After being forced out of their Colombian homeland by political unrest, the Madrigal family is blessed with magical gifts. When they come of age, each member of the family is granted a unique power; Luisa (Jessica Darrow) has the strength of a titan; Isabela (Diane Guerrero) summons flowers to beautify anywhere and everywhere; Julieta (Angie Cepeda) heals physical ailments with her culinary treats; and Bruno (John Leguizamo) sees visions of the future. Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) is the only member of the Madrigal family who was not granted a magical power. The natural consequence of this is that she’s seen as a bit of a familial outsider, especially from the judgmental Abuela Alma (María Cecilia Botero) but her spirits remain high. When the family’s powers unexpectedly flicker and fade, Mirabel takes it upon herself to bring the family together and save the magic before it’s too late.

Working off a story and music from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Encanto is Disney Animated Studio’s freshest concept in quite some time. The Disney Princess formula – defiant girl (with a dead parent or two) goes on quest accompanied by wisecracking sidekick to save her kingdom – is as tried and true as it is cliché and Encanto throws out the rule book to craft something new from the foundation up. There’s no villain that looms over the story. No basic good vs. evil dichotomy. Instead this is a story that – despite its magical underpinnings – is more grounded in real challenges, both big (humanitarian crises) and small (being the black sheep of the family).

Maribel’s lack of a special ability defines her in the Madrigal family but she tries not to let it get to her. She’s taken on a role of storyteller and protector of sorts, watching over the newest pipsqueak of the Madrigal family, Antonio (Ravi Cabot-Conyers). As the youngest Madrigal comes of age and is granted his own special powers in one of many dazzling set pieces, the foundations of the enchanted house Madrigal begins to crack, threatening to dispel the magic that has held the family and community together for generations.

At the center of this story, there is an understandable and unspeakable fear: that of losing your home, being driven out into a cold night, chased down by marauders. The very real fear of being forcibly displaced again lingers within an otherwise adorable story; a powerful and blatant message residing in the confines of a colorful Disney delight. With over 80 million displaced people around the world living as refugees, Encanto illuminates the stories of the silent and does so with unyielding pizzaz.

As Mirabel races to figure out what is going wrong, Encanto dashes from one thrilling set piece to another and directors Jared Bush and Bryon Howard fill her journey with lavish animation and infectious musical ditties. The trauma of her experience as a refugee has hardened Abuela Alma, fueling her fear that the Madrigal family may once again be forced out of their home, and sets her at odds with the ostensibly powerless but persistent Mirabel.

Mirabel looks a lot like writer and co-director Charise Castro Smith and for good reason. Smith is the first Latino woman to co-direct a Disney Animated film and has brought representation to the screen in a way that will resonate with the kids and adults in the audience alike. Approaching the story from the place of real-life emotion, Encanto is able to blend its heightened reality and supernatural proclivities with very real metaphorical significance. Unlike other Disney adventures, Mirabel isn’t forced into some quest to gather Macguffins. Her journey is more emotional-based, an mission to unite her family by getting to know them better and nudge them to be the truer version of themselves, rather than the brave faces they put on.

The tension of Encanto rests in the frayed relationship between Mirabel and Abuela Alma, the stern matriarch and the family disappointment. But even the hardheaded grandmother is not villainous so much as traumatized and unwittingly but effectively passing that trauma down to the next generation. Encanto asks audiences to give these characters the latitude to change, and maybe to look at our own familial trauma through a similar lens.

A zeitgeist dictator, Disney holds sway over cultural norms. The values espoused in a Disney animated film become the values of the doe-eyed kids watching them on repeat. These values often become the same values that parents parrot, effective shorthand to explain why something is the way that is it or why a child – or parent for that matter – should behave in a certain way. Trickle up values. Values are simple through a child’s eyes whereas adults struggle with changing their perspective. That Encanto smuggles in a message about the humanity of forcibly displaced peoples and the plight of the refugee is a bit of magic itself. Giving depth and humanity to groups of people who are so often swept under the rug is not something Disney is known for. Perhaps they too are capable of change.

CONCLUSION: Vibrant Afro-Latinx culture, eye-popping visuals, and toe-tapping songs from Lin Manuel-Miranda intersect with one of the House of Mouse’s most original and meaningful stories in quite some time with ‘Encanto’, a dazzling showstopper that proves that Disney is still capable of magic.