ENCANTO (Cert PG, 109 mins, streaming from December 24 exclusively on Disney+, Animation/Musical/Fantasy/Adventure/Romance)
Featuring the voices of: Stephanie Beatrix, Maria Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitan, Jessica Darrow, Diane Guererro.
A MOUNTAIN town in Colombia is home to successive generations of the Madrigal family led by imperious matriarch Abuela Alma (voiced by Maria Cecilia Botero). She is custodian of a magical candle, which bestows special powers to the Madrigals when they come of age.
Abuela's daughter Julieta (Angie Cepeda) can heal wounds with her cooking, her other daughter Pepa (Carolina Gaitan) manipulates the weather with her moods, while estranged son Bruno (John Leguizamo) can divine the future.
The only member of the household not to be blessed by the candle is Julieta's youngest daughter Mirabel (Stephanie Beatrix).
When the family's home comes under threat, Mirabel steps out of the shadows.
Encanto is an exuberant computer-animated musical fantasy festooned with fierce yet flawed female characters.
An energetic opening musical number explaining the Madrigal family tree barely pauses for breath, establishing a sprightly tempo matched by slickly engineered action sequences.
Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Charise Castro Smith's film doesn't deviate from a well-trodden path but plays to its strengths, placing family values at the heart of a story that beats defiantly in the face of adversity.
Lin-Manuel Miranda's lyrically ingenious songbook lacks a bona fide earworm to elevate Disney's 60th animated adventure above his toe-tapping work on Moana.
What Encanto lacks in instantly hummable tunes it compensates for with the vibrant colours and traditions of Colombian culture, brought to life with impeccable artistry and cute visual flourishes including an enchanted home that communicates emotions by moving its window shutters and floor tiles.
Rating: 4/5
THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT (7 episodes, starts streaming from December 29 exclusively on Disney+, Sci-Fi/Adventure/Action)
A SURPRISE end credits sequence during season two of The Mandalorian teased this latest expansion of the Star Wars universe, which focuses on bounty hunter Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison), who tumbled into the Sarlacc pit in Return Of The Jedi after less than 10 minutes of screen time.
The character with the dented green and red helmet survives his grim fate in a seven-episode adventure, which finds Boba and mercenary Fennec (Ming-Na Wen) gatecrashing an intergalactic crime syndicate on Tatooine.
They stake a claim to the late Jabba the Hutt's empire and journey into the underworld, once ruled with fear and intimidation.
To forge new alliances and deflect attacks from powerful rivals, Boba and Fennec must balance acts of aggression with diplomacy.
