So obviously Isabela is Abuela’s favourite grandkid, it’s clear that while she doesn’t show her irritation with other grandkids (except Mira, my beloved), she favours Isa. But why?
The easy answer is that Isabela behaves in that perfect manner, always does as she’s told and really, who wouldn’t want such a kid? However, quoting Pepa’s famous:
“BUT!”
Have any of you noticed that Isa looks identical to young Alma?
Same lips, face shape, eyes, ears, hair (not hairstyle), Isa only has slightly thicker eyebrows and smaller nose and her skin is darker. Even in Bruno’s vision, when he still had a problem to see who Mirabel was hugging, the person looked like young Alma.
It might have been that Abuela wanted to direct Isa’s life like it was her own, if she and Pedro didn’t have to leave their house, hence if Pedro lived.
Also notice that while Pepa’s side of the family all wears the shades of yellow, oranges and reds (ignore the fact that Antonio’s clothes are white here)
And while Julieta’s side of the family dresses in blues and teals, Isabela does not exactly match
Isabela wears a pastel purple/pink dress and it doesn’t exactly match her side of the family, if anything, it matches Abuela’s magenta dress more (plus notoce how similar their earrings are)
And when she finally breaks the spell of forced perfection and gets her dress all dirty and wild in “What Else Can I Do”, it turns that deep navy color, that matches her with her family
Do with this whatever you want
(Side note, notice how Félix’s face is all serious in the gif but brightens up with an exited smile when Pepa mentions their wedding day, too cute)
Félix Madrigal is 1000000000% the type of dad who would wear matching earmuffs with Dolores when she has to wear them for sound deprivation so she doesn’t feel uncomfortable dont @ me.
So I just rewatched the movie and I hadn’t noticed that Antonio’s gift ceremony takes place on Día de las Velitas (candle’s day?) which is a day where people light up candles outside their houses to guide the Virgin Mary. I think this is a neat detail bc during the ceremony, Antonio is being guided by his family and casita in a certain way towards his door and his “new life”.
I also noticed that Alma and Pedro met during (what I think is) Día de las Velitas, which was the start of their life together, their “new life”.
Maybe I’m overanalizing but I believe candles and this specific day are a kind of symbol for the family, for as we know a candle was the one that gave the Madrigals a direction and guided them after Pedro died.
They are so in sync! I feel like this represents how everyone is familiar with one another to the point that they know exactly what to do at any point and time, especially when setting up dinner!
But then we can see Mira, not part of any of this and off to the side where no one even acknowledges her. This may show that she is not in the sync with everyone else, even though they’re supposed to be this large family unit.
Mira looks down at her bag here, which may mean that she is thinking about how Bruno’s vision could be her in into her family’s ’sync’, so that she can finally be acknowledged and seen for once in her life. To finally have done something of value. Honestly, I feel really bad for Mira in this short scene, mainly because she’s left out because she has no gift yet her father and Tio Felix are both in the family sync.
But then Dolores just places a mug/bowl on the table, just a bit out of sync of everyone else. If you look at the other gifs, she’s a little out of sync there too. Also, I looked at the dinner scene and what she placed down isn’t there, so I like to think she placed it there just to show that she isn’t as in sync with everyone else!
