Encanto: Summary of this Magic
Well, nothing new or magical happened this New Year in my life(Except for omicron of course but that’s excluded because it involves all of us and for god’s sake it ain’t magical). I was looking forward to a “Covid-free 2022” but things don’t go the way you want them. Sheesh! Going off the topic! But our magical Encanto came along to add some charms and magic to our life. I was looking forward to it for a long time since teasers were released and finally, got a taste of its enchantment.
Disclaimer: This contains spoilers.
The colors, the art, the characters, the theme, the story, the music, the dance: Everything was damn lit and damn magical. Let’s have a peek into it.
The story starts with a little girl(guess who), who is curious about the magic’s origin. Her Abuela initially explains how the magic saved and protected them and gave them a paradise home and miraculous gifts. Then, she explains to her about magic and its importance and how as a family they must protect and enhance it, emphasizing, “Always make your family proud”. She concludes by saying, it was her time to make the family proud i.e. to receive her gift.Mirabel Madrigal gets excited.
Fast-forwarding to some years later, we can see Mirabel grow up to be a young and cheerful lady who radiates positive vibes and pleasantness. Neighborhood kids love her and they are very curious about her family’s gifts. Mirabel gets excited too and starts explaining each member’s family gifts.
Tia Pepa: Mood affects the weather
Tio Bruno: Can look into the future
Her mom, Julieta: Heal with meal
Cousin Dolores: Can hear pin drop
Cousin Camilo: Can shapeshift
Cousin Antonio: Yet to get then(Can talk to animals)
Sister Isabella: Bloom flowers
Sister Louisa: Super Strong
And she says how proud she feels of the family. But these kids are super curious about “her” power. She hesitates and says how proud she is of the family again. Kids’ curiosity grows and in the end, they get to know that she didn’t get any gift and feel sorry for her. Mirabel leaves by saying she is just as happy as others in the family and leaves to help with the ceremony of her younger cousin.
Her mom tells her not to overdo it. Mirabel tells she just wants to do her part in the family. Later when she does the decorations she meets up with a little accident which is noticed by Abuela. Abuela tells her not to get involved since she could mess up which leaves Mirabel upset. She goes to her room and notices that her cousin is kind of nervous about the event and is hiding in their room. She encourages him and makes him feel better. Later they both go together to his ceremony. He is nervous if his door would work right. Mirabel assures him it will. Everybody’s curious about the magic power he got. When he opens his door, he receives his magic power which is he can talk to animals. Everybody celebrates his magic. Mirabel feels happy for him but she feels invisible to her family. She feels lonely and longs for a miracle that could make her as special as anyone else in the family.
While everybody’s enjoying themself, Mirabel notices cracks in her house. Frightened, Mirabel goes to inform the family. The family panics and rushes to see what happened, and the cracks disappear. Everybody thinks that Mirabel does this to get attention since she didn’t receive the gift. It enrages Abuela who assures everyone that they are fine and magic is safe. This made Mirabel further upset. However, she’s desperate to save magic and her family.
Since her cousin Dolores can hear anything, she tries to get any unusual information from her. Dolores tells her, she didn’t notice anything unusual except Louisa, the damn strong girl, twitching her eye cause she never does. Mirabel rushes to Louisa to know how she feels and gets to know that she’s definitely not at her strongest. Meanwhile, Mirabel’s actions bother Abuela.
Louisa gives a hint about what could be wrong with the magic. So, Mirabel courageously goes to Bruno’s Tower to get the insights. She finds sand everywhere. Though the place seemed dangerous and strange, she somehow breaks in and gathers all the broken pieces of the vision that Bruno left in his tower.
Abuela senses that there’s something strange with Mirabel’s actions and just then Louisa comes sobbing. She gets angry and tells her to not do anything weird during her sister’s engagement. Mirabel assembles the broken pieces of the vision together and gets to know that she’s in the vision. She tries to hide it since she knows her family would freak out if they got to know that she got into Bruno’s tower. Her father and Dolores find out. Her father tells her to keep it a secret until Isabella’s engagement is over. However, Mirabel knows that Dolores can’t keep a secret and is nervous about the fact. Just as Mirabel expected, Dolores spits out the secret in front of everyone during Isabella’s engagement which results in a complete mess. And this upsets and enrages everyone, especially Abuela. No one is ready to believe that magic is in danger and they need to do something about it.
Though everyone is disappointed in Mirabel, she wants to protect her family, the village, and the magic. Mirabel discovers a secret tunnel in her house and is curious to find out where it leads. To her surprise, she meets Bruno there who is said to have left the family ages ago. She tries and talks with Bruno since she believes he is mainly involved in the weakening of magic. After getting to know Bruno, Mirabel gets to know that Bruno is not villainous as others tell her he is, further, he is actually a kind soul, but people only saw the bad side of his magic. She gets to know how much he loves the family and his love for the family is the one that is keeping him away from his family since they get hurt due to the bad side of his magic. Mirabel sympathizes with Bruno. However, Mirabel is curious about her image in his vision. Bruno says he couldn’t further see the vision. Since Mirabel insists on him doing so, he tries and gets another vision in which magic is saved as Mirabel and Isabella hug each other. Well now, Louisa and Mirabel get along quite well, but definitely not Isabella and Mirabel. Mirabel is frustrated over the fact but however, but for saving magic she’s ready to do anything.
Mirabel reluctantly goes into Isabella’s room and asks for a hug which Isabella obviously doesn’t accept. She instead asks her to apologize. Mirabel tries to but she starts blabbering because of frustration since she feels Isabella’s life is so perfect and how she can’t ever relate to Mirabel’s feelings. Isabella gets frustrated as well and she spits out that she never liked her fiance and she’s doing it only for the family. Mirabel could now see Isabella’s side, how she can’t be anything but perfect. Isabella feels weird too since she never said it out loud but feels definitely so damn good. Since Mirabel encourages Isabella to open up and stand up, Isabella becomes happy that Mirabel was there and gives her a hug. Now Mirabel saved two things: Isabella and Magic.
Abuela, on the other hand, who refuses to believe that magic is in danger spots wild Isabella which makes things further heated up. Abuela yells at Mirabel in front of the entire family saying she’s the reason why Louisa lost her strength and Isabella’s magic is getting out of control. This obviously hurts Mirabel who is in fact putting a lot of effort to save magic. Mirabel is enraged as well. She tells Abuela, that her high expectation of others is putting a lot of pressure and stress on them and that is the reason, magic is getting destroyed. Meanwhile, everybody’s magic gets weakened and the house starts to collapse. They all try to save the candle and Mirabel somehow manages to get it but however, it’s too late. Upset Mirabel leaves.
While everyone’s searching for Mirabel, Abuela somehow guesses where Mirabel would be and finds her. She hears her woes. Abuela tells her that is the river where they were given the magic, the “Encanto”. She tells the flashback of how she and Mirabel’s grandfather Abuelo Pedro met and had three kids and how Abuelo Pedro died to protect the family and the forest gave them the miracle as a gift. Mirabel now understands why Abuela tries so hard to protect it. Abuela apologizes to become blind in protecting the magic and the family instead of being happy with just the family.
Mirabel tells her how Abuela overcame the hurdles alone and persisted for a long way and how she is the reason for them all to be a family. Mirabel tells her that they don’t need the magic, they just need themselves to fix whatever the hell comes in the way. Just the magic doesn’t define them, they do. Later Bruno comes thinking that Mirabel’s in trouble and he needs to back her up, not knowing the facts. Abuela is awestruck to see her son after such a long time and understands his love for the family and straight up hugs him. Later three of them go back to their demolished house and their family is delighted to have Mirabel back and astonished and awestruck to have Bruno back, especially his sisters. All eventually learn Bruno loves the family and Bruno learns that they were and will always be happy to have him and not angry. They all fix the house just by being themselves without the magic and realize that they may not be perfect but it’s perfect to them. All are happy now. Now then, since all are happy magic finds its own way to come back to them.
I loved this movie from top to the bottom. It portrayed family values as well as individuality and how they can blend together. After all, there’s no perfect family. Happiness is what keeps the magic in the family, not perfection. And you are just as special as everyone in the world is.
You don’t need magic, you are the magic!
If you liked this article, don’t forget to clap cause it would mean a lot and encourage me to do more of these. Also, don’t forget to comment on your favorite character. Mine? Obviously, it’s Louisa, c’mon!
