Talkie Tuesday: Coco

"Never forget how much your family cares for you."

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend and that you're ready for all the new challenges coming your way. 

For me, this means making sure I'm on top of my blog posts.

Tonight's will be another Disney one to amuse ourselves with, but then again, Disney seems to have figured it all out - how to both draw audiences in and keep their attention AND make lots and lots of money right along with that.

While I can honestly say it's not about the money for me, I'll admit that I like the way they're going.

I had seen some previews for their newest movie before actually sitting down to watch it, but it didn't occur to me that I'd enjoy it as much as I have.

Then again, Disney has a way with people, as I've mentioned before.

So hold on to your sombreros, amigos - it's Coco time!

Surprising for modern times, Coco has a very high rating on IMDB, which I would have thought impossible considering all the good movies seem to literally be trashed down into oblivion while the bad ones get really high marks for some reason. But I'm certainly happy about Coco, because, really, it's that good!

The story in itself is very basic and one that most people will be able to relate to (meaning adult people that is): how do you reconcile what YOU want for yourself with the wishes and wants your FAMILY has for you, without breaking anyone's heart?

Our story takes place in Mexico, where a young woman, Imelda, was the wife of a musician, who left to go on the road and perform while leaving her and their three-year-old daughter, Coco, alone to fend for themselves. While he HAD promised to return, that never happened, and angry beyond belief, Imelda banned her family from ever having anything to do with music again, instead focusing on making shoes.

But years later, Imelda's great-great-grandson Miguel wants to be a famous musician like the one most-reknown around his hometown, Ernesto de la Cruz.

It's not really simple, however, when your entire family is anti-music.

And here I thought being anti-anything else was bad ...

Miguel plans to participate in a competition during the Day of the Dead celebrations (this would be when the families put up offerings at home for their deceased, telling their stories and sharing with each other), but he kind of needs an instrument for that. So what does he do? Well, after his grandmother literally scares away a musician with her shoe (don't even ask), he sees Ernesto's guitar in the tomb/shrine the town had built for him.

As a side-note, having previously barely escaped musical detection from his family, Miguel discovers that the photo with Imelda and the headless grandfather who's never named (but isn't Voldemort) is actually folded, and the guitar is the same guitar as the one in the tomb.

This leads Miguel to believe Ernesto de la Cruz is his grandfather - but unfortunately when he strums the guitar he gets himself cursed.

He is now part of the land of the dead, not the living anymore, and unless he gets a blessing from someone in his family before the night is over, he's going to STAY dead and become a skeleton, like them.

The family, unwilling to go against their matriarch Imelda, take Miguel to her - and we get to see a granny we can ALL identify as she threatens a frightened computer operator and then smashes the 'devil's box' because she can't pass over to the other side. Why not? Well, because Miguel took her photo off the altar, duh.

Here's the catch though: Imelda will gladly bless the boy - he just has to drop music forever.

As this won't fly with him, Miguel, disgusted with how his family can be so narrow-minded and trying to stop him from doing the one thing that makes him happy, turns his back on them and goes to find the one family member he believes will give him the blessing he wants: Imelda's husband.

Note: no names were dropped in the making of this scene, which is important.

Miguel needs help to get through this land of the dead, however, and he finds it with Hector, a happy-go-lucky skeleton who just wants to pass over to the other side to see his daughter one more time before she dies, but as no one's put up his photo he can't go, and he's running out of time: when the last person who knew you passes, and no one's alive to tell your stories, you fade away, never to be seen again. That's what's going to happen to Hector if he doesn't hurry, so Miguel promises to put up the photo once he's back in his own body, and Hector promises to take him to de la Cruz.

How, do you ask? Well, turns out Hector used to write songs for de la Cruz, plus there's a competition being held for musicians, the winner of which will get to perform for de la Cruz.

Unfortunately, things don't quite go as smoothly as you'd think, because Hector and Miguel have a falling-out (and Miguel's family is frantically searching for him, which includes but isn't limited to a scary ass spirit guide in the form of a huge cat with wings) and Miguel heads for Ernesto's himself. This is also where the movie finally comes to a head:

remember that no-name dropping? There's a big reason for it.

Ernesto de la Cruz is not, in actuality, Imelda's husband - Hector is. He was the one who wrote all the songs and eventually wanted to go home, back to his wife and daughter, but Ernesto, blinded by greed, murdered him and stole both his songs and his guitar, going on to become famous while Hector's been forgotten.

Ernesto throws both Hector and Miguel into a cenote pit where the two of them figure out they're related, and from which they're saved by none other than Imelda.

Realizing Hector's running out of time, the family team up to get his photo from Ernesto. Aided by a helpful Frida Kahlo (who was impressed by Miguel earlier in the movie), the family manage to expose Ernesto for the fraud and murderer that he is during his own concert, leading to him being smashed by a bell - a fitting ending since that was what killed him in the first place.

Imelda and Hector (who is on the verge of fading away as Coco's memory is slipping) bless Miguel with no strings attached, and he rushes home to ensure Hector doesn't fade. He almost fails - but then sings 'Remember Me' to Coco, a song her father had written especially for her, which revives her and brings her back to herself. She then reveals that she kept the piece of the photo her mother had torn from the family portrait, and the letters Hector wrote to her from the road, containing lyrics to his songs.

A year later, on the same day, Miguel is telling the family stories to his baby sister, proudly showing off Imelda and Hector; another photo has been added, one of Coco, who passed away peacefully, but the family is now happy - music is back in their lives.

And on the other side, Hector, Imelda and Coco are reunited, and can cross over to check up on their living descendants, all their photos up.

What about the spirit guides? Well, turns out Dante, a stray dog Miguel sort of adopted, was his spirit guide, and he and Imelda's big cat slip between worlds easily, keeping watch on the Rivera family.

The end!

A movie about guidance and acceptance as well as growing up to take on responsibilities is always going to get me. I confess I cried in heaving, gulping sobs at the end of this movie, which hasn't happened in a while! It's filled with humour but also with the loving touch of familial emotion, something we sometimes ignore in the world of today.

Never forget: remember those that came before you, and learn from their mistakes.

And above all, follow your heart.

xx

*images and video not mine