Encanto Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs
3. The Fantastic Voice Cast
Shocking not a single person is the fact that Encanto is another Disney movie with a fantastic voice cast.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Stephanie Beatriz gives a soulful and thoroughly expressive performance as Mirabel, who frankly couldn't sound much less like Brooklyn's Rosa Diaz if she tried. Her singing voice also packs a mighty punch, too.
Elsewhere we have John Leguizamo, who as Bruno isn't in the movie all that much, though is perfectly cast to inject some madcap energy into the story just when it needs it.
Then there's Orange Is the New Black and Doom Patrol's Diane Guerrero, who is an inspired casting pick for Mirabel's "perfect," prissy sister Isabela, and perhaps best of all María Cecilia Botero as the Madrigal family's matriarch Abuela Alma.
Given that Alma's tragic past is the lynchpin of the entire story, it's absolutely vital that Botero brings a gravity and truth to it, and she absolutely rises to the occasion.