You will be called out for having a loud tongue in an immigrant household and no filter. It is especially true if you frequently reveal an important secret. As a result, you learn to hide secrets to survive. Like Dolores Madrigal, people don’t trust you if you enter maturity and still can’t control your tongue.

Encanto successfully captures the facets of growing up in an immigrant home. You get a matriarch who experienced trauma and feels the need to exert total control over every part of her family’s personal life as a response. We also have siblings who care deeply for one another yet deal with metaphorical and natural power imbalances. There is also the one individual who cannot control their speech. Dolores Madrigal is that person. She frustrated me while watching the movie.

Dolores Madrigal messed up with her gift of superhearing. It is hard to ignore that fact on a rewatch. She tells the neighbor kids bluntly that Mirabel has no talent and later tactlessly spills the beans about Bruno’s prophecy. This contributes to Abuela continuously isolating Mirabel and making her feel “other.” Then there are her actions later in the movie. Are they good intentions, or are they motivated by selfish pettiness?

Dolores’s Motives Aren’t Pure

Dolores Madrigal is a gossip. She tries to be friendly to Mirabel but excludes her as much as Abuela does, revealing to the neighbor kids that her cousin has no powers when Mirabel is sidestepping the subject.

Even though Mirabel heard her grandma worrying about the cracks, she later told her that nobody is concerned about them. When she tells Mirabel that she feels terrible about their Uncle Bruno, who disappeared under unclear circumstances, one may argue that she is actually trying to assist. But how about the remainder of the film? She is damaging and worthless.

Who is Dolores Madrigal exactly?

Dolores Madrigal falls in love with the guy her cousin Isabela’s mother wishes to marry, which is another factor. She once heard Bruno say that his love will soon be out of her sight. Just before Mariano is going to publicly propose to Isabela, she wrecks the engagement party by mumbling to herself at the dinner table.

She didn’t succumb to an anxiety attack but instead ruined the celebrations out of concern that Mariano would actually follow through with it, according to several spectators, including me. She blamed Mirabel’s cousin for her own gain, knowing that Abuela and Isabela would use Mirabel as a scapegoat. Only Cousin Antonio actively assists Mirabel when she requests a vision from Bruno.

You may counter that Dolores Madrigal wasn’t serious. She was under pressure. No, she didn’t mean it. Why, after all, was it more straightforward for her to conceal the fact that her uncle was starving himself to death and residing in the walls to maintain the cracks in La Casita?

Dolores Madrigal’s relationship with Mariano

She didn’t have a panic attack, but, according to numerous onlookers, including myself, wrecked the festivities out of worry that Mariano would actually carry it out. Knowing that Mirabel would be used as a scapegoat by Abuela and Isabela, she accused Mirabel’s cousin of her own personal advantage. When Mirabel asks Bruno to give her a vision, the only person who actively helps her is Cousin Antonio.

You may argue that Dolores wasn’t being sincere. She was being pushed. No, she wasn’t serious. Why, after all, did she find it easier to keep quiet about her uncle starving to death and living in the walls to keep La Casita’s breaches open?

When Karma Takes Effect

Dolores possesses an ineffective gift throughout most of the film. Because she can hear her relatives’ eyes twitch as they sleep, it keeps her awake at night and gives her access to local secrets. Her large tongue means that nobody in the home is allowed any privacy. No one, except Bruno, seems to have faith in her to keep secrets. They don’t precisely avoid her because her younger brother Camilo poses as her to receive more breakfast portions, but no one really believes in her. Luisa is not the confidante Mirabel is for her. People wince when she says she’s heard their secrets, and her eyes widen in terror.

Despite having seen what it’s like to be the other, Dolores Madrigal remains silent as Abuela lashes out at Mirabel. She observes from a distance and remains silent when you would expect her to speak out. Every time this berating takes place, you may turn it into a drinking game.

The Third Act

Following that, in the third act, Mirabel vanishes. Mirabel was attempting to save the miracle candle when La Casita fell and used its final energy to shield her. As her parents call for assistance, she walks off, and the entire family spends the whole night looking for her. Dolores cocks her ears, but her face turns dejected.

Her gift would have only been beneficial at this point after the miracle had already happened. Karma is a snob since she can’t even undo the damage she does.

La Casita is restored at the end of the film, and everyone is trying to make up for their unintentional emotional mistreatment of Mirabel. Dolores Madrigal receives what she desires as Isabela shoves Mariano in her direction without apologizing to Mirabel for using her as a scapegoat. He doesn’t mind that he won’t have any secrets for the rest of his life.

Conclusion

This wouldn’t be a concern if everyone else in the film didn’t suffer the repercussions of their choices. Isabela is forced to face the fact that her family will view her as the vacuous golden kid if she doesn’t stand up for who she wants to be. Abuela must take a step back and admit that she messed up with people trying to incorporate Mirabel rather than marginalizing and excluding her.

I love Encanto. It’s an enjoyable movie with excellent music. But until Dolores Madrigal learns to keep secrets and make apologies, you won’t be able to win me over.