Coco

Matthew Aldrich

Adrian Molina

Benjamin Bratt

Alanna Ubach

Renée Victor

Ana Ofelia Murguía

Edward James Olmos

Coco is a 2017 American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on an original idea by Lee Unkrich, it is directed by him and co-directed by Adrian Molina. The film's voice cast stars Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Renée Victor, Ana Ofelia Murguía and Edward James Olmos. The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead, where he seeks the help of his deceased musician great-great-grandfather to return him to his family among the living and to reverse his family’s ban on music.

The concept for Coco is inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday. The film was scripted by Molina and Matthew Aldrich from a story by Unkrich, Jason Katz, Aldrich and Molina. Pixar began developing the animation in 2016; Unkrich and some of the film's crew visited Mexico for research. Composer Michael Giacchino, who had worked on prior Pixar animated features, composed the score. Coco is the first film with a nine-figure budget to feature an all-Latino principal cast, with a cost of $175 million.

Coco premiered on October 20, 2017 during the Morelia International Film Festival in Morelia, Mexico. It was theatrically released in Mexico the following week, the weekend before Día de los Muertos, and in the United States on November 22, 2017. The film was praised for its animation, voice acting, music, emotional story, and respect for Mexican culture. It grossed over $807 million worldwide, becoming the 15th highest-grossing animated film ever and was the 11th highest-grossing film of 2017. Recipient of several accolades, Coco was chosen by the National Board of Review as the Best Animated Film of 2017. The film won two Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song ("Remember Me"). Additionally, it also won the Best Animated Film at the BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Critic's Choice Movie Awards, and Annie Awards.

## Plot

In Santa Cecilia, Mexico, 12-year-old Miguel dreams of being a musician, even though his family strictly forbids it. His great-great-grandmother Imelda was married to a man who left her and their 3-year-old daughter Coco to pursue a career in music, and when he never returned, Imelda banished music from her family's life and started a shoemaking business.

Miguel now lives with the elderly Coco and their family, who are all shoemakers. He idolizes Ernesto de la Cruz, a famous musician, and secretly teaches himself to play guitar from Ernesto's old movies. On the Day of the Dead, Miguel accidentally damages the picture frame holding a photo of a young Coco with her parents on the family ofrenda and discovers a hidden section of the photograph showing his great-great-grandfather (whose face had been torn out) holding Ernesto's famous guitar.

Concluding that Ernesto is his great-great-grandfather, Miguel leaves to enter a talent show for Day of the Dead despite his family's objections. He breaks into Ernesto's mausoleum and takes his guitar to use in the show, but once he strums it, he becomes invisible to everyone in the village plaza. However, he can interact with his skeletal dead relatives who are visiting from the Land of the Dead for the holiday. Taking him back with them, they learn that Imelda cannot visit because Miguel accidentally removed her photo from the ofrenda. Miguel discovers that he is cursed for stealing from the dead, and must return to the Land of the Living before sunrise or he will become one of the dead; to do so, he must receive a blessing from a member of his family. Imelda offers Miguel a blessing, but on the condition that he abandon his musical pursuits. Miguel refuses and attempts to seek Ernesto's blessing instead.

Miguel meets Héctor, who says he knows Ernesto and offers to help Miguel reach him in return for Miguel taking his photo back with him, so that he might visit his daughter before she forgets him and he disappears completely. He helps Miguel enter a talent contest to win entry to Ernesto's mansion, but Miguel's family tracks him down, forcing him to flee. Miguel sneaks into the mansion, where Ernesto welcomes him as his descendant, but Héctor confronts them, again imploring Miguel to take his photo to the Land of the Living. Ernesto and Héctor renew an argument from their partnership in life, and Miguel realizes that when Héctor decided to leave the duo to return to his family, Ernesto poisoned him, then stole his guitar and songs, passing them off as his own to become famous.

To protect his legacy, Ernesto seizes the photo, and has Miguel and Héctor thrown into a cenote pit. There, Miguel realizes that Héctor is his real great-great-grandfather, and that Coco is Héctor's daughter. Imelda and the family rescue the duo, and Miguel reveals the truth about Héctor's death. Imelda and Héctor gradually reconcile, and the family infiltrates Ernesto's sunrise concert to retrieve Héctor's photo. Ernesto's crimes are exposed to the audience, who jeer him as he is thrown out of the stadium and crushed by a giant bell, repeating the circumstances of his death, but the photo is lost.

As the sun rises, Coco's life and memory are fading; Imelda and Héctor bless Miguel unconditionally so he can return to the Land of the Living. After Miguel plays "Remember Me", Coco brightens and sings along with Miguel. She gives him the torn-off piece of the family photo, which shows Héctor's face, and tells her family stories about her father, thus keeping his memory alive. Miguel's family reconciles with him and lifts the ban on music.

One year later, Miguel proudly presents the family ofrenda to his new baby sister, while Coco's letters from Héctor prove that Ernesto stole his songs, destroying Ernesto's legacy and making Héctor be rightfully honored in his place; Coco has since died, and her picture joins those of her family. In the Land of the Dead, Héctor and Imelda rekindle their romance and join Coco for a visit to the living, where Miguel sings and plays for his relatives, both living and dead.

## Voice cast

* Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel, a 12-year-old aspiring musician.
* Gael García Bernal as Héctor, a charming trickster in the Land of the Dead who enlists Miguel to help him visit the Land of the Living.
* Benjamin Bratt as Ernesto de la Cruz, the most famous musician in the history of Mexico and Miguel's idol. Revered by fans worldwide until his untimely death, the charming and charismatic musician is even more beloved in the Land of the Dead.
	+ Antonio Sol provides de la Cruz's singing voice, with the exception of "Remember Me".
* Alanna Ubach as Mamá Imelda, Miguel's late great-great-grandmother, Héctor's wife, Coco's mother, and the matriarch of the family.
* Renée Victor as Abuelita, Coco's daughter Elena, and Miguel's grandmother who strictly enforces the Rivera family's music ban.
* Ana Ofelia Murguía as Mamá Coco, Miguel's great-grandmother and the daughter of Héctor and Imelda.
* Edward James Olmos as Chicharrón, a friend of Héctor's who becomes forgotten in the Land of the Dead.
* Alfonso Arau as Papá Julio, Coco's husband and Miguel's late great-grandfather.
* Selene Luna as Tía Rosita, Miguel's late aunt.
* Dyana Ortellí as Tía Victoria, Miguel's late aunt.
* Herbert Sigüenza as Tíos Oscar and Felipe, Miguel's late identical twin uncles.
* Jaime Camil as Papá, Miguel's father and Abuelita's son.
* Sofía Espinosa as Mamá, Miguel's mother.
* Luis Valdez as Tío Berto, Miguel's uncle.
	+ Valdez also voices Don Hidalgo.
* Lombardo Boyar as Plaza Mariachi, a Mariachi whom Miguel meets in Santa Cecilia Plaza.
	+ Boyar also voices Gustavo, a musician of the Land of the Dead.
* Octavio Solis as Arrival Agent.
* Gabriel Iglesias as Clerk.
* Cheech Marin as Corrections Officer.
* Carla Medina as Departure Agent.
* Blanca Araceli as Emcee.
* Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Frida Kahlo.
* Salvador Reyes as a Security Guard.
* John Ratzenberger as Juan Ortodoncia.