Since its release onto Disney+ in December, as well as its showcasing in theaters back in November, Disney and Pixar’s latest film Encanto has charmed its way into the hearts of the Campolindo community, and society as a whole.

The film follows the Madrigals, a large family living in the mountains of Colombia, who live in their home called the Encanto, which means enchantment. The magical home grants the members of the Madrigal family with a gift, such as super-strength or super-hearing, all except for the protagonist Mirabel. Throughout the film, Mirabel grapples with the fact that she is gift-less, however viewers eventually discover that Mirabel is crucially important to the future of the magic surrounding the Encanto.

“It’s the 1st Disney movie that is set in Colombia… It has history and it shows a whole bunch of Colombian culture… Like the food and the music,” said junior Kayla Smith, an avid fan of the film.

She added, “The story is also really wonderful… Since all of them have gifts… It shows that you aren’t defined by your gifts or talents, you’re defined by who you are as a person.”

Junior Diego Davila Gil said, “I think the movie is really beautiful… The animation is super well done… The voice acting is well done… The music is really spectacular… I think that is a much more real movie than Disney’s made in the past and I think that is really powerful.”

Davila Gil added, “I think the way it addresses themes of generational trauma [makes it] a more mature film than we have seen in the past from Disney… But it does so in a way that is still understandable for young children.”

The movie includes stunning colorful visuals, as well as an incredibly catchy soundtrack, that helps to further the story along.

Junior Kaya Lu said, “Definitely my favorite part of the movie is its amazing soundtrack… [Encanto’s composer] Lin-Manuel Miranda did it again… I really appreciate how it sounds very different from your typical Disney movie and in general I’m not a person that listens to Disney music very much, but I will play these songs on repeat.”

1 of the most popular wishes of students on the Lunar New Year Dragon that was put outside Campo library was for an Encanto 2. The film has received incredible praise, not just by Campolindo, but by society as a whole.

In fact, the most popular song from Encanto, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, reached number 1 on the Billboard charts, making it Disney’s highest charting song over the past 26 years, exceeding the incredibly popular Frozen’s “Let It Go.”

Encanto has also been recently nominated for an Oscar for best animated feature, as well as best original score.

Disney has been rightfully criticized in the past for its half-baked POC representation, whether that be in The Princess and the Frog or Pocahontas. However, Encanto is a film that is unique to Disney because it uplifts beautiful Columbian representation in the mainstream media.

Another unique aspect of Encanto, which does not normally happen in Disney films, is that it is set in a real place, allowing for there to be a showcase of a real culture, which is unlike Disney’s other Latine inspired ventures, like Elena of Avalor, which is a mish-mash of different cultures.

“I think Encanto is the best Disney movie in a long while because it is an evolved form of the Disney that we know and love. So not only are we talking [about] Colombian representation in ways that we haven’t seen before…It is not idealizing people who aren’t white…So Encanto has this magic of…’these people are imperfect, because they are people’, and it really makes that connection of we are all human,” said Davila Gil.

Davila Gil added, “But I also think that Encanto’s representation for Hispanic people as a whole, as well as Colombian people more specifically, is actually excellent because all of the family members look different, have different accents… Like I was able to watch that movie and say, ‘Oh, this person sounds like my grandma’… and that was really powerful… Or this person looks like me… And that was really great.”