COCO

US, 2017, 105 minutes, Colour.
Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Alpfnso Arau, Ana Ofelia Murguia.
Directed by Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina.

For more than 20 years, Pixar studios, now owned by Disney, have been producing at least one animated film year, many of them winning awards, including Oscars. Sometimes they venture into repeat material like the Toy Story franchise or the Cars franchise. Sometimes they parody popular films of the time like The Invincibles (and 2018 The Invincibles 2). Sometimes they are very inventive as with the psychological comedy, Inside Out.

This one is for the wide American audience, especially the Hispanic American audience, the setting being Mexico, the film drawing on old traditions, especially the Day of the Dead, veneration for the ancestors, rituals and beliefs that have very little to do with the Catholic tradition (although once there is a glimpse of Our Lady of Guadalupe), a mythical, fairy-tale vision of the afterlife.

The advertising features a young boy who loves music, plays a guitar, who belongs to a family with the tradition of being anti-music, the great grandfather, allegedly, having run off to be a success as a musician and never coming back to his family. Their resentment has led to a business enterprise making shoes and, for generations, they have been very successful. The little boy is not Coco. He is a Miguel, who defies his family, enrols in a music competition in the square where he polishes shoes, has his guitar smashed by his harridan of a grandmother and decides to go to the mausoleum to borrow the guitar seen in the torn photo of his ancestors, the runaway father missing.

The whole family, and the audience, assume that the missing member of the photo is the celebrity singer-actor, Ernesto. We get the full treatment of Ernesto’s career, his songs, his movies (including a singing cowboy and an earnest adviser-priest). And his doom, crushed by a bell.

But, with this dark underlying theme of family abandonment and successful career, there is a good dramatic twist which a review should not spoil.

The last part of the film takes place in the land of the dead, something like a giant fiesta, with the dead as skeletons, yet dressed in all the traditional Mexican styles. Ernesto is one of the stars in the land, a massive crowd for his anniversary show (televised and video recorded in this mysterious dead land). Miguel find himself in the land, coming across various relations, encountering a rather wistful songwriter called Hector. And Miguel dog, Dante, is transformed into one of the rather lively dead.

And Coco?

She was the little daughter of the father who disappeared, who sang his songs to her. She is now an old lady, moving towards dementia. She has one longing to see her father and sing with him again.

How this can happen, even happily, means that audiences will have to see the film!

1. The success of the Pixar studios? Awards? The animation style, computer graphics? Characters, voices, layout? Special effects? Music and songs?

2. An American production, the Mexican and Hispanic world? The Pixar entertainment for Hispanic Americans? World audiences?

3. The voice cast, performance, singers?

4. The title, the introduction to the family, their anti-music stands? The photo of the past generations, all venerated? The photo of great-grandmother, husband torn out of the photo? The story of his leaving? The old Coco, the beginnings of dementia? Her daughter as a harridan, keeping all the generations in work, making shoes? Miguel, the new generation, shining shoes? Going to the Square, listening to the music, hearing about the competition, the family discovering what he was up to, the grandmother breaking the guitar? His going to the mausoleum, the memories of Ernesto? Miguel deciding to steal his guitar – having seen it in the folded over part of the torn photo?

5. The story of Ernesto, his charm, success, singing, in the movies, the cowboy, the priest, the sequences from his films? His being celebrated, the songs, fame? His frequently verging people to seize the occasion? The accident with the bell? His being in the mausoleum?

6. The harridan and the response to this story of Ernesto, Miguel thinking he was his great-grandfather? The dark implications of abandoning the family? The discovery of Hector, the creator of the songs, friend of Ernesto, the discovery of the truth about his being husband, the composer of the songs? No photo and so his not being allowed to go into the afterlife on the Day of the Dead? The truth, Ernesto killing him, taking his songs? Exploiting him? Happiness in the revelation of the truth, and the videoing of Ernesto telling the truth and its being screened to all his fans? Booing and hissing? And his being conquered by the Bell again?

7. The character of Miguel, his age, the shoes? No music? Yet his love for music, the photo, shoe shining, enrolling the competition, getting the guitar, the confrontation with the family, the smashing of the guitar? The unbending of the photo and the revelation of Ernesto’s guitar, his going to the mausoleum, taking it, his being overwhelmed?

8. Miguel and his dog, Dante, the dog antics for comedy?

9. The Day of the Dead, everybody at the cemetery, remembering the dead? Miguel’s family? The presence of the dead? Their taking Miguel, leading him across the bridge, to the land of the dead – the bright colours, the vistas? Lavish fiesta?

10. The dead, skeletons, yet their clothing, voice manner, celebrations?

11. Miguel finding his ancestors, identifying them from the photos? Grandmother, aunts, uncles, grandfather Julio? Their strong stands against music?

12. Hector, trying to get through the screening to go over the bridge, his failing every time? The Frida Kahlo jokes? Time running out, no photo, his daughter with dementia, annihilation?

13. The feast, the music and celebrations, elaborate, the range of music, Miguel and his delight?

14. The encounter with Hector, finding out the truth, that Hector was the great-grandfather? Hector telling the story about Coco, wanting to see her again? The song, Remember Me and singing it with her? The sadness of the truth of his death and his being exploited?

15. Miguel, playing, his grandmother and her behaviour, her singing? The re-uniting of the family? Finding out the truth? The wife saying Hector was her only love?

16. The range of adventures in the land of the dead, the giant and colourful cat, Dante turning into a spirit? The chase, the rescue?

17. Ernesto, his performance, the villain, his being recorded telling the truth, the audience against him? Hit by the bell again?

18. The return home, Hector in hope, Miguel with Coco, singing and playing, her eyes lighting up, sharing the singing, the family delighted?

19. Hector, his being able to cross over, his being remembered?

20. A year later, the celebrations, the photo of Coco – and the exhilarated family?