Between the music, the magic, and the characters themselves, fans have found a
lot to love about Encanto. But for every raving review widely agreed on by much of the fanbase,
there’s always people on the sidelines that disagree and have their own input. We decided
to head out and find some of these unpopular opinions and take a better look at them. Of
these less than popular outlooks, we wound up finding some that we loved and some that we hated.
I’m _________ with WickedBinge and this is Unpopular Encanto Opinions We Love and Hate.
Let’s start things out with the Unpopular Encanto Opinions we loved.
Abuela Is Redeemable
It’s no secret that Abuela Alma served as the antagonist for the majority of the film.
She placed a lot of pressure on her family to be at their best and help the community
as much as they could. This wound up leading to Alma demanding more and more of them.
She piled countless chores onto Luisa. She pushed for Pepa to control
her weather in order to make things more convenient for everyone else.
Worst of all, Mirabel’s lack of a gift led to Abuela acting cruel towards her.
She made comments about Mirabel stepping out of the way, implying that Mirabel would mess things
up simply by being present. When Mirabel attempted to talk about Isabel and fixing the miracle,
Abuela Alma refused to hear her out and blamed everything on her.
Did that make Abuela an unlikable character? Absolutely. Does it make her irredeemable?
We have to argue that there would be hope yet for Abuela Alma. Reddit user unironicLOPstan23
commented that Abuela’s backstory was rushed and that wound up hurting how the audience viewed her.
To be clear, we don’t think what Abuela Alma experienced justified the emotional
abuse that she put her family through. We do, however, think that unironicLOPstan23
makes a fair point when he says that Alma’s arc was rushed towards the end of the movie.
Through her memories, we see exactly why the encanto is so important to Alma.
During the attacks, her family had been one of the ones displaced. In the attempt to flee from
the people attacking them, Alma lost her husband and was left raising her children
alone. She had to figure out how to lead not only her family but a whole community while still
fairly young herself. In the last few scenes, Alma was finally shown meeting Mirabel halfway,
acknowledging that Mirabel had her own way to help. It wasn’t that Abuela was irredeemable.
It was more that she wasn’t given enough screen time when she was working on that redemption.
The Characters Are Too Shallow
Reddit user kianarazor makes the statement that there were too many characters and not
enough time given to all of them. This is something we have to agree with.
For the most part, the members of the family fall into simple roles and aren’t
fully developed. Isabela is pushed to be perfect. Luisa is the strong one. Camilo is
the mischievous one. Bruno is superstitious and anxious. But the person in the film
really fleshed out is Mirabel, with Abuela taking a close second ranking.
Of course, we love all of the Madrigal family. It’s fun seeing them all interact with one
another. Still, the run time of this movie was not enough to be able to get to know everyone. This
left a lot of fans feeling robbed when they didn’t get to learn more about their favorite characters.
Other films that have a larger cast can also struggle with this issue. For instance,
if Kung Fu Panda or Shrek had been kept at one movie rather than getting whole franchises,
we would know next to nothing about many of the secondary characters. So this issue isn’t going to
be resolved unless Encanto was developed more with either a second movie or some other expansion.
Fun but Disappointing
Reddit user IsaiahTrenton created a long post pointing out a few of their issues with the movie.
One of these reasons, we had to post here on the first section of our ranking.
“Encanto needed a flesh and bone villain,” they wrote. IsaiahTrenton made the comment that while
the casita falling and the magic failing was compelling, there just wasn’t enough screen time
given to getting it back and no clear villain to fight against. Yes, Abuela was the antagonist, but
that didn’t solve what the characters were meant to go against in order to keep their miracle.
This user compared several other Disney films, stating that it would have made more sense to
have the casita falling at the climax of the film and how the second act ended. Instead, we were
left with only a few minutes remaining. In that time, we had Abuela’s glossed over redemption,
the rebuilt home, Bruno’s reunion with the family,
and the magic benign restored all within a few minutes. It made for a lackluster ending.
This user made the suggestion that having a flesh and bone villain to destroy the casita
would have led to a more satisfying ending. The family would be robbed of their powers only to
slowly realize their gifts were within them the whole time, with the Madrigals able to do things
with their powers they weren’t able to do before. The entire third act of the film would then be the
family taking on this threat and protecting each other, while also giving the characters
time to actually resolve the emotional turmoil we were introduced to previously.
IsaiahTrenton ends the post on the note that while the movie was
beautiful to watch, so much of it was grounded in reality that it appeared
to defeat the purpose of having magical powers present at all; That if they wanted,
they could have easily done this as a sort of live-action release instead of an animation.
We can’t say we love the idea of losing this movie as an animated film,
but we get the point being made. It would have been nice to see the powers the Madrigals have
utilized more rather than just being shown for a few seconds on screen here and there.
Finally, we’ve come to the latter part of our list.
Let’s talk about The Unpopular Opinions We Hated…
Surface Pressure Did Not Fit the Movie
While we did find a few people that shared the sentiment, we wanted to use
Reddit user’s MakinBaconPancakezz’s comment on the thread. This user stated
that they felt Luisa’s song didn’t fit in with the rest of the movie,
citing that Coco did a much better job at having songs that truly captured the culture.
The user pointed out that Under Pressure was more of a pop song, and so made the argument that it
didn’t fit in with the rest of the film. Users saliners and simsasima both added that they didn’t
enjoy seeing Luisa dancing with the donkeys as it shifted the tone of the song too much.
We completely understand this opinion,
but we still had to place it on this section of our ranking.
As far as Surface Pressure sounding like a pop song, we also have to point out that much of the
rest of the music is much the same. Yes, there is more traditional music used, but Isabela’s
What Else Can I Do and Mirabel’s Waiting on a Miracle were also within that same vein.
We wouldn’t have minded music that resembled more of what was used in Coco,
but the context is a little different. In Coco, music was a vital part of the plot.
It wasn’t a surreal escape to vent a character’s frustration in a surreal subspace.
Which meant it had to be far more down-to-earth. In Encanto, however, the songs are purely for us,
the audience, and not really so much for the actual characters themselves. As TikTok user
straw_hat_goofy pointed out, a more accurate comparison to Encanto would be The Incredibles
due to the themes of family with powers being used to describe the dynamics within said family.
For the final point of Luisa’s songs having a tonal shift issue,
we can understand the point being made but we have to also argue that
there was a reason for the song being performed the way it was.
In the original concept for the film, there was a scene where we would actually be
able to see into Luisa’s room. The creators described it as being cold and unforgiving,
while inside there would be a secret door that only Luisa knew about. In this secret part of
her room, Luisa would have been able to play and be as expressive and carefree as she wanted. Since
this scene was cut, this was shown in another way: having Luisa dance in several parts of her song.
Throughout all of Surface Pressure, Luisa is seen protecting Mirabel. She keeps Mirabel from
being crushed. She adjusts Mirabel’s glasses for her. She takes down Cerberus. She crushes
a giant iceberg and leads Mirabel to shore. There was even the contrast where Luisa was
briefly crushed by the house when she was alone under it, but as soon as Mirabel was beside her,
Luisa was able to lift everything. Having all of these elements showed Luisa’s need to
express herself as playful, but also displayed how she was always torn from having fun with
her responsibilities to the family. So, yes, it is silly in places, but it’s meant to be.
They Should Have Lost Their Gifts For Good
After the casita falls and the miracle is extinguished,
we see the Madrigal family struggling with being unable to use their gifts for
the first time since they were children. While Disney loves a feel good ending,
some people like Reddit user fra080389 believe that their powers should have stayed lost.
We can see the pros of having the Madrigals learn to live without their powers.
They would gain a better appreciation of Mirabel and how she lived her life and they would be
able to escape the expectations that had been placed on them by Abuela Alma at a young age.
Ultimately, we felt the cons outweigh any pros.
We see that the community relied heavily on their powers. Luisa was able to help
not only gather the donkeys, but helped people’s homes from collapsing. Pepa was able to keep the
weather the perfect condition for crops, ensuring a plentiful harvest every year. Julieta was able
to heal all broken bones and viruses, meaning they didn’t need much as far as medical supplies went.
And those were just the ways the gifts were utilized that we really got to explore.
It would be tough to see how the community as a whole would be affected if the entire Madrigal
family was without their power permanently. Yes, they all likely would have found a way
to make it work. After all, they had managed when Julieta, Pepa and Bruno were too young to receive
their gifts, but we can’t help but feel that it would have eventually led to some unrest.
In the end, we have to point out how the family behaved when their gifts were restored in the
final moments. Pepa was able to dance in hail without it being associated with fear or panic.
Isabela was able to create all the different plants she desired and make a mess of her clothes.
Luisa was able to relax rather than being given a million tasks
all at once. Had their gifts not been restored, we wouldn’t get the closure that the Madrigals
were capable of changing how they used their gifts. We wouldn’t be able to see
them break free of the small box they were expected to fit in.
Because the miracle was restored,
we were able to see the family truly thrive and gain a better appreciation for Mirabel.
Fun but Disappointing [Part II]
As we mentioned earlier, Reddit user IsaiahTrenton made a very long post
breaking down exactly why they had so many issues with this movie.
One reason, which we had to add here on the latter half of our ranking,
was the music. This user complained that at times the music was so fast paced that they
had to look up the lyrics to be certain of what they were hearing and that they felt the music
was misplaced or misused. The main argument was that when music did occur in the film,
it appeared to cut into moments that could have been given more depth.
They provided a couple different examples of such interactions. They suggested how Isabel
should have reacted to being able to create a cactus without immediately breaking into song.
They provide another sample concerning Luisa, suggesting that it would have meant more if
Luisa had been able to have a heart to heart with Mirabel while ranting about her chores.
IsaiahTrenton made the statement that they believed when the songs were used,
it didn’t do much to create any depth. They made the fair observation that in musicals,
each song is meant to be a way to further the plot and
character development. When it came to Encanto, they felt this wasn’t the case.
While we can understand this to an extent, we have to point out a few things.
First, Luisa did in fact have a heart to heart with Mirabel. A short one,
yes, but they did talk after the song Surface Pressure, with Luisa being the one to direct
Mirabel to Bruno’s room in the tower. With Isabela, their heart to heart conversation
took place during the song as Abuela showed up soon after the musical number ended,
with Mirabel expressing that she had no idea how much stress her older sister was under.
Which is why they were able to start healing the cracks in the casita during this number.
This same user made the passing comment that Encanto had the energy of a stage play,
and we can agree with that sentiment. The people of the village act as a choir, voicing all the
questions that the audience would have. The casita itself is set up a lot like a stage,
with everyone free to look in and observe at their leisure in order to check in on the family.
We wanted to point out that this observation helps support the fact that the music is quick
and high-energy. Mirabel especially is animated as she tries to get everyone
around her to match her energy, be it the children in the village or her siblings.
We also want to make the argument that the musical numbers in Encanto do a fine job of pressing the
plot forward. Waiting on a Miracle, We Don’t Talk About Bruno, What Else Can I Do…All of these songs
have a clear message and show the motivation of each character singing. Just like with other
musicals, if one were to listen to the soundtrack without seeing the performance, it’s fairly easy
to follow along with what’s happening. That’s a pretty good indicator that your songs are clear
and doing what they’re meant to do. But let us know in the comment section
if you agree with our ranking. And tell us what we should cover next. Remember to hit
that notification bell and binge more of our videos. But most importantly, stay wicked.