DVD and CD Review: Encanto and the Encanto Soundtrack

Encanto
(DVD j Encanto)

This latest Disney animated movie, Encanto (2021), broke outside the typical constraints of a Disney animated film, featuring a soundtrack that incorporates hip-hop-influenced songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda (who also created songs for Moana), and foregoing a typical “villain” in favor of a storyline about familial bonds, both broken and repaired.

 

Tapping into South American culture (primarily Columbian), Encanto is about the members of the Madrigal family, who live in an enchanted home that imbues each of them with a special magical ability, as a rite of passage. Almost everyone, that is, since the central character is Mirabel Madrigal, a young woman who was seemingly passed over for a special ability, though her sisters and other relatives enjoy super strength, flower growing, healing through cooking, super hearing and other unique skills. But ordinary Mirabel is the normal one, the glue that holds the family together. Until she discovers that the “magical house” (and the village that has grown up to surround it) is losing its magic and cracking apart. Mirabel goes on a quest, to find her missing uncle (whose ability of seeing future events foresaw this very calamity), and to see if there is anything she can do to prevent catastrophe for her family.

 

The music in Encanto is catchy and memorable, particularly the snappy songs “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, “Surface Pressure” and “Dos Orugitas”. The musical orchestral score by Germaine Franco is very atmospheric and flavorful, and I strongly recommend checking out the soundtrack CD to supplement your enjoyment of the film itself. As with many Lin-Manuel Miranda songs (see: Hamilton, and In the Heights), many of his rapid lyrics can slip by you on first exposure, but listening to the songs several times allows for greater appreciation of his wordplay.

 

I missed the typical “villain” to rail against, but the theme of family, forgiveness and perseverance in times of chaos and adversity was a strong one. The many, many colorful characters also gave all viewers someone to identify with and root for. I found Mirabel’s journey of personal growth very fulfilling.

 

All in all, Encanto is a very strong entry in the Disney animated film catalog, and I highly recommend both the film and the soundtrack album!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Moana, or Raya and the Last Dragon.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official Encanto Facebook page )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Cruella

Cruella

(DVD YA Cruella)

 

I’ll have to admit, after seeing both Maleficent and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and this new film, Cruella— I just don’t understand the Disney company’s need to do live-action explorations of their animated villains’ backstories. Attempting to “humanize” such unrepentant evil characters from classic films puts a bit of a tarnish on the originals.

 

I’m a huge fan of both Emma Stone and Emma Thompson, which was enough to make me check out this DVD. Cruellaexplores the formative years of young orphan Estella, she of the shockingly distinct black and white hair. She blames herself for misbehavior that ultimately led to her mother’s tragic death. A life on the streets of London working with Pascal and Horace, as successful pickpockets and small-time thieves, ultimately leads her to a job in the fashion industry, her life-long goal. But the major hurdle to her own success is the amoral, narcissistic Baroness (Emma Thompson), head of the company Estella is employed by. Baroness is alternately Estella’s mentor and nemesis, until a secret is revealed and Estella must abandon her “good girl” persona to become “Cruella”, a “bad girl” personality she had growing up, as part of her elaborate plans for revenge.

 

The performances in the film are good to great. The production design, and particularly the musical backdrops of the film are spectacular. Unfortunately, Cruella, on the whole, is merely an exercise in style over substance — it is swimming in style, but ultimately has little-to-no substance to speak of. I just felt a little empty after watching it, no matter amazing some of the imagery was.

 

Your mileage may vary. Particularly based on how much you enjoy Emma Stone.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Maleficent, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil or 101 Dalmatians)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Raya and the Last Dragon

Raya and the Last Dragon

(DVD j Raya)

 

This was the Spring 2021 Walt Disney animated film release, and is a a beautiful, quirky, humorous and heartfelt story. Set in the imagined world of Kumandra, in which the united peoples once lived in harmony with a civilization of magical dragons, the peoples were scattered separate and combative societies when a dark force (the Druun) caused the dragons to disappear (in order to hold the dark force at bay).

 

Unfortunately, the Druun is now returning to the separated lands, and when the lack of trust between the various human clans leads to the apparent destruction of the one remaining dragon icon, Raya, the daughter of one of the remaining chieftains takes on the task of trying to revive the long-lost dragons. This becomes a coming-of-age story for this young woman, who combines efforts with outcast members of each the other sparring clans, and must address the rivalry and betrayal of someone she once trusted and called a friend. But she does have the help of Sisu, the Last Dragon, who may not be as helpful as you’d think.

 

The visuals of Raya and the Last Dragon are as impressive as its message of cooperation and trust. The voice work, mostly from Asian actors, is marvelous, particularly Kelly Marie Tran as Raya, Awkwafina as Sisu, Izaac Wang as Boun and Gemma Chan as Namaari. Sisu may initially be a slightly annoying, flighty character, but she goes through a growth arc that is ultimately as moving as Raya’s.

 

A very charming and touching animated film, highly recommended.

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official Raya and the Last Dragon web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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Book Review: Mulan: Before the Sword by Grace Lin

Mulan: Before the Sword
by Grace Lin (j Lin)

 

Mulan: Before the Sword is both a prequel to the original Mulan animated film and — surprisingly — a prequel for a major new character (Xian Lang) in the live action remake which came out in late September 2020. It’s told in the same framework as Grace Lin’s beloved, award-winning novels Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and When the Sea Turned to Silver: a girl must go on a magical journey to acquire something which will save people she loves. Every few chapters someone has a “Tale of the [something]” to tell that works as a little story by itself but also helps fill in the overall plot. It’s a *great* formula. Think “The Neverending Story” with little legends sprinkled in everywhere.

 

This is likely to be the first dive into Chinese legends and folk figures for many kids. It was pretty neat for me to see echoes of the classic Journeys to the West in the overall quest, but also offhand comments about well known characters like Sun Wukong messing with the same immortality fruit Mulan is tempted with.

 

The main “lesson” intended for kids has to do with Mulan feeling like she’s a failure for being bold and clumsy when her parents praise her dainty “proper girl” sister. So it’s a solid feminist tale in that sense. I was glad to see that it did go farther by letting the reader know most of the way through the book that a major character is gender fluid, and not just because they’re an immortal who can shapeshift (like all of them seemed to be doing), but that they actually do change pronouns and their friends know to check when they meet up again. Sometimes he is a high class healer. Sometimes she is a wrinkled old woman. So this book may be of special value to transgender kids.

 

**Some spoilers below in the critical part of this review**

 

It’s neither good nor bad, but this was a more violent book than I expected from the Age 8 / Grade 3 and up label that the review sources give it. Rabbit kills himself by jumping into a fire in order to become a meal to feed a guest. Daji fakes her own suicide by hanging, which is after she had people executed in a way inspired by her seeing an ant fall into a frying pan. These are in the back-in-time stories, but Mulan herself is part of a graphically gory blinding & killing of a large sea beast by means of repeated impaling [p. 288-292]. She also intentionally kills a (very deserving) human when she comes to understand her destiny [p. 347].

 

I do have some criticisms around personal appearance. There’s a lot of attention in this story to the notion that something or someone can look beautiful but be deadly. Or someone can look humble but be great. That’s all well and good, but what really alarmed me is that only one character is clearly described as being fat [p. 201]. He turned out to be corrupt. When people find out, he bolts “like a runaway pig” [p. 210]. There’s reference to “a poisonous wart that needed to be cut off” [p. 221] and the only person shown with warts happens to be an irredeemable villain [p. 201]. The sea beast that Mulan kills is described as having “mottled, slimy skin and and evil eyes protruding like boils” [p. 286]. Aside from attacking the adventuring party because of unspecified enmity with one of them, it’s this “evil” appearance that seems to justify Mulan killing it instead of, say, helping everyone escape the peril. In fact Mulan is told that she “didn’t slay that ugly brute for nothing” [p. 293] and she smiles.

 

So the impression I got is that while you don’t have to “beautiful” and “willowy,” you do still need to be clear-skinned and not fat. This story will shame some kids who don’t fit into the plain, powerful peasant mold that Mulan is being assured is an okay way to be.

 

There are what seemed like some loose threads in the story. We’re told that the prophecy of the Hua sisters was incomplete [p. 83], but it’s never completed in this book. Maybe that’s part of the prequel to the live action film where we’ll hear the rest of the prophecy? Also, I’m not sure why the red fox chapters have a shadowed background other than it being a cool effect.

 

Overall, this is a great children’s book that deserves attention even for people who aren’t into the Disney movies, and it’s a great bridge from the Disney movies to Grace Lin’s other very similar novels plus Chinese legends and culture, and names! We flat-out didn’t have books on this level this when I was young and I’m a bit envious of today’s kids, but also excited to promote this title to them.

 

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, also by Grace Lin]

 

[ official Mulan: Before the Sword page on the official Grace Lin web site ]

 

Recommended by Garren H.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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Review: Enchanted (on DVD)

Enchanted
written by Bill Kelly, directed by Kevin Lima [DVD j Enchanted] 

This 2007 film is an absolutely charming cross between a traditional Disney-style animated fairy tale movie and a contemporary Harlequin-style Hallmark romance movie. Amy Adams (in one of her earlier roles before she became a perennial Oscar contender) stars as Giselle, a beautiful young maiden in the animated kingdom of Andalasia, who is banished by that kingdom’s Evil Queen to the live-action gritty, grungy streets of Manhattan. Completely innocent to the harsher realities of our world, Giselle, in her glittery ballgown, is rescued by a bitter divorce lawyer (played by Patrick Dempsey) and stays with him and his young daughter. Meanwhile, the animated Prince that Giselle was engaged to wed comes through to our world to try to rescue his betrothed, and the Evil Queen’s minion also tries to keep an eye on Giselle in the live-action world.

Written by Bill Kelly, directed by Kevin Lima, and with music by the incomparable Alan Menken, this is NOT your typical Disney princess film. But by the end, it still gives you all the positive “feels” that any fairy tale princess story does. Great performances, especially by Adams and Dempsey, and James Marsen as Prince Edward, this film also features Julie Andrews as its “narrator”. This one is a lot of fun and has some really catchy music, including “Ever Ever After” performed by Carrie Underwood.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Enchanted, or Enchanted: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Enchanted web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Review: The Greatest Game Ever Played (on DVD)

The Greatest Game Ever Played
[DVD j Greatest] 

Let’s clear up four things right now:

1. I DO NOT like golf. I like miniature golf with windmills, fake alligators, and other fun obstacles but that’s the extent of it.

2. I’m not a Shia LaBeouf fan.

3. Golf is what you put on the TV to take a nap by.

4. Did I mention I’m not a golf fan?

But I thoroughly enjoyed this film.

Based on the novel by Mark Frost (The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet and the Birth of Modern Golf), who also wrote the screenplay, and directed by the late Bill Paxton, this film is the true story of the 1913 US Open and the upset victory of a poor kid over the top two golfers in the world.

ZZZZZ.

No really, this was exciting. I was so enthralled with Ouimet’s story I even watched all the bonus features and looked him up online. Shia LaBeouf did a fine job in this role.

During this time period golf was the territory of the wealthy, the snobs, the upper class. Former caddies were not allowed to play with their betters. The family was poor, Ouimet had tried to supplement the family income with caddie tips, and his father didn’t approve of him playing golf. After Ouimet won, the number of golf courses tripled in the US.

So many odds were against this kid while he fought against prejudice, the wealthy, and his father to even be allowed to play in the Open. Not to mention, now he’ll be playing against his hero, Vardon.
The human element and drama made this an exciting story. This didn’t have to be a golf story it was simply the background – and you don’t need to know anything about golf, or even care about golf to be pulled into this tale.

This has been catalogued as a juvenile DVD, but it could just as easily be considered an adult, so don’t let the label put you off.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the Miracle book series by James Patterson: Miracle on the 17th Green, Miracle at Augusta or Miracle at St. Andrews] [Also available in traditional print format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official The Greatest Game Ever Played web site ]

Recommended by Charlotte M.

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Review: The Incredibles 2 (on DVD)

The Incredibles 2
[DVD j Incredibles]

It’s hard to believe that 14 years have passed since the first Incredibles animated film hit the big screen, but it’s true. None-the-less, when The Incredibles 2 came out in 2018, it felt like almost no time had passed — and in the internal continuity of the films, the characters really haven’t aged at all. Back Jack-Jack is still a baby, and pre-teens Violet and Dash are still the same age they had been in 2004’s original film. But things have changed a bit on the home front, as dad Bob (Mr. Incredible) and mom Helen (Elastigirl) are coping with job issues. Superpowered superheroes (“Supers”) have melted away out of public view, for when they do show up to fight crime, the public now cries out about property damage and irresponsible vigilante behavior.

This film puts a twist on the first film’s plot, by having the central character become Elastigirl — a deep-pockets backer wants to bankroll her to become the figurehead of a new wave of costumed crimefighters. But all is not necessarily as it seems, and eventually the entire super-powered Parr family has to come to rescue again when the world is in danger.

The voice work by Craig T. Nelson (Mr. Incredible), Helen Hunt (Elastigirl), Sarah Vowell (Violet), Huck Milner (Dash), Bob Odenkirk (Winston Deavor). Samuel L. Jackson (Frozone), and Catherine Keener (Evelyn Deavor) is excellent, and just like the first film, writer/director Brad Bird nearly steals the show in his few moments voicing eccentric costume designed Edna Mode (based on Edith Head, “Q” from the Bond films, and more). The action is fast-paced and exciting. The family dynamics are fascinating, especially when Elastigirl takes Mr. Incredible’s place as lead superhero, and as Violet tentatively enders the pre-teen dating world.

All in all, this isn’t quite as original as the first Incredibles was, but you couldn’t have this one without the first…so it is definitely a worthy successor. Hopefully we won’t have to wait another 14 years before a third film comes out in this series!

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Incredibles 2 web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Disney's Greatest: Vol. 1-3 (downloadable music)

Disney’s Greatest: Vol. 1-3
by various [Hoopla Downloadable Music]

There is something about Disney music that just puts one in a good mood. These albums have a nice mix of tunes from movies old and new, and with about 20 songs per album, it keeps you going for a while. Most all of them were familiar to me, but there were a few I didn’t know and my one complaint is that only the song title is listed, not the movie title as well. It’s easy enough to look it up but I thought it’d be nice to have it somewhere on the playlist. I don’t feel like I really need to say how good the music is since so many people grew up with it, so I’ll just say it was really fun to listen to. Recommended for anyone.

You can check these out on Hoopladigital.com or via the Hoopla app, with streaming or download. If you want more, there are a ton of other Disney albums on Hoopla to check out.

[ Disney’s Greatest at the official Disney Wiki ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

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Brave (on DVD)

Brave
[j DVD Brave]

Princess Merida doesn't like acting like a princess; she prefers riding her horse through the Scottish woods doing archery. Her mother's attempts to get her to put down the bow and arrows aren't always successful. When Merida comes of age, a contest is held for her potential suitors. At her wits end with her mother and being forced into a marriage, she asks a witch to help her. The spell turns her mother into a bear, which was not what she expected or wanted. The two have to learn to respect and understand each other to get out of the predicament. It's a bit different in that respect to other Disney princess movies, in that it's about a mother and daughter, not a princess and a prince. It is full of songs, great animation and heart, so anyone who likes Disney movies, I think will like this one too. -- recommended by Kristen A. - Gere Branch Library [ see Kristen's Reviewer Profile and more of her reviews ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Frozen (jDVD Frozen), Heart of the Gaels (CD 781.62Ire), The Best of Scottish Pipes and Drums (CD 781.62 ScoB ).]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Brave web site ]

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!