Encanto: Disney creators explain Lin-Manuel Miranda’s reggaeton musical

CharmDisney’s latest animated film to come out in November is an exuberant musical about a magical family living in a haunted house in the mountains of Colombia. Each of the Madrigals has been blessed with a magical gift, except for Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz), the film’s quirky protagonist, who grew up without obvious power. When the family’s gifts are threatened, Mirabel must find a way to save the magic and uncover her hidden family secrets. While a magical musical about a teenager with big dreams sounds like typical Disney food, directors Byron Howard and Jared Bush, along with screenwriter and co-director Charise Castro Smith, see some subtle differences that make Charm highlight.

From the beginning, the Charm The team wanted to evolve the Disney musical. During a press day for the film, Howard and Bush told Polygon about their time working on Zootopiaand how they brought more maturity to the familiar idea of ​​a talking animal fantasy. While each of them had worked on Disney musicals in the past, Charm it was their first musical together, and as musicians, they wanted the music to be a big part of the narrative. That meant playing Lin-Manuel Miranda and venturing into different genres, such as reggaeton and montuno, as well as incorporating dance moves from choreographers throughout the animation process. Different styles shaped the different personalities on screen.

“Many Disney musicals have been like friend movies: two people go on an adventure, they learn things. And this movie is certainly very different from that, ”says Smith. “There are 12 members of this family who have their own personalities, concerns, journeys through the film.”

Image: Disney

Trying to make all those characters stand out was a complicated process. Charm It’s more of a musical ensemble than any Disney movie before it, and that’s just based on what audiences typically associate with a Disney animated musical. It also means that the filmmakers couldn’t waste time on filler songs that don’t specifically affect the story.

“Every song talks about the character and is emotionally driven,” Bush explains to Polygon.

But the biggest, and most subtle, difference with Charm is that instead of a typical Disney movie with magic, like Frozen, Moana, or Tangled up, is a work of magical realism.

The magical realism genre has strong ties to Latin America, particularly Colombia. In literature, magical realism is different from fantasy stories with modern settings, because magic and the supernatural are not recognized as magical or supernatural. Often these elements are seamlessly integrated into the representation of the realistic, which is used to highlight reality. Of course, it is a little different in Charm that in Gabriel García Márquez’s novels, madrigals recognize that the gifts they have are magical. But the difference between Charm and other Disney movies is the way magic is manifested and how it is used in the narrative.

Image: Disney

“We were really interested in exploring what magic is born of human emotion or human need, or what is at stake in relationships. It is born of human action and human relationship and desire, ”says Smith. “We really tried to use that as a guide while we were working on this movie, just this idea that magic is not arbitrary. Fairies don’t give it to people, or anything like that. It’s an extension of emotion and character, and it’s really born out of people and who they are and what they want and need. “

The movie was originally created around the idea of ​​family roles, with the magic added later. Bush says that while Disney movies often have magic, for Charm, they didn’t want the magic to feel “forced or inorganic”. The movie setting sparked the idea of ​​integrating magical realism and linking magical gifts to family roles, but it was very important that the story work without the magic.

“This movie has to work if magic doesn’t exist. You could tell the story if there was no magic in this family. That also has to work, ”explains Howard.

Charm hits theaters on November 24.