Check out movie theories about the FANTASTIC ENCANTO!

Encanto is one of those Disney movies that the entire family can enjoy. [Mov. 15:13-15:32], which in English means, “Everyone’s coming to have fun, keep dancing, happy in my paradise and revealing miracles on every floor! Enchantment!” Not only has it won over 27 awards, including Best Animated Feature Film of 2021 for the Golden Globes, but it also is the first Disney animated movie to have a choreographer choreograph the dancing! So, as you know, we love to come up with fun theories around our favorite movies! Casita is Papa Pedro’s soul. The gifts are Abuela Alma’s perceptions of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Dolores broke the magic, what? And Maribel is the next matriarch of the family. You want proof? [Mov. 4:33-4:38].

Where did this amazing house get all of its magic? Love. Of course. Because the only logical explanation is that Casita is Pedro’s soul. After he dies, it is built up from the ground up just for Abuela Alma and the children. His love transformed because it was the only way he could help them. He made a major sacrifice by dying and not being able to be there for them as the human he was. So because he’s no longer human, he turned into what the family needed the most: a safe home that also helps Abuela Alma handle baby triplets. So Casita does different things to help the family. From reminding the Madrigals when they need to leave and be ready for an event, to pushing a chair in to assist with parenting, to saving Mirabel’s life! Casita loves the family just like it’s part of them and is just as much part of the family as each person is. Casita is Papa Pedro, it’s just fact! Also, look at how the family members treat Casita. Even in the very beginning, [Mov. 4:15-4:17], Maribel talks to Papa Pedro’s photo as if he’s still alive. She really feels Casita as part of her family. She asks it for help multiple times, she talks to it like it’s her guardian. What if she knows that it’s his spirit or soul? Since they are family, she at least senses it and feels it. It being the love that is between Papa Pedro A.K.A. Casita and the family members, including and especially, Mirabel.

The gifts are Abuela’s perceptions of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Bruno is clever but weird, which perfectly matches his persona and his gift. Something weird but really clever is to be able to predict the future. How much more clever can you get? Pepa is temperamental just like the weather. She can control the “weather” of the room based on her emotions. She may not be able to control her emotions or the weather that surrounds her, but her emotions are strong enough to control the demeanor of the room. Julieta is a great cook and the food she makes is so good it can “cure anything!” Have you tried Columbian arepas con queso? Oh man, make it right and these can cure anything! Also, yes, this movie is based in Columbia. Back to the theory, Abuela Alma’s grandchildren are all superheroes based on the personal traits she sees in them. Camilo [Mov. 31:22- 31:30], can shape-shift which actually sounds much like someone who is very personable and gets along with just about everybody. He’s a down-to-earth people person. Antonio loves animals and can talk to them because of how good he is with them. He’s an “animal whisperer”. Luisa is super strong and can do anything physically, [Mov. 35:08-35:27]. Isabela is virtually perfect and gorgeous and can produce pretty things such as flowers. Mirabel’s compassionate and self-sacrificing which reminds Abuela Alma of Pedro, and that’s why she is a bit harder on her than all the rest of them. Maybe she knows that Mirabel is supposed to be the next matriarch and she’s preparing her for this subconsciously. We’ll get back to this in a minute.

So we of course don’t want to think that anybody would have any malicious intent, especially people part of this amazing family. However, non-maliciously, it’s pretty clear that Dolores broke the magic. She didn’t want her family to have magic in the first place. Look at how nonchalantly she tells the town kids that Mirabel didn’t get a gift, [Mov. 8-54-9:01], it’s almost as if she’s perfectly happy with this fact. Maybe being able to hear everything doesn’t feel like a real superpower to her like how her siblings and cousins seem to have, so she feels like “what’s the point?” It must be difficult for her to have to hear everything that goes on with everybody all the time. I bet she doesn’t want to hear someone farting in their sleep or their eye twitching all night. This sounds like a really big burden to hear everything. Wouldn’t sleeping be hard? Maybe she doesn’t want the gift and she’s seen how others’ gifts have been damaging and painful for people in the family, so she would rather it be broken and them all be normal instead. We can have love without magic can’t we? It doesn’t have to be this hard. She probably thought, “I won’t have to hear every little thing all the time and the gifts won’t place any undue afflictions on anybody in the family anymore.” Some examples to prove this theory, look at how quick she was to share the detrimental knowledge about the prophecy. Also, ever wonder why she doesn’t tell anyone that Bruno is still there even though she says she can hear him, [Mov. 46:59-47:10]? Lastly, she wants to be with Mariano, and with Isabela looking so perfect and noticeable because of her magical gift, it’s harder for that to happen and him to notice her, with the ironically – quieter– superpower. After everything happens, Mariano is able to see her for who she is instead of just see the gifts, and then she gets what she was dreaming for the entire time. She isn’t burdened by this gift of hearing things anymore and she gets to be with Mariano. Yay! It works out for Isabela too because she didn’t want to be with him in the first place, [Mov. 1:08:23-1:08:31].

Our next theory is that Maribel is the next matriarch of the family. Her and Alma both don’t have powers, [Mov. 22:42-22:50]. She has the same self-sacrificing nature and compassion as Pedro, the original patriarch of the family, that is needed to carry the family forward. When the house breaks, she is able to fulfill the same position Casita had before it broke and she was able to love Abuela Alma through her discomfort until the family is unified again. It is her who finds the butterfly that Papa Pedro and Abuela Alma found together in the beginning of the movie. Papa Pedro’s soul comes back into the home, but only after Maribel has shown her compassion and self-sacrifice just like he had done when he died. She is the love and glue that holds the family together, saving the miracle with a hug. [Mov. 17:57-18:22], is the perfect example of her putting herself aside to assist the family, just like Papa Pedro would be proud of her to do and just like Abuela Alma did for the family. She’s the perfect next matriarch because she has the love and devotion of Abuela Alma and the sacrificial compassion as Papa Pedro. She brings the family together amidst losing everything and does the job of a true and strong matriarch. Even look at this scene where she knows where Antonio is when everyone is looking for him, [Mov. 13:02-13:13:17], because of how much she loves and how well she knows each member in the family. When Abuela Alma starts to lose hope, Mirabel brings it back for her and for the entire family. Not to mention, Mirabel is the one who found one of the “lost sheep” of the family: Bruno. [Mov. 1:05:42-1:05:51], and promised to bring him back. [Mov. 47:19-47:42], oh, come on, it wouldn’t be a true encompassment of the movie if the Bruno song wasn’t played at least once during this! This song breaks the record as the number one Billboard Disney song since A Whole New World twenty-nine years ago! And did you hear that Oscar performance! Wowza! If you haven’t, please check it out.

So, ultimately we have discovered that Dolores is the real breaker of the magic because she just wanted the family to be normal and not have to deal with any of the issues that comes with being magical. [Mov. 47:17-47:19]? But that’s what makes the Madrigals so special! Casita is actually Papa Pedro’s soul, because he loves his family so much he found a way to help them even after his body died. Mirabel is the next Madrigal matriarch. Clearly, she is the embodiment of love and the perfect matriarch to maintain the family’s unity. Lastly, the gifts of each grandchild and child are Abuela Alma’s perception of each of her children and grandchildren. Love. This whole movie is all about love and family and quite frankly, we love it! So enjoy the enchantment (which is what Encanto really translates to), the fun, and the music that is Disney’s Encanto!