Oscar® Award Winning “Our Magic Encanto” Coming to DVD on July 13!

In the remarkable house of the Madrigal family, everyone is endowed with magical abilities. Everyone except Mirabel. But when the magic of the bustling Encanto is threatened, it turns out that she, as the only ordinary person in this special family, may be her last hope. Disney’s great hit – the 60th animation in the history of the studio is extremely colorful, filled with music and dance, and awarded with an Oscar® ^and a Golden Globe, the best animated film of 2021. Enthusiastically received by viewers all over the world, it will be shown in Polish cinemas continuously for 7 months, it will debut on DVD on July 13.

 

Encanto is a wonderful, charming city hidden in the mountains of Colombia. It has all the characteristics of a South American town – rich culture, great people and of course music. What’s more, all children on their fifth birthday are endowed with a magical power, thanks to which they can serve their family and the entire community of the town. But Encanto’s magic is not limited to the supernatural abilities of its inhabitants. As in any South American community, the greatest gift turns out to be the family, and this is what this film is dedicated to.

The filmmakers knew that the heart of the film would be the family long before choosing the setting and inventing the first character. Our magical Encanto presents family relationships as fascinating as they are complicated.

We decided that instead of limiting ourselves to two characters, it would be more interesting to tell the story of a large, multigenerational family, says director Byron Howard (Oscar® winner , creator of Zwierzogród i Tanami) ^. – We wanted to show and analyze the complex dynamics of a large family. How well do we know our loved ones? How well do our loved ones know us?

Director and screenwriter Jared Bush (co-director / co-writer of Zwierzogród , screenwriter of the film Vaiana: Treasure of the Ocean ) adds:

It is a story about the fact that our loved ones do not always notice us and do not always fully understand us. We ourselves, for various reasons, hide a lot from them. In the film, we show how a girl who feels unnoticed can learn to see her entire family, and ultimately also herself. Mirabel is one of us, continues Bush. – He is an ordinary child in a family full of extraordinary, magical characters. Many of us feel that we are surrounded by great stars that make us feel intimidated and lose faith in ourselves. No matter who you are or what you have achieved, there will always be someone better at what you do. Mirabel is a character that anyone can identify with.

As explained by Clark Spencer (Oscar® winner , producer of Zeppelin, Wreck-It Ralph, Lilo and Sticha ^, president of Walt Disney Animation Studios), Mirabel’s story began long ago, when her grandparents Alma and Pedro were forced to leave their family home with their newborn triplets. . After the tragic death of her husband, a desperate Alma says a prayer to a candle.

The prayer is heard and the candle offers Alma and her descendants a safe haven in a magical town called Encanto, says Spencer. – Each generation of Madrigals uses their gifts in the service of the local community. In our movie the magic is in and around the heroes. Even the house is alive and is always ready to protect its inhabitants. He is also one of the characters.

Magic in Our magical Encanto is omnipresent, but, as Howard points out, it is not traditionally understood magic.

Magic in this world is embedded in reality, he explains. – We were inspired by magical realism, which is related to real emotions and events, as well as complex and multidimensional. It is more than just a way to solve problems. It is a reflection of our experiences: the pleasant and the difficult ones.

While many of the characters in Our magical Encanto possess supernatural abilities, the filmmakers wanted them not to be divorced from reality.

We wanted these characters to be interesting, even if we were to tell the story of a family devoid of miraculous powers, living in a world where magic does not exist, Bush explains. – We wanted to capture typical family roles that are dear to us all: golden child, family support, outcast or hysterical. We just tweaked it up a bit and added a solid dose of magic.

But no Walt Disney Animation Studios animation could be complete without fantastic music. In line with the label’s long tradition of telling stories through music and singing, in the film Our Magic Encanto we will hear eight songs specially composed for the film by Lina-Manuel Miranda, and the creator of the music is Germaine Franco ( Dora and the City of Gold, Mała, Berek ), who also took part in songwriting, including Un Poco Loco and Corazón do Coco – a joint production by Disney and Pixar.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is without a doubt one of the most interesting Broadway names in recent years. As the creator and star of the musical Hamilton , he has been honored with awards such as ^Tony® , ^Emmy® , GRAMMY® ^and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He also worked on the film Vaiana: Treasure of the Ocean , and his song ( How Far I’ll Go ) won a GRAMMY® award ^and was nominated for an Oscar® ^. In 2021, the soundtrack for this movie set the record for being at number one on the Billboard Soundtrack. So it should come as no surprise that the musical side of Our magical Encantohas gained such widespread recognition and has received so many awards and nominations. Both the music written by Germaine Franco and the Lina-Manuel Miranda song – Dos Oruguitas were nominated for an Oscar ^® and a Golden Globe, and the achievement of both artists was appreciated by the International Society of Animated Film Creators with an Annie award.

Howard and Bush previously collaborated on the film Wildlife , which won an Oscar® ⁱⁿ 2016, and were hoping to meet again on their next project. But it couldn’t have been a random movie.

After ‘Zwierzogród’ we had a taste for a musical, Howard says. – After all, we both grew up as musicians. Jared had just finished “Viana,” which he had a great time working with Lin-Manuel, and I had a lot of fun filming Tangled, and so we started talking about collaboration.

Miranda was also eager to start working on the film and what convinced him was the leitmotif.

The starting point was the family, says Miranda. – The idea of ​​a musical about a family, in which we show the complexity of family relationships, was fascinating. At the beginning, we exchanged personal experiences, including how we inevitably cast our family members in certain roles. How do these roles change over time? To what extent do they remain unchanged?

As director Byron Howard sums up:

We live with our parents, brothers and sisters, and often we don’t know what they’re going through. We have no idea of ​​their many failures. We don’t know what they don’t share with us. What family secrets are we not talking about? This is what was fascinating to us.

Our magical Encanto ^was awarded an Oscar®and a Golden Globe for the best full-length animated film. It debuted in Polish cinemas on November 26, 2021 and has been continuously shown until now. During this time, it was watched by over 600,000 viewers. The film will be released on DVD on July 13.

Special extras:

• Introduction to Far from the Tree
• Short film Far from the Tree

You can read our review of this animation here .