OK, it's not quite Moana level, but this is one of my favourite soundtracks from a Disney film for a while, and oh my word that whole "familial love and believing in each other" emotional one-two combo at the end had me in floods. Encanto is just packed with good vibes, end-to-end, and a really fun cast of characters. I'll admit, the opening number was a little hard to keep track of (though we were eating, so that may not have helped) and I feel like there could have been a better way to introduce all the characters, plus a few of the recurring gags were a little B-movie level, but when the film hit the high notes it hit them perfectly.

Particular standout moments are the musical number by the "strong" sister, talking all about stress and the weight of expectation (plus, just great lyricism; you can tell Lin Manuel-Miranda had a hand in the movie); the cactus gag with the "perfect" sister; the quick zoom pan onto the sister with super hearing (her facial expressions are great); and the reveal about the brother living in the walls, which was somehow exactly the right level of sinister and heartwarming (who knew they could even be mixed together 😁).

The house is a great character throughout (again, reminiscent of the sea in Moana), the animation is beautiful, and whilst I did find the sheer amount of slightly inexplicable diversity a little jarring, you can't really fault them for that. It's a visually very unique, very different film, whilst still obviously being Disney, which is impressive. Overall, a very entertaining time and definitely one I'd be happy to revisit in the future.