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An American's View on Coco


Ever since my son and I went to Disney in November this year, he has been obsessed with seeing the new Coco movie. It was everywhere in Disney even though it hadn’t been released to theaters yet. Therefore, when the movie was released over Thanksgiving break, we decided to take my 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter to go see it.

First I’d like to say that I know very little about the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos or the Day of the Dead. I’ve read things here and there, and I’ve picked up bits and pieces from the Spanish teacher down the hall, but there ends my knowledge of the day. So, I went into the movie with very little background knowledge.
First, the movie itself was beautiful. The characters, colors, songs, etc. are so rich, colorful, and full of life. It was just so pleasing to watch. Miguel is a very cute and interesting main character. He’s pulled between following his dream of music, which his family hates, and following his family’s business footprints of making shoes.

The movie follows Miguel as he tries to incorporate music into his life. His family is totally against music, because his great-great-grandfather left his great-great-grandmother to pursue his music career. He leaves and is never heard from again. This causes Miguel’s great-great-grandmother to start her own shoe business, and forbid her family from ever listening or performing music. Miguel accidentally enters the underworld and must ask his great-great-grandmother for a blessing to return to the real world.
The time period of the movie did throw me off a little in the beginning. I was expecting something very current and recent. Disney wanted to make the movie timeless, and so they created the movie with the time period around the 1950’s. This in fact did not put me off, but made me more interested and in fact I think I enjoyed it more. There were no cell phones, laptops, computers, etc. It felt more authentic that way and technology did not get in the way of the story line.
My son absolutely loved the movie. He barely took his eyes off the screen to munch on his popcorn and candy. He loved the characters and all of the skeletons. The movie made the skeletons seem real but not scary, which totally worked for my son. He’s not too keen on scary movies. Although, I will probably cure him of that someday since Tim Burton is my favorite director.

I don’t like spoilers so I’ll try to talk about the ending in vague terms. There is a good twist during the movie that surprised a lot of viewers. It changes the movie completely if you didn’t see it coming. This twist allows the ending to be happy and complete. There is a good amount of character progression and growth, even for the dead family members. The ending although happy is quite satisfying for viewers.

After watching the movie I read a few articles about the production and the ways that Disney went about trying to make it authentic, realistic, and an accurate depiction of Dia de los Muertos. Disney hired a group of cultural consultants in order to ensure Coco was culturally accurate. They asked Gael Garcia Bernal, a Mexican superstar to voice one of the main characters in the English version, and they asked Elena Poniatowksa, a well-known journalist in Mexico, to voice Coco in the Spanish version of the movie.

On the other hand, Disney also tried to trademark the term, Dia de los Muertos, for marketing purposes. This created an outcry from the Mexican population. Dia de los Muertos is not something to be trademarked. It’s a traditional Mexican Holiday that has been celebrated for hundreds of years. The company immediately backtracked and retracted their application realizing the error of their ways.
I loved that this movie had a very big matriarchal vibe. The women in the family are the leaders, decision makers, and the rule makers. Coco is the oldest surviving member of the family, and it’s her father that spurs the start of the story. Although it has a lot of strong women in the story, the main character is a boy, Miguel, and he is looking for his grandfather in the underworld.
All in all, my family and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was beautifully made, the songs were very enjoyable, and it was a very interesting story line for all ages.

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