A young Mexican boy, named Miguel, narrates the history of his family, who absolutely hates music to the point where it’s banned. They even yell at people who play music near them.
Miguel, however, loves music, defying his family’s rules against it. They practice shoe-polishing. One time, Miguel pretends to follow along, but really wants to play music. He gets a guitar – only for his grandmother to destroy it.
Regardless of the family’s no-music guideline, Miguel finds a picture of his great-grandmother, Coco, as a small girl, with her mother, and her father… except that his face is missing. Miguel yearns to find out who this man is, since Coco cannot recall her father.
Miguel goes somewhere and plays the guitar, once owned by the famous Ernesto de la Cruz. That takes him to the afterlife for the remembered. Miguel meets his deceased family members, who also loathe music. Yet, he flees from them and meets a man named Hector, who offers to take him to Ernesto’s mansion. Will Miguel find out who Coco’s father was? Could it be Ernesto?
Despite having a similar plot and premise to another animated film called The Book of Life (2014), which caused me to resist seeing the movie at first, it turned out to be a lot better. The characters, their relations to one another, and the plot twists, were strong and amazing. I especially felt sorry for Miguel when his grandma destroyed the guitar he’d received, which I think is beyond cruel.
Yet, the film had more moments that I admire. One is the second death in the afterlife, where someone in the land of the remembered is forgotten, and dies, thus going to the land of the forgotten. Another includes teaching the audience about Mexican culture and customs.
But the best part about this movie is the music and the songs, such as “Remember Me,” a popular hit amongst the general public. A lot of Disney Pixar movies include musical numbers, but I find this one to be one of the most memorable, as well as another song from this movie called, “Proud Corazon.”
Overall, I enjoyed Coco very much, and rate it 5 out of 5 stars.