Encanto

I can promise you this is not recency bias at play, this is just a truly fantastic film. Let’s break it down: The story: simple in nature, yet jam packed with so many planted seeds, subtle actions and word choices, essentially enough material to pack into a classic great American novel. The music: you’ve never seen a Disney movie overtake the billboards like this before, with one of their songs reaching the No. 1 song for the first time since 1992. And each song not only moving the story forward efficiently, but also getting stuck in your head successfully. The animation: like a painting. The characters: seemingly numerous yet each get their fair share in the spotlight. And all with lovable personalities. Except for one. This movie is like lightning in a bottle.