Coco (on DVD)

Coco
[j DVD Coco] 

Winner of the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Animated Feature Film for films released in 2017. Also winner of the Best Song at the Academy Awards for “Remember Me”, by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (previous winners for “Let It Go” from Frozen).

This charming 2017 animated film from Pixar, released by the Walt Disney company, is a celebration of the Mexican culture’s holiday “Dia de Los Muertos” (the Day of the Dead). A young boy (12-year-old Miguel) in a Mexican village wishes to pursue music as his life’s passion, but is forbidden from being involved with music by his elders, as a result of a heartbreaking story involving his Great-Great-Grandmother Coco, who was abandoned by a musician. Miguel is headstrong, and obsessed with a legendary Mexican troubadour and film star (Ernesto de la Cruz), and Miguel’s actions lead him to “borrow” de la Cruz’s guitar to perform in a talent competition. One thing leads to another and ultimately the “living” Miguel finds himself having crossed over the land of the dead. Miguel then needs the help of a charming but untrustworthy trickster spirit, as he navigates his way through the extensive community of passed-on souls who await The Day of the Dead each year for the chance to reunited with living loved ones. Miguel must earn his way back to the land of the living or be trapped among the dead forever…along the way he develops bonds with some of the passed-on spirits he encounters on the other side.

The music in this film was marvelous, the storytelling and the animation and character voice work were all top-notch. This was easily my favorite animated film in 2017, and overall was one of my 3 or 4 favorite films which I saw in a movie theater last year. I look forward to owning this one in my own collection, and highly recommend you check it out from the libraries if you haven’t had a chance to see it yet yourself!

[Various tie-in books associated with this film are also available in traditional print format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Coco web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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