- “Uh-huh, uh-huh, I understand you.”
- ―Antonio realizing his gift.
Antonio Madrigal is a major character in Disney's 2021 animated feature film Encanto. He is the youngest son of Pepa and Félix Madrigal, and the younger brother of Dolores and Camilo. The youngest member of The Madrigals, Antonio is gifted with the power to communicate with animals.
Background[]
Born into the Madrigal family, Antonio is the youngest member of the family. Antonio is the youngest son of Pepa and Félix, and the younger brother of Dolores and Camilo. In addition to being the nephew of Julieta, Bruno and Agustín, Antonio is also the cousin of Isabela, Luisa, and Mirabel. Being too young and not having a gift yet, his Abuela Alma never put expectations or pressures on Antonio's shoulders like other members of the family. Also due to being the youngest member of The Madrigals and being born after his uncle left the family, Antonio was never able to meet Bruno and thus has no memory of him.
Prior to his gift ceremony, he lives in the nursery with Mirabel due to his cousin never receiving a magical gift. Antonio greatly admires Mirabel to the point of considering her a big sister. What makes Antonio unique amongst the Madrigal family is his ability to talk to and understand non-human animals, among which are capybaras (one named Chispi[2]), toucans (with Pico among them), hummingbirds, coatis, a tapir, and a jaguar named Parce,[3] all of whom assist Antonio. He is capable of keeping other animals under control and in safe condition, such as reminding Parce not to eat the rats, as they can help him.
Official Description[]
- The youngest of the Madrigal family, Antonio is shy with a huge heart. He has a special connection to Mirabel, relying on her for comfort and courage, especially on an important day when his cousin finds him nervously hiding under his bed.[4]
- Antonio is the youngest son of Pepa and Félix. Sweet and shy, he has a warm relationship with Mirabel and supports her. Antonio has the ability to communicate with animals. He becomes fast friends with a ferocious but friendly jaguar and a toucan, who help when the magic of the Encanto is in danger.[5]
Development[]
As with the rest of the Madrigal family, Antonio was designed to reflect "family archetypes that are immediately relatable".[6] As in the final production, the studio created Antonio from the start as the youngest of his family in order to show how most of the Madrigals receive their magical gifts. Other elements that did not change during the creation process were Antonio's sweet but very shy personality and his magical gift of communicating with animals. To create his appearance, the studio explored many different facial features and hair tones for Antonio while for his clothing they wanted it to be colorful and incorporates the animals he can communicate with.
Antonio's voice actor, Ravi-Cabot Conyers, described his character as follows: "Antonio's gift is talking to animals and communicating with them. And they can communicate with him. And he's kind of an introvert… but he also has a really big heart. I also think that he can communicate with all different sorts of people."[7]
Personality[]
As the youngest member in his family, Antonio is very sweet and innocent. He loves his family so much and is willing to do anything to help them, such as he willingly offered his ostracized uncle, Bruno (whom he had no memory of and just met), to use his room so he can have a vision in order for him and Mirabel to figure out how to save their family's magic. Antonio shares a close relationship with his older cousin, Mirabel where he looks up to her for comfort and wishes she had a magical gift, knowing how hard it must be for her to be the only child in their family to not have any magical abilities. It is this profound empathy for his cousin that earns him the trust of Bruno's rats who inform Antonio of his uncle and cousin's whereabouts and predicament.
Antonio is also a very shy individual and has trouble being around other people, except for his family. He gets stage fright very easily and prefers to interact only with his family and animal friends. Yet, when members of his family get nervous, Antonio would go to help them, such as when he gave Bruno his stuffed jaguar doll to calm his nerves before he did his vision and escorted Mirabel to the newly-built Casa Madrigal so she can put a new doorknob on the front door.
Physical appearance[]
Antonio is a 5-year-old Colombian boy with dark skin, dark brown eyes, and curly black hair. He wears a long-sleeved yellow and light orange striped shirt with an orange sleeveless vest over it, along with a red scarf. He has brown jeans and dark beige and orange shoes. Symbolizing his gift, Antonio's vest has some animals sewn on it. During his gift ceremony, following the tradition, he wears white clothes similar to his normal ones, but with a white vest instead of a scarf.
Powers and abilities[]
Antonio has the power to communicate with animals. Because of this, he has a lot of animals in his room, from capybaras to toucans to hummingbirds, coati, a tapir, and even a jaguar.
Antonio cannot control the animals he talks to; this is strictly based on the bonds of trust and closeness he builds with them that allows him to rely on them for help and companionship, as well as to discourage undesirable behavior, such as when he warned Parce from eating his uncle Bruno's rats.
Appearances[]
Encanto[]
Antonio first appears accompanying his family to the village as they get ready to celebrate his fifth birthday and gift ceremony. He is dressed in a white suit by his grandmother, Alma Madrigal, as his cousin, Mirabel, explains during "The Family Madrigal" how he will be receiving a magical gift during his fifth birthday. Later, before the beginning of the ceremony, he hides underneath Mirabel's bed in the nursery, anxious that his gift ceremony will fail like hers. However, Mirabel is able to encourage him to come out of hiding and gives him a stuffed jaguar as a birthday present. They share a hug before Casa Madrigal tells them that the ceremony is about to be begin. Antonio was then wished good luck by his family and his parents tell him that they'll be waiting for him at his door. When the gift ceremony starts, Antonio becomes too anxious to go forward. He holds out his hand to Mirabel, as he wants her to accompany him. Mirabel initially refuses, knowing that Alma will disapprove of it and how everyone will react. As he desperately whispers that he needs her, Mirabel reluctantly takes his hand. The other Madrigals are stunned upon seeing that Antonio wants Mirabel to accompany him. After climbing up the stairs, he swears to use his gift to help the community by Alma and upon putting his hand on the doorknob of his door, a toucan suddenly lands on his arm and he immediately understood what it was saying and when the bird asks him if all of his friends could come, Antonio happily allows so.
Upon entering his magic door, he is astonished upon seeing that his new room is a big and beautiful jungle with a big tree. A jaguar then suddenly comes in and gave Antonio a ride on his back. After that, he and the rest of the family, excluding Mirabel, have a group picture.
The next morning, Antonio joins his family in eating breakfast outside. He has his new animals warm up Abuela's seat at the breakfast table so that she will feel comfortable. Though Abuela is quite surprised, she thanks her youngest grandson.
Antonio finds out via the rats that Bruno was living in the walls of Casita. Upon hearing Bruno and Mirabel's conversation, he offers his room as a substitute for Bruno's. After the house crumbles and the family's magic faded, Antonio helps rebuild the house. Similar to his gift ceremony, he walks Mirabel up the pathway and hands over the doorknob with Mirabel's initial on it and witnesses her placing it on the front door, which reignites the magic. Much like everyone else and the rest of his family, Casita takes them in. While everybody celebrates the return of the magic and family gifts, he rides Parce around Casita before taking a picture with his family. Unexpectedly, Casita pushes everyone closer, prompting the jaguar to run, and in general, the photo was imperfect, yet still happy.
Once Upon a Studio[]
Antonio returns alongside his family at the Disney Animation Studio for a group photo with all the characters from the previous films to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the studio and The Walt Disney Company's founding in 1923 by Walter Elias Disney and his brother Roy Oliver Disney.
He can be seen interacting with various Disney animal companions like Pascal, Pua, Cri-Kee, Cinderella's bird pals, and Meeko. As he's talking with them, he spots Joanna the Goanna attempting to eat Jaq and Gus and tells her not to eat them, using the same lines from the original film. He joins in the picture along with the rest of Disney characters.
Other appearances[]
Antonio's Amazing Gift[]
Inspired by characters and scenes from Encanto, this brightly illustrated picture book celebrates Antonio's gift day! The young boy learns he can communicate with animals and tours his new, magical bedroom alongside his amazing family.
Disney Parks[]
Antonio appears as an It's a Small World doll in the 2022 finale of the Main Street Electrical Parade alongside Mirabel and Pico.
Relationships[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Antonio's birthday is on May 21st, coinciding with Afro-Colombian Day[8][9], meaning the film's events take place from there.
- His name is a reference to Saint Anthony the Great, the Patron Saint of Animals.[10]
- In real life, it is illegal to keep exotic animals such as jaguars, toucans, and other types of exotic animals like the ones that Antonio has as pets, as it is considered illegal trade. Capybaras, though, are allowed as pets in some states and countries, since they are not endangered species.
- In the film posters, Antonio is seen wearing a vest with animal patterns sewn on it, but he is seen wearing it in only one scene. This is presumably because this vest represents his gift, and he doesn't receive it until later on in the film.
- Antonio's main outfit is actually a colorful version of his gift ceremony costume, which he starts out with in the film due to not receiving a gift yet.[11]
- According to Jared Bush, Antonio is left-handed and could be a vegetarian when he grows up.[12][13]
- Antonio has a desk in his room that looks like a chigüiro (capybara) and a chair that looks like two toucans.[14]
- Antonio is so small that when he sits at the dinner table, he has to be on his knees just to be able to eat and converse with the family.[15]
References[]
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External links[]
Antonio Madrigal on the Encanto Wiki
Antonio Madrigal on the Heroes Wiki
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