You just watched Disney’s Encanto for the first time and were left thinking what in the world? This movie is so unpredictable that many viewers still have questions like, Why didn’t Mirabel get a gift? Why did Casita break? Here is Encanto explained in full.
Encanto was a fantastical movie that emphasized the love of a family but it left many viewers scratching their heads as the end credits rolled. It’s currently streaming on Prime Video and Disney Plus. Some commonly searched questions on the movie are about…
- Mirabel’s gift – Why didn’t Mirabel get a gift?
- In Encanto, why did Mirabel’s door disappear?
- Bruno’s visions – Why were Bruno’s visions all bad?
- Casita cracking – Why did Casita break in Encanto?
- The Encanto ending
Movie Breakdown and Spoilers
The main character is Mirabel, a teenage girl born into the enchanted Madrigal family. Each member of the Madrigal family is bestowed with a unique magical gift that allows them to help the family. The power to give these gifts comes from the Encanto flame. It has been burning from a single candle for 3 generations.
The Encanto blessed one of Mirabel’s sisters with super strength, and the other with the ability to grow beautiful flowers and plant life. As a small child, Mirabel was ready to discover what gift the Encanto flame would bless her with. There was an elaborate “gift ceremony” in which she was supposed to discover her gift behind a glowing door. She placed her hand on the knob, the door disappeared, and Mirabel didn’t get a gift. Keep reading to understand why.
Encanto Plot Explained
Mirabel always believed that she was special even if she was the only one in her family that did not receive a gift from the Encanto. One day, their enchanted home, “Casita”, began to crack and quickly started to deteriorate. Mirabel set out on a mission to understand why the foundation of Casita was no longer stable.
Situations like these reflect how understanding underlying challenges can strengthen family bonds, much like online counselling for teens creates spaces for meaningful reflection.
Bruno was cast out of the family for his gifted visions of the future. The family believed Bruno’s visions only brought bad fortune to the Madrigals. Mirabel searched for Bruno and found him hiding within the walls of Casita.
Bruno explained to Mirabel that he once had a vision that she would bring the destruction of Casita. Bruno then disappeared and never told a soul about what he saw because he wanted to protect his niece.
Behind the Lyrics | Disney’s Encanto | Disney+
Mirabel’s desire to seek out the full truth about Bruno’s vision led her back to Abuela (grandmother).
She confronts Abuela and accuses her of causing the disaster. She reveals to Abuela that various members of the family are very unhappy because they can’t be themselves and that they are only pretending to be happy because they believe it is for the good of the family.
This painful confrontation causes Casita to crumble to the ground and Encanto is destroyed. All Madrigal family members also lose their powers.
Abuela Alma’s Confession
Abuela explained that the Encanto was given to her as a miracle after her husband was murdered, leaving her alone with 3 babies. One of the babies was Mirabel’s mother. She has desperately protected the flame and Casita ever since.
When Mirabel didn’t receive a gift as a small child, it frightened Abuela because she thought Encanto would go away too. Because of this, Abuela never treated Mirabel with the love and respect she deserved.
The Madrigals also felt pressured to put the family before themselves even if it meant they were miserable because the entire town relied heavily on their gifts.
Many ask why didn’t Mirabel get a gift, but Encanto explained that Mirabel’s special gift was to bring the family back together. Soon, Casita was rebuilt with a stronger foundation. The miracle is restored and the Madrigals’ powers returned.
Keep reading for more on Mirabel’s gift.
Encanto – World Premiere
Why Didn’t Mirabel Get A Gift – Mirabel’s Gift in Encanto Explained
Mirabel’s gift ceremony appeared to go awry. The door that was supposed to lead to her gift vanished when she touched the knob leading everyone to ask, why didn’t Mirabel didn’t get a gift? To understand why Mirabel’s door disappeared we must think about what happened when others went through their door. When Antonio went through his door, there was an entire world behind it for him to practice his gift. His room was a place for his gift to get stronger. The door disappeared for Mirabel because her gift would flourish best in a room where there was no magic.
Think about the ending when Casita began to break. Everyone lost their powers that they had relied on, and the powers left them just as they tried to reach the flame. Mirabel had the best chance of reaching the flame because she never had powers to rely on.
Why did Mirabel’s door disappear?
Mirabel’s door disappeared because she was already where she needed to be in order to receive her gift.
Remember, Mirabel’s gift was keeping the family together through her amazing ability to understand and feel the family’s happiness or lack of it. I would also argue that Mirabel’s gift was also in the way that family members confessed their inner most feelings to her. She honed these abilities in a room without magic. Also, we saw how Casita could not enter Bruno’s room because Casita does not really have power in the rooms of each family member where their magic operates. Casita does however, visit Mirabel’s room frequently.
This is why Casita was breaking and cracking and only Mirabel saw it. Everyone else was celebrating in Antonio’s room where there were no cracks. There were no cracks because Casita is not present in their magic rooms, only in Mirabel’s.
Mirabel’s door disappearing was Casita’s way of saying, “stay in Casita and watch over it/me.”
We learn that Mirabel’s gift was being able to bring the family back together but certain clues show that her true gift is much more.
Everyone confesses to Mirabel their inner most feelings
Luisa was blessed with super strength but confesses to Mirabel in a song that she feels tremendous pressure to always be strong and never fail.
Isabela confesses to Mirabel that she doesn’t want to marry Mariano and that she’s sick and tired of always having to be perfect.
Abuela Alma confesses the true details of why the Madrigals were blessed with Encanto. She tells Mirabel about the night she had to flee their village with 3 babies and how her husband was murdered.
Antonio confesses to Mirabel that he’s afraid of not receiving a gift like her.
It could be said that these confessions facilitate Mirabel’s ability to fix things and help her family.
Mirabel is also blessed with tenacity and drive which can sometimes be fueled by lack. She often tried harder because she was over compensating for not having enchanted powers. This allowed Mirabel to persevere through her fears in order to mend her family.
10 Questions about Encanto Explained
What does Encanto mean?
Encanto is Spanish for charm. It also can translate to miracle, enchantment, or spell.
Why did Casita break in Encanto?
Casita breaks in Encanto because the foundation of the family is weakening. Casita senses that various family members are unhappy. Their secrets are causing Casita to crack and break because it’s causing a rift in the family. The cracks represent the family falling apart.
Why was Mirabel the only one to see Casita break in the movie Encanto and then the cracks disappeared?
Diving deeper into the theory that Mirabel’s gift is also based on seeing or learning people’s inner most feelings, one could assume that Casita was confessing to Mirabel that its foundation was in danger. Casita could have been revealing to Mirabel what it was afraid of, just like the others. It shared with Mirabel what would happen if things didn’t change.
Bruno was also living in the walls and repairing cracks so they may have been fixed before anyone else saw them at times.
Why can’t Casita help Mirabel in Bruno’s room?
Mirabel asks Casita if it can turn off the falling sand in Bruno’s tower, but Casita appears to have no power there and Mirabel concludes that Casita cannot enter the room, but why?
It appears that Casita has no control inside of the Madrigal bedrooms. Casita does go inside and help Mirabel in her own room, likely because she has no enchanted gift.
Why did the door disappear and Encanto flame dim when Mirabel touched her door knob?
I reasoned that the doorway leading to Mirabel’s room and her gift vanished when she touched the knob because she was to be the new protector of Encanto. This was currently Abuela’s job and when the door disappeared she was supposed to give the flame to Mirabel but instead held on to it tightly, therefore Mirabel never got her gift or purpose in the family. The flame dimmed signaling that something was wrong. After that, things were different.
There is evidence of this when Abuela Alma says this:
Why was the family chased out of the old village?
The scenes where Abuela Alma remembers armed Colombian soldiers ravaging her village and setting fire to homes may be rooted in real life conflict that has plagued Colombia for decades. Abuela and Abuelo must flee along with a small group of villagers or risk being killed by rogue soldiers.
Abuelo sacrifices himself and is brutally killed by one of the men right before Abuela’s eyes. Encanto is created in her moment of grief and it’s a miracle! Casita is also formed and a wall of mountains erupts from the ground, protecting the refugees for decades.
Why did Isbela grow a cactus after her confession to Mirabel?
The cactus was sharp and imperfect because it’s creation was fueled by Isabela’s anger and frustration. She was hiding the fact that she didn’t want to marry Mariano, but she was willing to do it to help the family Madrigal grow. Abuela Alma put pressure on her to do this without asking what Isabela wanted.
One of the lyrics to Isabela’s song is “What could I do if I just grew what I was feeling in the moment?” She begins to create different and colorful plant life thereafter.
Why does Mariano keep getting hit in the nose?
Mariano gets hit in the nose twice by a vine Isabela created because she doesn’t like him very much. She also resents him because she secretly doesn’t want to marry him. This was more evidence of Isabela creating what she feels.
Why Were Bruno’s predictions about Mirabel changing?
Bruno’s vision about Casita cracking and Mirabel were changing because the fate of the family was not sealed. It is also a theory that Bruno saw Casita cracking and also being repaired at the same time, but he didn’t understand it.
Why is the Encanto movie so popular?
Encanto is making a big impact because of how relatable Mirabel is. The character spoke to many who don’t feel so appreciated at times so they really identified with her.
Some also say on TikTok that they can relate to the other family members who each were holding in their true desires for their lives.
I loved that Encanto was a bilingual film that featured the many different skin tones of the people in South America.
Encanto Characters and Powers
- Tia Peppa – Mood controls the Weather
- Tio Bruno – Has visions of the future
- Mother Julieta – Healing powers through food
- Abuela Alma – The protector of Encanto, responsible for keeping the Madrigals together as a loving family
- Cousin Dolores – Super hearing
- Cousin Camilo – Shapeshifter
- Antonio – Can talk to animals and understand them
- Isabela – Can grow flowers and other plant life in addition to being graceful, and perfection
- Luisa – Super strength
- Mirabel – The new protector of Encanto, keeping the loving family together
Other Things you may have missed
When Mirabel is looking at the photos of Abuela with all of the family members on the day of their gift ceremony, there is no photo of Mirabel.
On the night of Antonio’s gift ceremony Abuela Alma declares that they should take a picture with everyone together, but nobody asks Mirabel to join.
Dolores mentions to Mirabel that she can hear the rats talking in the walls with her super hearing. This foreshadowed the fact that Bruno was living in the walls of Casita.
Other small things you may have missed…
Isabela panics when Dolores overhears that Mariano wants 5 babies.
When Mirabel is in Bruno’s room she sees green glitter on the stone carving depicting him. The green glitter represents Bruno’s green glowing visions illustrated within green emerald like crystals.
The rats led Mirabel to a hole in the wall, hidden behind a painting. This was Bruno’s way of moving about Casita and returning to the walls.
Dolores covers her ears whenever the house begins to crack
Did we cover everything? Do you still have questions? Let us know in the comments below!
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