The truth is gift or no gift, I’m just as special as everyone in my family.

Mirabel, Encanto.

Disney has made it again, from Moana to Coco to Luca, I think Disney has started to introduce ethnic characters to all the viewers coz for all I know, Pocahontas holds that title ever since. This new movie released at the end of 2021, entitled Encanto, this is based on Colombian culture that tackles about a family who was saved by a magical candle that the light does put out.

The movie is focused on an entire town that was hidden by magic and saved from conquerors. It is led by the Madrigal family’s eldest, Abuela. Each of the Madrigal’s were gifted magic that gave their town hope, light and all things that they need. Let’s enumerate the family tree and their powers:

1. Abuela – Is the eldest and the protector of the candle (I think the candle is a metaphor for their family.)
2. Julieta – She is Mirabel’s mother. She can heal a wound through her cooking.
3. Augustin – He is Mirabel’s father. He is always getting into small accidents, which I think made him compatible to Julieta coz Julieta can heal. (Disney is just the best when it comes to details)
4. Bruno – He can see the future. They never talk about him ever since he fled somewhere else after seeing something bad in the future. They don’t talk about Bruno, no no no….
5. Pepa – Can make a weather out of her mood. If she’s happy, she can make it sunny, if she’s sad and scared, you’ll expect a heavy rain and thunder…so on and so forth…
6. Felix – Papa’s husband. He is an ordinary man, which make them at least balance for for each other.
7. Dolores – She has the ability to hear everyone’s voices or any sound in particular even the ones you don’t want her to hear. Now this lady is what we call Marites in the PH. (Someone who eventually knows all the news even the fake ones)
8. Camilo – Pepa and Felix’s son. He can shapeshifter into almost everyone in the town.
9. Isabela – She controls plants, especially flowers. She’s the epitome of a perfect daughter for everyone and Mirabel definitely hates that.
10. Isabela – She’s the strongest of them all, like Superman strong. She can carry an entire house and bridge.
11. Antonio – controls animals. he can talk to almost all animals that exist in the movie.
12. And last but not the least, Mirabel. She has the ability to…nothing, she has nothing. During the ceremony for her, casita never release a power for her which caused them long years of not receiving anything until Antonio’s.

In line after Antonio received his gifts, Mirabel discovers and sees some cracks on their casita which causes her to be curious about the candle that is protecting their whole town. Mirabel saw how the crack form up to the window of the room where the candle was but nobody believes her so she decided to take the whole investigation on her own to prove to everyone that even without powers, she can help the casita, her family and the whole town. She started to ask the family about Bruno, however in her dismay, they won’t say a word about it until she found a hidden door on the wall of their casita. It’s a passage that led her to where Bruno was.

Apparently, Bruno has been living inside the house with them, trying to fix the cracks throughout the years. Bruno explained everything to her until she eventually volunteered to help but she’s all surprised when she discovered that she’ll be the reason why the casita will fall down and her family will crash into pieces. How did Mirabel save the casita and her family? That’s for you to find out, coz I’m not spoiling that part.

The verdict is obvious, a musical theme cartoon is somehow giving me the COCO vibes yet again. I love the whole family-ties things. Disney has been serving us this family-themed movies and they don’t even disappoint. It’s no surprise that Disney will kill it(I mean, will finitely catch our hearts again) One thing that made it stand out is this is how every family is in the real world. We have our favorites, we have those family members who we hate, we envy and who we cherish most. Disney has showed us that these traits are normal. But the one thing that I truly noticed, Disney has focused on mental health this time, without even us knowing. Want me to give you a sample?

Well, let’s just look at Luisa, a strong woman from the outside but in the inside, she has all these doubts that she won’t be good enough or what if she is not that strong? Every one of us is a Luisa, however we don’t tell anyone, we just keep to ourselves and by the time the feelings overflow, it pours until you drown on your own weakness. That’s what happened to Luisa.

Isabela on the other hand, is the most perfect of them all but not everything you see on the outside means the same in the inside. Isabela has struggled on being the perfect so by the time she follows her own heart, she was able to make new kinds of plants that she never have seen before, because in reality, she managed to perfect the things she wants her family to see but not the things she really wanted to do. In real life, we do things like this. We post things that we think will give us a status quo but in reality, we are not happy, not even satisfied and the contentment is very hard to reach coz we want everyone to see that we can do more and we are worth more.

This movie has thought us also that having a support system will also help you with so many things. Let’s look at Pepa’s situation, she is either gonna make it rain or make the sun pop out really hot but she has Felix to console her and reassure her that everything will be okay. In real life, having someone you can turn to, you can lean on is one of the ways you can over come anxieties and if you know that someone will love you despite your condition, then that’s one remarkable gift that you’ll ever receive.

But main lesson learned in this movie is that we are all unique. Just because you don’t have what others do, doesn’t mean you are different coz it only means that you are unique and your gifts are beyond what the naked eye can see. Don’t down yourself just because you cannot see the progress just like everyone else. You will have your time and your chance to discover what you can do; you just need to live your life to the fullest coz even the ones who cannot see their gifts, can make magic that are out of the ordinary.

All in all, I will definitely give this movie a 89% wonderroanne rating, it is family friendly movie and definitely loved the songs all through out the film.