Full House: Did Disney's Magic Fail?

At the beginning of 2022, Disney's sixtieth animated feature film "Full House" landed in theaters. A small town like a paradise, complex and beautiful architecture, a distinctive style of song and dance, colorful flowers and trees... This time, the story comes to Colombia, full of fantasy and exoticism, and builds another magical world in Latin America. In addition to the exquisite details, brilliant colors, and beautiful music that continue as always, "Full House of Magic" is not only not new enough, but also a bit casual.

"Full House of Magic" still follows the traditional family fun route of "fantasy adventure + protagonist growth + truth, goodness and beauty theme". In order to escape the invaders' hooves, Pedro and Irma of the Maliga family fled. Faced with an incoming enemy, Pedro chose to sacrifice himself. When Irma is heartbroken, a magic candle illuminates the heavens and the earth, forming a picturesque Valley of Miracles and building a magic house for Irma. Since then, each child of the Maliga family has received a unique magical talent and become the support of the townspeople. From being strong enough to cure any disease, from controlling the weather to making a garden full of roses... In the Maliga family, where everyone has magic, only Irma's granddaughter Mirabe fails to open her own magic door, and when the Valley of Miracles is in danger, the ordinary Mirabe bears the burden of saving magic and becomes the hope of the whole family.

In the setting of Full House, the Maliga family is the leader of the town, and Mirabe can be regarded as another Disney princess. In recent years, Disney's "princess" image has continued to evolve with the times. Last time, the Dragon Heart Princess Raya in "The Legend of the Dragon" was unique, not wearing a crown and a bucket hat, not holding flowers and a sword, and she was more like a warrior and warrior with superior strength. Mirabe, on the other hand, not only did not have the beauty of most princesses, but was not perfectly powerful enough, and even did not have the magical talents that her family had, not only did she look completely on the opposite side of the "extraordinary", but even became a pity and neglected in the family.

This "uniqueness" allows Mirabe to be seen as a replica of Elsa in Frozen. The former is the only ordinary person in the magical world, and the latter is the only person in the ordinary world who has magic, because of the contrast, their growth journey is doomed to fight against their own alien attributes. The difference between the two is that Elsa looks outward, embarks on an unknown journey, and discovers her true self; Mirabe seeks inward, exploring the secrets of the family and proving the value of existence.

If the story is consolidated on the basis of the novelty brought by the sense of contrast, even if it is still a "upgrade to fight monsters" routine and a predictable reunion ending, with the "Frozen" proof, "Full House of Magic" should also be able to make people shine. But what is misplaced is that although the central idea of the film is "talent is the most powerful magic", which is intended to reiterate the theme of "getting rid of the expectations of others and finding the true self" with joyful stories, in the actual implementation, the "breaking the routine" and "being different" made by the film only stay on the surface, not only losing breakthrough, but also losing the basic degree of completion.

Let the movie satisfy the appetite of more people, Disney's flattering strategy continues to advance. On the basis of the female mutual help and the prince's exit in "The Legend of the Dragon", "Full House of Magic" goes a step further, giving the matriarchal clan powerful and unique magic, and allowing Mirabe to endorse "ordinary people also have light". But this ingenious "innovation" is only superficial, and the deliberately highlighted female power is useless, and Mirabe relies on the prophet's uncle "Bruno" to see the prophecy of this setting, and the reaction forces distract the focus.

Visually, "Full House" is easily reminiscent of "Dream Quest", which also landed in Latin America. However, the film has not been able to create a magnificent world that skillfully integrates regional culture and the core of the story, nor has it been able to construct a more lofty intention and a more unique way of expression. The enthusiastic singing and dancing are dazzling, the straightforward lyrics hit the heart door at once, the splendid flowers, the night sky fireworks, Disney's visual feast never disappoints. But there is a colorful MV in the air, and the narrative rhythm is out of touch. The audience has not yet noticed that the plot has been moving forward: the relatives who have not been friendly for a long time quickly freeze the previous suspicions, and the cousin who has been bound by the perfect person for many years suddenly becomes herself, the magic is cool enough, but the character is lost in pale.

As far as the story itself is concerned, the film creates a lot of suspense and ties a number of exquisite "buttons" to be solved. For example, why the Maliga family had magic, why the house cracked and the magic decayed, why the uncle could not be mentioned, why Mirabe did not get magic, and so on. After "unbuttoning", it was found that no amount of warm hugs could resolve the weakness of the story.

As the patriarch Irma reversed the order of love and magic, putting the obsession of family prosperity and magic before the love for her family, the magic house was no longer a warm home, and magic was no longer a gift from heaven, but became an invisible shackle and shackle on everyone. Mirabe's aunt Peypa can use her emotions to control the weather, but she is required to always control the dark clouds above her head, always maintaining a clear sky; cousin Louisa is infinitely powerful, carrying one burden after another, but in fact, she is often afraid that once she loses her strength, she will be worthless; Isabella must always maintain the image of the perfect princess, she can conjure up the most beautiful roses, but she is forced to marry the unloved for the sake of the family interests... When the flame of love is shaking, the magic born of love is weakened and dried up. Disney's story has not seen the real villain for a long time, and in the same way, Irma is not an absolute "bad person", she is also trapped in the heart of the devil, lost, and unconsciously, the magic house has become a spiritual cage woven by her own hands.

The cracked magic house symbolizes the overwhelmed heart of the family, and the only way to repair it is to let it collapse and rebuild the heavens and the earth. In addition to the family story, the magic house also shows the spiritual symptoms of the times. When magic changes from strength to burden, the ordinary mirabe has indestructible armor because of her "alien attributes" and becomes the only savior. Mirabe's resistance, exodus and return are the film's attempts to touch a finger extended by the current life, but such a touch is shallow, cowering, and refusing to completely pick up the veil of conservatism. In the end, all the problems are resolved by only two words and a warm embrace, Mirabe's process of breaking the inherent structure is smooth, and the ending is once again attributed to the golden oil that "love and courage can overcome everything". And Mirabe's transformation from the periphery to the center still needs the awakening and recognition of the authority represented by Irma, so that it is so perfunctory and easy to resolve the crisis, protect the family, and become yourself, and the theme of "being a unique self" is also like a castle in the air, crumbling.

From the background setting of the Mariga family's magic, it is not difficult to see the film's metaphor for colonialism, politics and other issues. Relying on magic to resist aggression and eventually regaining magic makes self-reliant resistance seem weak and weak, but it is only a whim in the usual condescending scrutiny. Correspondingly, despite the Latin American elements and tropical atmosphere, the Latin America in the film is still suspended, vague and plausible. Disney is not prepared to dig deep and present the local culture, only with the help of its own imaginary fancy shell, to ensure that the film looks beautiful, joyful and safe, with a curious eye to examine this land that is often speechless in mainstream discourse and public vision, it seems that "you have me, I have you", in fact, 99% is still "me", conveying the cultural core that never changes taste.

The lower limit can be guaranteed, the upper limit may not meet expectations, and disney has not been an exception to the inertia path after the film is highly industrialized. It is true that there is no mistake and simple beauty, but Disney, which is becoming more and more stable and neat, still has the magic that can ignite the spark of the audience?

(Original title: "Full House of Magic": Has Disney's Magic Failed? ）

Source: Beijing Daily Cao Xuemeng

Process Editor: u028