Coco

***Coco*** is a 2017 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on an original idea by Lee Unkrich, it is directed by Don Bluth and co-directed by Adrian Molina. The film's voice cast stars Isabella Tena, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Renée Victor, Ana Ofelia Murguía and Edward James Olmos. The story follows a 12-year-old girl named Coco who is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead, where she seeks the help of her deceased musician great-great-grandfather to return her to her family among the living and to reverse her family's ban on music.

The concept for *Coco* is inspired by the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. The film was scripted by Molina and Matthew Aldrich from a story by Unkrich, Jason Katz, Aldrich, and Molina. Disney began developing the animation in 2016; Unkrich and some of the film's crew visited Mexico for research. Composer Michael Giacchino composed the score. With a cost of $175–225 million, *Coco* is the first film with a nine-figure budget to feature an all-Latino principal cast.

*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 Muertos*, and in the United States on November 22, 2017. The film was praised for its animation, voice acting, music, visuals, emotional story, and respect for Mexican culture. It grossed over $807 million worldwide, becoming the 16th highest-grossing animated film ever at the time of its release. 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"). It also won Best Animated Film at the BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Critic's Choice Movie Awards, and Annie Awards.

## Plot

In Santa Cecilia, Mexico, Coco Rivera dreams of becoming a musician, even though her family strictly forbids it. Her great-great-grandmother Imelda was married to a man who left her and their daughter Irma to pursue a career in music, and when he never returned, Imelda banished music from her family's life before starting a shoemaking business.

Coco now lives with the elderly Irma and their family, including Coco's parents and her *abuelita*, who are all shoemakers. She secretly idolizes Ernesto de la Cruz, a famous musician who died decades earlier, and teaches herself to play guitar from Ernesto's old films. On the Day of the Dead, Coco accidentally damages the picture frame that holds a photo of Irma with her mother on the family *ofrenda*, discovering that a hidden section of the photograph shows her great-great-grandfather holding Ernesto's famous guitar. Concluding that Ernesto is her great-great-grandfather, an inspired Coco leaves to enter a talent show for Day of the Dead despite her family's objections.

Breaking into Ernesto's mausoleum, Coco takes his guitar to use in the show, but once she strums it, she becomes invisible to everyone in the village plaza. However, she can interact with her skeletal dead relatives, who are visiting from the Land of the Dead for the holiday. Taking her back with them, they learn that Imelda cannot visit, since Coco accidentally removed her photo from the *ofrenda*. Coco discovers that she is cursed for stealing from the dead, and must return to the Land of the Living before sunrise, or she will become one of the dead; to do so, she must receive a blessing from a member of her family. Imelda offers Coco a blessing on the condition she end her dream of becoming a musician, but Coco refuses and resolves to seek Ernesto's blessing instead. She meets Héctor, a trickster who frequently unsuccessfully tries to visiting the Land of the Living and declares that he knows Ernesto, offering to help her reach him in return for Coco taking his photo back with her, so that he might visit his daughter before she forgets him, causing him to disappear completely. Héctor helps Coco enter a talent competition to win entry to Ernesto's mansion, but Coco's family tracks her down, forcing her to flee.

Coco sneaks into the mansion, where Ernesto welcomes her as his descendant, but Héctor confronts them, again imploring Coco to take his photo to the Land of the Living. Ernesto and Héctor renew an argument from their partnership in life, and Coco realizes that when Héctor decided to leave the duo to return to his family, Ernesto poisoned him, then stole his guitar along with his songs, passing them off as his own to become famous. To protect his legacy, Ernesto seizes the photo and has his security guards throw Coco and Héctor into a cenote pit. There, Coco realizes that Héctor is her real great-great-grandfather, and that Irma is Héctor's daughter.

After Imelda and the family rescue the duo, Coco reveals the truth about Héctor's death. Imelda and Héctor reconcile, and the family infiltrates Ernesto's concert to retrieve Héctor's photo. Ernesto's crimes are exposed to the audience, who jeer at him as he is thrown out of the stadium, then crushed by a giant bell in the same manner that he originally died. In the chaos, however, Héctor's photograph is lost. As the sun rises, Irma's life and memory are fading; Imelda and Héctor bless Coco, so that she can return to the Land of the Living. After Coco plays "Remember Me", Irma brightens and sings along with Coco. She reveals that she had saved the torn-off piece of the family photo with Héctor's face on it, then tells her family stories about her father, thus saving his memory as well as his existence in the Land of the Dead. Coco's family reconciles with her, ending the ban on music.

One year later, Coco presents the family *ofrenda* (which now includes the deceased Irma) to his new baby siblings. Irma's collected letters from Héctor prove that Ernesto stole his songs, destroying Ernesto's legacy and allowing Héctor to be rightfully honored in his place. In the Land of the Dead, Héctor and Imelda rekindle their romance, joining Irma for a visit to the living, where Coco sings and plays for her relatives, both living and dead.

## Voice cast

* Isabella Tena as Coco, a 12-year-old aspiring musician.
	+ Tena reprised her role in the Spanish-language dubbing of the movie.
* Gael García Bernal as Héctor, a charming trickster and Coco's great-great-grandfather in the Land of the Dead who enlists Coco to help her visit the Land of the Living.
	+ Bernal reprised his role in the Spanish-language dubbing of the movie.
* Benjamin Bratt as Ernesto de la Cruz, the most famous musician in the history of Mexico and Coco'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, Coco's late great-great-grandmother, Héctor's wife, Irma's mother, and the matriarch of the family.
* Renée Victor as Abuelita, Irma's daughter and Coco's grandmother who strictly enforces the Rivera family's music ban.
* Ana Ofelia Murguía as Mamá Irma, Coco's great-grandmother and the daughter of Héctor and Imelda who moves around in a wheelchair.
	+ Libertad García Fonzi as a young Irma.
* Edward James Olmos as Chicharrón, a friend of Héctor's who becomes forgotten in the Land of the Dead.
* Alfonso Arau as Papá Julio, Irma's late husband and Coco's late great-grandfather.
	+ Arau reprised his role in the Spanish-language dubbing of the film.
* Selene Luna as Tía Rosita, Coco's late aunt and Irma's sister-in-law.
* Dyana Ortellí as Tía Victoria, Coco's late aunt, Irma and Julio's daughter, and Abuelita's sister.
* Herbert Sigüenza as Tíos Oscar and Felipe, Coco's late identical twin uncles.
* Jaime Camil as Papá, Coco's father and Abuelita's son.
* Sofía Espinosa as Mamá, Coco's mother.
	+ Espinosa reprised her role in the Spanish-language dubbing of the film.
* Luis Valdez as Tío Berto, Coco's uncle, Papa's brother, and Franco and Abuelita's son.
	+ Valdez also voices Don Hidalgo.
	+ Valdez reprised the role of Tío Berto in the Spanish-language dubbing of the film.
* Carla Medina as Gloria, Coco's aunt, Papa's sister, and Franco and Abuelita's daughter.
	+ Medina also voices a Departure Agent.
	+ Medina reprised the role of a Departure Agent in the Spanish-language dubbing of the film.
* Polo Rojas as Abel, Berto and Carmen's oldest son and Coco's cousin.
* Montse Hernandez as Rosa, Berto and Carmen's daughter and Coco's cousin.
* Lombardo Boyar as Plaza Mariachi, a Mariachi whom Coco 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.
* Blanca Araceli as Emcee.
* Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Frida Kahlo, a famous artist.
* Salvador Reyes as a Security Guard.
	+ Reyes reprised his role in the Spanish-language dubbing of the film.
* Alan Tudyk as Juan Ortodoncia, whose dentist puts his picture on an ofrenda.
* Emilio Fuentes as Concert Stagehand.

The animal characters Dante and Pepita are alebrijes which serve as spirit guides in this film. Dante is a Xoloitzcuintle with bird-like wings in his alebrije form. Pepita is a cat whose alebrije form gives her the head, torso, and front paws of a jaguar, the horns of a ram, the wings and hindlegs of an eagle, and the tail of an iguana.