Encanto (2021)
A Disney original story.
An armed conflict forces Pedro and Alma Madrigal, a young married couple, to flee their home village in Colombia with their infant triplets, Julieta, Pepa and Bruno. The attackers kill Pedro, but the candle of Alma magically repels the attackers and creates Casita, a sentient house for the family located in Encanto, a magical realm bordered by high mountains. The candle’s magic grants “gifts” to each Madrigal descendant at the age of five who use their gifts to create a new town which thrives by relying on the gifts of each Madrigal.
Fifty years later, a 15 year old Mirabel, who is Julieta’s youngest daughter shares about all of her family members and their gifts with the children of the town (“The Family Madrigal”) but it’s also revealed that she mysteriously received no gift during her coming of age ceremony. In the evening is the coming of age ceremony for Pepa's youngest son, 5-year-old Antonio. The whole village gathers for the ceremony (“Colombia, Mi Encanto”). Antonio gains the ability to communicate with animals, which saddens Mirabel who didn’t receive a gift (“Waiting On a Miracle”). Suddenly, Mirabel sees Casita cracking and the candle's flame flickering, but her warnings go unheeded when Casita appears undamaged to the others. After overhearing Abuela Alma praying about the cracks and the weakening Casita, Mirabel resolves to save the miracle's magic.
The next day, she talks to her super-strong older sister, Luisa, who confesses to feeling overwhelmed by her near-constant obligations (“Surface Pressure”) then suggests that Bruno's room, in a forbidden tower in Casita, may house Bruno’s last vision which may explain the phenomenon happening to Casita. In Bruno’s room, a huge cavern filled with sand, Mirabel climbs upstairs, swings over a gap with a rope, and discovers a cave. She barely escapes it with some pieces of a slab of opaque emerald glass in hand. Outside, Luisa discovers that her gift is weakening. After her family reminds her why Bruno is vilified due to all his prophecies becoming true (“We Don’t Talk About Bruno”), Mirabel reassembles the glass and sees a picture of herself with Casita cracking behind her.
Later that evening, Mirabel's oldest sister, Isabela, who can make plants and flowers grow at will, is scheduled to become engaged to neighbor Mariano Guzmán. Amidst Mariano's proposal and an awkward dinner, Pepa's daughter, Dolores, who possesses superhuman hearing, reveals Mirabel's discovery to everyone, causing Casita to crack again, ruining the night and Mariano's proposal when the weather-controlling Pepa inadvertently conjures a downpour. Amidst the chaos, Mirabel follows a group of rats and discovers a secret passage behind a portrait where she finds Bruno is hiding. Bruno reveals he never left the house, and had been fixing the cracks on the interior of Casita all this time. He also reveals that Abuela Alma had asked him to look into the future on the night that Mirabel did not receive her gift and the vision that he saw was the vision MIrabel found earlier that day. Bruno reveals that the vision changes between Mirabel either saving and cracking the Casita, making him believe that she is the key to the Casita magic; refusing to let Mirabel get hurt due to the reputation his visions had, he broke the vision and disappeared. At Mirabel's insistence, Bruno reluctantly conjures another vision that at first resembles the previous one, but then continues to depict Mirabel embracing Isabela and strengthening the candle.
Mirabel reluctantly apologizes to Isabela, who abruptly confesses that she does not want to marry Mariano and is burdened by her image of perfection (“What Else Can I Do?”). Mirabel helps Isabela develop her powers and the two sisters embrace, but Abuela Alma spots the pair from the village square and rushes back to Casita. Alma blames Mirabel for causing the family's misfortunes out of spite for not having a gift. Mirabel finally confronts Alma for always seeing her as a disappointment and deeming no one good enough for her, even with their gifts. This argument creates a fissure that fulfills Bruno’s vision, splitting the nearby mountain and demolishing Casita as the candle extinguishes, leaving the Madrigals powerless. A heartbroken Mirabel, who had tried to save the candle, runs away from the family, who scramble to find her.
Several hours later, Alma finds a tearful Mirabel back at the river where Pedro died and explains her tragic backstory and how, determined to preserve the magic, she ignored how her expectations were harming the family and finally accepts responsibility for what happened (“Dos Oruguitas”). Mirabel and Alma reconcile, and, with Bruno in tow, return to the village and assemble the Madrigals to rebuild Casita, with the townsfolk joining in (“All of You”). Mirabel installs a new doorknob to the main door, restoring the family's gifts and reviving Casita. She and Bruno join the family for another photo (“Colombia, Mi Encanto”).
TRIVIA
Visual Style
The setting of Encanto was inspired by the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende.
Casa Madrigal (“Casita”) is inspired by the different cultures of Colombia, which is a melting pot of Indigenous, Spanish, and African culture and music. It is based on the principles of traditional Colombian architecture and Paisa architecture. The colors of the house and doors are inspired by the town of Salento. The stonework in the small towns of Barichara. The balconies with pink and orange flowers are related more with Cartagena. The kitchen contains elements of Choco, Caribbean, and Amazonas designs.
Antonio’s rainforest/treehouse room is based on the rainforests of Choco.
Casa Madrigal moves to the rhythm to whatever song is playing. The magic of the house is grounded in a practical reality of the materials of the house which follow guiding rules for the house’s movement:
Attached or built in furniture, plus attached screws, knobs, hardware
Floorboards of all types
Truth in materials
Technology
An ad hocc rigging system was built to allow the animators control to move anything in the house that they wanted to. The cracks in the house were representative of how that material would crack in real life.
Music
The musical numbers were written by Lin Manuel Miranda and based on Columbian music which focuses heavily on percussion.