- “Did someone say flowers?”
- ―Isabela making her dramatic entrance.
Isabela Madrigal is a major character in Disney's 2021 animated feature film Encanto. She is the eldest daughter of Agustin and Julieta Madrigal, and the older sister of Luisa and Mirabel. Described as "Señorita Perfecta" by her youngest sister, Isabela is the golden child of the Madrigal family, whose gift is the power to conjure beautiful flowers and plants.
Background[]
- “I've been stuck being perfect my whole entire life and literally the only thing you've ever done for me is MESS IT UP!/I never wanted to marry him! I was doing it for the family!”
- ―Isabela releasing the pressure she has to be perfect.
Born into the Madrigal family, Isabela is the eldest daughter of Julieta and Agustín, and the older sister of Luisa and Mirabel. In addition to being the niece of Félix, Pepa, and Bruno, Isabela is also the cousin of Dolores, Camilo, and Antonio. Being the oldest of her cousins, she is the firstborn grandchild of the Madrigals and the favorite of her Abuela Alma. In the early years of her life, Isabela lived in the nursery with her cousin Dolores who is a few weeks younger than her, and eventually her younger sister Luisa who is two years younger than her. When Bruno was still with the family, Isabela received a vision from her uncle who told her that someday Isabela would be able to live the life of her dreams, and he also told her that her powers would "grow like the grapes that thrive on the vine". On the night of Isabela's fifth birthday, she received the gift of Chlorokinesis and she moved out of the nursery into her new room.
After she received her magical gift, Alma placed very high expectations on Isabela as her first grandchild and this forced Isabela to have to be the "perfect golden child" of the family.[1] Due to the pressure, Isabela grew up with the enormous pressure of having to meet the expectations of others and hid her insecurities so as not to disappoint her family. Isabela is graceful, and Mirabel describes her as "effortlessly perfect". Because of her looks and talent, she is betrothed to a local man who is equally good-looking, Mariano Guzmán. It's later revealed that she didn't want to be perfect, nor does she want to marry Mariano and in reality, she was only doing it to please people and her family. With Mirabel's help, Isabela is able to finally show her true self and experiment with her powers. When she feels free from the restraint of familial expectations, she can grow new, different varieties of plants that spray different colors of powder, changing her appearance to show how she is becoming more honest with herself and freeing herself from the pressure of having to be perfect all the time.
Official Description[]
- Isabela is Mirabel's older sister who is smart and brilliant. She is so perfect that flowers start to bloom with every footstep she takes. This leads to a complicated relationship with imperfect Mirabel as everything Isabela does seems to be a success.[2]
- Isabela is the golden child of the Madrigal family. Graceful, pretty, and poetic, her gift is the ability to make flowers bloom. She never needs to practice and is stuck expecting to be perfect her whole life. Behind the smile, Isabela is much more complex and feels trapped by her role.[3]
Development[]
As with the rest of the Madrigal family, Isabela was designed to reflect "family archetypes that are immediately relatable".[4] As in the final production, the studio created Isabela from the start as the perfect golden child and thus the pride of the family. Incorporating a subtle undercurrent of anxiety at the same time and hiding her imperfections while she was trying so hard to portray the image of perfection for Abuela Alma.[5] For her appearance, the floral design of her initial dress' flowery design was influenced by those worn by women doing Bambuco dance while for her final dress several different designs were explored for the change with more striking colors and flowers. During the creation process, the studio also was inspired by different Colombian beauty pageant models to create Isabela's delicate movements and the way she interacts with others.[6]
Isabela gift originated from a consultant's request for Encanto to prominently feature nature as a main element in the film due to the popularity of Colombian flowers and that Colombians considered it to be a great source of pride. An early concept for her gift was the ability to bring plants to life, such as cultivating a race of sentient, walking potatoes who lived in the Casita and dressed in traditional farming clothes.[7] Isabela was also originally involved in a romantic subplot with a small nerdy man from the city named Bubo, having to keep their relationship secret due to Abuela Alma not approving of it.[8][9] Her relationship with Bubo was eliminated, thus eliminating the character from the film to replace him for Mariano Guzmán, since the studio did not want to show that a man had to define Isabela's path and instead she is her own person and could finding herself.[10]
Voice[]
Colombian-American actress and voice actress, Diane Guerrero, was chosen to voice the character of Isabela. According to director Byron Howard, Isabela is a difficult role to play because her voice had to be amusing and charming but at the same time refined and elegant to portray Isabela's role as the perfect golden child of the family. Guerrero felt honored to be able to provide her voice in Encanto, since being a film with characters of Colombian descent, she felt represented and said that it was a dream come true to participate in a Disney film.
A few weeks before the film's premiere on Disney+, the voice actress confessed that she instantly understood the reason why she was chosen to play Isabela, since she somehow identified with the character, saying: "When I was a little girl, I grew up watching Disney movies and I watched Disney princesses, and I lived in that magical fantasyland as a kid and I always wanted to be a princess. Any time my mom told me that I was a princess, I truly believed it. It was something that I really desperately wanted to embody, and yet I didn't understand what really makes a princess, which is what you feel inside and your courage to speak up for yourself."[11][12]
Diane Guerrero described her character: "Isabela was sort of given the role of kind of being perfect, and her gift is to grow, make things grow, plants and beautiful flowers. And so, I guess with this gift sort of came the expectation that she just sort of had to be perfect, and just sew, and make beautiful, and sort of, she uses it kind of like a defense mechanism, something that has worked for her for so long. But I think she discovers that you know, when you're growing up, and you're an actual, real human being, that perfection really isn't sustainable."[13]
Personality[]
Isabela dancing and singing happily with Pepa despite the imminent proposal.
Isabela is primarily known for being graceful, beautiful, and even "perfect", both inside and out, by everyone. Although she was initially not close with some members of her family, Isabela cares for them and wants to do whatever it takes to make them proud. Willing to sacrifice her life and happiness for her family, showing her selfless and loyal side. Of her sisters, Isabela is the closest to her aunt; treating Pepa very lovingly and helping her calm down when she is nervous. Growing up together, Isabela treats her younger cousin's by a few weeks like a third sister. During Antonio's gift ceremony, she holds Dolores's hand while hugging her reassuringly and is proud of her cousin when she confesses her feelings for the man she loves. As the two were initially under constant pressure, Isabela admires Luisa's emotional strength and is on good terms with her, worrying about her younger sister when she is sad. She is one of the few people who doesn't have a negative opinion of her infamous uncle Bruno, partially due to him telling her a positive vision in her future. Isabela is also cordial and kind to the townspeople, she happily plants different plants as part of her service to the village and welcomes them to the house.
Isabela stressed by having to meet Alma's expectations.
Although not explicitly stated, she has a taste for romance and love. While Isabela doesn't love Mariano, she does hope to marry someday.[14] Apart from being incredibly happy (along with Mirabel) when Dolores and Mariano become a couple. She is referred to as a angel by the family for her grace, and is beloved by the town. However, deep down, Isabela doesn't appreciate the expectations her Abuela Alma sets upon her to be perfect. Instead, she wants to live life the way she wants to, and expand her power based on what she wants and not what the family wants. Unfortunately, due to the pressure of being the "perfect golden child", Isabela hides these feelings away and willingly goes along with whatever her Abuela wants for her. Afraid of letting Alma and her family down, she hides her insecurities from the people around her to the point of practicing how to look happy when she interacts with others and even agreeing to get married to Mariano, who she does not love.[15] This was also seen when flowers grew in her hair when Dolores said that Mariano wants to have five babies with her and was left speechless, and when her cousin Camilo teases her by shapeshifting into Mariano, only for an unfazed Isabela to throw flowers into his face.
Isabela remodeling her appearance and being herself.
To further add to the pressure, Isabela has always been afraid of expressing her insecurities to others and due to this she is initially shown to have a distant relationship with her relatives. Being Alma's favorite grandchild, Isabela's sisters and cousins feel inadequate living in her shadow and therefore some of them would not have a good opinion of her and would express visible annoyance towards Isabela, such as making jokes to annoy her or looking at her with envy. Isabela especially does not get along with Mirabel. Both sisters are mutually jealous of each other's lives; Isabela envying Mirabel being unburdened by expectations whilst she bears the brunt of Alma's expectations. Unaware of how unhappy the other was than they let on, Isabela had a strained relationship with her. Isabela would be distasteful towards her youngest sister in their interactions and later on smugly making Mirabel apologize for "ruining" her life, showing a temperamental and petty side to her. However, when she finally released her emotions, after Mirabel calls a "selfish, entitled princess", and grew a cactus, Isabela became more expresses with her true feelings and expanded her powers, reconciles with Mirabel and growing a better sisterly relationship with her.
Isabela shamefully looks at her Abuela Alma, knowing that she will never be perfect enough.
The moment Alma yells at her and Mirabel about the mess they caused in the town while they sang, Isabela goes from confident and happy to scared and ashamed. She even tries to brush off the dye caked on her dress, showing how scared Isabela is of making Alma disappointed. When Alma blames Mirabel for the family's problems, all Luisa and Isabela can do was shamefully look down, which also shows that Alma views them no different from the way she views Mirabel. As Mirabel defends Luisa and Isabela by pointing out that they will never be good enough for Alma or her expectations, no matter how hard they try, Isabela along with Luisa avoids looking at Alma but looks incredibly hurt, indicating she knows that Mirabel is right that she can never be perfect as Alma wishes. Once Alma apologizes to the family for pressuring them to be perfect and Bruno returns to them, Isabela happily works alongside her family and the community in rebuilding the house, while her relationship with her sisters, as well as the rest of her family members, grew more loving and affectionate as they worked together. With the house and family magic restored, Isabela becomes a happier person, no longer constrained by expectations and constant pressure to be the best, she is free to experiment with her powers and express herself.
Physical appearance[]
Isabela in her initial dress (left), in her dress after being herself (center), and in her current dress (right).
Isabela is a 21-year-old young Colombian woman with dark skin, hazel eyes, a tear-shaped beauty mark on her left cheek, and long, shiny, black hair with a pink flower on the left side, and diamond earrings. While they have notable differences in skin complexion and facial structures, Isabela is otherwise practically the granddaughter most similar to Abuela Alma (in her younger years) and inheriting several of her physical traits. Isabela wears a lilac, frilled and layered dress decorated with flowers (symbolizing her gift), and matching lilac shoes. After her transformation during the course of "What Else Can I Do?", her dress was painted in various colors (yellow, red, blue, the colors of the Colombian flag, like the umbrellas in "We Don't Talk About Bruno" during Pepa and Félix's verse) with the main color dark blue, with matching flowers, and her hair has yellow, green, and blue streaks in it, with an orange flower replacing the previous pink blossom. The flowers on her dress and the one in her hair are cattleya trianae orchid, also known as "may lilies" or "may flowers". Towards the end of the film, her dress becomes a much lighter indigo, with the other colors remaining as splatters on the bottom, the tips of her hair were green and blue, and a vine glove-like accessory is added onto her right arm. After the events of the film, Isabela will constantly change her appearance because now that she no longer has to worry about the expectations of others, she feels free to experiment with her powers and be herself.[16]
Powers and abilities[]
After experimenting with her magical gift, Isabela can grow other types of plants besides beautiful flowers.
Chlorokinesis: Isabela has the power of Chlorokinesis; she can make plants grow and flowers bloom.[17] She can also manipulate plant life and can grow other things besides flowers, such as fruit trees and crops.[18] Originally when she had to be perfect, Isabela only grew vines and beautiful, symmetrical flowers, such as roses. Showing the capability of conjuring flowers either by waving her hands, twirling her feet, and even flicking her hair while having the flowers appear within her range or travel across the surface of an area. But after she began to be herself, began experimenting with her gift and discovered that she could grow other kinds of plants as well, such as cacti, trees, like palma de cera or wax palm, and even carnivorous plants, like sundew. It's also seen that she can grow dyed versions of exotic plants, like if you look closely there's a purple-colored cactus. Isabela has quite a bit of control over her gift, as she can create any plant she wants just by thinking about it.
Despite the great control she has over her gift, her powers also appear to be linked to her emotions and thus she can lose control of her power. Although not to her aunt Pepa's extent, sometimes strong emotions can trigger Isabela's gift: when Dolores mentions Mariano's desire to have five babies with Isabela, she is shocked and flowers sprout in her hair involuntarily, and in her argument with Mirabel for ruining the proposal dinner causes her to grow a cactus and leads her to realize she can grow more than pretty blossoms.
- Other skills: Isabela is very nimble and quick on her feet. When she was expressing her true self, she displayed impressive levels of athleticism such as moving with great ease and coordination on the roof of the house, a difficult area to move in, while singing and dancing. She also moves very skillfully with vines. As her powers are related to plants, Isabela has a great knowledge of different plants and has some skill in the gardening, leading her sisters to plant some cactus while they rebuild the house.
Appearances[]
Encanto[]
Isabela using her gift to make flowers bloom everywhere.
Isabela's first appearance is in a flashback where Abuela Alma explains to a five-year-old Mirabel about how their family was blessed with magic and how the Miracle Candle will give each family member a magical gift on their fifth birthday. In the present, Isabela is introduced as she gets out of bed, her hair blowing in the wind. She prepares to start the day and heading to the village with the rest of her family to help around. While The Madrigals are in town, Isabela was seen dancing along with the rest of her family and growing a vast array of flowers in the village. During "The Family Madrigal", Mirabel describes her to the Town Kids as perfect and the golden child of the family, and at the same time Isabela is lovingly kissed on the cheek by her Abuela Alma and grows several beautiful roses while Mariano Guzmán watches her with admiration. The moment Mirabel introduces Mariano to the Town Kids, Isabela simply walks next to they, ignoring them. Since the day was also her youngest cousin's, Antonio, fifth birthday and gift ceremony, Isabela soon returns home to help prepare for the celebration.
When Pepa is stressed, Isabela appears to calm her down by giving her flowers.
Isabela begins to place beautiful roses around the Casa Madrigal for Antonio's special day, asking her relatives which parts of the house need more flowers. When Pepa started panicking about Antonio's gift ceremony, causing her to create a mini hurricane and damage the flowers, Isabela showed up to calm her aunt down. She dramatically swinging down from the upper level of the house on a vine and growing more flowers to replace the ones Pepa accidentally ruined, with the townspeople looking on in admiration and applauding as Mirabel looks at her in disgust. When she lands, she gives her aunt a bouquet of flowers with a smile to help her calm down from her and Pepa thanks her while Félix calls her "our angel". After they leave, Isabela accidentally flips her hair in Mirabel's face and when she notices her presence, Isabela rolls her eyes and tells Mirabel that if she wasn't trying so hard she wouldn't always be in the way as a form of "sisterly advice". Mirabel tries to tell Isabela that she's helping, while Isabela proceeds to walk away and roll her eyes as her youngest sister was about to walk into a pole.
Isabela irritated when she thinks that Mirabel wants to ruin Antonio's gift ceremony.
Before Antonio's gift ceremony later in the day, Isabela is dancing and welcoming the guests while she is creating flowers to train the guests before Antonio's ceremony begins. When it was time for her cousin to walk to his door to receive his magical gift, Isabela joined her other relatives to listen intently to Abuela Alma's speech about the candle that blessed her family, while at the same time she holds Dolores' hand. When Mirabel goes to help Antonio to his door when asked by him, Isabela looks on in annoyance due to worrying that Mirabel was going to mess it up. After Antonio received his magical gift, Isabela waved her hands in a jump of joy and was impressed when Antonio rode his jaguar in his new room. As the party moved into Antonio's magical bedroom, Abuela gathered the family for a photo to celebrate Antonio's gift, which everyone unknowingly excluded Mirabel from. While dancing with Mariano at the celebration party, they heard from a panicked Mirabel that there were cracks in the Casita. When everyone came to investigate and the cracks weren't there, Isabela expresses her dislike for Mirabel because she thought she was envious of Antonio's successful ceremony and wanted to ruin the day.
Without Alma realizing it, Isabela is nervous about her marriage proposal.
The next morning, Isabela joined the rest of her family for breakfast and sat down next to Dolores and Camilo. As she prepared to eat, Alma announces to the family that she had spoken with the Guzmáns about Mariano's proposal to Isabela. Throughout the conversation, Isabela is visibly nervous about the prospect of getting married to Mariano, especially when Dolores reveals that Mariano plans to propose to her that same night and adds that he wants five babies, which makes Isabela sprout nervous flowers on her head. While removing an imperfect flower from Isabela's head, Abuela comments that the pair would bring a new generation of "magical blessings" and make both families stronger, much to Isabela's discomfort. When Alma finished speaking, Camilo shapeshifts into Mariano and made kissy faces to tease Isabela, which she responded by flicking flowers into his mouth. At the conclusion of breakfast, Isabela joins everyone in the family chant "La Familia Madrigal" and expresses annoyance for Mirabel when accidentally walks into her while trying to chase Luisa, who left the table in a hurry.
Isabela swinging on her vine while singing about Bruno.
Later, Isabela joined her family in "We Don't Talk About Bruno" after the townspeople verse to talk about her missing uncle Bruno. Being old enough to remember him before he left, she is clearly aware that, contrary to what many people say, Bruno is a good person and she does not say anything negative about him. As she swings on a vine and the townspeople look at her in admiration, Isabela in her verses recounts a vision that Bruno gave her when she was young about how she's guaranteed to live her dream life, as well as him telling her what her power was going to be. When Alma takes the Guzmán family to the Casa Madrigal for the impending marriage proposal dinner, she climbs down from the vine and tells Mirabel that she doesn't want to hear her say anything during dinner, while Dolores in the background reveals that she is secretly in love with Mariano. After Camilo informed the family that Abuela was coming with the Guzmáns to the house, Isabela helped her family prepare the table for dinner while danced happily with Pepa, constantly repeating to herself that she was fine with her engagement to Mariano, although she is clearly suffering.
Isabela nervous when Mariano Guzmán tries to propose to her during the awkward dinner.
At the moment when everything was ready for the impending proposal, Isabela sits in between Mariano and Mirabel. She fakes a smile when Alma and Señora Guzmán expressed their happiness at the imminent union between the families, and often glares at when her relatives begin to act strangely, not knowing that it is due to their fear of Bruno's vision about the impending destruction of the house. Isabela is visibly confused when her father Agustín tries to rush Mariano and get him to propose faster. Isabela is also irritated when Mirabel interrupts Mariano's proposal, but she has a worried face when Luisa starts crying over the loss of her super strength. When Mariano tries to propose, Isabela has a forced smile on her face, while Dolores proclaimed that the family were all doomed. As dinner starts spiraling out of control with the spread of Bruno's vision about the magic fading and Pepa started forming a thundercloud, Isabela freaks out as various cracks begin to appear around the house and briefly loses control of her powers, using a plant to accidentally break Mariano's nose. After the dinner is ruined and everyone leaves the dining room, Isabela walks past Mirabel and proclaims that she hates her.
Isabela demands that Mirabel apologize for "ruining" her life.
While chasing some rats, Mirabel finds Bruno hiding within the house's walls while chasing the rats that had stolen the fragments of the vision showing her destroying the house. Mirabel convinces Bruno to make another vision in order to save the miracle, Bruno's prediction shows Isabela and Mirabel hugging as the candle glows brighter and the cracks in the house disappear, much to Bruno's joy and Mirabel's annoyance. To fulfill this vision, Mirabel enters Isabela's room to talk things out with her, saying that she knows they've had their issues, but she was ready to be a better sister and they should just hug it out. Isabela gets annoyed with Mirabel, pointing out that Luisa has grown so weak that she can't even lift an empanada, and that Mariano's nose, which is now broken, looks like a smashed papaya. When Mirabel tries to get close to get a hug, Isabela blocks her way with her vines and tells her to get out. She tells Mirabel that everything was perfect for her proposal and that their Abuela was happy as well as the rest of the family and that if Mirabel wanted to be a better sister, she should apologize for "ruining" her life. When Mirabel sarcastically apologizes for Isabela's life being so great, Isabela uses her vines to drag Mirabel out of her room.
Isabela shocked by the creation of an "imperfect" plant for the first time.
When she does this, Mirabel tries to break free of the vines, insisting that she's sorry and that she wasn't trying to ruin her life, but there are much bigger problems to deal with. Isabela is shocked when Mirabel refers to her as a "selfish entitled princess" and tells Mirabel that she was "stuck being perfect" all her life and all Mirabel has ever done is mess things up for her. Mirabel tells her things aren't messed up and she can still get married to Mariano, but Isabela reveals that she never wanted to marry him and she was only doing it for the family. After this confession, Isabela accidentally grows a cactus, which she is stunned at due to its faults and wonders how she made such an "imperfect" plant. Isabela then opens up about her desire to be imperfect in "What Else Can I Do?", and while Mirabel encourages her to be herself, Isabela begins to get along with her better. When they are on the roof of the Casita, Isabela begins creating more exotic, flesh-eating plants all over the town, unintentionally hitting Mariano's nose again, and staining her dress from the bright fumes that comes out of a colorful plant, unaware that Alma looked on in disgust as Isabela was "losing" control of her powers.
Isabela happily thanks Mirabel for helping her be herself.
Finally free of the expectations that tormented her, Isabela hugs Mirabel and thanks her for helping her be herself, fulfilling Bruno's vision. Both sisters watch as the Miracle Candle begins to shine brightly and the cracks disappear before jumping to the floor of the house. Upon landing, Isabela playfully tells Mirabel that she's a bad influence. Isabela's joy quickly turns to fear as Alma comes into the house angrily demanding to know what's happening. Isabela stands silently before walking off to the side as Mirabel tries to explain what was going on. As Alma berates their sister for all the family's troubles because she wasn't given a gift, Isabela and Luisa, who were equally hurt by how little Alma thinks of them, shamefully looks down. As their parents stand by their side, Isabela and Luisa avoids looking at Alma when Mirabel defends them by saying that they will never be good enough for Alma, even with their gifts and points out that Isabela won't be perfect enough for her. Isabela and the rest of the family see how Alma and Mirabel's argument escalate to yelling and accusations that the other was the one hurting the magic and the family.
Isabela in shock realizing that her powers are gone.
As the Casita started collapsing around them and the Miracle Candle about to fall from its window, Isabela joined Mirabel and Camilo in trying to retrieve the Miracle Candle despite the danger it posed, because the candle is what keeps the Casa Madrigal alive and all her life Abuela Alma has told them that it is the most important object in the Encanto. She tried swinging on her vine to reach the candle from Alma's window, but as the house continued to crack and fall apart, until the cracks reach her door, Isabela's powers fade, her vine disappears, and she falls to the floor. When she landed, Isabela looks around as her plants die and both her and Camilo realized that they had lost their gifts. Casita then quickly pushed Isabela and the family out, except Mirabel, before it fully crumbled down, though she was able to reach the candle, but as the crumbling ended, the candle's long-lit flame dies in her hands. When her mother Julieta noticed Mirabel went missing, the Madrigals and the other townspeople spread out to search for her.
Isabela and Mirabel hugging Luisa when she reveals that sometimes she cries.
By the next day, Isabela and the family saw that Mirabel and Alma (who reconcile with each other) returned to Casita's ruins and during "All of You" as Alma apologizes to her family for holding on too tight, fearing she would lose them too after losing Pedro, and refines the miracle as simply themselves rather than the magic, she also beckons Bruno hiding behind the rubble to rejoin the family. Although Isabela is briefly confused by the sudden return of her uncle, she along with the rest of the family have accepted him back into the family. With the family all together, Mirabel rallied them to fix the house and the entire town also pitched in as thanks for all the Madrigals had done for them over the decades. While helping to rebuild the Casa Madrigal, Isabela is working with her sisters fixing the walls of the house and comments that it's a dream when they work together while she compliments her sister, Luisa's strength. Isabela and Mirabel proceed to give Luisa a comforting hug when she admits that she cries sometimes, saying that they cry too. Isabela then says she needs sunlight and fertilizer, and along with her younger sisters plants new cacti saying that they should plant something new and watch it grow.
Isabela creating a new variety of exotic plants.
Isabela also watches as Mirabel introduces Dolores to Mariano, and she along with Mirabel watch from behind a donkey as their cousin begins to confess her feelings for Mariano. When Mariano reciprocates Dolores' feelings, Isabela jumps with joy for Dolores and Mariano, high-fiving Mirabel when the two become a couple. After completing the Casa Madrigal, Mirabel added a doorknob the family made just for her to the front door, causing a new source of magic to be born that brings Casita back to life and returning the gifts of the Madrigals, but also making a new front door with all the Madrigals carved into it, including those who married into the family, Félix and Agustín. Then Casita takes everyone inside and Isabela then proceeds to remodel her dress again as well as create a new variety of exotic plants, no longer considered "perfect". The family then celebrated the returned of their home and gifts with a family picture. Isabela stood next to her mother and Luisa as they posed for the photo and when everyone smiled shouting "La Familia Madrigal", Casita unexpectedly crushed the entire family, creating an imperfect family image.
Once Upon a Studio[]
Isabela returns alongside her 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.
When Goofy accidentally breaks the camera, Isabela, Alma, and many of their cohorts sadly prepare to go back inside the animation building until they hear Alan-A-Dale playing "When You Wish Upon a Star". This lifts everyone's collective spirit, where they sing the song together and successfully take the group photo.
Disney Parks[]
A topiary of Isabela was put up in Downtown Disney in the summer of 2022 as the centerpiece of a series of Colombian silleta style flower displays celebrating diversity in Disney's workforce. The topiary would later be brought to Epcot for the 2023 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival as part of a larger Encanto topiary display with Mirabel, Luisa, and Antonio.
Relationships[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Isabela's birthday is on August 7, coinciding with the Battle of Boyacá and the month the Festival of the Flowers is celebrated.[19][20]
- Isabela's zodiac sign is Leo.
- Early in production, the character's name was Ines.[21]
- According to Jared Bush, Isabela is 21 years old and is the firstborn grandchild of the Madrigals. Her younger cousin, Dolores, was born a few weeks later. She is even called "Isa's Shadow", as she and Isabela have the same age but is a few weeks younger than Isabela.[22]
- The name Isabela means "beautiful" or "graceful" and is the Spanish and Italian counterpart of the name Elizabeth. This was a common name for girls as the word "bella" means "beautiful" in Spanish and Italian.
- Isabela's name is frequently misspelled as "Isabella" by English-speaking fans, because that's the more common spelling of the name in those cultures.
- Her name shares a religious theme with Mariano and Dolores. Mariano is a masculine derivative of Mary. In the Bible, Mary and Elizabeth are cousins, which is a clue that Isabela and Mariano are not meant for each other romantically and how they are better off as cousins-in-law.
- Isabela is composed of over half the names of both her sisters, Luisa and Mirabel, who have always lived in her shadow.
- Her original name, Inés, also has a theme associated with her character. Inés/Agnes often can mean "beautiful, pure, lamb of God", and it befits Isabela portraying an image of perfection of herself all the time. It also contrasts with her uncle Bruno, who is the Black Sheep of the family.
- Due to the fact that Isabela has to be "perfect", her gift has only been used for decorating. Some might even think her power of growing plants should've been more than that, like growing plants used for food, like trees, crops, etc.
- Aside from growing plants and flowers, Isabela also excels in swinging, due to the fact that she can also grow vines.
- Isabela saying that Luisa couldn't lift an empanada might be an exaggeration, due to the fact that she's losing her strength.
- Isabela's desire to not marry Mariano is hinted a few times before she vocally expresses it to Mirabel:
- Isabela does not notice Mariano, who dreamily looks at her and is mentioned during "The Family Madrigal".
- When Dolores mentions Mariano's desire to have five babies with Isabela, she looks shocked and slightly horrified as flowers involuntarily sprout in her hair.
- When Camilo shapeshifts into Mariano to mess with Isabela, she brushes him off with flower petals. Though it could be interpreted as her being annoyed with his antics, it also shows her displeasure with the prospect of marrying Mariano.
- During the final lines of "We Don't Talk About Bruno", Isabela looks distressed and upset while dancing around Mirabel despite telling a more positive vision she received from Bruno, indicating her true feelings about the looming proposal that she will have to accept, as well as her lyrics changing to "And I'm fine, and I'm fine, I'll be fine", showing how desperate she is to please her family and ignore her own desires.
- Throughout the proposal dinner, Isabela never really expresses genuine affection towards Mariano.
- When Mariano presents her with the engagement ring, her smile is tense and strained, like as if it was fake.
- A flower from Isabela's gift punches and breaks Mariano's nose twice, once during dinner and again during "What Else Can I Do?". Though it was unintentional, it exemplifies how little care she has for him.
- She says Mariano's nose looks like a smashed papaya after what happened during the chaotic dinner.
- While ranting about her ruined marriage proposal, Isabela proclaims that Abuela and the family were happy about it. She never mentions that she herself was happy with the proposal, since she was only going through it for the sake of the family.
- A deleted scene shows Isabela was in love with a nerdy looking guy named Bubo Marquez who lives in the woods of Encanto (though another concept was he lived outside the town) and was planning to leave with him, but this concept of Isabela was discarded, most likely because it interfered with her arc and development.[24]
- According to Jared Bush, Isabela and Mirabel were closer when they were younger but gradually drifted apart due to their dissimilar standings in the family and "sisterhood"; the latter referring to realistic scenarios where siblings can become more distant with each other as they mature.[25]
- In "What Else Can I Do?", Isabela sings "flor de mayo, by the mile". Flor de mayo means 'may flower' in English. Some of the flowers seen on Isabela's dress and the one in her hair are also known as cattleya trianae orchids, 'may liles', or 'may flowers', the national flower of Colombia.
- In "We Don't Talk About Bruno", Isabela sings "He told me that my power would grow like the grapes that thrive on the vine", foreshadowing her growing various plants in her room after she was given with a massive power surge in "What Else Can I Do?". Additionally, while Isabela's line "He told me the life of my dreams would be promised and someday be mine" could mean how idealistic her life currently is since then, it actually hints her discontent with it.
- Isabela now looks different on Casita's new front door. Her dress is now different as she is now her true self rather than the perfect princess. Though, it is unknown if her room will change once she gets it back.
- Isabela grew and mentioned several of the plants she conjured throughout the movie. Some of which were roses, chrysanthemums, vines, flor de mayo (may flowers), cacti, jacarandas, strangler figs, palma de cera (wax palm), sundew, and tabebuia, though it appears she can also grow snake plants.
- It is implied that her aunt Pepa taught Isabela how to do the dance the latter does on the night of Antonio's gift ceremony when she performs for various townspeople, as Pepa does the exact same dance in the final scene of the film while under a hail cloud as Félix cheers her on. Which is a reference that various aunts often teach their nieces to dance in the Latin culture.[26]
- A popular theory why Isabela is Abuela Alma's favorite is that, in addition to being the firstborn grandchild of the Madrigals, Isabela is also the family member who most strikingly resembles Alma when she was younger. This physical resemblance makes her see herself in Isabela and reminding Abuela of her trauma, which is why she has such high expectations for Isabela's future.[27]
- Isabela is similar to Elsa, the deuteragonist from Frozen.[28]
- Both wear cool-colored dresses and are well recognized by everyone.
- Both have a complicated relationship with their powerless youngest sibling whom they were initially closer to in their childhood, stemming from a fateful night and how the latter is unaware of their problems.
- They both want to be able to express themselves freely but hide their true feelings, which causes them to not know the true potential of their powers and have trouble expressing themselves correctly. However, Isabela had better control of her powers than Elsa initially did.
- They change their perspective after singing about the joy of being free to express themselves, learning to embrace their quirks and gather the courage to share them with their loved ones.
- During their songs in which they start to be themselves, they radically change their appearance to more closely match their magical powers and true selves.
- Background to their problems ties to an armed conflict in their families and homelands' beginnings, which their grandparents had a role in.
- Despite being the older of the sisters, Isabela's voice actress, Diane Guerrero, is actually six years younger than Stephanie Beatriz, Mirabel's voice actress; whereas Isabela is six years older than Mirabel.
- In an interview at the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscars Party, Diane Guerrero commented that she thinks Isabela could be a lesbian and discussed her hopes that this aspect of the character would be explored in a possible sequel.[29]
- According to Jared Bush, Isabela secretly likes the chaos that Pepa can cause with her gift. She wants to be free to express herself however she wants and expand the nature of her power instead of being the "perfect golden child" of the family, just like when Pepa unleashes her emotions, accidentally causing chaos. Isabela's greatest desire is to express herself as she wants, just as Pepa does.[30]
- Her looks, face, and style matches Asha in the 2023 movie Wish.
References[]
- ↑ Bush, Jared (December 28, 2022). "First Grandchild". Twitter.
- ↑ Newsdesk, Disney (September 10, 2021). "“Encanto” Character Details Revealed". LaughingPlace.
- ↑ Encanto, Disney (November 28, 2022). "Encanto Busy Book". Twitter.
- ↑ Brown, Tracy (November 24, 2021). "‘Encanto’ is Disney’s first Latino musical. How the filmmakers got Colombia right". LATimes.
- ↑ The Art of Encanto
- ↑ Lee, Michael (September 9, 2021). "How the Magical Casita in ‘Encanto’ is a New Kind of Disney Castle". The Nerds Of Color.
- ↑ Newsdesk, Disney (February 2, 2022). "Moments, Character Looks and Lyrics that were Discarded from the Film". BuzzFeed.
- ↑ Bush, Jared (January 05, 2022). "Deleted Scene Reveals Isabela's Love Interest". Screen Rant.
- ↑ Bush, Jared (January 8, 2022). "Isabela Love Interest Part 1". Twitter.
- ↑ Bill, Bradley (March 12, 2022). "Isabela Love Interest Part 2". Screen Rant.
- ↑ Radish, Christina (November 26, 2021). "Diane Guerrero talks about the Surreal Experience In Bringing Isabela to Life". Collider.
- ↑ Interviews, Collider (November 26, 2021). "Diane Guerrero on Encanto, the Film’s Beautiful Message". YouTube.
- ↑ Busch, Jenna (November 8, 2021). "Encanto Movie Cast & Crew on the New Disney Film". VitalThrills.
- ↑ Disney Encanto: A Tale of Three Sisters
- ↑ Bush, Jared (October 17, 2022). "Isabela's Issues". Twitter.
- ↑ Bush, Jared (October 17, 2022). "Isabela Appearance". Twitter.
- ↑ Team, D23 (November 16, 2021). "“Encanto” Character Details Revealed". D23.
- ↑ Bush, Jared (December 28, 2022). "Isabela's powers". Twitter.
- ↑ Bush, Jared (March 18, 2022). "Isabela's birthday". Twitter.
- ↑ Bush, Jared (March 18, 2022). "Meaningful Birthdays". Twitter.
- ↑ Sharpe, Josh (December 9, 2020). "Exclusive: New Details for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ ‘Encanto’". The Disinsider.
- ↑ Bush, Jared (December 8, 2021). "Ages". Twitter.
- ↑ Bush, Jared (May 21, 2022). "Isabela and Dolores". Twitter.
- ↑ Harrak, Antoine (December 28, 2021). "Isabela Goes Into The Woods". YouTube.
- ↑ Bush, Jared (January 2, 2022). "Encanto on Disney+". Tumblr.
- ↑ Byron, Howard (February 21, 2022). "Isabela and Pepa Dance". The Disney.
- ↑ Courtney, Mason (January 11, 2022). "Why Isabela is Abuela's Favorite". Screen Rant.
- ↑ Lauren, Abrams (March 5, 2022). "Similarities of Isabela With Elsa". Screen Rant.
- ↑ Zima, Lauren (March 28, 2022). "Diane Guerrero Believes Isabela Is Gay". Etonline.
- ↑ Bush, Jared (May 21, 2023). "Isabela's Secret". Twitter.
External links[]
Isabela Madrigal on Wikipedia- Isabela on Encanto Wiki
- Isabela on the Heroes Wiki
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