Movie Title: Coco (Theatrical Verision)
Grade: A
Rating: PG, 1
hour 49 minutes
In a Nutshell: This extremely vibrant, colorful animation by
Pixar has heart, visually stunning effects, and celebrates a wonderfully rich
Mexican culture that we rarely get to see in the movies.
It will have you contemplating what
happens to you and your loved ones after we die as an added inspiring bonus.
If you’re not familiar with Mexico’s “Day of the Dead”
holiday, you might be a little creeped out by all of the skeletons at the
beginning of the movie, but by the end, you’ll wish your country celebrated it
too.
My twin sister and I wrote a book together about how to
research your family tree and celebrate your heritage. People from around the world sent us their
inspiring stories about how they felt their ancestors from “the other side”
helping them to find the missing information they were looking for on their
family tree! If you want to have a
spiritual experience, do your genealogy!
Click here to learn more about our book called Climbing Family Trees, Whispers in the Leaves.
Uplifting theme:
- “One
cannot deny who one is meant to be.” – Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Pratt)
- “Seize
your moment.” – Ernesto de la Cruz
- Helping
friends
- “Nothing
is more important than family.” – Miguel . Families ARE forever!
- Life
goes on beyond this mortal experience.
- “That’s
what family is supposed to do…support you.” – Miguel
- “Never
underestimate the power of music.” – Ernesto de la Cruz
Things I liked:
- I
adore Jaime Camil. His character is
ridiculous and charming on Jane the Virgin, Season 1 (5 Discs).
- The
colorful, stacked houses in the movie were inspired by Guanajuato in
Mexico.
- The
music is really engaging. The
actual composer of the movie appears in caricature as the conductor at the
end of the movie.
- I
thought it was cool how they used the Aztec marigold throughout the movie
to connect things together. It’s
used traditionally on the Day of the Dead for the same purpose: to connect
the living with the dead.
- If you
see this film in the theaters, you’ll get to see an ADORABLE 21 minute musical
short of “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” with characters from the movie
Frozen (2013) Apparently, quite a few
audiences in Mexico have complained that it’s too long! Ha ha
I thought it was awesome and the audience I saw with applauded
happily at the end of it. It’s all
about families and their traditions during the holidays. Super cute.
- After
the Frozen (2013) short, the directors of the movie COCO also talked for a
minute, which is something I rarely see before a movie starts. Interesting.
- The
beginning of the movie was clever how it told Miguel’s ancestry through
lacy flags.
- The
movement of the animation was AMAZING. The details were so
impressive. I watched an interview
with director Lee Unkrich, who explained that they tied GoPro HERO cameras on
people playing the guitar in order to get the fingers exactly right as
they played.
- I
loved the tiny details in each frame.
For example, you could actually see tiny little chin hairs on Great
Grandma Coco (Ana Ofelia Murguia).
- Voice
talents include Benjamin Bratt, Gael Garcia Bernal, Anthony Gonzalez,
Alanna Ubach, Gabriel Iglesias, and Latino legend Edward James Olmos.
Things I didn’t like:
- It
reminded me a lot of Book of Life movie, which came out three years ago
from Twentieth Century Fox. I personally liked this one more.
Fun Facts:
- In
Brazil, the name of this movie is “Viva”, which means “life”, because the
word “coco” sounds too similar to the Portuguese word for "poop."
- This
film broke the record for the longest production time, because it started
in 2011 and didn’t hit theaters until November 2017.
- Merchandising
has really gone big. Southwest
Airlines actually painted one of their Boeing airplanes in Coco design.
- The
Santa Cecilia graveyard in the movie is named after the Catholic saint of
musicians.
- Dante,
the dog, is named after Dante Alighieri, who wrote The Divine Comedy and
also went on a journey to the world of the dead.
Interesting lines:
- “You
don’t have to forgive him, but you shouldn’t forget him.” – Miguel
- “The
music is not just in me. It IS me.”
– Ernesto de la Cruz
- “No
one was going to hand me my dream.
I had to reach out and take it.” – Ernesto de la Cruz
Tips for
parents:
- You’ll hear the word “chamaco”, which means
“kid.” In some Latino cultures, it
has more of a connotation of “brat.”
- The
story might be hard for young children to follow.
- Some
of the dead ancestors are a bit spooky and creepy. There are TONS of skeletons!
- Challenge
your kids to spot the Pixar character pinatas hanging along the street in
the beginning of the movie (Buzz Lightyear, Wood, Mike Wazowski). You’ll also see the Pizza Planet delivery
truck in another scene. I love
that.
- A lot of Spanish words are spoken with no subtitles. You’ll still understand the story if you don’t speak Spanish. Here are a couple that are important to know:
Mijo
= Mi hijo = my son
Ofrendas = offerings
Ofrendas = offerings
- There
are some “spirit guide” animals in the story. This is a perfect time to talk to your
kids about what you believe happens to people and animals after we die.
- People
drink alcohol.
- No
profanity.
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