theme song: we don't talk about Bruno

My one day of living like a bum turned into two days. And today, the ice outside was so bad that mass transit bus service was suspended this morning. You know the cold weather is bad when even Minneapolis shuts down. But, I spent my spare time watching a lot of stuff on Disney+.

Read my movie review of Encanto...

"Encanto" is really quite good. I'd rate it just a slight hair's breadth below the older "Coco", which was also very entertaining. I also like the name of this film. The Colombian word for "enchantment" is obviously very close to a different Disney franchise, but "Encanto" will never be confused with it. This film has likable characters, meaningful plot, and very memorable music. Mirabel is the main character, whom we learn to appreciate despite her unique lack of magical enchantment in a family that is highly gifted. We relate to her lack of special talent. She is merely a plain girl, and over the course of the film we learn to appreciate that the mundane of our world can be the most special people of all. She hasn't learned this lesson yet, though, which makes her pursuit of Bruno so compelling here in this scene.

The musical highlight of the film is probably supposed to be its opening song, "Family Madrigal". In it, Mirabel sings to some local village kids, reciting the names of her enchanted family and each of their magical powers: a weather witch, a shapechanger, a healer, and more. It's a great introduction to the story. At 1/4-billion views on YouTube, that song is obviously a hit. But twice as many people (1/2-billion of them) are like me in preferring the song about the family's oddball, Bruno, who has the gift of prophecy. Mirabel tries to understand her central role in Bruno's last prophecy about their family's magic, made years ago before he disappeared.

Today's theme song celebrates the weird folk whose truth is something that people don't want to face. The warnings of outcasts can make us uncomfortable.

Watch on YouTube

I didn't know on my first viewing of the movie that Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote all of the songs in this film. I'm impressed by the talent on showcase here. (Unpopular opinion: I disliked Hamilton.) It's amusing to see the fangirls screaming when some schoolkids meet Miranda for the first time after learning their group will sing in the live celebration of the film. Disney effectively edited that stage performance down to only 45 minutes. It was a fun watch too, after seeing the movie twice. It's interesting to see the live actors paired with their animated characters.

If you're looking for something to do, I easily recommend this movie.