DVDizzy Forum

D82 wrote:I'm glad Mirabel looks like a teenager and not like an adult and I like that she doesn't look like a typical Disney princess/heroine. I also think it's great that we're getting a female protagonist who wears glasses. I don't remember if it had been confirmed whether the film has a period setting or not. If it hadn't, I guess the glasses confirm it's not set in the past.

That's everything I dislike in a WDAS film. It's going to be hard for me to maintain interest for this movie now.

D82 wrote:I also think it's great that we're getting a female protagonist who wears glasses. She's the first one at that, right?

Anita and Honey Lemon wore glasses, but they weren't protagonists.

D82 wrote:Here's the original source of the leak and the full picture of the Encanto products.

Thanks for posting the original source. It's frustrating when people take images or videos and post them to their accounts without revealing where they found them. Too bad the entire document got removed by Disney. They also had Jakks Pacific contact people who had posted the image and asked them to remove it.

D82 wrote:The older lady must be Julieta, since there's a playset called "Julieta's Kitchen" and she seems to have a spoon in her hand. She has to be Mirabel's mother and her name must have changed from Juana to Julieta. I wonder if she has powers related to cooking.

I agree on your theories for the powers of the other characters, but I don't believe Julieta's powers will be related to cooking. She's a mom, and a Latina mom at that, so it's expected to be preoccupied in the kitchen and interested in cooking. I expect food and communal eating to be featured prominently in the film. That seems to be the latest trope, especially when it comes to depicting communities of color. Coco, Raya, and Over the Moon all dealt with that. Maybe Julieta is the one with the power is healing. It would make sense since she's the nurturer in the family.

D82 wrote:Speaking of powers, do you guys think Mirabel will discover she does have a power during the course of the film like it happened with Jack Jack in The Incredibles or the lead character from Sky High, for example, or will she remain being the only one without powers by the end of the film?

I highly doubt she'll end up having superpowers by the end of the film. It would go against the themes of accepting who you are, turning your limitations into strengths, and relying on your own skills and talents to save the day.

bruno_wbt wrote:It's horrible, they all look like little kids...

I also like my Disney characters looking like adults, especially the princesses. That's why I'm glad that characters like Alice, Wendy or Eilonwy never joined the line-up. I thought they looked too young, but Mirabel looks even younger than that.

Disney's Divinity wrote:I don't know if that's true or not. Isabela looks darker than Mirabel and Luisa lighter than the both of them. It's still possible the boy is also a sibling.

I think so too. Maybe the father is Afro-Latino and that's why the siblings come in different skin tones and hair textures. Besides, her brother's supposed to be an important character whose name was even separately trademarked. Surely, they would have included him in a figurine set.

Disney's Divinity wrote:I do think it's possible that Mirabel has a power of her own... Perhaps it's an "invisible" power, something interpersonal--perhaps an ability to draw people together or make them feel good / happy.

That's more likely than getting her own superpower. Something similar to how Anna's superpower was love.

Disney's Divinity wrote:That said, I still hope maybe she does look younger than the normal princess and ends up not being included in the line. The line's bloated anyway, but I think that's hopeful wishing since she's a "First _______ princess."

I hope so too, but there's no way Disney will pass up on the opportunity to capitalize on their first Latina lead while adding more diversity to the line-up. I think the only way they won't do that is if Encanto becomes immensely popular and gets turned into its own franchise like what happened with Frozen.

Disney's Divinity wrote:I get she's supposed to be a plain Jane type, but she looks a little like Steve Urkel. Combined with a Nickelodeon aesthetic. She wouldn't look out-of-place on Rugrats or As Told by Ginger.

She does look very geeky and un-Disney in her design. I'm not fond of that.

Disney's Divinity wrote:I was watching The View this morning and they were talking about some controversy surrounding Lin-Manuel Miranda, that he made sure light-skinned Latinos were at the front of the show in Hamilton over dark-skinned actors or something along those lines?

The controversy was not about Hamilton, but about the film adaptation of Into the Heights. The film was criticized for not having enough dark-skinned/Afro-Latinos in the main cast and whitewashing the setting of the film, Washington Heights, which is supposedly high in Afro-Latino population. People were also upset that the film removed a scene from the play where an Afro-Latino gets discriminated by a light-skinned Latino which was perceived as covering up issues of colorism and anti-Black racism in the Latino community.

Disney's Divinity wrote:Perhaps this is why they wanted at least a few of the characters to be dark-skinned, because of that controversy?

There's no way this very recent controversy affected decisions that were made months, if not years, ago. I'm sure though that having dark-skinned characters in Encanto will be perceived by the public as him addressing the backlash and "doing better" like he promised in his statement.

New image. I wasn't able to track down the original source. Maybe D82 will have better luck with that.


Source: https://www.instagram.com/stories/disne ... 474136175/

Like I said, the longer WDAS waits to release the trailer, more leaks are gonna happen. Mirabel looks adorable.

That image is cute! But, to mimic others--since this should carry whether the feedback is negative or positive --"it's unfair" to judge the film and its characters by this. They could look much better here than in the film because they're hand-drawn, after all--that's been the case for most of the other Disney Revival characters. Elsa and Anna look even prettier in hand-drawn images we've seen (even though they were already pretty as it is). I thought the BH6 cast looked much better in the hand-drawn end credits than they ever did the film itself. A drawing can better capture hair intricacies like with Mirabel's, I think, with all the little details and waviness without feeling too heavy. 3D, probably not.

I hope Isabela does look like this though, she's even prettier than the last picture. They all definitely still look very young, unlike the rest of the DP line of characters. What is the pink thing on Mirabel's shoulder? Is that an animal/sidekick? I was just thinking if that's another living thing like the butterfly, that would make me want to stick to that theory that her "power" if it turns out she has one may be drawing living things towards her, creating a peacefulness for those around her, something like that, since the other two characters are displaying their powers there.

Oh my God. They still look completely horrible.

Disney's Divinity wrote:What is the pink thing on Mirabel's shoulder? Is that an animal/sidekick?

It looks like a flower to me.

Disney's Divinity wrote:I was just thinking if that's another living thing like the butterfly, that would make me want to stick to that theory that her "power" if it turns out she has one may be drawing living things towards her, creating a peacefulness for those around her, something like that, since the other two characters are displaying their powers there.

You may be right, but I feel that ability is too similar to her brother's ability to communicate with animals. Her being an empath or having no powers at all seems more plausible to me.

DisneyFan09 wrote:Oh my God. They still look completely horrible.

Character design is a big pet peeve of mine, so this really bothers me. In general, I'm more fond of naturalistic designs in animation than caricatured ones. However, I'm more open to other studios going this route. Mostly because I don't really care about other studios; none of them have the history of WDAS and I'm not emotionally invested in their output. I don't get excited about their projects, but at the same time I don't get disappointed if they don't end up appealing to me. This entire project seems very un-Disney to me. Some may see this as a positive thing, but I don't. The concept, the setting, the designs, none of it feels endemic to WDAS's creative culture or legacy. How does this movie differ from one produced by Pixar, DreamWorks, Sony or Netflix? Is the Disney logo the only thing that will set their movies apart from now on? Losing what makes them stand out and creating product that looks and feels generic and homogenized is not a positive development in my book.

Sotiris wrote:Character design is a big pet peeve of mine, so this really bothers me. In general, I'm more fond of naturalistic designs in animation than caricatured ones. However, I'm more open to other studios going this route. Mostly because I don't really care about other studios; none of them have the history of WDAS and I'm not emotionally invested in their output. I don't get excited about their projects, but at the same time I don't get disappointed if they don't end up appealing to me. This entire project seems very un-Disney to me. Some may see this as a positive thing, but I don't. The concept, the setting, the designs, none of it feels endemic to WDAS's creative culture or legacy. How does this movie differ from one produced by Pixar, DreamWorks, Sony or Netflix? Is the Disney logo the only thing that will set their movies apart from now on? Losing what makes them stand out and creating product that looks and feels generic and homogenized is not a positive development in my book.

Agreed. It may be a shallow problem to worry about character designs. But still it counts a lot, since a character should look appealing to make him/her interesting. And yeah, I agree with you with your other points: Disney characters should rather look Disney and while there can be exceptions now and then, it`s the Disney look that distinguishes them. And yeah, very little about Encanto seems Disney. I thought that Disney would get back on track now that Lasseter was finally gone, but Encanto seems like a step in the wrong direction. But of course I won`t judge until I actually see the film and know more about the project.

Now with that being said, I`m still very curious what the next project from WDAS will be.

^ And the designs for princess films we'll always be judged the most harshly, particular for a "first ________ princess" film. I personally don't mind Mirabel's design as much if the finished film looks closer to that hand-drawn image, but I do agree the design will look out-of-place standing alongside Belle, Ariel, Aurora, etc. even if may be alright for what it is. If the film wasn't connected to the franchise in that way, I wouldn't care so much. They've had geeky designs before, like the protagonist from Meet the Robinsons. And since this is set in the modern day, it's already at odds with the rest of the princess films (and Raya, if she doesn't eventually get looped into the franchise) which are set in some older time before technology, democracy, etc.

Sotiris wrote: Mirabel is the one with the glasses playing the concertina. She looks so bad. How is she supposed to stand next to the other Disney princesses?

I'm shocked that you made a statement about her look comparing to the Disney Princesses but, whatever, I would like to know who told you or where did you see that Mirabel is a princess?
Mirabel is NOT a princess.
Unless Disney Consumer Products might decide later she will be part of the Princess franchise like they did for Mulan, Mirabel is for sure not a princess in Encanto.

Also, I understand that you are emotionally attached to WDAS (I am a lot too) and that you are anxious about the character designs based on a single leaked toys image and a stylized image from the style guide since there's no official images from the movie yet, but how can you judge so harshly before seeing anything?
I saw the main characters in finished CG and they all typically look Disney to me.

We know that Mirabel is not royalty in her movie. We are referring to the strong possibility of her joining the Disney Princess franchise. Disney Consumer Products has already implied that she will, here.

Sotiris wrote:We know that Mirabel is not royalty in her movie. We are referring to the strong possibility of her joining the Disney Princess franchise. Disney Consumer Products has already implied that she will, here.

Could that have been a reference to the Ultimate Princess Celebration?

The more we see of Encanto, the less inclined I am to believe Mirabel is intended to join the DP franchise. She looks a lot more juvenile than Snow White or Jasmine and historically those kinds of characters (Alice, Wendy) never had much success within the Princess line. I don’t think Disney’s in any kind of rush to have a Latina Princess, either, as long as they have Elena to fill that gap.

@Sotiris: Wasn't the working title for this "Latina princess film"? That's where the assumption comes from. I don't think they'd make a Latina heroine and then leave her out of the princess line considering how the company as a whole wants to promote diversity--racial diversity anyway.

Anyway, I'll defend Sotiris because their statement comparing Mirabel to the other princesses was not about race, jeez. It was clearly about how goofy-looking the design is. It's like if there was a Disney Prince line that consisted of Tarzan, Phillip, Eric, Naveen, etc. and then the new member is Lewis from Meet the Robinsons. How awkward Lewis' design would look standing next to those former characters.

I want to add that design-wise, I think Mirabel could be a fine addition to the Princess line. She is probably healthier representation than most of the other characters who were overly sexualized. I just doubt Disney’s going in that direction with the franchise.

UmbrellaFish wrote:The more we see of Encanto, the less inclined I am to believe Mirabel is intended to join the DP franchise. She looks a lot more juvenile than Snow White or Jasmine and historically those kinds of characters (Alice, Wendy) never had much success within the Princess line.

I hope you're right, but as we've witnessed recently, the Disney Princess franchise is changing and this might be part of the change.

Disney's Divinity wrote:Wasn't the working title for this "Latina princess film"? That's where the assumption comes from.

LMM's father first referred to this film as it being about "a Latina princess". It caught on from there.

Disney's Divinity wrote:I don't think they'd make a Latina heroine and then leave her out of the princess line considering how the company as a whole wants to promote diversity--racial diversity anyway.

Me neither. However, I'm holding out hope that her young age and her unconventional design will convince Disney Consumer Products she doesn't fit and that adding her could jeopardize the profitability of the franchise. It's a long shot, but fingers crossed. Vanellope wasn't added even though she had an 'I want' song and she was Jewish.

Disney's Divinity wrote:It was clearly about how goofy-looking the design is. It's like if there was a Disney Prince line that consisted of Tarzan, Phillip, Eric, Naveen, etc. and then the new member is Lewis from Meet the Robinsons. How awkward Lewis' design would look standing next to those former characters.

Exactly. Her age is another concern for me. Even though she's supposedly 15-16, she looks much younger than that.

UmbrellaFish wrote:I want to add that design-wise, I think Mirabel could be a fine addition to the Princess line. She is probably healthier representation than most of the other characters who were overly sexualized. I just doubt Disney’s going in that direction with the franchise.

I suppose, but I guess I'd rather the character have healthy size proportions and also not stand out like a sore thumb--like Moana managed to do.

As for the others being overly sexualized... I don't know if I agree with that. I think only Ariel, Jasmine, and Pocahontas are over-sexualized. Ariel and Jasmine because of the impossible weight proportions as well as being so scantily-clad (Jasmine in particular seems to have been typical of the kind of "eye candy" you associate with a "boy's film" and male gaze). I never really thought of Pocahontas as a sexual character at all until reading criticism of the film back when it was out over how the true woman was a little girl v. Disney's buxom beauty and thought they had somewhat of a point there. I don't see any of the others as sexualized though? (There are some non-princesses that I'd add to the list, however, like Megara--she's another like Jasmine where I think it was done on purpose since she was in a "boy's" film.)

Do we really want a Mary Sue princess? And think that some princesses already edge on the "Perfect" territory (Belle, Rapunzel, Moana).

But knowing Disney is so desperate to please anti critics and conservative parents, I figure they'll never have a truly flawed princess. The closest to that will be Merida.

New leak. Also, Mirabel has been confirmed to be 15 years old.


Source: https://twitter.com/OCamundongo/status/ ... 2986822657

Well!

Certainly it's not a good quality image and obscured, but I like what I see!

I like that wide-eyed, innocent, expression. And if Mirabel isn't a beauty and more like a real, average 15-year-old girl, that's great too!

Her attire looks very interesting. I wonder what the production design on this film will be like, but I reckon the movie will be a looker.

So the butterfly in her hand will be a recurring image.