1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. PRODUCTION
5. MUSIC
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

Encanto was the surprise blockbuster hit of 2021, being released in theatres in November 2021, before being brought to Disney+, where an even wider audience would see it.

As the movie was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, or at least when the world had not yet fully recovered, I don’t believe anyone expected Encanto to do as well as it did, especially not in a theatre release. The previous “pandemic” Disney and Pixar releases, like Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and Luca (2021) had not received anything like the acclaim that Encanto did.

So, what was it about this film in particular? Perhaps it was that catchy soundtrack that played over and over on the radio for weeks, or maybe it was the strong sense of family that pulled people towards it as the pandemic had been a tough time for many, with months of not being able to see family members that did not live with you.

I’m assuming it was a combination of many things but what was clear was that Encanto became the new Frozen (2013), the big hit of the Disney 2020s – at least so far.

I watched it for the first time on Disney+ in January 2022, so I was aware of the buzz around it, and was actually quite excited to see it. On my first viewing of the movie though, despite tearing up at numerous points in the film, largely due to its soundtrack, I found myself disappointed and wondering “was that it?” as barely anything happened in the film.

After viewing it this week, that same feeling didn’t bother me so much, so I quite liked the movie. It’s not my favourite of even the more recent Disney releases, but it was so full of emotion and relatable family moments that I couldn’t help but feel connected to it this time around. Regardless of how anyone feels about the film, it would be silly to claim that Encanto was not a smashing success, for whatever reason.

PLOT

Encanto begins with a family who have been given an “encanto”, a miracle that has brought magic to themselves and their community. A grandmother sits with her granddaughter and tells her how the family came to have this “encanto”. The grandmother, her husband, and three babies were forced to leave their town suddenly many years ago as armed forces burnt their village, and the husband was killed by those men as they pursued those fleeing the area. In that darkest moment, the candle the grandmother was holding became magical, with a flame that never went out. A whole house and village were built at that moment, with each member of the grandmother’s family then receiving a magical gift when they “came of age”. Now, it is the granddaughter’s turn as tonight it is her ceremony, where the “casita” will give her a gift via a magical door.

We don’t see what happens next as we jump forward in time, about ten years, where the girl, Mirabel, is now about fifteen-years-old. We see that the family has grown in that time, with every member of the family using their special gift to help the whole community. Mirabel is asked to explain what all these gifts are to the local children. Here’s what she tells them: her mother, Julieta, has healing powers, which come from her cooking; her father, Agustín, is non-magical, and is very accident-prone; her sister, Luisa, has super strength, whilst her other sister, Isabela, can make flowers bloom and grow. Her aunt Pepa controls the weather with her emotions, whilst her husband Félix is non-magical, too, but a fun-loving man. Mirabel’s cousin, and Pepa and Félix’s daughter, Dolores, has super hearing; another cousin, Camilo, is a shape-shifter, and Antonio, the youngest cousin, gets his gift today. Bruno, Mirabel’s uncle, can see the future, but nobody knows what happened to him after he left the family a while ago. Abuela Alma is the head of the family, who protects everyone in the village. We then find out that Mirabel, for some reason, never received a gift.

But there’s no time to dwell on that as tonight is Antonio’s gift ceremony, and the whole house needs to be decorated and preparations made. Mirabel is told to stay out of the way as nothing can go wrong. Her parents try to make her feel better, but it’s difficult when the last gift-giving ceremony was hers and resulted in her not receiving a gift, so Abuela is anxious. Antonio is nervous too, concerned that the same thing will happen to him, but Mirabel tells him not to worry. At the ceremony, Mirabel walks Antonio up the long staircase to his door, where his gift is revealed: he can communicate with animals. As the village celebrates, Mirabel starts to feel incredibly left out and upset at not feeling like she has a place in the great “Familia Madrigal”. Suddenly, she sees huge cracks appearing in the walls and floors of their home. She rushes to tell the family, and leads them to the courtyard where she first saw them, but the cracks have inexplicably vanished. Abuela calms the village, telling them the magic is fine. Mirabel is confused, and when she hears her Abuela praying that the magic doesn’t go out, Mirabel sets out to save the “encanto”.

First up, Mirabel talks to her sister, Luisa, who is apparently struggling with all the pressure she is feeling over her obligations to the village and her family. Luisa says that when the cracks apparently happened, she felt weak and remembers that their Uncle Bruno, who left the family ten years ago, had a vision about the magic, a bad one, and suggests that Mirabel starts in Bruno’s room. Though it is off-limits, Mirabel goes in and after dodging some crazy obstacles, she finds the remains of a vision picture; it looks like pieces of green tile. She quickly picks them up and exits the room as it begins to fill with sand. As Mirabel returns to the rest of the house, she assembles the picture and is shocked to see it is of her, with the house cracking behind her. At the same time, Luisa has found that she is weakening and is scared about what is to come. Abuela once again warns Mirabel away from the magic, telling her that it is her sister, Isabela’s, engagement dinner tonight to a local man from the town, Mariano, and that nothing can go wrong.

Mirabel doesn’t stop though and asks her aunt, Pepa, to tell her about Bruno. But the family, they don’t talk about Bruno, as it causes a lot of mixed emotions. The town basically took a dislike to Bruno as his gift for visions supposedly made bad things happen to everyone, like rain on Pepa and Félix’s wedding day, a fish dying and the local priest losing his hair… He was considered to be a “jinx”, basically. Mirabel then goes to her father, who sees the completed vision picture, and tells her not to speak of it, at least not now, and to hide the tiles. Except Dolores heard everything with her super-hearing, and now most of the family are sitting around the dinner-table disturbed by what they’ve discovered. This ruins Isabela and Mariano’s engagement dinner as everyone freaks out about visions and losing their magical gifts. Abuela even sees the reassembled picture and tries to calm Mariano and his family. At the same time, Mirabel sees rats going into the walls of the house and follows them, where she finds her Uncle Bruno. He never actually left the house, as he loves his family and couldn’t bear to be apart from them, no matter what they think of him. It turns out Bruno “left” as he had a vision of the house breaking the night that Mirabel didn’t get her gift, and as he couldn’t work out what it meant, and as everyone would think it was his fault that it was going to happen, he left. Mirabel pleads with Bruno to continue the vision, to see if he can see how the magic can be fixed. He is unsure, especially as Mirabel destroyed his “vision cave” whilst she was in his room, but Antonio offers his jungle-themed room.

The two watch the vision and see that Mirabel can heal the candle if she hugs someone. And that someone is: her sister, Isabela, who she has a difficult relationship with. Mirabel doesn’t want to talk to her, but agrees to, saying that when she saves the miracle, she’ll bring Bruno home. Mirabel goes to see Isabela, and they quickly get off on the wrong foot, arguing about how Isabela has always been so perfect and Mirabel always ruining things. Isabela blurts out that she isn’t even happy with her so-called perfect life and conjures up a cactus, the first time her gift has ever planted something not beautiful and perfect. Mirabel encourages Isabela to be freer with her magic, and to not be perfect all the time. Isabela is happy for the first time in a long time, and the two watch as Isabela grows a variety of different plants and trees all over the house. It begins to heal the cracks in the house that began to reappear at the dinner the night before. Until Abuela comes over, and tells Isabela to stop acting so crazy, before turning to Mirabel, telling her that the magic is at risk because of her and that she is hurting the family. Mirabel is so upset and angry with the fact that her Abuela has pushed her aside ever since she didn’t get a gift that the emotional outburst causes the house to be completely destroyed. Mirabel tries to save the candle, but it goes out, signifying the end of their “encanto”. Mirabel is distraught and runs away.

The whole family look for her, but Abuela finds her first, down by the river. It turns out this is where the miracle first came to her, all those years ago when she fled her village and her husband, Pedro, sacrificed himself to save everyone. When the miracle came to Abuela it blasted the soldiers away and created a new start, a safe haven for everyone. Abuela was so afraid of losing it that she took control over all the family, forgetting who and what the miracle was for; she apologises to Mirabel, saying it was all her fault. Mirabel tells her Abuela that she found the miracle, for all of them, and made them all a family. The two reconcile. Bruno rushes over, ready to take the blame for all the chaos, and accepting of the fact that the family do not want him, only for Abuela, his mother, to hug him and insist he returns with them. The family reconvene at the ruins of the house, and reunite to begin rebuilding it. All of the village also come over to help, repaying the Madrigals for all their service to them and the entire community.

Slowly but surely, the house is rebuilt, and the family members are free to go about their lives as they want to. Bruno reunites with his siblings and the rest of the family; Isabela refuses to marry Mariano, who instead ends up with Dolores, and everything seems happy – even if they don’t have their magic anymore. As the house is ready to move back in to, the family present Mirabel with the door knob to the front door of their new house, so that she can be the one to open up the door. As Mirabel turns the handle, all the magic returns. A final family photo is taken, this time including everyone, even Mirabel and Bruno; it may not be perfect, but whose family is?

CHARACTERS & CAST

Mirabel is the key to the entire story of Encanto. As a person, she is quirky and awkward, quite headstrong, intelligent, and also kind and caring, having a particularly close bond to her youngest cousin, Antonio. Despite all these characteristics, she has been ignored and disregarded by her Abuela, the head of the family, all because she didn’t get given a gift on her ceremony night – like it was Mirabel’s fault. Mirabel’s parents, Julieta and Agustín, are always on her side though and constantly tell Mirabel she is still special to them, even without a gift. Julieta sees how her mother treats Mirabel and tells her a few times not to be so hard on Mirabel, but to no avail. The other members of the family make sure to include Mirabel and she has a good relationship with the majority of them, all except Abuela and her sister, Isabela, who is the complete opposite of Mirabel. Sisters don’t always get on! Even though, Mirabel doesn’t have a gift, it is only her who can save the magic and the miracle, because she can see what the pressure of having gifts has done to them, and it’s up to Mirabel to encourage the others to be who they want to be and ultimately fix everything. At the end, when Mirabel is given the doorknob to the newly rebuilt house, it shows the family signifying Mirabel’s importance to the Madrigals, and her becoming a new leader in the family, looking to replace Abuela as head of the family, when the time comes – this is supposedly why Mirabel never received a gift, as she would be the care-taker of it, like Abuela is. Though the reasons why Mirabel didn’t receive a gift are debated, and open to interpretation, but this is how I understood it.

Mirabel is a great role model to have within the Disney canon, despite being the antithesis of a Disney Princess. Mirabel is trying to find herself throughout this movie and has found that she is made up of so many qualities, good and bad, but they are all her; this is an important message for young people especially to see on screen. Mirabel is voiced by Stephanie Beatriz, who is perhaps best known for her role as Rosa Diaz on the series Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-21). Beatriz also played Carla in the movie In the Heights (2021), an adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit stage musical; Miranda wrote the music for Encanto. Most recently, Beatriz starred in the Peacock series Twisted Metal (2023), alongside Anthony Mackie.

Mirabel’s parents, Julieta and Agustín, don’t feature too heavily in the movie, however, it is clear that they are supportive of all three of their daughters. Agustín seems to have a special bond with Mirabel as they are both non-magical, which probably helps Mirabel when she begins to feel left out for not having a gift at times. Julieta is the cook of the family, as she makes the best food, which not only tastes good, but heals everyone’s ills, physical or emotional. Julieta seems to be stuck in the middle of Abuela’s wants for the family and Mirabel’s struggles within the family, but ultimately, Mirabel does come first. Agustín was originally going to be quite strait-laced, but in the end, became a goofy dad, always getting himself into trouble, like being stung by bees frequently! This was a much better choice for the character; I can’t even imagine what a strict Agustín would have been like! Colombian actress Angie Cepeda voices Julieta. Cepeda has featured in a mixture of English- and Spanish-language films throughout her career, but mostly recently had a role in the television series Halo (2022). Wilmer Valderrama voices Agustín. For Disney and Pixar, Valderrama provided the voices of Gaxton, a college student, in Onward (2020) and Manny in the Playhouse Disney series Handy Manny (2006-13). As well as this, Valderrama has been a series regular on NCIS since 2016 (Season 14), as Nick Torres.

For Mirabel’s sisters, Luisa and Isabela, they couldn’t be more different to Mirabel. Luisa is the super strong one, completing tasks such as moving donkeys, lifting boulders, and righting houses around the community. She feels like she has a lot of pressure on herself, not just with the fact she has to lift really heavy things, but that she has too much responsibility and has to keep a brave face constantly so she doesn’t disrupt the family; something that has gotten more and more difficult to keep up, especially as cracks start to form, metaphorically and literally, in the family dynamic.

Isabela is the perfect one, who is beautiful, graceful, and elegant. She basically looks like a typical Disney princess, except Isabela is not particularly kind, at least not to Mirabel, who she frequently tells to keep quiet and not get involved in her life. But this is, again, due to the pressure she feels to be perfect and to go along with the wishes of Abuela, like marrying a man she doesn’t want to, to keep the miracle alive and family going, as she is the eldest of the three sisters. It turns out that when Isabela isn’t so uptight, she is actually a lot of fun and gets on with Mirabel much better. In a deleted scene, Isabela was actually going to run away from home as she was so upset with her life, and was going to go away with her secret boyfriend, before Mirabel discovered them and their plan. In this scene, Isabela seems like the oldest sister, which I don’t think she does in the final movie – I thought Luisa was the oldest one. She is much wiser than she is in the final cut, and instead of arguing with Mirabel, it would seem that Isabela is less mean and spiteful to Mirabel, trying to explain to her how she’s feeling and why leaving the family is best for her[1].

Jessica Darrow and Diane Guerrero voice the roles of Luisa and Isabela respectively. Darrow has recently played the role of Mikki Easton in the series Fifteen-Love (2023); Guerrero is likely most known for her recurring role as Maritza Ramos in Orange Is the New Black (2013-2019) and Lina Santillan in Jane the Virgin (2014-19). She is also “Crazy” Jane in the DC Comics-based series Doom Patrol (2019-present). 

For Mirabel’s extended family, there are still many family members to mention! Let’s start with her aunt and uncle, Pepa and Félix. Pepa’s original gift was going to be indestructability, with Julieta being the one who controlled the weather, and Dolores being the healing one, but it was felt that an indestructible power was too close to Luisa’s super-strength so Pepa was then given the weather gift. Despite the fact Pepa’s emotions are so easily given away by the weather changes that either revolve around her head or the whole village, she does not do well at keeping those emotions in check, frequently having emotional outbursts and breakdowns, particularly whenever Bruno is mentioned! These are not only evident by the clouds that form over her head but if you look closely, you’ll see that Pepa’s hair also frizzes based on whatever weather she has conjured. I like Pepa for this very reason though, because why should anyone hide how they’re feeling, even if it does cause a hurricane? To balance out Pepa’s sometimes fragile emotional state, she is married to Félix, a calm and easy-going person who also loves to dance and be the life of the party. Colombian actress and singer Carolina Gaitán voices Pepa. Gaitán has featured in various Spanish-language television series, such as Celia (2015-16) as well as releasing her own music. Mauro Castillo voices Félix; he has recently appeared in the Spanish-language series Paro de mi corazón (2022).

For their three children, we have the shape-shifter Camilo, who is basically that annoying cousin-figure that most families have; the shy, kind-hearted Antonio, with his connection to animals and nature gift and my personal favourite, Dolores, the communicator who knows what’s going on with everyone as she can hear everything happening. I love Dolores; I think she has some of the funniest lines, and her expressions when she’s trying to hide what she’s heard about Bruno are great! Camilo is voiced by Rhenzy Feliz, who starred in the Marvel Comics-based series Runaways (2017-2019) and looks to have a part in the upcoming series The Penguin, based on the DC Comics character Penguin. The series is set to be released in 2024, but has been delayed due to the 2023 Writers and Actors strikes. Adassa, voice of Dolores, is predominately a singer-songwriter, having toured and collaborated with artists such as Pitbull and Daddy Yankee, and released her own music. Antonio is voiced by child actor Ravi Cabot-Conyers, who will star in the upcoming Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (2023), alongside Jude Law.

On another note, Mariano, Isabela and then Dolores’ “significant other”, is voiced by Colombian rapper and singer Maluma. Maluma has worked with various artists including Ricky Martin, The Weeknd, and Jennifer Lopez, who he starred alongside in the romantic-comedy Marry Me (2022). I don’t think Mariano gets nearly enough screen time in Encanto. I would’ve liked to have seen more of him, especially with Dolores; they seem like they’ll be a cute couple.

Then there is Bruno, the outcast of the family. He has spent years hiding himself away from the family, as his visions seem to have been nothing but trouble to the Madrigals and Bruno felt it was best that he disappeared and didn’t contact them again. Everyone seems to have thought Bruno went far away from their house and the village, but in actual fact, he is just living within the walls of their “casita”, so that he can feel close to the family still. It’s a heartbreaking moment when Bruno shows Mirabel his “home”. It wasn’t Bruno’s fault that he had these visions, and as he explains at the end, he never meant to upset anyone, and actually was trying to help. Like on Pepa’s wedding day, Bruno says that he only told her this vision about rain to calm her and let her know that Félix loves her regardless of what weather was going on around her, so she should just feel how she wants to, and “let it go”. Bruno is a great addition to the Madrigal family, and I think John Leguizamo, who voices the character, got a good balance of humour and warmth in his voice, to make us not just empathise with Bruno and his sad story, but to laugh with him too. Leguizamo has had previous experience with voice acting, having voiced Sid, the sloth with the lisp, in the Ice Age franchise from 2002 up until 2016. He has also featured in numerous films and television series, including Romeo + Juliet (1996) as Tybalt and most recently in The Power (2023-present).

Finally, we have Abuela Alma, the strict head of the family. She might be very particular with how she wants the family to be, but she believes she is doing it for the right reasons, i.e., protecting all of them and their village, as she lives in fear that one day, their miracle and magic will be gone and they may be forced to leave their home again, as she had to. Abuela Alma has one of the most horrific backstories of any Disney character in my opinion, as she saw her husband killed right in front of her, and she was suddenly left alone with her newborn triplets to look after. If it weren’t for the miracle, I’m not sure how Alma would’ve cope with that grief, so naturally, she is incredibly thankful for it, and wants nothing more than to keep it. In the end, though, Abuela learns the errors of her ways and lets go of all the control, deciding that it’s better to live in a happy family, even if that means not having magic. Because of this sacrifice and Mirabel’s drive to heal the family, they are all rewarded with the return of the magic anyway[2]. Colombian actress María Cecilia Botero voices Abuela Alma, who has featured in various Spanish-language television series.

All the voice cast in Encanto are of Latin American descent, with many being from Colombia, which adds to the cultural specificity of the movie.

La Casa Madrigal, lovingly referred to as “casita” by the family, could almost be a character all of its own. It is not only an amazing-looking house, created out of a magical moment, giving safety and solitude to Alma and her children, but it also picks up on the emotions of those that live there, and helps them out with their difficulties. As it is within an incredibly musical community, the “casita” is very rhythmic too, moving its tiles and furniture to the beat of whatever is playing. The house is the heartbeat of the community.

Within the house, each family member – apart from Mirabel – has their own room which seems to be designed by the “casita” to perfectly match their gift. For example, Isabela’s room is covered floor-to-ceiling with flowers, but has a lot of open space so that she can magic more flowers and plants, like vines, across the room. She has a perfect “floating” princess bed, tethered by garlands of roses, so it suits her gift very well. Antonio’s room is like stepping into Adventureland at Disneyland; it has a tall treehouse for Antonio’s bed, water slides, hammocks, animals everywhere. It’s the perfect children’s bedroom. Contrary to that, you’ve got the bland nursery that Mirabel sleeps in as she never got a gift, and therefore, no special room, and Bruno’s tiny area in the walls, which is a good hideout, though it is bleak and miserable, mirroring how Bruno feels about being isolated from everyone else. His actual room contained a whole cave suited for his visions though.

To represent the cultures of Colombia accurately within the house, many experts and advisors helped with the design, and different aspects were chosen from different regions of Colombia and combined to make this great house. For example, the kitchen was inspired by those from Cartagena, which is on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. The colourful buildings of Salento shaped the colour choices within the house, along with stonework from Barichara. Houses within Colombia’s Coffee Region also tended to have an indoor-outdoor style of living, so the courtyard was added, which is outside but has a staircase leading up to the magical bedrooms. The team at Disney were careful to make sure that, although the house can move in certain ways, the magic was grounded in reality, meaning that the materials of the house couldn’t bend in weird ways. For the cracking, the Effects team wanted it to look as realistic and believable as possible, whilst also being scary and representative of the family fracturing too. It was a complex challenge figuring out how to destroy the house, and that, and the design of the standing house, was a collaborative effort amongst every animation department. They felt that the “casita” was a way to honour and celebrate both the characters of the Madrigal Family and the country of Colombia[3].

PRODUCTION

Directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard had previously directed Disney’s Zootopia (2016), where they wanted to elevate the traditional “talking animal” movie to make it more sophisticated and deeper. After their success on that film, they decided, as musicians, that they wanted to turn their attentions to a Disney musical. In order to do this, they wanted to work with the best in the music industry so chose to collaborate with Lin-Manuel Miranda, who had worked on Moana (2016) with Jared Bush, who wrote its screenplay. They also asked Germaine Franco to compose the score; she had just worked on Pixar’s Coco (2017), which won the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music.

Bush and Howard didn’t initially have a story idea to work through, so along with Miranda, they began to discuss what the three of them had in common. That turned out to be large, extended families, so they looked at themselves and their own family dynamics, and decided that their new movie should explore the questions: how well do we know our families, and how well do they know us? Normally, those working on the movie soundtrack would not have such an involvement in the story, but as Lin-Manuel Miranda was involved in the story from early on in development, he did. Bush and Howard were also looking for someone else to join them as co-director and to help move the story along. After interviewing numerous writers, they wanted to work with Charise Castro Smith, who became co-director and co-writer of the screenplay; Encanto was her film debut.  

Then, the team had to decide on a location. They found that as Latin America puts such strong emphasis on the importance of family that that would be the best area to base the movie, before choosing Colombia as the specific setting, as it is dubbed the “crossroads” of Latin America. As is standard for most Disney movies, the team went on a research trip in 2018 to look at the region more closely, studying its music, geography, culture and architecture. Whilst there, they were led to places of magic called “encantos”, which are usually in areas of natural wonder. These areas are is linked to the literary term “magical realism”, which was popularised by Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez, where magical elements and events exist in ordinary situations. This would be the style that Disney used throughout Encanto. Magic is vital to the beliefs of both the Indigenous Colombian community and the Caribbean communities that reside there.

As per Moana (2016) and Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), a cultural trust was created, as a means to include experts and advisors on the specific country and culture that was being represented in the movie. In this case, it was the Colombian Cultural Trust. Amongst that, they had a group of those working at the Disney Studios of Latin American heritage who were asked to discuss ideas for the story, bringing in their own family experiences and upbringings. This group were able to discuss and review early versions of the script, to ensure that cultural representation was accurate[4].

The crew didn’t originally plan to base Encanto in any specific country, but eventually, they decided it would be better for the story if they grounded into a specific place, and since Colombia is a country that has had difficulties and conflicts in the past, but is now a flourishing environment, as well as being a melting pot of Latin American cultures, Disney decided to choose Colombia. Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) had been criticised on its release in March 2021 for not choosing a specific Southeast Asian country as its setting. Encanto is specific to Colombia in even the smallest details, including the plants, trees, and animals, like those that Antonio can communicate with. When I first saw the teaser trailer for Encanto and saw the capybaras and tapirs, native to South America, I was so excited. I love those animals, especially capybaras; they’re so cute!

Thanks to the variety of experts and cultural advisors that Disney assigned to the project, Encanto successfully integrated the three main heritages of Colombia, those being Afro-Colombian, Indigenous, and Spanish. All of these are represented within the characters, as all of them have differing hair and skin tones; a stereotypical model was not used for each of them. This was something that many viewers picked up on and were pleased to see. Encanto is about appreciating differences, be that in people, architecture, or environments, and living together in harmony. Since there is so much in the world that divides us, especially in today’s society, this was an important message to incorporate[5].

Despite being able to do initial research in Colombia prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, once that hit, Disney staffers were no longer able to travel to that area, and instead had to continue their research and ask questions over Zoom calls. This was the same for the voice cast recordings, as you can see from behind-the-scenes footage. As Encanto would’ve been in production around the same time as Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), it can be assumed the Encanto team dealt with the same issues, such as Wi-Fi troubles, bandwidth increases, and those family and pet disturbances! The lockdown in California, where the Disney Studios are based, officially lasted from March 2020 until June 2021, with California being one of the last US states to “open up” again, so by the time they were out of lockdown, the majority of the production on Encanto would’ve been finished.

MUSIC

The soundtrack had to be recorded over Zoom, at least partly, because of the pandemic, with Lin-Manuel Miranda giving notes to the performers via video conferencing, as can be seen in behind-the-scenes footage. This must’ve been incredibly difficult for everyone involved, with Germaine Franco also having to record much of the score over Zoom. Yet, they managed to create a soundtrack unlike any other Disney film and one that surpassed many others in terms of popularity and diversity.

Lin-Manuel Miranda was well-known at the time of Encanto for having written the uber-famous musical Hamilton, as well as the lesser known but still celebrated In the Heights, along with working on Disney’s Moana (2016), so it came as no surprise that he managed to write a variety of songs that had universal appeal. Miranda stated that he began by finding the pulse of each character, working out which of the varying musical styles would fit that character best. This means that every song in the soundtrack sounds and feels completely different to the next. Due to the diverse cultures that exist in Colombia, there was a lot of styles to choose from.

“The Family Madrigal”, the movie’s opening song, performed by Mirabel to explain the family gifts to the village children, had to be entertaining as well as giving a backstory to each of the twelve family members. It was a complicated song to write for that reason, but Miranda liked writing for Beatriz’ bubbly musical voice. The end of song crazy-fast recap, where Mirabel is avoiding the question of what her gift is, built the character of Mirabel further. I like the song enough, however, as it’s more of a storytelling device, I don’t think too much into it. I struggled to understand much of it, as it is so fast, the first time I heard, so I didn’t know who everyone’s gifts were to begin with. But I have found that can be the case with some of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs, like those in Hamilton; that there is so much within them, that it can take a couple of times of hearing it to fully understand what all the lyrics are. This isn’t a criticism, just how I’ve experienced some of his music.

My favourite piece is actually “Waiting on a Miracle”, which wasn’t one that hit the music charts after Encanto’s release. It’s the typical “want” song of the main protagonist, something that is essential for any musical, and it shows how isolated Mirabel is feeling within the Madrigals at that point; she isn’t sure if she’s good enough or where she fits in with the family. I’m sure that’s a relatable feeling for many people. It’s full of heart and emotion, and that’s why I like it. When I watched Encanto for the first time, this was the first point, first of many, where my eyes filled with tears. Miranda said he used a waltz timing for the song to signify that Mirabel is literally out of step with her family.

“Surface Pressure”, a reggaeton-style number, was one of those songs that did hit the music charts, the most popular in the soundtrack, at least in the UK, after the obvious one I’ve not yet mentioned. Halfway through the song it suddenly switches to a slower, calmer bit, which signifies Luisa’s longing to be able to relax, before speeding back up. I understand the point of it, that Luisa is explaining how she’s trying to stay cool and calm on the surface, but actually, underneath she’s struggling to cope, yet, personally I don’t like it that much; it’s ok and has a nice beat though.

Mirabel’s other sister, Isabela, gets her own song as well: “What Else Can I Do?”. I like this song, probably because it has a Spanish pop feeling to it. It shows Isabela figuring out that she doesn’t need to be perfect all the time, and that she can have fun and just be herself, with her gift and her life. It’s a joyous, optimistic song, and is in complete contrast to the chaos and destruction that follows it. It’s nice to have this high point before the big emotional scenes come just a few minutes later. I also like how it shows the two sisters actually getting on and bonding over something for once. Isabela’s room even gets in on the action, growing huge stage settings like they are performing in a stadium.

Then there’s the tearjerker, “Dos Oruguitas”, meaning “Two Little Caterpillars”, performed by Sebastián Yatra, who also performs the song in English for the soundtrack. This Spanish-language song plays during the scene where we see Abuela Alma’s full backstory, of her meeting her husband Pedro, falling in love, getting married, having children, and then ultimately being forced to flee their home and Pedro sacrificing himself to save everyone else. Miranda wanted the song to have a folksong sound to it, so that it would sound like something that had been sung on the streets for a hundred years. Miranda was very pleased to have Colombian singer Yatra on board for the number too, and liked his clear storytelling. Apparently, this song and scene was meant to be the prologue for Encanto, but this decision was scrapped as the team wanted to save the song as a storytelling device for later in the film, as Abuela wouldn’t have shared this pain until something devasting had happened which meant she needed to have the big emotional moment with Mirabel[6].

Even though it is in Spanish, so many people will not necessarily understand the lyrics, it is clear exactly what is happening thanks to the animation. I can’t even listen to it anymore without crying; it’s the emotional crux of the whole movie, and it sounds both sad at the start before becoming hopeful. It’s just beautiful. “Dos Oruguitas” was nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in 2022, where Yatra also performed the song as part of the ceremony, but sadly lost out to “No Time to Die”, by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell from the Bond film of the same name. Unfortunately, “Dos Oruguitas” did not match the fascination of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, with many questioning why that was not up for the award instead, as it likely would’ve won. Disney did not submit the song for contention, as they could not envision it becoming such a hit!

The big finale song of Encanto is “All of You”, where the family come together to rebuild their “casita”. It includes many of the themes from the previous songs in the movie, matching to each character that is singing at that point. It’s a very sweet song, and if I’m not already crying at this point, as soon as the villagers come in to the ensemble, to help rebuild the house, I’ll be gone at that point!  It’s a good song to wrap up everything, though less catchy than others on the soundtrack. The credits song, “Colombia, Mi Encanto”, which also features briefly during preparations for Antonio’s gift ceremony, is a party song, and it does make you want to get up and dance – and even sit through the credits! Miranda was inspired by the genre and style of Colombian singer-songwriter Carlos Vives, so naturally, he was ecstatic when Vives agreed to perform the song too.

So that’s all the songs from Encanto, right? I can move on? Oh wait, no, there’s just one little song left to mention: “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”. with choreography being designed by Jamal Sims and Kai Martinez, was filmed as a live-action reference sequence and completed in one take, using Latin dancers to accurately represent the fusion of dance and musical styles that feature in the song. The animators were very excited to work on the animation for the sequence after seeing the live-action modelling, and studied it from every angle, to look carefully at the movement of clothing, as well as the shapes of the hands and feet. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is the “family gossip” song of the film, where everyone gets to share their opinion on Bruno, as Mirabel is pulled between different people to hear their side of the story[7]. If you think about it, it’s not actually a very nice song; you shouldn’t have a whole village talking badly about one person, but there you go! I don’t quite understand why “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” was the main song that really captured listeners and viewers, so much so that many of the original cast performed a version of the song at the 2022 Oscars Ceremony, but then I feel the same way about “Let It Go”. It is a very fun song; I like how everyone’s own section sounds different and connects to their character’s personality in particular, before everyone comes together for the ending. It also includes a lyric that I find hilarious for some reason, which is when they all sing: “Time for Dinner!”. Like I said, I like the song, but I haven’t gone mad for it!

The score was composed by Germaine Franco, who took the role very seriously. She even brought in instruments specific to certain regions of Colombia, such as a marimba from the Choco region, as well as a Colombian harp, and played all the instruments to get a feel for them. Franco tried out many different rhythms and musical styles from the various regions, and chose and layered the best ones for the movie[8]. Franco also had to ensure that the instrumental pieces connected and flowed into and out of Miranda’s songs well, and never detracted from them. The score was nominated for Best Original Score at the 2022 Oscars but lost to Hans Zimmer’s score for Dune (2021).

The Encanto soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 chart for nine weeks, and each of its original songs charted on the US Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, it topped the album chart for fourteen consecutive weeks, sixteen in total. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” and “Surface Pressure” were the two best-selling tracks. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” was the second number-one song for Disney in the US, after “A Whole New World” from Aladdin (1992), and was the first-ever to reach number one in the UK, where it sat comfortably for a number of weeks. The soundtrack album won the Annie Award for Outstanding Music in a Feature Film and the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack and Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. It was a huge success, surprising many, and became a big social media craze.

RECEPTION

Encanto was released for an exclusive 30-day theatrical run in the US on 24^th November 2021, after having its world premiere in Los Angeles on 3^rd November, and its Colombia premiere in Bogotá on 23^rd November. It was then released on Disney+ on 24^th December 2021, just in time for Christmas. The movie was paired with the short film Far from the Tree (2021), written and directed by Natalie Nourigat. It follows a pair of raccoons, a parent and child, seeing a Pacific Coast beach for the first time and figuring out its dangers and wonders together. It’s was inspired by Nourigat’s family visits to Cannon Beach. It’s a cute short and received positive reviews, stating it complimented Encanto well.

Encanto itself grossed a worldwide total of $256.5 million, with it becoming the highest grossing animation film of 2021, beating out Sing 2 (2021). It then achieved wider success after its release to Disney+ and received very positive reviews, with some even considering it one of the best Disney animated movies of all time. Critics loved the animation, the music, and were particularly pleased with its representation and depiction of Colombians and their culture, as Hollywood has not been kind in their depictions of Colombia previously. Encanto certainly received much less criticism for this aspect than more contemporary Disney animated movies such as Moana (2016) and Raya and the Last Dragon (2021). Many felt Encanto was a great example of Disney successfully moving away from their usual “formula”, with the brief reference to Colombia’s difficult past and displacement of locals a welcome surprise. There were, however, a few negative criticisms which mostly revolved around the lack of conflict and action within the movie. It did, to me, feel like nothing much happened at times when I first watched it; Encanto was not what I had been expecting. I think if you are prepared for a movie that is more about emotions than actions, then it is not a disappointing watch.

Encanto received countless awards, winning the Oscar for Best Animated Film, against strong competition from Pixar’s Luca (2021) and Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon (2021). It also won the BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Animated Film. It did not, however, win the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, surprisingly. That went to Sony Pictures Animation’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021).

The DVD and Blu-Ray of Encanto was released in 2022, but an interesting point to note is that the Blu-Ray and DVD covers call Encanto the 59^th Disney animated classic; mine does anyway. This is not true, as Encanto is actually the 60^th animated classic from Disney, being billed as that in multiple publications. Even on the Blu-Ray release, just before the movie itself, there is a graphic denoting Encanto as the 60^th animated classic. The reason for this is likely that Winnie the Pooh (2011) is not always included on lists of Disney Animated Classics, i.e., Walt Disney Animation Studios Films.

LEGACY

As Encanto was only released a couple of years ago, it has not had too much time to develop a franchise. Yet there is still plenty to talk about. Firstly, there have been talks around a sequel, Encanto 2, being in development. The latest update on this from Stephanie Beatriz seems to be suggesting that is not currently in the works, due to Jared Bush and Byron Howard working on Zootopia 2, but that she would be very happy to work with them and Disney again on a sequel. There were also talks around a Disney+ series at one point. Stay on the lookout for whether either of these projects come to fruition.

Just a year after Encanto’s release, on 11^th and 12^th November 2022, owing to the popularity of the movie, the original cast performed a concert of the movie’s soundtrack in front of a live audience at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. This concert was filmed and released on Disney+ on 28^th December 2022. It was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first time at the Hollywood Bowl, as he hosted the event. The show featured minimal staging, with projections and some scenery being used to create the “casita”. The voice actors sang their songs dressed similarly to their characters, but were not dressed in exact copies of the outfits. There was also a screen showing clips from the movie, as connecting dialogue was used to connect each song together, as it was just recreations of the main songs, and a couple of additional scenes, not a retelling of the whole movie. A local youth choir was even chosen to come on stage and sing “Dos Oruguitas” alongside Andres Cepeda – Sebastián Yatra was not available for the event. Carlos Vives was though, and he sang his song “Colombia, Mi Encanto”. There was a shortened version of “The Family Madrigal” used for the cast’s curtain call, before a small fireworks display ended the show.

The Disney Parks are seemingly ever-changing. At the D23 Expo 2023 that took place at the Walt Disney World Resort in September 2023, it was teased that Animal Kingdom’s DinoLand U.S.A area is going to be rethemed soon, to Encanto or Indiana Jones. It has now been confirmed that this area will be replaced with the Tropical Americas Land, which will feature Encanto and Indiana Jones themed areas. No specific details of these new experiences have yet been announced, nor has a closing date for DinoLand U.S.A, but it will likely be announced soon. There are also rumours and questions over the area at Magic Kingdom that is looking to be developed called “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain”, but nothing has been confirmed for this “new land” so far.

There are multiple confirmed Encanto offerings at the Disney Parks, though admittedly these are either at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, with lots of merchandise offerings as well. At Walt Disney World, in Magic Kingdom, a meet-and-greet location for Mirabel opened on 15^th September 2023, the beginning of the celebrations for Hispanic and Latin American Heritage Month. This is a permanent location for Mirabel, though, called Fairytale Garden. It replaces the area that housed a meet-and-greet with Merida, and is located on a pathway to the side of Cinderella Castle. Previously, Mirabel had only been available to see as part of the Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade, a mini-parade that comes down Main Street U.S.A a few times a day. But now, Bruno has taken her place and joined this cavalcade from 15^th September. It is unclear if he is a temporary or permanent addition to the cavalcade.

Elsewhere in Walt Disney World, there are scenes of Encanto that are shown during the Wonderful World of Animation show, and during the nighttime spectacular Fantasmic!, both at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It is possible Mirabel will feature on the finale riverboat scene during Fantasmic! with other Disney characters at some point in the future. At Epcot, an Encanto-themed food booth, Vibrante & Vívido Encanto Cocina, with empanadas on the menu, debuted at the 2023 Epcot Festival of the Arts. At the 2023 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, the front of the park featured topiaries of the characters Mirabel, Antonio, Isabela and Luisa. There was also a projection show on Spaceship Earth that debuted during the same festival, featuring the song “What Else Can I Do?”. At the 2023 Epcot Food & Wine Festival, a whole merchandise collection themed to Encanto was released. I am sure the movie and its characters will be a regular feature at the Epcot Festivals in some form. On 10th June 2024, in the CommuniCore Plaza area of Epcot, the show ¡Celebración Encanto! debuted. It involves sing-alongs, dancing, and an appearance from Mirabel and Bruno towards the end of the show, which is sure to be a hit with kids. It seems to just be a limited time offering for Summer 2024 with multiple shows throughout the day.

At Disneyland, from 11^th April 2022, a limited time projection show on the outside of the it’s a small world attraction debuted at the park. It ran until September of that year, but returned in February 2023, and is still going. The song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is used. A section on Encanto using “Waiting For a Miracle” features towards the beginning of World of Color – One, the nighttime show at Disneyland California Adventure. Mirabel also meets guests near Rancho del Zocalo in Frontierland at Disneyland. She has been listed as a specific meet-and-greet character as well during the Disney California Adventure Park Disney ¡Viva Navidad! celebrations for 2023’s holiday season. Encanto, and its song “Dos Oruguitas” also featured within the fireworks show Wondrous Journeys at Disneyland. Its final performance was on 31^st August 2023, as the show was created for the 100 Years of Disney celebration. It may or may not return in the future, but I’m sure Encanto will feature in whatever might replace it after the Halloween and Holiday shows are done for the year.

At both Disneyland’s Fantasyland, and at three locations at Walt Disney World Resort – Disney Springs, Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland and Disney’s Grand Floridan Resort – an Encanto package is available at the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique for little ones to be made over into their favourite Encanto character. This is a big deal as none of the Encanto characters are technically Disney Princesses; this just shows the wide appeal of the film.

I could not find evidence of a meet-and-greet location for Mirabel, or any Encanto character, at Disneyland Paris, Shanghai Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland or Hong Kong Disneyland, so this may or may not come in the future. As for other Encanto characters, despite not being a villain, Bruno debuted as a meet-and-greet character at Disney California Adventure’s Halloween Party Oogie Boogie Bash in 2022. He returned there in 2023. It is likely that Bruno will have permanent meet-and-greet locations in both parks eventually, with these already being rumoured. I wouldn’t be surprised if some other Encanto characters made meet-and-greet debuts at the Disney Parks either, even if just for a limited time.

Finally, Encanto was put into the Disney on Ice show in 2023, with the characters coming on to the ice to perform their songs. They even built a “casita” set for the stage. The Disney on Ice team made sure to get the cultural styling right, including some Latin specific dance movements in their ice and aerial performances. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Encanto was a surprise hit, much like Frozen (2013), with its popularity potentially not even hitting its peak yet. Despite the fact there is very little action, no villains, and no magical conflicts, the music energised people and the story touched viewers. Maybe a quiet film centred around our inner thoughts and feelings was all the public needed after two years of being shut in our homes, not able to do anything. Maybe this was a rare moment away from the vast array of action, thriller and crime adaptations that have become the general norm in the film and television industry as of late.  

Most importantly, those of Latin American heritage finally felt seen in a Disney movie. I don’t know how many times I read or heard people say that Encanto was finally a good representation of Colombian and Latino culture in Hollywood, and that they look forward to showing it to their children, so they don’t have to grow up in a world as they did where they could not see positive references to themselves or their families on screen.

It is clearly a big moment for many people and means so much more than just another Disney animated film. Encanto has real meaning, and I’m sure the praise and impressive universal success of Encanto has been very moving for all involved.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

[2] Credit: Disney, “Familia Lo Es Todo”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

[3] Credit: Disney, “Our Casita”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

[4] Credit: Camille Jefferson, ‘A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Encanto’, news.disney.com, 26^th October 2021.

[5] Credit: Disney, “Discover Colombia”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

[6] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘’Encanto’: How ‘Dos Oruguitas’ Was Brought to Life’, The Wrap (online), 19^th January 2022.

[7] Credit: Disney, “Let’s Talk About Bruno”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

[8] Credit: Disney, “A Journey Through Music”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. PRODUCTION
5. MUSIC
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

Did you miss out on Raya and the Last Dragon when it was released? Did it pass you by?

I wouldn’t be surprised if you said yes, given that it was released during the COVID-19 pandemic! Raya and the Last Dragon was supposed to be released in November 2020, but it was delayed until March 2021. It was released in theatres at that time in some countries, including the US, as well as on Disney+ at an additional cost as part of the Disney+ Premier Access service. This was the second Disney movie to be released on that platform, after the live-action adaptation of Mulan in September 2020. Raya and the Last Dragon was then available free to the majority of Disney+ subscribers from June 2021.

I watched it for the first time shortly after this date, and after this week, I have now only watched it twice. I remember I liked the film the first time, and I liked it even more this time round.

Raya and the Last Dragon is not a princess movie, despite the female main character, nor does it involve any songs. This is no longer uncommon for Disney; they have been moving away from their well-used formula of the Broadway-style fairy-tale for at least the last decade. Raya and the Last Dragon was generally well-received, however, as Disney’s other release of 2021, Encanto, made such a storm, Raya and the Last Dragon, unfortunately, seems to already have been forgotten, though I would hope that it will make a comeback of some sorts in the next few years.

PLOT

Raya and the Last Dragon begins with a young woman travelling through a desert on the back of a rolling bug. She recounts the story of her land, Kumandra, which five hundred years ago, was threatened by dark forces called Druun. The “last dragon”, Sisu, put all her energy into a single gem, which destroyed the Druun, reviving the land’s people who had been turned to stone by the Druun, however, the same does not happen to the dragons who shared the same fate. This magical gem was coveted by the five separate areas of Kumandra: Heart, Tail, Talon, Spine and Fang, with Heart gaining possession of the gem.

Then, we see a young girl, Raya, being taught how to be “The Guardian of the Dragon Gem”, protecting it from being stolen by others, by her father, the Heart Chief, Chief Benja. He believes that the five areas should become one again and start trusting each other. His first step to gaining peace is to invite the other four lands and their people to Heart. The people are suspicious of why Heart has summoned them there, but Raya breaks the ice by bonding with the daughter of Fang’s Chief, Namaari, over their shared love of dragons. Raya is given Namaari’s necklace of the dragon, Sisu, so in return, Raya takes Namaari to see the dragon gem, however, Raya is double-crossed, and Namaari alerts the Fang warriors to the gem. At the same time, everyone else fights over the gem, causing it to fall to the ground and smash, which releases the Druun again. Each land grabs a section of the gem and flees. Raya’s father is hurt in the fight, and sacrifices himself to the Druun to save Raya, by throwing her into the river, as Druun are repelled by water. She is alone.

Six years later, we return to the opening scene in the desert. The woman is Raya, and her rolling bug is her friend, Tuk Tuk, part pill-bug, part armadillo, part pug, apparently! Raya has travelled to the end of every river in Kumandra, as it is rumoured that Sisu, the last dragon, resides at the end of one of them. Raya’s final visit is a river in the desert land of Tail. She sets up a shrine and prays to Sisu, who reveals herself. Sisu is real after all! Raya asks Sisu to make another gem, but as Sisu didn’t create the gem, just “turned it in”, and her siblings created it, she cannot do it. The two set off, instead, to find the other pieces of the gem and reassemble them to thwart the Druun once more. As they retrieve the first piece from Tail, within a booby-trapped cave, Namaari and Fang’s warriors come to stop them, and figure out why Raya is stealing gem pieces. Raya, Sisu and Tuk Tuk get away and board a boat, run by Boun, a child, orphaned by the Druun’s curse. He has been operating a restaurant on this boat, but happily takes Raya and Sisu to Talon for extra money! Boun joins them on their quest.

At Talon, Raya goes to find the next piece of gem, but is conned by a baby, again, orphaned by the Druun, and her trio of ongis friends (monkey-like animals), who steal her gem pieces. Raya wastes time retrieving them but succeeds. She then “hires” the con artists to distract the Chief of Talon to get the next gem piece, but find he was turned to stone. The new Chief, Dang Hu, has captured Sisu, who has shape-shifted to a human to conceal her identity; the new Chief wants the gem pieces and won’t release Sisu until she tells her where they are. Raya comes in to save Sisu and steals away Talon’s piece at the same time; they are free to keep going on to Spine. At Spine, they meet a warrior, called Tong, who is the only remaining member of Spine. Raya and Sisu have fallen into a trap and been captured by him, but he seems more bothered about having the company than actually wanting to kill them for trespassing! When Fang’s warriors arrive to stop Raya again, Tong releases the next gem piece and is told to leave with the others while Raya distracts Namaari. As Namaari and Raya fight, Raya is quickly overwhelmed. Sisu regains her dragon form and goes in to the fight to save her. Namaari is stunned to see Sisu in real-life, with Sisu believing there is some good in her; Raya isn’t so sure. They both escape.

Sisu asks Raya to try to restore peace with Namaari by returning her dragon necklace to her. In return, Namaari surrenders the final gem piece, but then pulls out a crossbow, aiming it at Sisu, as her mother, Fang’s Chief, has asked her to steal the other gem pieces, as well as Sisu, so Fang can be the holder of the full and complete gem. Sisu pleads with Raya to let her talk with Namaari, as she believes Namaari does want to help. Raya then attacks Namaari with her sword, believing Namaari will shoot. Namaari does, but only out of surprise, with the crossbow hitting Sisu, killing her; Sisu falls into the water. Namaari runs back to Fang. With the last dragon gone, all the water of Kumandra, which had been protecting some from the force of the Druun, drains away, so the Druun can now attack fully again. Raya, overcome with anger and rage at Namaari for killing Sisu, goes to Namaari to challenge her to a final duel. The duel goes on as the Druun start attacking Fang’s land, with Tong, baby Noi, Boun, and the ongis helping Fang’s people escape. Namaari tells Raya that she is also to blame for Sisu’s death, for not trusting her. Raya relents, and goes to help the others with the evacuation of Fang, with Namaari following suit.

However, the Druun start to gain ground on the group, with them falling into a crack in the ground. They are surrounded. Raya then remembers what Sisu told her; that on the day the gem was forged by the last dragons, they created the gem with their powers before entrusting it to Sisu to stop the Druun. It was trust, not magic, that stopped the Druun. Raya hands over her piece of gem to Namaari and is soon turned to stone. Boun, then Noi, then Tong follow with Namaari left holding the five gem pieces, using them to fight back the Druun. She sees an opening above her and goes to escape, but sees the others as stone, and decides she must reassemble the gem. She quickly does, and joins the others to be petrified as well. When all looks lost, the gem’s magic awakens sending a powerful wave of energy throughout Kumandra, destroying the Druun once and for all.

A rainstorm begins, reviving all the people of Kumandra. We then see that, unlike five hundred years ago, the dragons are revived as well and return. They come together to revive Sisu, with the group reuniting with her, happy to be back together again. Boun, Noi and Tong return to their prospective areas of Tail, Talon, and Spine to be reunited with their family members, with Sisu and Raya returning to Heart to see her father again. Sisu tells Chief Benja how his daughter has unified Kumandra, with everyone from the other areas convening at Heart as evidence of this. Kumandra is finally united again.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Raya is at the heart of this story. Raya is still only a teenager, but has to go out on this extraordinary journey to not only save her father, but also her land. She is an incredibly brave, strong character, as we see in the opening sequence, where she is training to be “The Guardian of the Dragon Gem” – she has to navigate all these traps and then fight her father to prove she can do it, and she does, even though I think she’s only twelve-years-old at that point! Raya clearly has trust issues, because of the fact she was betrayed by someone who she thought was a friend, and because her father’s attempts at building trust with the other lands failed and led to the Druun returning to Kumandra. She is much happier going off alone, with just her pet Tuk Tuk as her only companion. However, as more and more people start joining her and Sisu on their journey, Raya learns that she has to start trusting others, because she can achieve so much more by doing that. Raya does learn to trust Boun, Noi and Tong, but when it comes to Namaari, that’s a different story. When Sisu is killed, because of Raya’s distrust and Namaari’s fear, it sends Raya into a rage; it looks like Raya has completely lost any hope of trusting Namaari, but, when push comes to shove, Raya knows trusting is the only way to save Kumandra, and by taking the first step, the rest of her group know that they can trust Namaari too, because they themselves trust Raya. This is where Raya’s journey comes full circle. Within Southeast Asian culture, there is a strong history of female leaders and warriors, with Raya embodying that spirit, including through her clothing which allows her to stay agile, and her hair which is braided to keep her sightline clear. Her name means “great” or “celebration” in some of the languages of Southeast Asia[1].

Raya is voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, who is best known for playing the role of Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). As I haven’t watched the new Star Wars films, I can only assume she’s good in them! Tran does a brilliant job with the character of Raya, as she brings strength, vulnerability, and humour to the character, to make Raya well-rounded and relatable. Tran actually ad-libbed the prayer that Raya speaks when she is trying to summon Sisu. It was incredibly touching and proved to the Disney team that Tran was perfect for the role[2]. Tuk Tuk is “voiced” by Alan Tudyk, but, much like his performance as Hei Hei in Moana (2016), it is a non-speaking role, but, hey, it’s Alan Tudyk – you’ve got to find a part for him in every Disney movie, right?

Looking at Raya’s nemesis, Namaari, she is a victim of her own upbringing, I think. Though Namaari’s mother, Virana, does have a lot of belief in Namaari and clearly brought up her to be confident and self-sufficient, Virana is not particularly maternal. She is quite strict and sure of her own mind, making her a good leader and Chief for Fang, but not a brilliant mother-figure! She has taught Namaari to put the tribe above everything else, even if that means betraying those who are kind to you. This is where Namaari’s problems stem, in that she feels torn between what is good for Fang, and what she actually believes is right. You can see that when Namaari first looks at Sisu, that she goes back to being that little girl who just liked dragons, and that she isn’t an emotionless warrior. Sisu is correct that Namaari would rather have peace in Kumandra than have the endless fighting; she’s just scared. Namaari does assemble the dragon gem again and ultimately saves Kumandra; she just needed Raya to take the first step to show that it is ok to trust, and that it was what they had to do to save everyone else.

Namaari is voiced by English actor, Gemma Chan, who has been known in the UK for some time from her roles in television such as Fresh Meat (2011) and Humans (2014-15), but has gained more recognition for her roles in movies such as Astrid Leong-Teo in Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel (2019). Virana is voiced by Sandra Oh, who is most well-known for starring as Eve Polastri in Killing Eve (2018-22), as well as Cristina Yang in Grey’s Anatomy (2005-14). For Disney, she played the role of the Vice Principal in The Princess Diaries (2001), as well as voiced the part of Ting Ting, the eldest of the emperor’s daughters, in Mulan II (2004).

To get the relationship right between the characters of Raya and Namaari, the team at Disney wanted to look at examples within mainstream films of two female characters being the central relationship of the movie, but they found there weren’t many references that they could use during their early concept work! Frozen (2013) partly does this, though the sisters of Anna and Elsa are separated from each other for most of the movie. They did find that Marvel films contain many strong female action hero types but that, generally, only one appears on screen at any one time, and they also don’t tend to be warm, flawed or funny. Raya and Namaari had to be more than just warrior princesses, so the team looked at their own relationships and looked at the differing backgrounds of the two girls, to see how they were raised to be enemies[3].

Sisu is the other main female character of the film. She is the last dragon of Kumandra, famed for being the saviour of Kumandra from the Druun and lauded as a great legend in the area. Based on the stories, Sisu would seem to be a wise, strait-laced dragon, so imagine Raya’s surprise, when Sisu turns out to be funny, self-deprecating, and kind of accident-prone, barrelling into situations without thinking anything through, and being led by blind faith. Having said that, Sisu is just unsure how to be a dragon within the human world, with Raya trying to make her act like a human for the first half of the movie. Sisu is much happier just being a dragon! Sisu doesn’t think much of herself, saying that her only power is swimming well and that it is her siblings who had all the great power, not her, yet they trusted her to be the one to use the gem to defeat the Druun so she clearly just doesn’t have much confidence! When Sisu dies, a great dragon is lost, and the land of Kumandra knows it, as it drains away all the water. She is revived by her siblings as Sisu is needed in the world, proving that she is a great dragon. Raya learns a lot from Sisu, including how to trust others again, giving her the information she needed to reunite Kumandra.

Sisu is voiced by comedic actor and rapper, Awkwafina, best known for her roles in movies such as Ocean’s 8 (2018), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). Awkwafina also starred as Katy in the Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and voiced the role of Scuttle in the Disney live-action remake of The Little Mermaid (2023). Awkwafina won the award for “Best Voice Performance” for Sisu at the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards in 2021.

For Raya’s “crew”, Boun is the first to join. He is just ten-years-old when his family is petrified by the Druun, leaving him all alone. He knows he has to stand on his own two feet now, which is why he sets about starting a restaurant on his boat called “The Shrimporium”. In a deleted scene, Boun was going to originally run a “Mister Fix-It”-type shop, with him fixing Tuk Tuk’s broken shell[4]. He is a good chef, with the rest of the group very much enjoying his food, and he is more than capable in drumming up business with his cheeky persona. You can see that there is still vulnerability there, though, as he misses his family and wants to be reunited with them again, but isn’t sure when or if it will happen, but Boun knows he can’t spend time dwelling on that and has to get on, whether that’s running his business or helping Raya. Boun is voiced by Izaac Wang, whose first film role was in Good Boys (2019), a comedy produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, so you can imagine what kind of film that is! It’s on my list to watch soon.

Tong, the Spine warrior, is very isolated in Spine, being the last survivor to have escaped the Druun. He looks ruthless, but he is a gentle giant really. It’s clear he has no intention of harming Raya and Sisu when they are caught in one of his traps and would rather just talk to them! He also bonds with Little Noi, probably because, as we learn at the end of the movie, he seems to have a child about the same age as Noi, who was petrified along with the rest of his family. Little Noi is very cute and funny, but we can’t forget that she is first and foremost a con baby! She comes in handy for Raya along with her ongis friends, who are also very cute. They make a strange little con group, but it works for them, and much like Boun, they had to become self-sufficient after the Druun claimed their family, so you can’t blame them. Tong is voiced by actor Benedict Wong, who now plays the role of Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who first appeared in Doctor Strange (2016). Noi is voiced by Thalia Tran, who is due to play Mai in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender for Netflix.

Another actor with a part in Raya and the Last Dragon as well as Avatar: The Last Airbender is Daniel Dae Kim, who voices Chief Benja. Chief Benja is the Chief of Heart and Raya’s father. He wants peace and raises Raya to believe that Kumandra can be united once more. Benja is supportive of his daughter, setting her on the right path of ultimately stopping the fighting and tension between the other four lands. Chief Benja unfortunately is petrified for most of the movie, but it is clear the strong bond him and Raya have. Daniel Dae Kim starred as Jin-Soo Kwon in the TV series Lost (2004-10), as well as Chin Ho Kelly in Hawaii Five-O (2010-17). I know him for playing Jack Kang, leader of Candor, in Insurgent (2015) and Allegiant (2016), the second and third movies of The Divergent Series. I’m still bitter that the final movie was never released, and the series was unfinished…

PRODUCTION

Kumandra consists of five different areas: Heart, Tail, Talon, Spine, and Fang. As Chief Benja states, they are all named after body parts, based on where each land is located along the dragon-shaped river. Chief Benja uses this as evidence to prove that the lands should be reunited once more. Each area has a different landscape. Heart is a lush, green landscape, with a jungle setting; Tail is mostly desert; Talon is based on floating markets of areas like the Philippines; Spine is situated in a cold bamboo forest; and Fang is based within a temple on a series of canals.

Kumandra is a unique, amazing world with the movie only exploring a fraction of the area. The idea of Kumandra is rooted in Asian legends, much like stories such as Game of Thrones are based in Arthurian legend. The team joked that there are perhaps more scenes of characters eating than fighting as this is a big part of South Asian culture which they wanted to include in the movie[5].

To get the feel of Southeast Asia correct, and to be respectful to the eleven countries that make up this region, Disney collaborated with many experts, who had on-going conversations with each other throughout production on the movie, with the organisation being named the “Southeast Asia Story Trust”. It consisted of linguists, choreographers, musicians, architects, martial artists, and cultural experts. This was to ensure that aspects of Southeast Asian culture were represented accurately within the movie. The team at Disney also went on a research trip to Southeast Asia, before the pandemic hit, to see things in person, where they learnt about history, architecture, art, story and traditions, whilst meeting people in person and getting their perspectives and views, and insight into the culture. Sisu, for example, was inspired by Nagas, which are water creatures that honour the elements[6].

The use of martial arts is quite frequent in Raya and the Last Dragon, with different types of martial arts being represented. For example, Benja and Raya’s fighting is based on Pencak silat, an Indonesian martial art, along with the use of Arnis weaponry from the Philippines. Their fighting skills are more balletic with low stances, whereas Namaari’s fighting is based in Muay Thai, also known as Thai boxing, with strong and powerful punches and kicks. She also has two Krabi-Krabong swords, which are used in Thailand as well. Chief Benja has a spiritual blade, with its ability to expand being added as a fantasy element. This sword is passed from generation to generation, being similar to Excalibur in Arthurian legend[7]. Raya then receives this sword from her father, however, in early concepts for the movie, Raya was going to have made a sword herself, made specifically to defeat the Druun, which were going to be physical skeletal-like beings, not the dark energy that they became. Her sword would’ve been legendary across Kumandra, dubbed “the dragon blade”[8].

In terms of software used to animate Raya and the Last Dragon, the team had a bit of help from some previously in-house designed software such as the renderer Hyperion, developed for large-scale scenes in Big Hero 6 (2014), as well as the fur simulation tools used in Zootopia (2016), and the water tools in Moana (2016). These helped showcase the world of Kumandra, and develop the diverse landscapes and characters[9].

The initial idea for the movie came from discussions that some of the team had around what the world their children are growing up in looks like now, as divisions between political and social ideas have become more prominent, with “black and white thinking” taking place over a more inclusive discourse. They wanted to have the concept of a world that was shattered and fractured and have it be brought back together.  Disney were excited to look at a completely new location for their movie, Southeast Asia, which had not been the focus of a Disney movie before. Some of the team grew up in America with Asian heritage, and did not see any representation of themselves on screen; they didn’t want this to be the case for their kids.

The majority of production on Raya and the Last Dragon, almost 100% of it, took place during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Disney had spent time developing the original story in-house beforehand; they had written the script and gone over the storyboarding, but then all of a sudden, everyone working at the Disney Studios offices were told to go home. No-one was sure how this would work, as the collaborative atmosphere of film-making is much more suited to an office atmosphere than the working-from-home setup. The employees received an email one day saying that they needed to take everything they required to work remotely as it would be their last day in the office for a while. Nobody thought it would be longer than about three weeks; they were wrong. The lockdown in California, where the Disney Studios are based, officially lasted from March 2020 until June 2021, with California being one of the last US states to “open up” again.

The first challenge for the Disney workers was for their systems to deal with having more people logged on at the same time, so the bandwidth had to be increased in some cases. The team had to make new workstations for themselves, ensuring they could access all the systems they needed, and trying to get their Wi-Fi to work properly! Video conferencing was another difficulty due to potential freezes and audio-synchronisation issues; it is vital that every frame is viewed within a movie as one second of footage that is not exact can ruin the whole thing. Within a week though, the team were up and running.

Collaboration is key in Disney Animation so working remotely was a concern for creativity and morale. Sometimes new and exciting ideas would happen randomly, in passing in the office, not at set meetings, which became the norm during the pandemic. Now, people were in meetings with around 90-100 people, sitting in front of their computers all day, on Zoom for hours on end, and not seeing anyone from work face-to-face. They soon realised that this was going to be exhausting and make the work harder and less enjoyable, so things like “virtual happy hours” were implemented to keep that sense of community. They also recreated their usual in-office celebrations for milestones and team efforts online instead, as well as having other fun activities. As anyone who has worked remotely will know, you can encounter terrible Internet connection; weird noises from outside spoiling your Zoom calls; as well as random appearances of family members or pets! Luckily, the team were not bothered by this and enjoyed the strange distractions, recounting them as memories of the production process.

The creative team were not the only ones to have to work remotely; the voice actors had to do the same thing, by setting up their own at-home recording studio to record their lines. Disney sent them some equipment along with tips on sound-proofing their rooms. Some of them ended up in closets, and Awkwafina received a sound tent which took up the majority of her living room. Her cat would wander in occasionally during recording sessions!

The pandemic brought the Disney team together, as they rallied quickly and figured out a way to make this movie at home with the same motivation and creativity that they would normally have felt in the office. They wanted to make a great movie, but also help everyone else through this difficult time. The team couldn’t help noticing the similar themes between the pandemic and the messages of Raya and the Last Dragon. The movie is all about trusting others and working together for the greater good, with the Druun being the dark virus that sweeps the land quickly and unapologetically. This was quite reminiscent of the spirit of the scary times of lockdowns where no-one was really sure what was going to happen next, but had to build themselves and others up to deal with it. Though the team working on Raya and the Last Dragon overcame the obstacles of working remotely for an extended period of time to make the movie, they all admitted that they missed working in the office and were desperate to get back there to connect with everyone again[10].

MUSIC

The score for Raya and the Last Dragon was composed by James Newton Howard, who had not composed a score for an animated film since 2002 with Disney’s Treasure Planet; he also scored Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Dinosaur (2000) for Disney Animation. The longest piece of music within Raya and the Last Dragon is the five-minute opening prologue, which incorporates South Asian instruments as well as chanting, setting the adventurous tone of the movie. The whole score is generally inspired by the region of South Asia, without being specifically based in any one country. My favourite pieces are “Prologue”; “Running on Raindrops”, where Sisu is running on the rain; “The Druun Close In”, which is the scene of Raya and the others surrendering their gem pieces to Namaari to defeat the Druun – it’s a powerful scene, and my favourite, but the instrumental is understated and doesn’t take away from the action; and “Return”, which is the sequence where the group return to their respective lands to reunite with family. I like the score for Raya and the Last Dragon, much like I do the other three scores that James Newton Howard composed for Disney. James Newton Howard’s score was nominated for six awards, winning four, including “Theatrical Film” at the 2021 BMI Film & TV Awards, along with “Film Composer of the Year” and “Best Original Score for an Animated Film” at the 2022 International Film Music Critics Association Awards.

The only song in the movie is called “Lead the Way”, written and performed by singer Jhené Aiko. It is played within the End Credits. I like this song as it is a calm pop song, not loud and in-your-face, to match the overall tone of the movie, so that the message and powerful ending can stick with you after the movie is over; it doesn’t distract.

RECEPTION

As previously mentioned, Raya and the Last Dragon was released in some theatres in March 2021 along with the short Us Again, which features an elderly couple learning to dance and love life again after a rainstorm turns them back to their younger selves. Us Again was the first Disney short to be produced since Inner Workings in 2016, and was directed by Zach Parrish who had previously worked on Big Hero 6 (2014).

Many critical reviews of Raya and the Last Dragon were positive, praising the thought-provoking story and brilliantly detailed animation. They were also impressed with the strong characters and the voice work, but did admit that it would likely receive less attention as it was not released in theatres everywhere[11]. Others liked the movie, but could not help mentioning that the voice cast consists of more East Asians than Southeast Asians, which was disappointing to some as it was seen to have ignored the whole region that influenced Raya and the Last Dragon. It was also criticised for using an approach that blended the different cultures of Southeast Asia instead of focusing on specific ones. I understand why this would be disappointing, and where I cannot comment on the voice cast, apart from to say that Disney like to use well-known names for many of their movies to increase their marketing potential, I can say that the likely reason that Disney decided to use influences from many Southeast Asian countries, instead of basing it on one specific area, was to avoid criticisms around why they would have chosen that country and not others, as well as wanting to be more inclusive in their choices whilst not being constrained to a specific area. They probably thought it would be a better approach, which appears to have backfired, but as Disney push for diversity, they open themselves up to criticism and scrutiny. A similar critique came about from the release of Moana (2016)[12]. As so many people of Southeast Asian origin were involved in the making of Raya and the Last Dragon, it is clear that no offence was meant and every effort would have been taken to avoid this reaction.

Yet, Raya will always be Disney’s first Southeast Asian princess, being officially inducted into the Disney Princess clan in August 2022 and named as the 13^th Disney Princess. Kelly Marie Tran became the first Southeast Asian actor to lead an animated Disney feature. The movie was co-written by Vietnamese-American screenwriter Qui Nguyen and Malaysian screenwriter Adele Lim, who co-wrote Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Thai-American Fawn Veerasunthorn was Head of Story on the movie. Adele Lim did state that Raya and the Last Dragon cannot fix everything around representation on screen, but can make a step forward and it can begin to make amends for the historic damage[13].

Unfortunately, though Raya and the Last Dragon was nominated in the “Best Animated Film” category at many award ceremonies including the Academy Awards, Annie Awards, and Golden Globes in 2022, it did not win, losing out to Disney’s other movie of that year, Encanto (2021), for the most part. What can I say, Encanto was just one of those smash hits, almost rivalling the whole Frozen phenomenon! Raya and the Last Dragon did, however, win awards for the soundtrack, as mentioned, as well as for “Sound Editing” at the Golden Reel Awards and “Outstanding Effects Simulations” at the Visual Effects Society Awards.

LEGACY

When Raya and the Last Dragon was first released, Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida did promote the movie in the park in March 2021. A sand sculpture of the movie’s title and some of the characters was built outside of the Flame Tree BBQ restaurant and some limited time snacks were available: a chocolate mousse that resembled Tuk Tuk; a blue ice cream cone in honour of Sisu; and an ice cream sundae with an edible image of Tuk Tuk. Baby Tuk Tuk, who is so adorable, was also featured as part of the Animation Experience at Rafiki’s Planet Watch, where you can learn to draw certain Disney characters[14]. It would seem Baby Tuk Tuk is not still included in the rotation.

In November 2022, Raya herself did make her debut at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom atop the float in the Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade[15]. Raya replaced Moana on top of the float, but presently, Moana has reverted back to her place. Raya still features at the front, with Mulan to her left, and Nick and Judy from Zootopia (2016) on the back.

Raya is not yet featured as a meet-and-greet character at Walt Disney World Resort; however, she has been found at both Shanghai Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. Raya began meeting guests at Shanghai from September 2021, and at Disney’s California Adventure in January 2022 as part of their Lunar New Year celebrations. It seems that Raya no longer appears at Disney’s California Adventure and that this was for a limited engagement but hopefully she receives a permanent position at the US Disney Parks sometime soon. It is unclear if Raya can still be seen at Shanghai Disneyland. Still, merchandise relating to Raya and the Last Dragon can be found at shopping locations within the Disney Parks.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It is particularly unlucky that Raya and the Last Dragon was released during the pandemic, with countries releasing the movie on different platforms, which would not have helped its box-office positioning and current reputation. By the time Encanto was released towards the end of 2021, the world was starting to come out of lockdowns, but with Raya and the Last Dragon, some countries, including the UK, were still in lockdown, with cinemas not open, so we had no choice but to watch it on Disney+, or let it be forgotten.

Raya and the Last Dragon has strong characters, a powerful message, and an adventure at the heart of it. I’m hoping in a small way to draw some more attention to Raya and the Last Dragon with this piece, and that I can encourage more people to watch it, because it is a great movie worthy of praise.

And if you don’t believe me, well, as Raya learnt to trust others, you’re just going to have to trust me.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Nicole Clark, ‘Raya and the Last Dragon: Creating Disney’s First Southeast Asian-Centered Movie’, IGN.com, 4^th February 2021.

[2] Credit: Disney, “Taste of Raya”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[3] Credit: Petrana Radulovic, ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’s creators struggled to find past films about female friendship’, Polygon.com, 17^th May 2021.

[4] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes – Meet Boun”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[5] Credit: Disney, “Taste of Raya”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[6] Credit: Disney, “Creating Kumandra”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[7] Credit: Disney, “Martial Artists”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[8] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[9] Credit: Disney, ‘Making History While Making ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’, The Walt Disney Company (online), 5^th March 2021.

[10] Credit: Disney, “Raya: Bringing It Home”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[11] Credit: Brian Tallerico, ‘Review: Raya and the Last Dragon’, RogerEbert.com, 5^th March 2021.

[12] Credit: Aja Romano, ‘Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon is a sumptuous fantasy – but it makes a mess of Southeast Asian culture’, Vox.com, 5^th March 2021.

[13] Credit: Kat Moon, ‘Raya and the Last Dragon Introduces Disney’s First Southeast Asian Princess. Advocates Say Hollywood Representation Shouldn’t Stop There’, Time (online), 5^th March 2021.

[14] Credit: Seth Kubersky, ‘New Animal Kingdom Experiences Celebrate Raya and the Last Dragon’, The Unofficial Guide (online), 22^nd March 2021.

[15] Credit: Justin Giglio, ‘Raya from ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ Makes Walt Disney World Debut in the Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade’, WDWNT.com, 14^th November 2022.