Disney

The Madrigal House

Casita in brick form, bursting with colour if a little quiet on magic.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 43202 · 2021

Pieces587

Minifigs3

Year2021

Set number43202

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The verdict

This is one of the most colourful sets I have built in ages, and I mean that as a compliment.

The Madrigal House takes Encanto's Casita and turns it into a cheerful three-storey doll's house packed with pinks, oranges and yellows that somehow all get along. It is genuinely lovely to look at, but it plays it safe on the movie's magic and gives you only a slice of the family, so temper your expectations before it wins you over. Best if you loved the film and want the house on a shelf rather than a big engineering puzzle.

Best for: Encanto fans and mini-doll collectors who want colour on the shelf

The full review

What it is

The thing that got me about The Madrigal House is the colour. LEGO clearly saved up every warm recolour it had and poured them all into one build: dark pink leaves, bright flowers, orange arches, that sunny yellow trim. On paper a palette that busy should look like a paint disaster, and instead it hangs together beautifully, exactly the way Casita does on screen. It is a three-level house that opens up doll's-house style, and standing it finished on the shelf genuinely made me smile. For 587 pieces it has real presence, and the front with its arched orange doorway, little tree and fluttering butterfly is the kind of detail that makes people stop and look.

The catch

I will be straight with you about the caveats, because there are a few and they matter. This is a fifty dollar set that builds in roughly an hour to ninety minutes, so if you measure your money in build time you may feel it runs short. The bigger miss is the magic. In the film Casita is alive, the floors tilt and the tiles ripple, and the marketing leans hard on that. What you actually get is a lever that tips Mirabel's bed and some shutters that flip, which is charming but a long way from the enchanted house people picture. And then there is the family. Encanto has a huge, wonderful cast, and here you get three figures. A lot of favourites simply are not in the box.

Who it's for

So who will love it? If you adored the film and mainly want the house itself, colourful and instantly recognisable, sitting on a shelf, this delivers that in spades and it looks the part. Younger builders will get a lot from the doll's-house play and the forgiving, chunky build. If you came hoping for clever mechanics or the full Madrigal lineup, though, I would steer you elsewhere or wait for a good price, because on those two fronts it just does not reach. Now that it is retired it is not the value grail it might have been either, so buy it for the joy of the thing rather than as an investment.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this is a relaxed, cheerful afternoon rather than a technical workout. It goes up in three floor sections, and because the colours change as you climb, you rarely feel like you are repeating yourself. The chunky architecture and generous printed pieces mean a younger builder can manage it with a bit of help, while the constant hunt for the next unusual recolour keeps it interesting for an older one. There is nothing here that will test an experienced builder's patience, and honestly that is fine, this set is about the finished look, not the puzzle.

For parts fans the appeal is all in the colours and prints. The set is stuffed with recoloured plants, dark pink and coral leaf elements, bright flowers, and the then-new butterfly mould that builders immediately wanted in every colour going. The standouts on the figure side are Mirabel's printed accordion tiles and Abuela's little watch print, both lovely touches, plus Antonio arrives on one of the newer micro-doll bodies. The one sour note is Chispi the capybara, which is really the old hamster mould with fresh printing and ends up comically undersized for the animal it is meant to be. Take him as a bonus rather than a highlight.

Fun facts

01The set retired in December 2023 after two years, with an original price of 49.99 dollars.
02It includes two mini-dolls (Mirabel and Abuela) and a smaller micro-doll for young Antonio, plus Chispi the capybara and a butterfly.
03Chispi is built from the existing hamster mould given brand new printing, which is why fans felt he came out too small for a capybara.
04The house is one of the most colour-packed Disney sets of its year, deliberately loaded with newly recoloured leaf, flower and butterfly elements.