'Encanto' Full Trailer & Poster Brings Some Disney Magic To Your Day

For as long as the pandemic has persisted, Disney has been experimenting with various release strategies. It introduced the Premiere Access on Disney Plus (requiring subscribers to pay an extra hefty fee to see the film early) with Mulan. With others such as Raya And The Last Dragon, Black Widow and Cruella, it offered a hybrid release with the Premiere Acess alongside a traditional theatrical opening. Others such as Luca and Soul were switched to a Disney Plus release without the extra fee. However, the box-office performance of Marvel's Shang Chi And The Legend Of The 10 Rings has given Disney the confidence to give cinema only openings to the rest of 2021's major releases.

One of these upcoming films is the new Walt Disney Animation Studios feature Encanto, which has now debuted its first full-length trailer and a brand new poster.

Encanto is WDAS's first film set in Latin America, taking place in a magical valley in Colombia. It focuses on the Madrigals, a family where each memebr is blessed with a unique magic power. Except that is for Mirabel.  But when their home is threatened, Mirabel is their only hope. 

Expanding on what we saw in the earlier teaser, we see more of Mirabel's relatives superpowers which include super-strength, healing powers or the gift of being able to talk to animals. We learn that the source of their powers is actually their house, Cassa Madrigal, which is actually magical itself. We see how Mirabel is tormented by her lack of powers, despite her mother's assurances that she is just as special as any of them.

The actual source of the danger facing them is not clear. Does Encanto have a villain, or is it just some kind of mysterious force? We don't know just yet, but we get to see Mirabel stepping up bravely to save her loved ones. We see some flashes of beautiful imagery and what looks to be some impressive action set-pieces. Best of all, we also get to see the film's cast of cute critters as we see Capybaras, Jaguars, Tapirs, parrots and more. And just as you would expect from WDAS everything looks absolutely beautiful.

Mirabel seems quite unusual for a Disney lead. We have seen nerdy types before, but they tend to be male characters. With her glasses and short hair,   she seems like a very modern character and infinitely more relatable than your typical Disney princess. 

After the song-free Raya, Encanto returns to the musical format. The songs are written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, making this the second animated movie to feature his music in 2021 (Vivo being the first). We don't obviously hear any of the new songs, but maybe we get hints of it in the trailer's music.

Encanyo reunites the director duo of Zootopia, Byron Howard and Jared Bush. The screenplay is written by Bush with Charise Castro Smith. Castro Smith was also promoted to co-directed during production- a sign that she played a major part in shaping the film (the same happenend to Kemp Powers on Pixar's Soul). 

Encanto will be released exclusively in cinemas in the US on November 24, with the UK release following on November 26.

 

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