Disney Animation's "Encanto" Promises a Magical Song-Filled Holiday Romp
This Holiday Season, Walt Disney Animation Studios is giving audiences a little taste of Colombia and a lot more Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The studio today unleashed the first look at their 60th animated motion picture, "Encanto”, by releasing the first trailer, poster and a synopsis about the film that was officially announced at the Disney Investor Day last December. The movie is directed by the “Zootopia” team of Byron Howard and Jared Bush as well as Charise Castro Smith, who co-wrote with Bush.
“Encanto” tells the story of a family living in the mountains of Colombia, in a magical place referred to as an Encanto. The Encanto’s magic gives every family member a special power ranging from super strength to healing. Everyone except our lead Mirabel (voiced by Brooklyn 99’s Stephanie Beatriz). Being the only ordinary member of her family proves to be a challenge for Mirabel. However, when the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, she may end up being the one who needs to step up and save the day.
Looking at the trailer, this looks to be yet another beautifully animated feature that allows Disney to continue their recent trend of exploring different cultures and using their style to bring them a broad audience. That was one of the reasons Beatriz was attracted to the project in the first place as she stated in the studio’s press release:
“I’m Colombian on my father’s side, and playing this role fills me with immense pride. As a Disney kid, I’d burn through my VHS tapes and adored every single magical story that the world of Disney introduced me to. I learned in those that stories that anything is possible, especially if you believe in magic and the goodness rooted deep inside us all.”
As is typical with most of Disney’s animated films, artists and filmmakers drew their inspiration from taking a research trip to Colombia during the early stages of development. There, they were able to get a grasp of the country’s vibrant culture, landscapes and majestic wonder that helped set the story of “Encanto” The early look shows that the studio has once again done their homework in bringing strong representation of the subject matter.
However, what may end up being the movie’s secret weapon is the music as Disney has tapped none other than Lin-Manuel Miranda to compose original songs for the feature. Miranda, who seems determined to snag every nomination in next year’s Oscar race for Best Original Song between “In The Heights”, “Tick, Tick…Boom” and rival animated feature “Vivo”, is no stranger to working with the Mouse House. The “Hamilton” genius also composed the songs for the studio’s animated film “Moana” and garnered an Oscar nomination for his work. He will be looking to take home the gold this time by writing songs that will represent the film’s Colombian culture.
Disney looks like they have another blockbuster on their hands here. Although “Raya and The Last Dragon” was stunted by both COVID restrictions and a day and date Premier Access launch on Disney+, Encanto is as of now scheduled for theatres on November 24, the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday session that has been a sweet release spot for the studio for many years. The hope is that as vaccinations increase and COVID continues to reach muted and manageable levels, this will be a broadly appealing smash over the holidays that bring families together after over a year of drama.