The film stars the voices of Stephanie Beatriz, María Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo [es], Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitán, Diane Guerrero, and Wilmer Valderrama, with Rhenzy Feliz, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Adassa, and Maluma in additional roles.

[7] An armed conflict forces young couple Pedro and Alma Madrigal to flee their home village in Colombia with their infant triplets, Julieta, Pepa, and Bruno.

Amidst Mariano's proposal, an awkward dinner, and Dolores indirectly telling everyone about Mirabel's discovery, Casita begins to crack again, and everyone loses control of their gifts.

[28] Howard and Bush started to discuss Latin American culture at length with Juan Rendon and Natalie Osma, who had previously worked with them on the making-of documentary Imagining Zootopia.

[21][23] Rendon and Osma both happened to be from Colombia and repeatedly drew upon their personal experiences with Colombian culture in their discussions, which caused Howard, Bush, and Miranda to focus their research on that country.

[30] As the film steadily became more complex, with an entire family to develop, multiple songs, and a rich cultural setting with a deep tradition of magical realism, Howard and Bush realized they needed a second screenwriter to help write the screenplay.

Castro Smith sought to create a distinct, imperfect, and completely human character in Mirabel, one that spoke to the lives of many Latinas while also being relatable to viewers globally.

[33] Though no obvious roles which he could voice existed, due to the Madrigals' Colombian nationality and Mirabel's lack of an animal sidekick, Alan Tudyk—considered Disney's "good luck charm"—makes a cameo as Pico, a toucan.

On December 10, 2020, the project was officially confirmed at a Disney Investor Day meeting, where a clip was shown, a fall 2021 release was announced, and magical realism was referenced.

[25] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many crew members worked together remotely for over a year and did not meet each other in person until Disney put on a socially distanced outdoor screening of the final version of the film.

[55] The teaser trailer was released on July 8, 2021,[56] which garnered acclaim from internet users due to Luisa's physical appearance, especially her muscles; she was dubbed the "Buff Lady".

[73][74] Factoring in both the film's production budget and marketing expenses, along with the theaters' share of revenues, Encanto was estimated to need to gross at least $300 million worldwide to break even.

[76][77][78] In the United States and Canada, it was released alongside House of Gucci and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, and originally projected to gross $35–40 million from 3,980 theaters in its five-day opening weekend.

[109] Writing for Good Morning America, Peter Travers deemed the visuals of Encanto miraculous,[110] while Shreemayee Das of Firstpost described the animation as having spellbinding intricacy.

[111] Variety's Owen Gleiberman gave acclaim, saying "Encanto has been visualized with a vivacious naturalistic glow (swirling flower petals, eye-candy pastels) that, at moments, is nearly psychedelic".

[114] The Daily Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin was particularly amazed: "Encanto's animation is dazzling in all sorts of ways, with technical effects and flights of creative fancy that would have been unimaginable even a year ago, particularly during the musical numbers.

[116] For Chicago Sun-Times and the Daily Herald, respectively, Richard Roeper and Dann Gire described the music as "infectious and instantly memorable", and "emotionally distilled [and] verbally nimble";[117][118] The Detroit News writer Adam Graham agreed, commenting that the songs "lift [Encanto] to the sky".

[127] Despite being critical of a perceived disguise of cultural representation, Rafael Matomayor of The New York Observer stated that "when the film dives into the specificity of its portrayal of Colombia[,] ... it becomes an exciting, nuanced, complex magical realist adventure" that propels Disney into "a new era".

[128] The Independent's Clarissa Loughgrey highlighted that the cultural specificity was more than simple aesthetic or linguistic references, commending the incorporation of magical realism and various skin tones.

[99] Forbes's Scott Mendelson called the film "terrifically unconventional",[139] while World critic Collin Garbarino highlighted several aspects that he recognized as deviating from the formula; such as a lack of princesses and villains, as well as the focus on community.

For Pittsburgh Magazine, Sean Collier felt the film was "just another by-the-numbers Disney flick",[142] while Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian thought that the story "wants to have its metaphorical cake and eat it", deeming it contrived.

[145] Alice Forman of Mashable concurred and felt several parts of Mirabel's journey were arbitrary; she had a particularly negative opinion of the film's middle section, which she called tedious.

[146] The Globe and Mail writer Aparita Bhandari asserted the internal, rather than external, source of conflict and several unanswered questions confused her, preventing her from immersing herself in the film.

[158] Variety, IndieWire, Gold Derby, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, Den of Geek, and the Los Angeles Times named the film the most likely to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature,[c] which was ultimately the case.

[166] The Denver Post journalist John Wenzel wrote, with Encanto alongside other 2021 films like West Side Story and Being the Ricardos, "Latino voices are having a moment in U.S. cinema, injecting a diverse set of cultures long ignored by TV, books, movies, video games, stage shows and news media.

"[167] Pamila Avila, writing for USA Today, underscored that Encanto is Disney's first feature with an all-Latin American cast, capturing "the complicated tug and pull between older and younger generations in Hispanic families.

Cobo praised the film for not homogenizing all of the Latin American countries in the manner U.S. media has generally been, instead accurately depicting the culture unique to Colombia: "from accents to outfits to minute details like the hand-painted tableware, the embroidered dresses, the food, the many colors of our skin, even the animals – including the ubiquitous toucan and the yellow butterflies that are synonymous with García Márquez.

"[170] Johanna Ferreira of PopSugar wrote that the success of both Encanto and its soundtrack speaks to "not just the importance and significance of this type of representation in animated films, but also how movies like this are really changing how Latino stories are being told."

[185] The upcoming young adult novel Nightmares and Sueños, written by Alex Segura, is a prequel to the film that focuses on seventeen-year-old Bruno and shows why people do not talk about him.

Riders will sit in magical furniture that has been animated by Casita, and the attraction will feature both animatronic and projection effects, as well as a life-size recreation of the Madrigal household.