Encanto (2021)
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
- Before Stephanie Beatriz was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
- The original script for Encanto was written over a decade before production finally began in 2021.
Encanto is a 2021 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard. Set in the mountains of Colombia, the film follows the Madrigal family, who live in a magical house called the Casita and have each been blessed with a unique supernatural gift — super strength, healing, shapeshifting, weather control, and more — except for Mirabel, voiced by Stephanie Beatriz, the only family member who received no gift. When the family's magic begins to fade and cracks appear in the Casita, Mirabel discovers that the dysfunction lies not in the magic but in the family's perfectionism and unprocessed trauma, embodied by the family matriarch Abuela Alma, whose grief over losing her husband during political violence has driven her to demand impossible standards from her descendants.
Lin-Manuel Miranda's original songs were the film's defining achievement, particularly "We Don't Talk About Bruno," which became a global phenomenon — the song topped the Billboard Hot 100, making it only the second Disney song to achieve that distinction after "A Whole New World" 29 years earlier. The Colombian setting, developed in consultation with cultural advisors and featuring Cumbia and Vallenato musical influences, gave the film a visual and sonic identity unlike any previous Disney production. Encanto earned $256 million worldwide — modest for Disney Animation — but became enormously popular on Disney+, where its songs went viral and the film found its massive audience.
