Voices of Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Alanna Ubach, and Benjamin Bratt
Directed by Lee Unkrich
Music and Lyrics by various
Disney and Pixar had apparently been planning this one since 2010, when it was going to be about an American boy who learns about his Mexican heritage. Research on the actual Mexico and its culture convinced the director to switch to it being about a Mexican child. Dia de los Muertos, aka The Day of the Dead, so impressed the animators with the holiday's vibrant colors against the macabre skeletons that they decided to make the story revolve around it. They worked hard to get the culture right, including hiring a mostly-Hispanic cast and bringing in Mexican songwriters to craft the score. Did they do well depicting Mexico and its people and heritage, or should this be allowed to fade away? Let's begin with the story of how Miguel's (Gonzalez) family traded music for shoe making and find out...
The Story: Miguel wants nothing more than to play music, like his late hero Ernesto de la Cruz (Bratt), but his family doesn't trust musicians after his great-great-grandmother Imelda's (Ubach) husband ran out to be a musician and left her alone. Only his great-grandmother Coco (Ana Ofelia Murguia) understands his passion. He accidentally breaks a photo of Coco and Imelda on the family's Day of the Dead ofenda (shrine with offerings) and discovers there's another section to it...a section with a man who holds a guitar that resembles Ernesto's.
Miguel tells his family he wants to be a musician, but that ends with his grandmother (Renee Victor) destroying his guitar. He goes to take Ernesto's from his tomb, so he can join a contest. The second he does, he becomes invisible to the living. The dead, however, can see him just fine, including his late ancestors. Unfortunately, stealing the guitar put a curse on him. He needs a blessing from his family, or he'll die. Imelda won't do it unless he abandons music, and he won't stop the thing he loves most. An itinerant skeleton named Hector (Bernal) offers to bring him to Ernesto, if he can put his picture on an ofrenda so he won't be forgotten.
Ernesto, however, is not what he seems...and he'll do anything to make sure he's the one who stays in the limelight and continues to be the one everyone remembers. Miguel, however, realizes that while music is important to him, so is family...and there's one person in the family who really remembers her father's song...
The Animation: Gorgeous, some of Pixar's best to date. The vivacious purples, oranges, and neon shades of the Land of the Dead are contrasted with the strictly flat and realistically dusty Land of the Living. So many images linger with you, from how perfectly every brilliant-shaded hair on the fur of the spirit guides move to the rickety wooden buildings, skeletal themselves, that move ever upwards. That first shot of Miguel going over the golden-orange marigold bridge to the Land of the Dead is absolutely breathtaking.
The Song and Dance: Touching and beautiful depiction of Mexican culture and one of their most important holidays isn't afraid to ask big questions about life, death, and how one can follow their dreams without abandoning those who love them. Gonzalez, Bratt, and especially Bernal give pitch-perfect performances as the kid who badly wants to play music, the musician who believes in his legacy and image above all else, and the goofy guy who just wants someone, anyone, to remember him. I'm also fond of Miguel's ancestors, some of whom are pretty darn funny. There's a lovely score by Michael Gianncino and some terrific music; "Remember Me," the movie's main ballad, won an Oscar. The movie is so accurate to Mexican culture, actual Mexicans wound up adoring it.
Favorite Number: Our first full number isn't until nearly ten minutes in, but it's "Remember Me." Ernesto performs it on a huge revolving stage, surrounded by dancers in flashy outfits. It's so huge, it seems fitting that it ends with no less than Ernesto's death. Ernesto's other big number is "Much Needed Advice," which he sings to a lovely senorita on Miguel's screen. Hector explains to Manuel how "Everyone Knows Juanita" in the Land of the Dead. "Un Poco Loco" is Miguel and Hector's number at the big talent show in the Land of the Dead. They really get into it, dancing up a storm...until Miguel's family arrives. They perform "The World Es Mi Familia" when trapped together. Imelda inadvertently ends up performing the traditional ballad "La Llorona" onstage after she's accidentally lifted up there while getting Hector's photo back. Miguel's solo for his family in the finale is "Proud Corazon."
"Remember Me" is heard three more times. Hector performs it early in the film to the young Coco before he leaves. Later on, Miguel plays it for the elderly Coco to remind her of how much she loved her father. We also hear it over the credits, performed by singers Miguel and Natalia Lafourcade.
Trivia: This movie got Mexican culture so right, it remains one of the top-grossing animated films of all time in Mexico.
Won Oscars in 2018 for Best Animated Film and Best Song.
What I Don't Like: It does run a little long. The middle sags a bit as we get a series of gags involving Hector, Miguel, and the people of the Land of the Dead who are almost forgotten and not put on ofrendas. It's not a deal breaker, but this is one of Pixar's longer movies.
The Big Finale: Makes me wish Pixar took a stab at the musical genre more often. A must-see for lovers of Pixar, great animation, or anyone who wants to learn about Mexican culture and the Day of the Dead or teach their older elementary-school-age children and pre-teens about them.
Home Media: As a relatively new and very popular title, this is easily found in all formats. Disney Plus has it with a subscription.
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