Why don’t I like this movie?

"What was Abuela’s problem?"

This is what I replied to a similar question in a different thread:

Abuela was deeply traumatized by having to flee her home and watch her husband getting murdered.
(Yes, it is heavily implied that she saw it happen right in front of her eyes.)
And the director later revealed that she had given birth to the triplets the same day!
She should have just been resting, recovering from a painful triple childbirth and bonding with her babies.
But no, she had to watch the town burn and her husband being killed with a machete!
Seriously, I don't blame her one single measly solitary bit for being messed up after that.

And as for why that made Abuela put pressure on the family?
She had somehow gotten the idea that if the kids worked and worked, that would make the magic stay strong.
Which would give the encanto a protection from new attacks from other evil-doers.
It is really a great portrayal of what a generational trauma looks like.
"Encanto" is very similar to "Coco" in that way.
A woman is traumatized when her husband is murdered and makes her family dysfunctional without seeing it.
Until one kid has enough of the crap that's going on and stands up to the matriarch and heals the family.

"What was Isabella’s problem?"

She is clearly Abuela's favorite, but that means that her life isn't her own.
She is never allowed to express herself and is even prepared to marry somebody just to please Abuela.
All of this puts her in a sisterly rivalry with Mirabel, who she thinks is lucky since she's got no pressure on her.
But to Mirabel, Isabela is lucky because she's pretty and popular and "perfect".

"What was the official story on Bruno?"

They thought he left his family and avoided talking about him after that.

"How does the magic work?"

This is magical realism, so there will be no answers to questions like this.
Things will happen without any good explanation.

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"And what exactly was Pedro’s sacrifice?"

I think you mean "How could his sacrifice trigger a miracle to happen?"
Again, it is very likely that we will never know how that worked.

"Mirabel is such a lovable character. She’s sweet, fun, energetic, always smiling, all the things that make you wonder why Abuela wants to keep her hidden from the world."

It is not true that Abuela wanted to hide her from the world.
But she got terrified when Mirabel didn't get a gift and must have thought that she could ruin what they had.

"Antonio: the first person to love Mirabel unconditionally. He also has a cool power and a sweet room!"

But I must say that Luisa and her parents loved her unconditionally as well.

"Bruno: we all wanted to know the mystery of Bruno, after we solved it, I found Bruno to be a funny and sympathetic character. Also I like John Leguizamo!"

Agreed.
As a matter of fact, you can't believe how much I love Bruno.

"We Don’t Talk about Bruno: best song in the movie!"

Which is why I can't agree with this.

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Why don’t I like this movie?

Because it's dogshit.

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I think the lack of data is absolutely deliberate, we're supposed to just accept the setting as is, and think about the relationships between the characters rather than the details of an impossible situation. Because face it, no amount of detail could make the magical house in the magically inaccessible valley *more* believable, the more detail we're given the bigger the risk of getting ridiculous!

Because the relationships between the family characters is what's important, meaningful, and universal. Because under the pretty colors, cheerful songs, and individually likable characters, there is an undercurrent of terrible darkness, a nightmare of fear and cruelty that every so often rises up to destroy a family member. Nobody defended Bruno when he was pushed out for offending the family's belief system, and Isabella is threatened with the same fate - being exiled when there is literally no place to go. That's why the film is so popular, because although the setting is specific to Columbia, the family dynamics are universal. Everyone's experienced this shit, even in the happiest families.

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