Camilo Madrigal

Background

Born into the Madrigal family, Camilo is the middle child of Pepa and Félix, younger brother of Dolores and older brother of Antonio. In addition to being the nephew of Julieta, Bruno and Agustín, Camilo is also the cousin of Isabela, Luisa and Mirabel. He is Mirabel's second-oldest cousin and the same age as her, being only a few months older, and shared the nursery together for their first five years. On the night of Camilo‘s fifth birthday, he received the gift of Shapeshifting and he subsequently moved out of the nursery and into his own room. After receiving his magical gift, due to his good skill with the village kids and babies, Camilo became the Encanto's babysitter, helping mothers take care of their children. When he is not working in town, Camilo sometimes also likes to use his shapeshifting gift to mock his relatives (mainly his father and Isabela). Due to his gift being not very useful to the community, Camilo seems to be one of the members of the family with the fewest responsibilities imposed on him by Abuela Alma. Despite this, he also suffers from pressure and has insecurities like any of his relatives. Camilo hides his fears under his cheerful demeanor and is described as someone who "doesn't quite know who he is yet", hinting that he has self-identity issues. Unlike his sister or older cousins, he has no memory of Bruno since his uncle was very secretive in the last years he was still in the family and disappeared when Camilo was only five years old. Camilo grew up knowing nothing about Bruno and only listening some rumors from his relatives and the townspeople, he was able to establish an idea of what his long-lost uncle was like. When Bruno returns to the family after the fall of the Casa Madrigal, it is revealed that Camilo is the only one of his siblings who had no idea that Bruno never actually left and still lived within the walls of Casita, so he was initially confused by his presence.

Official Description

Camilo is a teen who was born to entertain. Throw in his magical gift that allows him to switch up his appearance to be whomever he wants to be in the moment, and he's secured his place in the spotlight. Camilo, Pepa and Félix's middle child, is a shape-shifter. He usually changes his appearance to help people in the Encanto. But his gift becomes really useful when he wants an extra serving for breakfast. He loves to tell tall tales and is never afraid of speaking his mind.

Development

How with the rest of the Madrigal family, Camilo was designed to reflect "family archetypes that are immediately relatable". As in the final production, Camilo's shape-shifting power came about because the studio was interested in a teen who doesn’t quite know who they are yet and are trying on a lot of different personas, inspired by teenagers still finding out who they are and continue to grow in life. One of the first concepts of his gift was the ability to not only shapeshift into people, but also to be able to turn into animals. To create his appearance, the studio initially thought of letting Camilo's hair cover one of his eyes in order to convey a negative attitude, before changing it to something more upbeat and "messy". One thing that didn't change was that his clothing had to reflect his theatrical personality. His ruana was originally going to have more reddish colors and he was going to wear dark yellow shoes. During the creation process, Camilo was originally imagined as an "angry teen" with an antagonistic role. He would have a sarcastic and arrogant attitude, using his power to cause chaos in the house. Camilo would also be rude to Mirabel and would even go so far as to briefly make fun of Abuela Alma, the family matriarch. However, since Isabela is needed to be the most antagonistic of the grandchildren and Camilo's attitude would have made the family seem bad, this concept of the character was removed. As shown in the final production, his personality was changed so that he was easy-going and amicable, with his pranks being to entertain rather than tease others. The only thing that didn't change from his initial personality was his joy in telling scary stories about Bruno. Camilo's transformation into his uncle was originally going to be more terrifying, having pointy teeth and having a psychotic expression on his face, plus he was going to be the size of a room.

Personality

Described as a "theater kid" and natural entertainer, Camilo is a fun-loving, easy-going, and energetic teenager. Unlike his quiet older sister and his timid younger brother, Camilo is more extroverted than them and the one that takes after their spirited parents the most. Social and charismatic, he is on good terms with many of the townsfolk, displaying a charming attitude when he interacts with them and having several friends his age in town. While not boastful or vain, Camilo enjoys the spotlight and has a good sense of humor with a penchant for dramatic movements, such as twirls or exaggerating stories based on rumors (his tales about Bruno) for flair. Camilo likes to use his gift to entertain and prank people, constantly trying to impress everyone. He is noted to enjoy eating, particularly food by his aunt Julieta, and is seen trying to sneak seconds by pretending to be Dolores and serving herself much larger plates than any adult in the family. In the books and novels of the film it is revealed that when he is not using his gift to spend playing pranks or helping out in village, Camilo loves sports like football and enjoys playing mostly with the company of Casa Madrigal or friends from village.

Camilo enjoying dramatizing and shapeshifts into Bruno.

Young and still discovering himself, Camilo enjoys using his shapeshifting ability to try different personas and playing pranks or playfully teasing his relatives. Of all the family members, his cousin Isabela is notably the person he enjoys teasing the most, acting like an annoying younger sibling towards her. He consecutively mocks Isabela for her engagement to Mariano and every time the man is mentioned, Camilo shapeshifts into him to annoy her, much to her frustation. Another person that Camilo likes to tease and mock is his father Félix, as seen before Antonio's ceremony when he transformed into him and repeated his father's words in an amusing manner. Also to some extent, he may enjoy dramatizing about his uncle Bruno as a creepy and evil monster, though it's possible they are not out of any truly malicious feeling towards him. While mischievous and a bit impertinent, Camilo's antics are harmless and are simply playful in nature, often taking to being caught or scolded by his father in good stride, such as responding with a good-natured "worth a shot". When Isabela flicks flowers into his open mouth for his teasing, he merely spits them out with a sheepish look on his face, showing no annoyance when caught when he does mischief.

Camilo offering assistance to an overwhelmed mother.

Despite his wisecracking and impish demeanor, Camilo has a very tender, sweet, and responsible side, especially towards his family. Much like Mirabel, Camilo is good with children and infants, frequently using his gift to play with them and care for them as part of his service to the village, and also a caring brother to Antonio, as he tries to help him relax during his ceremony by jokingly impersonating their father. In a family photo, he has his arm lovingly around him and then, when the family loses their powers, Camilo pushed past his own pain of losing his gift to worry over how Antonio was feeling. Unlike how he constantly teases his father, Camilo is very sweet to his mother Pepa and it is clear that he is very close to her, to the point of being nicknamed "Mamá's Boy". While dealing with his emotional mother, he treats her in a soothing manner when trying to get her to calm down and puts up with being accidentally jolted by her without complaining. When Mirabel tries to go after the Miracle Candle in the crumbling Casita, Camilo (along with Isabela) runs after her to help her get it and save the miracle because all his life Abuela Alma has told them that it is the most important object in the Encanto, demonstrating his protective drive to help his family.

Camilo showing a more expressionless and sarcastic side after the fall of the house.

While not addressed or shown in the film, Camilo does suffer from pressure and has insecurities like much of his family, though he hides it under his cheerful demeanor. Although he enjoys his gift, it makes him questions his sense of self, and constantly shapeshifting for others does tire him out. When the secret about Bruno's vision and the impending destruction of the Casita is revealed, Camilo is visibly stressed and was clutching his entire head in fear. His rare moments of stress can affect his gift, such as him involuntarily changing into a baby’s head. Although he likes to exaggerate his expressions when he transforms into other people, Camilo himself displays a dry wit. After being sad about losing the Casa Madrigal, Camilo snarkily emphasizes that the family is left homeless and protested not being allowed to speak the truth as he points to the rubble of the house with an incredibly neutral expression. In the novelization, Camilo's personality is notably more rude, sassy, sarcastic and arrogant than in the film. At Mariano and Isabela's failed proposal dinner, Camilo happily tells his father about Bruno's vision and Mirabel hears him wondering if she's going to make him lose his gift, when in the film Camilo was nervous because the magic was in danger. After the Casita collapses, Camilo makes an unflattering and cruel comment about Mirabel when they are in the ruins of the house, whereas in the film he was busy worrying about Antonio.

Physical Appearance

Camilo a Colombian boy with a slender build, light golden-brown complexion, curly, dark auburn hair, hazel green eyes, and freckles across his nose and cheeks, along with dark tint on his eyelids. Of all the grandchildren, Camilo is the one who most resembles his Abuelo Pedro. Although they have various differences in skin color, facial structures and hair, Camilo's features and facial expressions are very similar to Pedro's, in addition to inheriting a large part of his way of dressing. Like his late grandfather, Camilo wears a white long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his collar opened with the buttons mismatched, and the rest is left largely unbuttoned and loose, except for the right side tuck into his pants. He also wears a yellow ruana with darker yellow streaks, black pants and black sandals with white etchings. Symbolizing his shapeshifting ability, Camilo's clothes have a chameleon motif, with chameleons on his shirt collar, ruana, and sandals.

Powers and Abilities

Shapeshifting: Camilo has the power of shapeshifting, he can assume the form of any living person he has seen. When shape-shifting, his clothes shape-shift with him to match those of the person whose shape he is assuming. Camilo's control of his gift is quite refined, as he is able to shape-shift only certain parts of his body if he wishes so, alter the size of his forms, and can take on more exaggerated features. Stress, shock, and pain will cause him to involuntarily and wildly shape-shift. When frightened by Bruno's vision, Camilo quickly transforms into Mirabel and Bruno, which soon followed by his mouth becomes lopsided and his eyes end up bulging and looking away from each other. When he is afraid or nervous, his head will turn into an infant's atop of his adolescent body and his arms turn small and skinny. Camilo power is not capable of hiding wounds. If he were to injure himself while he has shapeshifted into a different person, then shifts back to himself, the injury would still be there.

Camilo's physical abilities combined with his gift allows him to dodge falling pieces from the house.

His power does have certain limits, such being only able to shape-shift to people and cannot shift into animals or objects. Camilo also cannot mimic traits beyond a physical level and turning into his magical family members does not give him their gifts. An example would be when Camilo shape-shifted into Bruno, he was able to copy Bruno's glowing green eyes (which only happens when the real Bruno looks into the future). However, he cannot copy his uncle's ability to see into the future. Similarly, if he were to turn into Luisa, Camilo would only have her natural strength (which is somewhat higher than a normal human's) rather than her superhuman strength.

Other skills

Camilo also has good agility and speed, demonstrated when he used his gift to become children and adults to slide, jump, and run through the falling pieces of the house. While his voice can also change to match the person his shape-shift into, Camilo can naturally do vocal impressions well after a lot of practicing. Unlike most of his family has caters to one specific job, Camilo does various odd jobs due to a being a "Jack of all trades" person that can do anything.

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