Weekend Watch: Encanto And Hawkeye
Disney's new cinematic 'toon is magical, while Disney+ tries to recapture some Avengers magic
Image Credit: Walt Disney Feature Animation
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Disney introduces a magical family and Marvel catches us up with one Clint “Hawkeye” Barton. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite
On the surface, Disney’s latest animated feature would appear to be checking boxes – a family with an outsider. Animal sidekicks. A little tragedy. Magic. But look closer and while it has all that, it’s also smuggling ideas about dysfunction and acceptance that will hit home for anyone who has had a less-than-perfect time growing up. And, if we’re honest, that’s many of us.
Encanto introduces us to the family Madrigal, living in a magical house hidden in the hills of Colombia. Led by María Cecilia Botero’s Abuela Alma, who suffered through the loss of her home and then her husband when her children were infants, the Madrigals survived thanks to perseverance and a little luck, including the magic that created their safe community. It also grants special abilities to each child born into the family: one is super strong; another has extraordinary hearing. Yet another is perfect in every way, roses blooming everywhere she goes. Each one that is, except Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz), who is content to exist alongside her sisters, aunts, uncles, and various cousins, but can’t help feeling sad that she doesn’t share in their gifts. But when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, Mirabel decides that she, the only ordinary Madrigal, might just be her exceptional family’s last hope.
This is a typically lively affair, concocted by Zootopia duo Byron Howard and Jared Bush along with co-writer/co-director Charise Castro Smith. And the music comes from tunesmith extraordinaire Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose songs quickly help fill us in on the various Madrigals and help nudge the plot along when needed. Unusually, however, for a project featuring the Hamilton writer, the songs aren’t the highlight – the story is.
To avoid spoilers, I won’t get into exactly what transpires, but suffice to say it involves unearthing some truths about the past and helping people to discover how they fit in among the clan. Along the way, there are the usual dazzling visuals, and some truly charming performances – Beatriz, in particular, is great and helps you quickly root for Mirabel to succeed. It’s a pleasingly diverse project, part of the Mouse House’s drive to tell stories that come from different communities while keeping the universal themes that we can all identify with. The jokes land, the emotional beats will choke you up and if there’s one complaint, it’s that the toucan of the tale (voiced – or perhaps that be squawked – by current Disney Animation good luck charm Alan Tudyk) doesn’t get enough screen time. He and Maribel make a good team, even when he’s chickening out.
Enlightening without ever preaching and one of those Disney movies sure to offer something to different ages, this is another animated winner from a studio on a real roll of late.
Encanto is in US and UK cinemas now.
Image Credit: Disney+
Poor old Clint Barton. He’s rarely cited as anyone’s favourite Avenger. He’s been brainwashed, beaten up and his entire family vanished during the “blip” when Thanos took out half the population of the universe, leading to a rage-fuelled mission against organized crime. Even with his wife and family restored, he’s been a little lost. Now, though, Disney and Marvel are attempting to give the MCU’s top archer some direction. And two sidekicks, one of whom (the human one) looks set to also be his potential replacement as Team Marvel builds out its younger set of characters.
Hawkeye (the series, not the man) is that attempt and based on the first two episodes, it’s a mostly successful effort. This show catches up with Clint (Jeremy Renner) two years after the traumatic events of Avengers Endgame, on a pre-Christmas bonding trip with his kids (wife Laura, played by Linda Cardellini is at home on the farm) in New York. They’ve taken in Rogers: The Musical (an Avengers-themed show that is both magnificent and magnificently awful for a reason), visited the Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree and eaten way too much Chinese food. But Clint is soon on a collision course with young Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), an archer still haunted by her own loss and chaos thanks to the Avengers’ New York battle in 2012, who through reasons too complicated to explain here, comes into possession of the Ronin suit that Clint used on his anti-criminal rampage. She’s a fan of his (he saved her life back in the day from afar) and happens to be a talented martial artist and archer. The scene is set for a buddy comedy that has echoes of Die Hard and Home Alone all at once.
Renner and Steinfeld have an amusing, easy chemistry, even if the characters don’t immediately jibe. There are also some fun stunts early on, though a little of the choreography is wanting compared to bigger projects. And Hawkeye suffers from an exposition overload midway through the first episode, though things pick up in the second.
It’s so hard to judge from just the first two episodes, but so far, Hawkeye is a fun romp that doesn’t need to carry so much of the weight of the MCU, though I’m sure it’ll move that way down the line. Renner clearly enjoys having more of the spotlight, and Steinfeld has long shown that she’s got the chops to sometimes act him off the screen. Credit also to the creative team – which very loosely adapts writer Matt Fraction and artist David Aja’s run on the eponymous comics – for finding room for Lucky the Pizza dog.
The Christmas setting gives the story a little extra juice and a different look from some of the other MCU TV series. But only time will tell where it ends up in the pantheon.
The first two episodes of Hawkeye are on Disney+ now. Episodes will drop weekly; I’ve seen those first two.