‘She immediately saw herself’: how Encanto strikes a major chord in a diverse world

The runaway success of the Colombia-set animation, with its infectious Lin-Manuel Miranda songs, is in no small part thanks to its Latinx characters, cast and key film-makers“My kids Love it!” “It’s Massive in our house!” The WhatsApp group for my daughter’s reception-year class – usually home to messages about lost school jumpers and tips for half-term clubs – explodes into emojis and capital letters at the mention of Disney’s Encanto.

One obsessed eight-year-old has learned the words to all the songs – and so have most of their classmates.

A’s five-year-old is demanding to know how to say the words in Spanish.

Encanto-mania is taking over kids’ lives.For the uninitiated, Encanto (which is Spanish for “charm”) is Disney’s 60th animated feature film, featuring ridiculously catchy songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer of Hamilton.

It tells the tale of the magical Madrigal family who live in

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