Miguel (Gonzalez) is a 12-year-old boy whose family have banned music.

He longs to play, but when he

After Inside Out, Pixar dips again into the metaphysical with a trip into the afterlife. Of course, being
Pixar, it doesn’t simply slip beyond a veil but stride across a gigantic arched bridge made of marigolds,
because there’s no concept so difficult that Pixar can’t make it breathtaking. Powell and Pressburger
would cheer.

HOMEMOVIESCOCO

Coco Review

Coco (2017)

Miguel (Gonzalez) is a 12-year-old boy whose family have banned music. He longs to play, but when he
steals a guitar belonging to his deceased icon, Ernesto De La Cruz (Bratt), he’s transported to the Land Of
The Dead and must escape before dawn.

By Helen O'Hara | Posted 11 Jan 2018

Release Date:

19 Jan 2018

After Inside Out, Pixar dips again into the metaphysical with a trip into the afterlife. Of course, being
Pixar, it doesn’t simply slip beyond a veil but stride across a gigantic arched bridge made of marigolds,
because there’s no concept so difficult that Pixar can’t make it breathtaking. Powell and Pressburger
would cheer.

While this film packs in adventure and desperately colourful characters, it’s ultimately a moving story
about family connections and the complicated ways we love one another. Coco is also one of the most
impressively animated films ever. There are sequences in the 'real' world where the attention to detail
creates such a life-like environment that it’s almost jarring to see an animated boy running along what
appears to be an actual, fluorescent-lit Mexican street. From the glow of candles to the magic shine of
a huge, otherworldly city hanging in the air to the ugliest cute dog ever put on film, every design
element here is spectacular, and the sheer beauty holds the attention even during the film’s more
familiar chase sequences.

Our hero is a young boy called Miguel (Rodriguez — a real talent) who longs to sing and play guitar just
like his movie-star hero, Ernesto De La Cruz (Bratt). But there’s a problem — generations before, his
great-great-grandmother’s heart was broken when her musician husband abandoned her, and since then
she has forbidden the entire family from enjoying or playing music. Miguel can’t bear the restriction, but
when he steals a guitar from his idol’s tomb, he finds himself transported to the Land Of The Dead. And
while the skeletons that surround him there are remarkably friendly, they’re still skeletons. Miguel
discovers he is unable to get home unless he finds a (deceased) member of his family to give him a
blessing — he then teams up with deadbeat dead man Hector (Bernal) to find his missing ancestor and
get home.

HOMEMOVIESCOCO

Coco Review

Coco (2017)

Miguel (Gonzalez) is a 12-year-old boy whose family have banned music. He longs to play, but when he
steals a guitar belonging to his deceased icon, Ernesto De La Cruz (Bratt), he’s transported to the Land Of
The Dead and must escape before dawn.

By Helen O'Hara | Posted 11 Jan 2018

Release Date:

19 Jan 2018

After Inside Out, Pixar dips again into the metaphysical with a trip into the afterlife. Of course, being
Pixar, it doesn’t simply slip beyond a veil but stride across a gigantic arched bridge made of marigolds,
because there’s no concept so difficult that Pixar can’t make it breathtaking. Powell and Pressburger
would cheer.

While this film packs in adventure and desperately colourful characters, it’s ultimately a moving story
about family connections and the complicated ways we love one another. Coco is also one of the most
impressively animated films ever. There are sequences in the 'real' world where the attention to detail
creates such a life-like environment that it’s almost jarring to see an animated boy running along what
appears to be an actual, fluorescent-lit Mexican street. From the glow of candles to the magic shine of

a huge, otherworldly city hanging in the air to the ugliest cute dog ever put on film, every design
element here is spectacular, and the sheer beauty holds the attention even during the film’s more
familiar chase sequences.

pixar coco concept art

One of the most impressively animated films ever.

Our hero is a young boy called Miguel (Rodriguez — a real talent) who longs to sing and play guitar just
like his movie-star hero, Ernesto De La Cruz (Bratt). But there’s a problem — generations before, his
great-great-grandmother’s heart was broken when her musician husband abandoned her, and since then
she has forbidden the entire family from enjoying or playing music. Miguel can’t bear the restriction, but
when he steals a guitar from his idol’s tomb, he finds himself transported to the Land Of The Dead. And
while the skeletons that surround him there are remarkably friendly, they’re still skeletons. Miguel
discovers he is unable to get home unless he finds a (deceased) member of his family to give him a
blessing — he then teams up with deadbeat dead man Hector (Bernal) to find his missing ancestor and
get home.

There’s a fair amount of expositionary heavy-lifting to establish the rules of the Land Of The Dead and
the Dia De Muertos when the deceased can visit the living, but once that’s done the film races towards
an immensely touching finale via a series of spectacular musical numbers courtesy of Frozen’s Robert
Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. The commitment to Mexican culture is absolute — with Pixar good-
luck charm John Ratzenberger the only non-Mexican voice in the film. Local foods and traditions such as
alebrijes (folk-art sculptures of fantastical creatures) are everywhere — and that representation is not
just a moral good, but makes for more original storytelling. What’s more, the themes about creativity,
love and family are universal. Our appealing hero ultimately has to find peace in the land of the living
with the help of the dead, and the way he does so will squeeze a tear from all but the hardest heart.
 Movie Review
Little Miguel loves music. His family? Not so much. Or rather, not at all.

You see, Miguel’s hardworking family has a long, proud tradition of crafting fine shoes. Miguel will one
day join the family business, they presume. But playing music? His family is having none of that.

Four generations ago, his still-despised great, great grandfather abandoned his family to pursue a career
in music. He never returned. Generations passed, but the music man’s betrayal was never forgotten … or
forgiven. Since then, no one in the family has been allowed to do anything even remotely musical, lest
the tragic pattern repeat itself.

Miguel understands why his family bans music in every form. But he loves it anyway.

Miguel secretly plays a homemade guitar in his attic. In fact, he’s erected a shrine of sorts to Mexico’s
most famous singer: Ernesto de la Cruz. And little Miguel harbors hopes of becoming a real musician
himself one day, no matter what his family might say.

But first, there’s the Día de los Muertos to celebrate, the annual Day of the Dead. In this indigenous
Mexican religious tradition, the living honor the dead at cemeteries one special day each year, bringing
pictures and offering food and gifts to deceased ancestors, who are believed to be present in spirit.
Ancestors who don’t have a relative remembering them? Well, they eventually turn to ash in the colorful
afterlife known as the Land of the Dead.

The Day of the Dead celebrations include a local music contest. Miguel hopes to compete—secretly, of
course. But before the Day of the Dead arrives, his grandmother catches him practicing and angrily
smashes the little guy’s beloved instrument.
Crestfallen and desperate, Miguel hatches a risky plan: Taking Ernesto de la Cruz’s famous guitar from
the musician’s crypt. But as Miguel discovers, the Day of the Dead is a time to give back to those who’ve
passed on, not to take things from them.

The consequence of his rash decision? Being transported to the Land of the Dead himself. It’s a vibrant,
beautiful place in many ways. Still, one doesn’t want to end up in the Land of the Dead if one is in fact
not yet dead. But if Miguel hopes to return to the land of the living, it will involve reconnecting with his
deceased relatives there … and tracking down Ernesto de la Cruz himself.

POSITIVE ELEMENTS

Coco focuses on two intertwined themes: the importance of family and the power of music.

We repeatedly hear variants on the idea, “Nothing is more important than family.” Near the end of the
film, one of Miguel’s deceased ancestors tells him, “Never forget how much your family loves you.” The
film delivers the unmistakable message that cherishing our family here and remembering those who
have passed on are both important.

Music is also shown to be a positive, life-giving force, even though Miguel’s family is initially suspicious of
it. By the time the credits role, however, most of them embrace a new appreciation for how the songs
we pass on from generation to generation have special meaning.

Miguel meets a character in the Land of the Dead named Hector who helps him in his quest to reach
Ernesto. Hector, and at times Miguel’s family, all make sacrifices to deliver the boy back to terra firma.

The film also delivers what is perhaps Disney’s core philosophical message: “Follow your heart, seize
your moment.” As Plugged In has talked about repeatedly over the years, in some ways this message of
encouragement to chase our dreams is a positive one. Pursued to extremes, however, it can devolve into
something dangerously narcissistic, too, a theme I’ll return to in Other Negative Elements.

SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS
Mexico’s Day of the Dead—an indigenous belief system, the film tells us in the credits—plays a central
role in everything that happens in Coco. (And though that holiday has historically had links to Catholicism
in Mexico, there’s hardly anything here that deals with that connection.) The story walks us through a
fairly intricate theological understanding of what happens after we die, so much so that one of my fellow
Plugged In reviewers likened it to a “Sunday school” lesson about this belief system.

In a nutshell, we learn that those who die pass on to a wondrously beautiful afterlife that—apart from its
residents being mostly just skeletal—is a lot like this world. They go to concerts. They drink, laugh, play,
spend time with other deceased relatives and friends.

One day a year, however, some of them have a chance to walk across a bridge of leaves to revisit the
land of the living, though only as ghosts who are invisible to those who are still alive. They’re only
granted that access, however, if someone still has a photograph of them and is displaying it. No photo on
display, no “passport” back for a day. At the deceased’s grave sites, relatives leave offerings for their
ancestors. “Things they loved in life,” one person says.

But there’s another, deeper and more unsettling layer to these beliefs as well. Once no one alive
remembers you any more, you fade into dust. Annihilation, it would seem. “The final death,” one
character calls it. (Indeed, we see that fate played out in one pitiable minor character’s life.)

Miguel’s decision to steal Ernesto’s guitar ushers him magically into the Land of the Dead. In order to get
back to the land of the living, Miguel must obtain the blessing of one of his relatives there—many of
whom he soon meets. This seems as if it should be pretty straightforward, but various plot twists make
earning that blessing more difficult than expected. And if he can’t get back by sunrise the next day, he’ll
be trapped in the Land of the Dead forever. (As the clock ticks down, Miguel’s hands slowly begin to turn
to bone, like the other deceased residents there.)

Magical creatures known as “spirit guides” can be found in the Land of the Dead as well. They can take
many forms, large and small, several of which we see in the film.

Miguel’s grandmother describes her contempt for music in spiritual terms, saying of her own
grandfather’s abandonment of the family, “That man’s music was a curse.” Miguel tells someone, “I just
want to get de la Cruz’s blessing. I want to prove that I’m worthy of it. Ernesto tells a woman, “You must
have faith, sister.”
A couple of times, we see crosses—including quite a few gravestones featuring them in a cemetery. But
other than those occasional glimpses at that Christian symbol, there’s nothing in the film’s spiritual
worldview that has anything to do with Christianity

SEXUAL CONTENT

Ernesto is portrayed almost as a Mexican Elvis. Not only was a he a famous singer, but he was an actor as
well. Miguel watches movies of him, one of which includes a romantic scene of him kissing a woman.

In the Land of the Dead, Miguel stumbles upon a man painting a completely unclothed female skeleton,
a scene that’s obviously intended to suggest a man painting a nude.

VIOLENT CONTENT

In a flashback early in the film, we learn that Ernesto was tragically killed while performing when a giant
bell fell on him (a scene that’s played with dark humor).

Once Miguel is transported to the Land of the Dead, he discovers that its skeleton-like residents have
bodies with many seemingly detachable parts, such as heads, jawbones, eyeballs, etc.

On a more serious note, we (and Miguel and Hector) watch as a man who’s been forgotten turns to dust
and blows away—one of the most poignant and quietly disturbing scenes in the film.

A woman hits a man repeatedly. Someone is tossed in a deep well, and another character falls from a
great height. Slapstick violence fills frantic chase scenes. Miguel falls in a swimming pool and is rescued
by Ernesto. Someone who wants Miguel to stick around in the land of the dead tells him, “I hope you die
very soon.” We hear a story about someone being poisoned.

CRUDE OR PROFANE LANGUAGE

Mild interjections and name-calling include “shoot,” “heck,” “stupid,” and “you rat.”
DRUG AND ALCOHOL CONTENT

In the Land of the Dead, many people celebrate with what appear to be alcohol-like drinks.

A man in the land of the dead who is on the verge of being forgotten drinks from a bottle. We also
glimpse a close-up of a shot glass.

OTHER NEGATIVE ELEMENTS

There’s a visual gag about “sporty underwear for wrestlers.” Miguel breaks into a crypt and steals
Ernesto’s guitar. Hector manipulates Miguel with a lie. Many, if not most, of Miguel’s relatives—both
living and dead—harbor an outsized fear of music that causes them to treat Miguel cruelly at times.

[Spoiler Warning] Ernesto, for his part, is increasingly shown to be someone who’s taken his desire to
make music too far. Though he says it means everything to him, we also see how that passionate focus
on music has repeatedly caused him to treat those close to him quite shabbily indeed.

CONCLUSION

Coco left me feeling conflicted. It’s a typical Pixar movie in many respects: vivid, imaginative, rollicking,
winsome and tender. And the filmmakers never waver in their focus on the importance of family.

But is it possible to focus on the family … too much? And the surprising answer here is, I think, yes.

Coco unpacks a theological system with Aztec roots that arguably steps over the line from honoring the
family to worshiping it. The living bring gifts for the dead. The dead quietly return to briefly see the living
for one special day.

The presentation of this belief system is no doubt touching and beautifully rendered. But the beliefs we
see earnestly depicted here nevertheless remain at loggerheads with orthodox Christian teaching in a
long list of significant ways. There’s no sense of judgment or accountability for anyone’s sinful choices, as
evidenced by the fact that some of those who “enjoy” the best afterlife in the Land of the Dead have
perpetrated horrible things in the land of the living. And eventually, most folks fade into nothing when
they’re forgotten by the living—a grim, hopeless prospect indeed. Finally, Coco never grapples at all with
the question of God’s connection to this realm of the dead, either.

So despite this film’s eye-popping beauty and its heartwarming moments, Pixar’s latest still packages a
pagan worldview that’s in sharp conflict with Christian beliefs. That’s an issue that should prompt
parents to pause and consider how best to deal with it if you’ve been planning on packing up the family
and heading off to multiplex to see Coco.

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