Encanto's Family Madrigal Song Inspired by Beauty & the Beast Opening
One of the animators behind Disney's latest hit Encanto reveals the Madrigal family's opening song was inspired by Beauty and the Beast. As the 60th animated film to be released by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Encanto arrived in November with a certain level of expectations attached. The film's original and magical story harkened back to classic Disney in many ways, and audiences took to it with much enthusiasm. Encanto, which follows young Mirabel Madrigal as she works to preserve her family's magic despite being the only member without powers of her own, received positive reviews upon its release and has become a viral sensation after streaming on Disney+.
Like all good Disney movies, Encanto's story really gets started with the aid of an exuberant musical number. The first song off the film's soundtrack is "The Family Madrigal," a rapid-fire introduction to each member of the titular family. Through Lin-Manuel Miranda's clever lyrics, Mirabel rattles off the names of the various Madrigals, as well as their particular gifts. As she does so, she bounces through her little village, allowing audiences to see all the people who live around the Madrigal casita.
If "The Family Madrigal" reminded viewers of another Disney opening song, that might've been intentional. Disney animator Greg Verreault shared a little peek at some of the shots from the Encanto song and their reference images in a social media post. At the same time, he revealed Miranda had mentioned "The Family Madrigal" was inspired by Beauty and the Beast's opening song "Belle," which also features a lot of townspeople interjecting at various moments. You can see the comparison shots down below.
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Miranda has long been a major Disney fan and has already worked with the studio on numerous projects. For Encanto, it sounds like he took his Disney knowledge and applied it to some of the key musical moments of the film. At the same time, he also managed to make Encanto's music stand on its own and created one of the most popular Disney songs in recent memory: The much-parodied and streamed "We Don't Talk About Bruno".
"The Family Madrigal" is a very different song, yet it establishes the tone of Encanto early on and plunges audiences right into the titular family unit. Some of the best songs from musicals both push the plot forward and reveal key details about the characters, and Encanto's opener definitely manages to do that. It's fitting that it was inspired by a Disney classic, since now Encanto is becoming a modern day classic of its own. Clearly, this is a movie that learned from the best.
Source: Greg Verreault/Twitter