Coco

Coco is a 2017 American computer-animated fantasy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Lee Unkrich, with Adrian Molina serving as co-director, it was developed from an original story by Unkrich, Molina, Jason Katz, and Matthew Aldrich. The film follows Miguel Rivera, a twelve-year-old boy in the fictional Mexican town of Santa Cecilia. Miguel loves music, although his shoemaking family has forbidden it for generations after his great-great-grandmother Imelda was abandoned by her musician husband, Héctor. Anthony Gonzalez provides Miguel’s singing and speaking voice, while Gael García Bernal voices Héctor, his dead ancestor. On Día de Muertos, Miguel secretly borrows Ernesto de la Cruz’s guitar from the mausoleum holding the celebrated singer’s remains, believing Ernesto to be his ancestor. The theft transports Miguel to the Land of the Dead, where he encounters deceased relatives and must obtain a family blessing before sunrise or remain there permanently. Imelda will send him home only if he renounces music. Miguel instead seeks Ernesto, assisted by Héctor, whose fading existence depends on memories among the living. The story ultimately reveals that Ernesto murdered Héctor and stole the songs that made him famous, including “Remember Me,” the ballad. The production drew on research trips to Mexico and consultation with cultural advisers, including folklorist Marcela Davison Avilés. Its visual world incorporates marigolds, ofrendas, alebrijes, and the holiday’s family-centered remembrance traditions. Michael Giacchino composed the score. “Remember Me” was written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez; the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Coco also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 90th Academy Awards, becoming Pixar’s ninth winner in that category. At the 75th Golden Globe Awards, it received the prize for Best Animated Feature Film. The movie features an all-Latino voice cast. Released in the United States on November 22, 2017, Coco opened after a limited run in Mexico, where it became a major box-office success. The film earned more than $800 million worldwide against a reported production budget of roughly $175 million. It was Pixar’s nineteenth feature film. The title refers to Miguel’s great-grandmother Coco, Héctor’s daughter, whose memories preserve her father’s place in the family. Near the conclusion, Miguel sings “Remember Me” to her, restoring her recollection of Héctor. The film ends with the Rivera family accepting music and displaying Héctor’s photograph on their ofrenda, alongside Miguel’s newer family photograph.