The Moana Reference You Missed In Encanto
Bouncing back from the less-than-stellar box office performance of "Raya and the Last Dragon" (per Cartoon Brew), Disney Animation's latest film, "Encanto," has been remarkably successful since it first premiered back in November. Just last week, the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200, and the film itself received three Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song (via IMDb).
The film follows the numerous members of the Madrigal family, each of whom were born with a unique magical power, with the notable exception of protagonist Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz).
Like all Disney Animation projects, "Encanto" features beautiful art, an incredibly powerful soundtrack, and a compelling narrative to boot — as well as plenty of Easter eggs referencing Disney's previous films. One of these Easter eggs was recently revealed by "Encanto" director Jared Bush, and it's honestly so subtle that we doubt anyone would have noticed it on their first watch.
One of Camilo's throwaway lines is a reference to Moana
Early on in the film we're introduced to Mirabel's cousin, Camilo Madrigal (Rhenzy Feliz), who was born with the ability to shapeshift. During breakfast one morning, Camilo uses his power to shapeshift into his other cousin Dolores (Adassa) so he can return for seconds. His father, Felix (Mauro Castillo), catches him and tells him to put the food back, so Camilo turns back to his normal form and says, "worth a shot!"
It's a brief moment of levity that has nothing to do with the rest of the scene, but director Jared Bush recently revealed on Twitter that the line was a reference to Maui's "worth a shot" joke in "Moana." Specifically, Bush stated that the line was a nod to brothers Aaron and Jordan Kandell, who originally wrote the joke in "Moana" while working alongside Bush himself.
In "Moana," Maui (Dwayne Johnson) says the line after tossing Moana into the water in an attempt to get rid of her, only for her to magically reappear back atop their little raft. The reference even goes beyond just the repeated line, as both Maui and Camilo are portrayed as mischievous shapeshifters who use their powers for petty reasons. In any case, it's a neat little callback to another fantastic film from Disney, and one which is so subtle that we doubt anyone would have found it without Bush's help.