LEGO Disney 43245 The Magical Madrigal House – Family fun [Review]

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a couple of years since Disney’s Encanto came out. It feels like it was just yesterday, and the soundtrack is a frequent listen in this household. As far its marriage with LEGO, the famous Casita has been a frequent inspiration for talented builders. It only makes sense that LEGO would put out their own rendition. Join us as we take a look at that set, dubbed LEGO Disney 43245 The Magical Madrigal House. This model, which contains 1560 pieces, will be available June 1st, retailing for US $159.99 | CAN $209.99 | UK £139.99.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick a copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Unboxing the parts, instructions, and sticker sheets

These days we find that most sets either open on a taped end, or are thumb-punch. Interestingly, this colorful box is lidded, with the entire front separated from the back. The face features the house in all it’s colorful detail, while the rear shows off the flip side of the house and its play features.

Inside are polybags numbered 1-14 and an additional unnumbered bag.

There are 2 average-sized sticker sheets in the set, making it a bit sticker heavy, however most of the stickers are on the larger side, and are fairly nice in terms of artwork.

The set includes 9 instruction booklets – one for each room of the house – offering plenty of options in terms of build process. You could take your time, building in smaller sessions, or you could split it up, sharing the experience with your family.

The build

Book one uses bags 1 and 2 to construct the dining area. This comes complete with a table and 6 chairs, along with large wall decals featuring dinner plates and family tree.

The second book uses bags 3 and 4 to construct the entryway. From the front, this section of the house features a lovely teal door with lanterns on either side, and vine-y flowers draped around an edge. Stepping inside the entryway, the hall contains a piano, a record player, and a typewriter reminiscent of LEGO Ideas 21327. There are also pictures of Mirabel’s parents, Tía Pepa and Tío Félix, and Abuelo Pedro.

Up next, book three uses bags 5 and 6 to build the kitchen, Mirabel’s mother, Julieta’s domain. Arguably the best stickers in the set are found here, as the plant-filled shelves behind the sink. The design is just really visually pleasing and could likely be used in many other builds. Additionally, in the opening song, Mirabel mentions that her mother, “can make you feel better with just one arepa,” and it appears that’s what cooking on the stove. Other items include a printed cheese slope and a lime-printed 1×1 round tile, as well as various kitchen utensils.

Book four uses bags 7 and 8 to construct Isabela’s room. Lavender hues and lots of plant motifs give it away. The room has our first real play feature in the form of a swinging bed similar to the one seen in the film. Apart from the flowers and a cactus, the space also includes a watering can, a brush, and some sort of a bottle comprised of a trans-purple glitter minifigure head and trans-pink gemstone.

Book five uses bag 9 to build the nursery, otherwise known as Mirabel’s room. It’s a pretty tiny space, filled to the brim with a bed, chair, and sewing machine. The wall decals feature some nice “hand-drawn” pictures and the Spanish alphabet.

Here we also have our second play feature. This time a sliding mechanism is used to make the roof shingles of the sentient Casita wave.

In this iteration of the house, Antonio’s room amounts to two levels. Book six uses bags 10 and 11 to construct the lower portion of his space. Here we have an animal-motif decorative desk and chair, and a waterfall slide with a hidden space behind it.

On the outside, another mechanism makes the window shutters wiggle. This is accomplished with a ball socket joint typically seen in Bionicle and constraction figures.

Book seven uses bag 12 to build the upper portion of Antonio’s room. This simply includes a cloth hammock under a tree branch. Because it’s part of the top floor, there is also a weathervane on the roof. The component features a yellow-orange butterfly, which is a prominent symbol in the movie and seen throughout the house in nearly every space.

Up next, book eight uses bag 13 to construct Abuela Alma’s room. This is just as tiny as the nursery. It includes a bed, chair, basket with “yarn” and knitting needles, and a table with the magic candle sitting on it. The satin trans-yellow 1×1 round brick that is used for the candle also has a lovely printed butterfly.

Finally, book nine uses bag 14 to build Tío Bruno’s tower, the base of which is actually a drawer. It’s the oddest inclusion in the set because it doesn’t really make sense. Fun hidey-places are always welcome, but it sort of doesn’t fit or have a real purpose other than elongating the tower. Above that is a spinning half-cylinder panel featuring the falling sand and Bruno’s final vision before he disappeared. Once again, we have really nice prints on a uniquely-colored element (satin trans-green 1×2 tiles).

The completed model

All of these lovely little modular chunks come together to make the entirety of the Madrigal house. It’s a mottled rainbow of colors, just like in the movie – maybe more. In some instances the colors clash and feel a little “rainbow warrior” (a phrase used to describe builds that focus on part types while selecting any color that presents itself), but when the whole thing is together, it looks pretty good. At first glance, it’s relatively accurate, however that’s if you squashed it into 2D. Half the rooms on the top floor are actually supposed to be at the back of the house facing into the inner courtyard, not on the front face.

The minidolls

There are seven minidolls included in the set – all the grandkids and Abuela Alma. There are also two animals, a donkey calf and a capybara. It’s easy to have a bias against minidolls simply because their legs don’t move independently and they’re, well, not minifigures. However, as far as minidolls go, these are pretty nicely done, with each capturing the animated character very well.

The dress prints on sisters Luisa, Mirabel, and Isabela all seem to capture the details accurately. The varying skin tones and hair pieces are nice as well. Unfortunately, there’s really no way to give Luisa her actual size, which is supposed to be more like twice the size of the other girls.

Pepa’s kids, Dolores, Antonio, and Camilo seem to be equally accurate. I’m not thrilled with the way that the cloth ruana fits on Camilo though. Even creasing it heavily, it sticks out significantly on the front and back. In the movie his hair is also parted down the middle instead of to one side.

Finally we have Abuela Alma, who’s fig is a reasonable representation, although, like Luisa, her size is not accurate. She should be shorter and more squat than the rest, so the fig seems a bit off. Of course, kids couldn’t care less about this fact, so it is what it is. As for the animals, they are excellent! Only wish there was a toucan for little Antonio to hold!

Conclusions and recommendations

A set that includes the Casita and all the grandkids seems very complete. Of course, we never see the rooms of Camilo, Dolores, or Luisa in the movie though, and we don’t get them here either. It would have been nice to see LEGO play with their own interpretation of what those rooms might look like. On the other hand, we do get Bruno’s room here, but we don’t get a minidoll of him. I would’ve been more satisfied if they chose that route too. As it stands it’s a decent set. It’s easy to get caught up in the magnificent custom models of the Casita and feel like this falls a little flat, but for what it is, LEGO did a good job. Plenty of play features, and ideal for building together as a family.

LEGO Disney 43245 The Magical Madrigal House will be available June 1st, retailing for US $159.99 | CAN $209.99 | UK £139.99. You may also be able to find it from other retailers such as Amazon and eBay.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick a copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.