Two movie reviews: "Encanto" (thumbs down) and "Three Thousand Years of Longing" (thumbs up)
I confess that since my son grew up, I haven't kept up with the recent Disney movies (I never saw Frozen and that's hardly "recent"). But I read a glowing review of Encanto and rented it for that reason.
It was a huge disappointment. A shocking amount of money went into making this thing; apparently it cost Disney $300 million, so they lost money on it as it's only earned $260 million worldwide. I'm not sure why it cost that much; the visuals are jaw-dropping, but with the computer power available today, it should have cost a lot less. A quarter of a billion is getting into live-action territory and this was 100% animated. And after all that, the color palette was oversaturated, I guess on purpose since the story is in South America and every thing is brighter?
The story was basically a thinner version of Moana. A misfit girl has to save her community by bringing it something it needs. At least the main character in Moana actually went somewhere to do this. The action in Encanto barely leaves the house the central characters, the Madrigal family, lives in. The story involves a family whose members all have unique magical powers that they use to help their community, but the only one we actually see helping anyone is the super-strong girl carrying stuff around. The one who had the power to see the future - the only really useful gift - isn't around anymore. The main character, Mirabel, is the only one who never got a magical power of her own at age 5 for some unknown reason. We meet her around ten years later, and no one is particularly concerned about this. The ending is so disappointing, I won't even bother to spoil it. I can only recommend this to someone whose goal is to see every Disney movie.
The other film I saw yesterday, Three Thousand Years of Longing, was just the opposite. For anyone who thinks Hollywood is out of ideas, you need to see this, as there's nothing else quite like it. A professor who lectures in, of all things, the function of storytelling, meets a djinn while on a trip to Turkey, and is granted three wishes. Except she already has everything she wants in life. So the djinn tells her the story of his life, starting with his romance with the Queen of Sheba, through 16th century Turkey, and beyond. But beyond the unusual plot, it's not often that a modern film has such gorgeous photography, special effects that move the story along without being contrived, and perfect pacing without the typical second act problems that so many films have today. It successfully captures the magical realism that Disney was clearly aiming for, and missed in Encanto.
So it's surprising that Three Thousand Years of Longing didn't get more attention when it came out last year. It was a box office bomb, making around $9 million with a $60 million budget (how did Encanto cost five times more?), so if you've never heard of it, you're not alone. I only knew about it because one of my wife's friends recommended it. So I'm sharing it with all of you. See it, you won't be disappointed.
It was a huge disappointment. A shocking amount of money went into making this thing; apparently it cost Disney $300 million, so they lost money on it as it's only earned $260 million worldwide. I'm not sure why it cost that much; the visuals are jaw-dropping, but with the computer power available today, it should have cost a lot less. A quarter of a billion is getting into live-action territory and this was 100% animated. And after all that, the color palette was oversaturated, I guess on purpose since the story is in South America and every thing is brighter?
The story was basically a thinner version of Moana. A misfit girl has to save her community by bringing it something it needs. At least the main character in Moana actually went somewhere to do this. The action in Encanto barely leaves the house the central characters, the Madrigal family, lives in. The story involves a family whose members all have unique magical powers that they use to help their community, but the only one we actually see helping anyone is the super-strong girl carrying stuff around. The one who had the power to see the future - the only really useful gift - isn't around anymore. The main character, Mirabel, is the only one who never got a magical power of her own at age 5 for some unknown reason. We meet her around ten years later, and no one is particularly concerned about this. The ending is so disappointing, I won't even bother to spoil it. I can only recommend this to someone whose goal is to see every Disney movie.
The other film I saw yesterday, Three Thousand Years of Longing, was just the opposite. For anyone who thinks Hollywood is out of ideas, you need to see this, as there's nothing else quite like it. A professor who lectures in, of all things, the function of storytelling, meets a djinn while on a trip to Turkey, and is granted three wishes. Except she already has everything she wants in life. So the djinn tells her the story of his life, starting with his romance with the Queen of Sheba, through 16th century Turkey, and beyond. But beyond the unusual plot, it's not often that a modern film has such gorgeous photography, special effects that move the story along without being contrived, and perfect pacing without the typical second act problems that so many films have today. It successfully captures the magical realism that Disney was clearly aiming for, and missed in Encanto.
So it's surprising that Three Thousand Years of Longing didn't get more attention when it came out last year. It was a box office bomb, making around $9 million with a $60 million budget (how did Encanto cost five times more?), so if you've never heard of it, you're not alone. I only knew about it because one of my wife's friends recommended it. So I'm sharing it with all of you. See it, you won't be disappointed.
