ENCANTO

Walt Disney Animation Studios has released its first full-length feature film about a Latino family. The studio demonstrates that they still have it after 60 projects. Encanto deviates from the template that audiences have grown accustomed to. While the film is nice, it lacks the necessary sincerity.

Encanto narrates the story of the Madrigals, an exceptional family with a cast of one-of-a-kind personalities. They dwell in a beautiful sanctuary deep in the Colombian mountains. It's a lively and attractive town with a magical mansion at its heart. Every Madrigal family member has been endowed with a magical ability. With the exception of Mirabel, that is.

Despite the fact that the film is set in Colombia, it is not based on the country's culture. It is, moreover, influenced by it. Their purpose was to highlight the diversity of Latin America, which is frequently seen as a mix of African, Indigenous, and European ancestry. Colombia is regarded as the crossroads of Latin America, which is why it was chosen as the film's final setting. It would make sense for the story to be set in such a diverse and culturally rich country, yet there was a mismatch between the plot and the country in the end.

The animators came up with something breathtakingly beautiful. Given the small number of Colombians participating behind the scenes, it is safe to conclude that they did their best to be as courteous as possible when filming this film. In 2018, members of the crew traveled to Colombia, visiting cities such as Bogotá, Cartagena, Barichara, and San Basilio de Palenque. They were extremely precise with details like skin color, hair texture, and even fluid movements when characters engaged in the many different types of dancing that occurred when music took over.

That said, the team behind it all stated that they understood they wanted the project to be about family even before deciding on a setting or creating characters. Despite the fact that the film is set in Colombia, the country does not play a significant role in the plot. Instead, it focuses on family values and pays homage to the universal beauty of Latin America's heritage. It recognizes and embraces the magic of these countries as a whole, as well as their horrific past.

There are hints of political unrest in the background, which leads to the heartbreak at the core of the story. Disney, on the other hand, is wary of going the extra mile to denounce the eviction of the working class. Instead, they tackle the problem by bringing refuge and joy to a people who have long been oppressed by their oppressors.

A matriarchal civilization exists among the Madrigals. Despite the machismo that often afflicts Latino cultures, many families thrive under the leadership of the moms who gave birth to these spaces. The Encanto's salvation is provided by Abuela Alma. Abuela received a miracle as a result of her husband Pedro's devotion for her and their children.

Children in these cultures are told that they are the dreams of their forefathers and mothers, but adults rarely take the time to teach them that they should be their own dreams as well. At the age of five, every child in the film receives a gift. Expectations are placed on children from an early age, highlighting the stresses placed on their shoulders to serve their community before they can completely understand who they are. They are expected to provide pride to the family and protect the family name. This component of Encanto, in addition to the gifts, demonstrates how generational trauma may be passed down as well.

The essence of it all has the potential to extend beyond Latin American cultures and families. Even so, there's something distinct about the way each character's interaction with the others plays out. It's all in the etiquette. It's written in a conversational style that doesn't over-explain itself to non-native Spanish speakers. It's in the meals and the cafecito in the morning.

This is why Disney's Encanto isn't the best film in the studio's catalog, but it is unquestionably the most unique. It's because of this that it stands out. At the end of the day, it's a lovely Disney movie, but it's not about Colombia or its people. Many Latinos will be able to connect because, while Encanto isn't a perfect or exact picture of Colombian culture, it includes the base of our cultures that binds us.