Disney’s Encanto has made a big breakthrough after its release on Nov. 24. The movie takes place in Colombia, showing the lives of the Madrigals and more importantly, Mirabel. 

It’s easy to see just how many people loved the movie. It has created a wide fan base with multiple creations based on the move ranging from fan-made animations to in-depth character analysis. Box Office Mojo only upholds this viewpoint as it ranks Encanto 15 in the domestic box office for 2021 with a total gross of $94 million.

The characters and overall design are an amazing part of this movie. The character designs themselves are full of diverse features among the characters which perfectly show the range in appearance that Hispanic people can have. In addition, the family members’ designs are amazing when it comes to clothing. Each character has designs of their unique ability incorporated into the clothes. The clothing also represents the characters fantastically in the movie. This can be seen when Isabela’s ‘perfect’ dress changes into an imperfect and colorful one as she begins opening up. 

Another great feature of Encanto is the catchy songs that will make anyone want to listen along. The presence of hit-after-hit songs is no surprise when Lin-Manuel Miranda, a famous songwriter, worked on every song in the film. The love for these songs is obvious as “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is Billboard’s number one song. Other songs like “The Family Madrigal” and “What Else Can I Do?” also place on the chart.

The movie has become a successful hit not only because of it’s loveable characters and enjoyable songs, but also because of how well it portrays latin families. The family dynamics can be depictions of all households, but it best represents Hispanic families. Latino families can range from many different skin tones, and Encanto did a fantastic job at showing this. This is what personally makes me love the movie so much. As someone who sees this occurrence in my own family; it’s nice to see this in popular media that will normalize this to it’s viewers. 

Not only does it portray the overall appearance of families, but the movie also shows the bonds and mentality that appear in them. The movie shows the closeness between cousins, uncles, aunts and grandparents that can often be seen present in Latina families. Besides the bonds, Encanto possesses a deeper meaning of generational trauma and how it’s passed on to one generation after another. We can see how the grandchildren in the movie experience this when Luisa is worrying about not being strong enough or how Isabela always feels the need to be perfect. Mirabel and Bruno are also characters directly stated to be the ‘black-sheeps’ of the family that never feel like they fit in no matter how hard they try to do so.

Overall, this movie is a must-watch if someone is looking for an emotional and sweet journey between loveable characters.