Encanto: Things you may Have Missed About the Madrigals
*Disclaimer*: There are slight spoilers in this article!
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Recently Disney released a brand new movie: Encanto. And it blew up! Viewers became obsessed with it and it quickly became a fan favorite. But there are many details about your favorite scenes and characters that you may have missed.
Isabela

Midway through the movie, there is a scene where all the Madrigals unite to have a feast together at the table. Isabela is talking about her boyfriend, Mariano, with Abuela. Abuela asks Dolores if “we have a date,” and Dolores’ response embarrasses Isabela, causing little flowers to pop out into her hair. Abuela picks a singular flower out of her hair and continues to position her hair.
At first glance, the flowers on Isabela’s head all look pink. But if you look closer, Abuela plucks off a white flower, because it is the only one that is not pink. She plucked it because it was imperfect. Then she continues to position her hair to enhance her perfect appearance.
Mirabel
When Antonio’s gift ceremony reaches its big moment, Antonio becomes very anxious. He ushers Mirabel to walk down the aisle with him, and she hesitates at first, but soon caves in and agrees. As Mirabel walks down the aisle, she receives flashbacks of her ceremony. We witness Antonio and Mirabel walk down the aisle together, and we cheer on Antonio as he gets his gift. We are also told the story of when something happens with Mirabel’s ceremony and we watch as her door fades away and becomes a wall.
But viewers have theories on why exactly she didn’t get her gift. As the movie has shown, the door ceremony has few steps. Abuela is awaiting the Madrigal child at the top of the stairs with the enchanted candle. She has the child wrap their hands around the candle and say vows. Then they directly proceed to turn their doorhandle and receive their gift. We see this in full effect with Antonio, but not so much with Mirabel. If you watch very closely, you will notice that after Antonio says his vows, his hands go straight from the candle to the door handle. But Mirabel, before opening her door, wipes her hands on her dress, breaking the bond from the Encanto to the door.
Lots of theories are out there about this. Leave a comment and let us know what you’ve heard!
Antonio
Each door has the Madrigal it is assigned to engraved. At first glance, most viewers don’t think twice about the appearance of the Madrigal.
But when you think back to the brief scene where the camera shows the pictures on the wall of the Madrigal’s as children in front of their new doors, you notice that the engraved picture shows them of the age they are in the movie.
It would make sense if the doors grew up with them, but they were older on their doors than they were when they received their doors. But Antonio’s door shows him at the age he is when he got the door. Viewers are left wondering why Antonio was the only one that was young on his door. Leave a comment on what you think!
Camilo
One of the most loved verses in one of the most loved Encanto songs stars the one and only Camilo Madrigal. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” was instantly a fan favorite, inevitably getting stuck in your head after you watch the movie.
Camilo starts off his eerie verse by describing Bruno to have a “7-foot frame.” But when Bruno is properly introduced into the movie, we notice that he is nowhere near 7 feet tall. It can be assumed that Camilo said this to build a scarier picture in Mirabel’s mind. A simple google search can inform you that he is in fact only 5 ft 4 in.
Bruno
Everyone’s first impression of Bruno when the Madrigals are sharing their relationships with him through “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” is that he is, well, devilish.
However, when Mirabel finds him, we find that he is actually a really sweet person. Although he’s a little bit…out of his head. Between his acted characters and his rat soap operas, Mirabel asks him how long he’s “been back here,” noticing how weird he is acting.
But if you pay attention, it can be assumed that Bruno is either very superstitious or has OCD. This is first introduced when Mirabel sees his face for the first time after almost falling into what she thought was a dark pit. She is trying to catch up to him as he ran away and he does a knocking pattern ~ “Knock knock knock knock knock, knock on wood.” He then proceeds to hold his breath and cross his fingers while he walks from one end of a bamboo pole to the beginning of another one. When he reaches the other bamboo pole, he exhales and undoes his crossed fingers. He then does the same knocking pattern on the bamboo and recites the same chant. Soon after, he is shown hopping over the cracks between floorboards. Right after, Mirabel points out that there are a lot of cracks in his wall, asking if he patched them up. He then says he is “too scared to go near those things,” and introduces one of his characters, Hernando, who is “scared of nothing.” Lastly, when Bruno is going back into his bunker, he performs his knocking pattern with the chant. He proceeds to hold his breath as he crosses his fingers and falls backward through the door.
Dolores

Another well-loved verse in “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is Dolores’ verse.
Her quiet rap adds more diversity to the song, drawing viewers in. Towards
the end of the verse, Dolores puts her face very close to Mirabel’s. While this is shown, if you look between them, you can see Bruno doing a head dance on the balcony in the background…to his own diss track!
Bruno and Dolores
Each Madrigal has a door special to them and their powers. Each door showcases the power of the Madrigal it is assigned to. Each Madrigal has their eyes closed on their doors…or so you thought.
If you look closely, Bruno and Dolores’ eyes are actually open on the doors. Bruno makes sense because his power is all about seeing into the future. But what about Dolores? Leave a comment about what you think might be the explanation for this!
The Madrigals
The Madrigals are an iconic and memorable family in Disney. One thing that they are known for is their unique, colorful outfits. But Disney snuck another thing into there…each Madrigal has a representation of their gift (or something special to them) in their outfits.
Alma (Abuela): mountains of the valley and butterflies (representing the memories with her husband)
Julieta: mortar embroidered on the chest of her outfit
Bruno: hourglasses line his ruana
Pepa: golden sun earrings
Camilo: chameleons line his ruana also
Dolores: sound waves are embroidered onto her dress collar and pattern the stripes on her skirt
Antonio: animals are embroidered down the middle of his vest
Luisa: dumbbells follow the bottom of her skirt
Isabela: this is obvious ~ flowers are all over her dress
Even… Mirabel: a little something for her whole family! A candle, animals, flowers, a sun, a chameleon, and a dumbbell can all be found in her intricate skirt design.
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As you have read, there are many little details that Disney snuck into this new fan favorite. One last thing for you to comment…tell us any other interesting theories that you want us to know!
Elizabeth • Oct 14, 2022 at 7:10 am
Loved reading this article. Concerning Antonio and his door being different, I think it could possibly be because when the magic was broken, Antonio was still small. As to the other characters, they were grown up when the magic was broken.
Sarah N. :) • Feb 24, 2022 at 11:55 am
I love Encanto And This Article! Thank you for spending your time to make this
alejandra • Feb 8, 2022 at 4:14 pm
i love encanto and i love isabella’s part btw i love your article xoxo
Sophie Selberg • Feb 2, 2022 at 9:17 pm
In “we don’t talk about Bruno” I originally thought that in the background
1) Camilo was pretending to be Bruno
OR
2) Bruno was sneaking out of the walls and stealing the food because when he was inside his bunker he said something like “I can get free food here” (I could be wrong) so was he getting food?
Encanto is my favorite movie (I’m a big fan of Disney movies)
I hope you find my thoughts helpful and if you haven’t watched Encanto I would TOTALLY recommend it
Drew D • Feb 2, 2022 at 12:40 pm
Awesome! Thx for sharing!
Drew D • Feb 2, 2022 at 5:11 pm
Really cool article
miraculer #1 • Jan 31, 2022 at 11:56 am
cool
Readbtw • Jan 28, 2022 at 1:39 pm
STOP
Bruno is either very superstitious or has OCD.
I know, people often do this but come on! It’s only superstition.
People need to stop “ocd” in everything my god!
Btw:
If you have ocd. Sorry, I just don’t like when people try to force this,
I AM not to trying to undermine you.
Lyric Schowalter • Jan 28, 2022 at 5:36 pm
Hey reader!
I try to very considerate when talking about mental illnesses, so I am very sorry this upset you. I have read many life stories about people with OCD, and these actions are very common things with people diagnosed with OCD. I just wanted to keep that option open, because, well, it is a possibility.
Thank you for your comment! I will keep this in mind for the future.
Readbtw • Jan 30, 2022 at 10:14 am
Thanks! Sorry if I sound rude!
HalalCheesedoodle • Jan 28, 2022 at 1:35 pm
Hey,
For Camilo,
1. He was very young, so he looked this way to him.
2. The people have made rumors so, he didn’t know better.
Let me know I missed something
Norah Martin • Jan 24, 2022 at 11:57 am
Im not sure if this is right, but on the internet I saw that Mirabel’s father also has something for his daughters. I know one of the things is that on his shirt is what seems like a pinned on flower symboling Isabela.
Giada • Jan 19, 2022 at 9:35 am
For the 7 foot frame part, I have a theory that either Camilo somehow saw him and thought he was taller than he looks, or he’s either talking about a 7 foot door frame. I personally think he’s referring to Bruno’s door frame. Overall, I love your article! I love the movie so much that I’ve watched it more than 10 times! Great job!
Rebecca Rogers • Jan 19, 2022 at 7:20 am
I think Dolores’s eyes are open because when she’s on screen and using her powers, her eyes are always open.