Loco for Coco
When non-Mexican people hear “Dia de los Muertos” they may think of it as “Mexican Halloween” or that it’s a celebration of death. . They’d be wrong. Dia de los Muertos is a celebration of life. And that’s what the movie Coco shows. I have many Mexican friends say that they didn’t want to see it because they thought that Disney Pixar wouldn’t understand or portray their culture correctly. That’s understandable but I believe that Coco honors and respect the holiday as it is celebrated in Mexico.
When you watch Coco, you can see that Disney Pixar put a lot of detail into the movie. The creators and animators took the time to really capture the feeling of Mexico and Dia de los Muertos. It was amazing to know that they took the time to understand the traditions and the intricacies of the holiday. Many people of that culture saw the movie and were blown away on how the animators really paid attention, and respected their culture. In fact, the movie got 97% on rotten tomatoes, 96% of people who saw it loved it and the Average Rating is 4.7/5
**SPOILER ALERT**
In the movie, the main character Miguel loves to play music, but his whole family is against him pursuing his dream (because they believe music is a curse upon the family). But Miguel believes that Ernesto de la Cruz, a famous singer is his great great grandfather, so he grabs Ernesto de la Cruz’s guitar, plays it, and gets sent to the land of the dead. The only way back home is to have the blessing of his dead family, but his family in the land of the dead doesn’t want him to play. so he goes off to find who he thinks is his great grandfather to get his blessing so he can continue to play music. He has the help of Hector (who has no one in the real world to remember him) to get to Ernesto de la Cruz. Along the way, Miguel finds out Hector is his great great grandfather, not Ernesto de la Cruz and that Ernesto de la Cruz killed Hector for his music. But Hector's family thought he just left them which is why they thought music was a curse on their family. Hector is being forgotten though, because the only person that remembers Hector is his daughter Coco. Miguel makes it back in time to save Hector from being forgotten, and the whole family allows Miguel to continue to play music
Many say “Oh I’m not Mexican so I won’t understand.” or “I don’t celebrate Dia de los Muertos so I won’t understand” when in fact that isn’t true. I went in to watch this movie only having a little knowledge about la dia de los muertos and left knowing so much more about the holiday, and what it means to the people that celebrate it. The whole movie itself is about how important family is and to remember the family you have that has already passed. Even though it might not be your culture, you can still relate to the movie because everyone has family members that have passed away and you know how important it is to remember the ones you've loved.
Overall the movie for me was every touching and beautiful. If you are planning on seeing Coco don’t forget to bring tissues, because you can’t help but think of your family and important people to you when you watch this movie.
