, may as well eat what I want!

It also says a lot about the villagers that they were so upset over gaining weight, losing hair, and a dead goldfish. Those are all very shallow and nothing to be upset over. I think that was a point of the movie, that the villagers were all mooching off of the family and were very shallow people, in the end they had to recognize that they need to pitch in, too.

Enchanto is written on the fence about Bruno being a prankster or concerned, or going into a trance for prophesies or not, or liking being alone or not. Nothing addresses the age of when he stopped socializing with the family but I doubt it was age 5.

He certainly had a conniving face and body language approaching his sister, who’s mind makes the weather, when he chose to go up to her before her wedding ceremony and talk about it a storm coming. Triggering her to think up a storm.
He didn’t come up with a warning or concern or solution to a hurricane he prophesied was coming.

Anyhow. Lots of gray which makes it great fodder!

The scene was a recollection from Pepa, so it was biased. She remembered him as being conniving, but he later states that wasn't the case. The storm wasn't a prophecy, he just saw she was stressed out. Bruno said "looks like rain", which could have just been his awkward way of saying "you look stressed". Bruno also says in the end he thinks Pepa should be able to express her feelings rather than bottle them up - which is what she is forced to do, because people want sunshine and not storms (which, btw, is a great metaphor for what women have to do all the time - always be sunshine and rainbows because any other emotions make people uncomfortable). Pepa wouldn't be such a wreck if she could just express her emotions like everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll have to watch it again.

Bruno character is not a cut and dry victim or family scapegoat.
Since many of his visions turned out untrue (unrequited love) or too vague (maribels role) and others seemed like pranks (rain! Oh you thought about rain and made it rain!) or unnecessary (fyi your pet dies tomorrow! Yours gonna get fat someday!), it’s hard to know. Plus we don’t know what age he was doing any of this.

And was his tunnel door thing the magic door the house gave him upon his ceremony?? That’s f’d up.

The movie and narratives (songs and dialogs) covered a lot of territory.

I took those as a reflection of how shallow and simple the villagers were. They had a great life because the Madrigals did everything for them Like did they really need Luisa to constantly round up the donkeys? Why couldn't they do it themselves? Why didn't they fix the fence? Or why did they need the river re-routed, rather than just carrying water like everyone else in the world? Did they really need the church moved over a few feet for convenience?

Since they had no real worries or troubles, they were self-absorbed and only cared about dumb things like goldfish and weight. So there was really nothing else that could be a prophecy, since there was so little going on in their lives.

I would have liked to see more of the villagers' character arc, where they realize they have been taking advantage and learn to be more self-sufficient. It could have been developed more than just helping them build the house, like they realize they can't rely on Luisa for everything, they need to be more careful and not rely on Julieta to fix their ailments, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll have to watch it again.

Bruno character is not a cut and dry victim or family scapegoat.
Since many of his visions turned out untrue (unrequited love) or too vague (maribels role) and others seemed like pranks (rain! Oh you thought about rain and made it rain!) or unnecessary (fyi your pet dies tomorrow! Yours gonna get fat someday!), it’s hard to know. Plus we don’t know what age he was doing any of this.

And was his tunnel door thing the magic door the house gave him upon his ceremony?? That’s f’d up.

The movie and narratives (songs and dialogs) covered a lot of territory.

I took those as a reflection of how shallow and simple the villagers were. They had a great life because the Madrigals did everything for them Like did they really need Luisa to constantly round up the donkeys? Why couldn't they do it themselves? Why didn't they fix the fence? Or why did they need the river re-routed, rather than just carrying water like everyone else in the world? Did they really need the church moved over a few feet for convenience?

Since they had no real worries or troubles, they were self-absorbed and only cared about dumb things like goldfish and weight. So there was really nothing else that could be a prophecy, since there was so little going on in their lives.

I would have liked to see more of the villagers' character arc, where they realize they have been taking advantage and learn to be more self-sufficient. It could have been developed more than just helping them build the house, like they realize they can't rely on Luisa for everything, they need to be more careful and not rely on Julieta to fix their ailments, etc.

I think the point was Abuela thought the magic built the family and the community when it’s family and community that created the magic. Maribel’s gift really was saving the miracle, family, and community. She was on the family door at the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll have to watch it again.

Bruno character is not a cut and dry victim or family scapegoat.
Since many of his visions turned out untrue (unrequited love) or too vague (maribels role) and others seemed like pranks (rain! Oh you thought about rain and made it rain!) or unnecessary (fyi your pet dies tomorrow! Yours gonna get fat someday!), it’s hard to know. Plus we don’t know what age he was doing any of this.

And was his tunnel door thing the magic door the house gave him upon his ceremony?? That’s f’d up.

The movie and narratives (songs and dialogs) covered a lot of territory.

I took those as a reflection of how shallow and simple the villagers were. They had a great life because the Madrigals did everything for them Like did they really need Luisa to constantly round up the donkeys? Why couldn't they do it themselves? Why didn't they fix the fence? Or why did they need the river re-routed, rather than just carrying water like everyone else in the world? Did they really need the church moved over a few feet for convenience?

Since they had no real worries or troubles, they were self-absorbed and only cared about dumb things like goldfish and weight. So there was really nothing else that could be a prophecy, since there was so little going on in their lives.

I would have liked to see more of the villagers' character arc, where they realize they have been taking advantage and learn to be more self-sufficient. It could have been developed more than just helping them build the house, like they realize they can't rely on Luisa for everything, they need to be more careful and not rely on Julieta to fix their ailments, etc.

I think the point was Abuela thought the magic built the family and the community when it’s family and community that created the magic. Maribel’s gift really was saving the miracle, family, and community. She was on the family door at the end.

Well stated!

[Anonymous]

The fact that there is so much debate and so many interpretations proves that the movie was convoluted. We are all left wondering “huh?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My favorite song keep changing. I started with "Family Madrigal", then "We Don't Talk About Bruno", and then "Columbia Mi Encanto".

I've just worked my way down to "What Else Can I Do?" At first glance it's a slightly yawn-worthy power ballad but there's a lot packed in there.

One thing is how little the sisters have actually seen each other. Mirabel thinks that everything in Isabela's life is perfect and effortless. Isabela barely sees Mirabel except as the annoying younger sister. They don't know each other at all. "All I know is the blossoms you grow / but it's awesome to see how you rise" is Mirabel finally seeing Isabela, and "I'm so sick of pretty, I want something true, don't you?" is Isabela finally seeing Mirabel, who is a truth-teller in a family that does not talk about a lot of things besides Bruno. Abre tus ojos!

I love the moment when Isabela sings "how far do these roots go down?" -- in the movie she looks so sad when she sings that -- I think that's her dealing with Abuela's past and legacy of pain.

A song I mostly overlooked at first but I'm loving it now!

Colombia mi encanto is my favorite, it makes me dance!

Me too! So joyful. I know nothing at all about Latin music but I would love to be able to appreciate more music in this vein. I thought about posting looking for recommendations!

Listen to Carlos Vives. You’ll be dancing all day long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact that there is so much debate and so many interpretations proves that the movie was convoluted. We are all left wondering “huh?”

Not all of us.