By Sigifredo Macias

“Encanto” is Disney’s latest movie with a new representation of Colombian culture, which manages to tell a captivating story in the process.

Set in a small village in the mountains of Colombia, a magical house appears to Grandma Madrigal in a time of need.

The house gave the Madrigal children special powers to help the community throughout the years. As years passed, the children had families of their own and the house gave their children powers except for one child named Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”).

Weird stuff happens throughout the movie around the magical casita that threatens the family. Mirabel tries to get to the bottom of it while being the only member with no powers.

There are many characters in the movie because it centers around the Madrigal family, a family of 12. I enjoyed the characters because they all had different struggles.

I really enjoyed uncle Bruno (John Leguizamo), who can see in the future, and the stresses he faces seeing the future. Mirabel’s sister Luisa (Jessica Darrow) who was incredibly strong, had the most remarkable song in my opinion.

The main character, Mirabel, is the first Disney princess that genuinely looks like an everyday person with her glasses and messy hair. Seeing a Disney princess like that was very exciting.

Also, seeing the first Disney princess without an animal sidekick was refreshing as it’s about time something different happened.

Even though Mirabel did not have a power, that wasn’t the movie’s focus. The movie did not take the “your true power is inside you” route and it was very appealing.

It was about a girl who just goes through many things with her family every day because she wasn’t given powers and tries to help her family because she loves them. There was something very human in that.

Since Encanto is a Disney musical there are a lot of characters breaking into songs all of a sudden. Just because they come out of nowhere doesn’t mean they weren’t enjoyable, though. Many of the songs were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Miranda has come out with many musicals this year and the songs from “Encanto” stuck more than they did in his previous films.

More than half of the movie takes place in the magical house but it was still entertaining because the house was able to take the characters to a bunch of enchanting places.

The animation was gorgeous, and somehow the animation in Disney and Pixar movies looks better every year. There are impressive details all over the movie that you can see, from seeing the dust on the fabric on a table to seeing the tiny hairs on a character’s face when they stand in the sun. It’s amazing how the artist finds more ways to impress us.

“Encanto” was the first Disney animated movie this year that was not available on Disney Plus. With the animation, music and sound, it’s worth watching in theaters.