"Music's the only thing that makes me happy."

Rating: 10/10 (13 April 2018)

I'm not an animated movie fan per se, so this one caught me in just the right frame of mind or it was indeed brilliantly done. Probably the latter because I'd have no qualms about watching it again, as it was cleverly written, very colorful and had an unusually interesting story line. Not to mention that it had enough Espanol sprinkled in to make my four years of high school Spanish appropriately worthwhile. I also enjoyed some of the traditional folk concepts introduced by the story, like the Mexican 'Dia de Los Muertos', the annual Day of the Dead Celebration, along with it's fantastical sprit creatures called 'alebrijes'. One thing you'll have to do is pay attention at the beginning of the story to understand the relationship of young Miguel to his past and present family members; we go back in time all the way to his great-great grandfather, which turns out to be one of the twists in the story. At first I was upset that Ernesto de la Cruz turned out to be a villain, but the story handled that switch perfectly and helped inspire the entire Rivera Family to love music once again. The best concept for me however was in the explanation of how the spirits in the afterworld disappeared when there was no one left alive to think about them any more. Thoughtful families would do well to take that instruction to heart to keep alive the memories and traditions of their ancestors from the past.