Coco

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2018)

The previous Disney/Pixar movie, Inside Out, tapped into the world of the human mind and emotions, I was hoping the next movie from the studio, tapping into Mexican folklore, and becoming part of Awards Season, would be another heart-warming computer-animated success. Basically in Santa Cecilia, Mexico, Imelda Rivera (Alanna Ubach) was the wife of a musician, her husband left her and their daughter, Coco, to pursue a career in music, following this Imelda banned music in the family and opened a family shoemaking business. In the present, her great-grandson Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) lives with the now elderly Coco (Ana Ofelia Murguía) and his family, he has a secret passion for music, wanting to be a star like the famous actor and singer Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). One day, Miguel accidentally damages a photo of Imelda at the centre of the family ofrenda (a collection of family photos on a ritual altar) and removes it, he discovers that the husband, whose husband has his face torn off, is holding Ernesto's famous guitar. Miguel concludes that he is Ernesto's descendant, and he has much more passion to enter a talent show for the Day of the Day celebrations, but his grandmother Elena objects, she angrily destroying Miguel's guitar. In desperation to find a guitar and enter the talent show, Miguel sneaks into Ernesto's mausoleum, which holds the great star's guitar, after strumming the instrument, a magic gust of wind and light transforms him. Miguel finds he has become invisible to everyone in the village, and he can walk through the people and objects, but he can be seen by Xoloitzcuintli dog Dante, and his dead relatives, who appear as skeletons, they are on holiday, visiting from the Land of the Dead. The ancestors take Miguel with them to the Land of the Dead, they realise that Imelda cannot visit as Miguel has removed her photo from the ofrenda, and Miguel is cursed for stealing from the dead. Miguel must return to the Land of the Living before sunrise, or he will become one of the dead, to do so he needs a blessing from a member of his family using an Aztec marigold petal and undo the curse. Imelda offers her blessing, but on condition that he must abandon his musical pursuits, Miguel ignores this, he again strums the stolen guitar, and immediately returns to the Land of the Dead. He runs away from his dead relatives, knowing they will only let him return to the Land of the Living if he stops playing music, so Miguel attempts to find Ernesto, his presumed great-grandfather, to get his blessing. Miguel encounters Héctor (Amores Perros star Gael García Bernal), a down-on-his-luck skeleton who once played with Ernesto, he offers to help Miguel find him, in return for Miguel taking his photo back to the Land of the Living se he can visit his daughter before she forgets him, and he disappears forever. Héctor disguises Miguel to appear as a skeleton, they formulate a plan for Miguel to play in a talent show, the winner will play audience to Ernesto at his mansion, he does rouse the crowd with his performance, but Héctor becomes convinced to return Miguel to his relatives. Miguel escapes and infiltrates Ernesto's mansion, with the help of the act that won the talent show, Miguel finds a way to get close to Ernesto, when he realises he may be his great-grandson, Ernesto is pleased to introduce welcome him as his descendant. Miguel learns about a friendship between Ernesto and Héctor that deteriorated before Héctor's death, Héctor arrives and confronts them, imploring him to take his photo. Miguel realises through their discussion that Héctor was poisoned by Ernesto, who stole the songs he had written, passing them off as his own to become famous, Ernesto steals Héctor's photo and has him and Miguel thrown into a cenote pit. Trapped and talking to each other, Miguel realises that Héctor is his actual great-great-grandfather and that Coco is Héctor's daughter, she is only living person who still remembers him, but her dementia is causing her memory of him to disappear. With the help of Dante, who turns into an alebrije (a brightly coloured mythical creature), the dead Rivera find and rescue them, Miguel reveals that Héctor's murder was the result of him wanting to return home to his family, Ernesto killed him for halting their success, Imelda and Héctor reconcile. They infiltrate Ernesto's sunrise concert to retrieve Héctor's photo from Ernesto, with a hidden camera filming him, Ernesto's crimes are exposed for the whole audience to hear, Ernesto is crushed by a falling church bell, as he was in life, but the photo of Héctor falls into the water and disappears. The sun is rising, Héctor is in danger of being forgotten and disappearing, Imelda gives her blessing for Miguel to return to the Land of the Living, but with no conditions. Miguel rushes home to see his grandmother Coco, to try and get her to remember her father again, he starts to play Héctor's song "Remember Me" on the guitar, he wrote it for Coco as a child, her memory of Héctor is restored, she is revitalised, and she has the torn part of the photo from the ofrenda, with Héctor's face, Elena reconciles with Miguel, music is accepted back into the family. One year later, Miguel places a photo of the now deceased Coco onto the family ofrenda, there is proof that Ernesto stole Héctor's music, Ernesto's legacy is destroyed, with honours of Héctor in his place, and in the Land of the Dead, Héctor and Imelda join Coco for a visit into the Land of the Living, to watch Miguel playing music, with both his living and dead relatives watching. Also starring Renee Victor as Abuelita, Jaime Camil as Papá, Alfonso Arau as Papá Julio, Herbert Siguenza as Tío Oscar / Tío Felipe, Lombardo Boyar as Plaza Mariachi / Gustavo, Blade Runner's Edward James Olmos as Chicharrón, Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Frida Kahlo, Cheech Marin as Corrections Officer and John Ratzenberger as Juan Ortodoncia. The story is inspired by Mexican folklore, ancestry and family heritage, the colourful animation and characters are fantastic, it has great tributes to the golden age of Latin cinema, the music is wonderful, and it will make you laugh and cry, a most satisfactory animated musical fantasy. It won the Oscars for Best Original Song for "Remember Me" (also nominated the Golden Globe) and Best Animated Feature Film, it won the BAFTA for Best Animated Feature Film, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Animated. Very good!