ANI-MOVIES, *Coco

Numerous naysayers probably confused Pixar's Coco with Fox's Book Of Life which came out just three years prior, with Disney still two years as yet to buy out Fox. Both movies were CGI animated dealing centered around Mexico and their country's beliefs surrounding the Day of the Dead, although Book Of Life was more of a romantic fantasy while Coco focused in on familial ties. Lee Unkrich directed this several years after doing his last movie, Cars 3, and the film was written by Adrian Molina as his first screenplay project, both creators helped make Coco one of Pixar's biggest sellers of all time.

Set in modern Mexico, Miguel is the great-grandson of the now elderly shoemaker Coco whose entire family has been raised with an intense phobia of music because Coco's father left her family to become a famous musician. Miguel wants to break free of his family's cycle of hatred and become a famous singer on his own. He tries to perform at the Day of the Dead festival, but can't find a guitar to play, so he makes off with the enshrined guitar of famed deceased star Ernesto which curses him into a living spirit able to interact with the ghosts from the other side that are in town to accept their loved ones offerings. Miguel gets help from his visiting dead relatives who take him to the underworld so Coco's mother can offer her blessing to him so he can return before dawn, otherwise he'll be stuck in the afterlife forever. Coco can go back but only under the condition that he never plays music again. The living ghost boy can't accept this deal and believes that Ernesto is really his genuine great-great-grandpa, so Miguel agrees to help the lonely Hector to get to his possible ancestor in exchange for taking his photo back to the land of the living otherwise Hector might fade away into limbo if no living person remembers them on the Day of the Dead. Miguel has enough problems navigating this new spirit world while being hunted by his dead relatives as well as the police that exist in his realm, while at the same time him trying to accept certain truths about his family's past as it becomes a race against the clock to undo the curse.

Coco could have focused a little more on the title characters despite her deep senility,  although that would give away the plot too early. Whether you are up to date on Mexican folklore enough to understand the rules of the afterlife, it doesn't take away for the from the overall narrative as it is simple enough to comprehend. What separates Coco over Book Of Life is that it does feature richer vibrant animation, even though Book Of Life doesn't insist on throwing a new character in every couple of seconds. Coco is a winsome all-ages movie despite dealing heavily in the subject of death.