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Encanto (2021)
This is a mood-altering-and thoughtful-film
The music and dancing are uppers. If those can improve your mood, definitely watch this.
The Gifts in la familia Madrigal come with an emotional price for some, and Mirabel's perceived lack of one is judged to mean, by her abuela, and by some of her family, that she herself a failure. I see her as interstitial space-doing that which others don't/won't do, sometimes because they're busy elsewhere.
Her blouse shows butterflies-mariposas--and for most of the movie, she is in the pupal phase, with la casita Madrigal the chrysalis.
I would love to find the lyrics to the song about the butterflies, because I missed a lot of the words.
Maribel seems to be the only one to communicate with the house, perhaps the only one to see it as an entity.
I love sentient houses: the first one I met, in the mid80s, was Tamson House, set in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in the novel Moonheart, by Canadian author Charles de Lint.
Lin-Manuel Miranda's music here makes you want to move, like most "Latin" music does.
The voice actors, with few exceptions, were all Hispanic, even if most of the top behind-camera crew was not.
Watch this as a family, by yourself, with friends. It's fun, beautiful, and has great characters.
Unleashing Mr. Darcy (2016)
Sweet story for staying inside on a hot afternoon
Having not heard of this treatment, I have no preconceptions: it followed something my MiL was watching when I walked in.
I think the dogs and the world of dog shows were either the center of this story, or the excuse for it, which are not bad things. King Charles Spaniels were the royal Corgis of their day, and they are just soooo cute. The puppies used were more young dogs--at least 2 months old, as they were just too large and well-coated for newborns.
I don't believe the rest of this paragraph has any spoilers. The characters you are supposed to dislike were played excellently--wanted to smack them each upside the head. Pared from this twist on P&P are the obnoxious curate cousin, Mr. Wickham, the three younger sisters, and Mr. Bennet--and they were not missed. Departures from the original: 'Mrs Bennet' owns a bridal shop, 'Lizzy' is a teacher, 'Darcy' judges dog shows, 'Georgiana Darcy' lives with her brother, 'Lady Catherine de Bourgh' seems to live there as well. 'Lady Anne de Bourgh' is not retiring at all, as views Darcy as her unofficial fiancé. 'Aunt Gardiner' invites 'Lizzy' to show her dog as well, instead of taking her travelling, and there is no Mr. Gardiner.
Some have said that there was little comedy here, but I disagree. The story IS after all a comedy of manners, and this delivered that. Lots of "wish I hadn't said that" to go around. You were given backstory for why Elizabeth tends to be prejudiced and Darcy to be reserved and stand-offish. There is definitely spark between them, and they both have their share of apologies to deliver.
I agree with another reviewer that having a 'Mr. Bingley' be a mere placeholder was wrong. The only "problem" I had while watching is wondering why Ryan Paevey (Darcy--all Darcys should be eye candy!)) resembled a younger Karl Urban (the current Star Trek movies' Dr. McCoy). A still photo tells you nothing, because it is while speaking and while moving that they resemble each other.
I thought the twists were well balanced in making a satisfying, if not excellent, rendition. I don't expect remakes of stories in modern settings to adhere more than about 75% to the original: I want a good story with good character development and interactions. Somewhere on the main page for this entry it claims that this is a remake, or the like, of Bride and Prejudice. Not so at all.