In the movie Encanto, Isabela proves that Abuela Alma was right all along about the Madrigals and their powers. Disney's Encanto is about the Madrigals, a family that is gifted with amazing powers and abilities from the magical candle that formed their secret Encanto village. Each family member receives their own unique power that reflects their personality or interests. For example, Antonio is gifted with the power to talk to animals, Luisa possesses super strength, and Isabela is able to grow beautiful flowers anywhere she wishes.
Along with these powers comes responsibility. Abuela, who is the keeper of Encanto's candle that gives the Madrigals their abilities, has high expectations for her family and how they use their powers. She instructs the Madrigals to use their powers to help all of the people from the local village, ensuring that her family will always use their powers for good, rather than to harm others. However, throughout the course of Encanto, the members of the family begin to lose their powers as their Casita begins to crack and crumble. This leads Mirabel to attempt to rescue Casita and save her family by finding her lost uncle, Bruno, who instructs her to share an embrace with Isabela. During Mirabel's confrontation with Isabela, Isabela creates a cactus, instead of the beautiful flowers she was accustomed to making.
Why Isabela's Power Change Could Have Been Dangerous
This abnormality occurs when Mirabel is told the truth about Isabela's love interest in Encanto, Mariano, when Isabela confesses that she never even wanted to marry Mariano in the first place. This shows that the power of the Madrigals is directly related to their mental and emotional states, confirming that Abuela Alma was correct to be cautious with how the Madrigals used their abilities. Since their abilities are related to their emotions and mental health, there could be dangerous consequences if one of the Madrigals experienced a more sinister change than the one Isabela did.
When Isabela creates the cactus, she discovers something about herself that she never knew before, which is that she is capable of growing whatever she feels like at the moment. She doesn't have to be perfect all of the time and create beautiful flowers; instead, she can create a cactus or anything else that she desires–her plans, like her, can be prickly and imperfect. This is an empowering moment in Encanto for Isabela, who enjoys this new discovery about herself. Character growth and change can be a great thing, but it depends on who or what the character changes into.
In Encanto, the Madrigals all experience their own form of stress and anger. This could have easily led any one of them to have a malevolent change within themselves, which would inevitably cause their powers to change as well. If this change were to take place, Abuela Alma's greatest fear would come true. Instead of providing for the villagers and taking care of them, Isabela and the other Madrigals could easily abuse the village and cause significant damage. These fears can at least partially justify Abuela Alma's strict expectations for her family, as she properly understood how much influence her family had over the safety of Casita and the village.