Encanto brings Latin American-flavored Disney animation to the world

After taking us to Europe in the ice kingdom of Arendelle in Frozen and to Asia in the fantasy world of Kumandra in Raya and the Last Dragon, Walt Disney Animation Studios takes us next to South America in a wondrous, charmed place called Encanto in their special 60th feature film Encanto: A Magical World.

The all-new original film from the Oscar-winning directing tandem of Jared Bush and Byron Howard (Zootopia) takes us to a mythical place in Colombia where we get to meet the Madrigals, an extraordinary family who live hidden in a magical house in a vibrant town in the mountains in an enchanted place called an Encanto. The Madrigals are blessed with a special kind of magic where every family member gets a unique gift when they turn five. On their fifth birthday, a door is produced in the house that opens to an enchanted space. What’s inside reveals their magical gift and the role they’ll serve in the family and in their community.

For two generations, the house has opened a door for everyone except for one unfortunate member of the family, Mirabel.

Mirabel is the youngest of three sisters. Her oldest sister Isabela is the golden child of the family, and she is gifted with charm and beauty, and the ability to make plants grow and flowers bloom at her command. She also has perfect hair! Luisa, the middle sister, has the gift of strength. She is the rock of the family, and she uses her powers to serve the community from moving buildings to rerouting rivers.

That is how the story begins.

At the screening I attended, tears flowed at the very start of the movie. Everyone seems to relate to Mirabel, the ordinary and non-magical member of the family surrounded by extraordinary cousins and siblings.

“Mirabel is all of us,” Jared said. “She is the ordinary member of her family among a bunch of extraordinary, magical people. Mirabel is that character we can all relate to.”

Actress Stephanie Beatriz who provides the voice of Mirabel concurred. “Mirabel doesn’t have a gift, which I find extremely relatable because there have been many times in my life where I felt like I didn’t belong, I didn’t measure up, I wasn’t talented enough to be there. I had that sort of imposter syndrome.”

This writer met Stephanie and the voice cast and filmmakers via Zoom in early November. At the press conference, she added that as she got older, she discovered to trust herself more by focusing on the things that she can offer. Today, she’s proud to be one of the fabled Disney princesses, so to speak.

Mirabel (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz) is the ordinary member of the family, while cousin Bruno (John Leguizamo) has the gift of prophecy.

“Well, I mean, technically Mirabel’s not a princess, but she is a Disney heroine, which I think is even cooler,” she enthused. “Disney has this incredible tradition of crafting these female characters, the protagonists and their stories, who are really brave, really good at heart, want the best for everyone around them, and are willing to go on these sometimes really dangerous, crazy, magical adventures to get what they want. And I’m proud to be part of that legacy, to honor the work of all the women that have come before me that have been in this position, and hopefully add something new to it as well.”

Joining Stephanie are a star-studded line-up of Latinx actors whose enthusiasm at bringing a uniquely Latin American flavored Disney animation to the world couldn’t be more apparent.

“Yo, my tears are welling up, you know,” Hollywood veteran John Leguizamo shared when asked how he felt watching the movie. “I’m feeling like, you know, your stomach starts going like this… (he makes a growling noise) … and it was when I saw all the colors because that’s how my family is in Colombia, you know, everybody can be mad-dark, or light, straight black hair, or super curly hair.  I mean, it looked like my family, it looked like the way I grew up.  And to see that, you just feel like, ‘Oh, my god, we’ve arrived.’ You know, we as Latinx people have finally arrived when there’s a Disney movie about you. Then to hear, you know, Cumbia, and Vallenato, and Carlos Vives, like the real music from Colombia, on top of that, you’re like, ‘I can’t, I can’t do that. This is too much for me.’  It was amazing!”

John voices the character of Bruno, Mirabel’s cousin in the movie who has the gift of prophecy. Other members of the Madrigal clan include Jessica Darrow (Luisa), Diane Guerrero (Isabela), Angie Cepeda (Julieta, Mirabel’s mother), and Wilmer Valderrama (Agustin, Mirabel’s father.)

Jessica and Diane shared with this writer how the movie resonated with them during our separate one-on-one interview.

“Family is very important to me,” Diane said. “Family is very high up there in my values, something that I try to hold on to and try to protect. Also, I am trying to figure out myself more and more within my family so that I could make the best out of the situation. You don’t pick or choose your family members, so I think it is important to take more initiative to kind of discover more within that.”

For Jessica, having an older sister in real life helped her prepare for Luisa. “My sister is very much a best friend, a mentor, a mother, a grandmother in a lot of ways, and I am very close to her, and she very much showed me what it meant to have unconditional love and I think I have also taken that on as a sister and as a friend.”

Jessica added that it is important for her to let all those who are close to her feel that her love is real, and her loyalty is forever.

Angie and Wilmer, who partially trace their roots in Colombia, spoke of joy in seeing the country magically come alive in the movie. “Encanto is a really good representation of who we are as a culture. Our music, our food, our weather, our people, and Colombia is a very magical place,” Angie proudly said. “We go through really hard times, but we are happy, we are very happy people, we like to celebrate!”

“It’s amazing, it’s amazing!” Wilmer told this writer when asked how he felt to see her mother’s homeland in the movie. “It is crazy for my mother’s lifetime. For her to see her Colombia onscreen this way is historic. It’s a very historical moment for us and we will never forget the moment in which Colombia has the main stage to show not just the color, but the food, the people, the community, the music – everything about it. I hope that the people will continue to discover how beautiful Colombia can be.”

Encanto: A Magical World also features the music of the legendary Lin-Manuel Miranda. The movie opens in theaters Dec. 8.