Coco: Difference between revisions

Miguel idolizes the late singer Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt, singing voice by Antonio Sol), who was also a native of the town; it was from watching his old movies that Miguel taught himself to play guitar. On the Day of the Dead, Miguel accidentally damages the ''ofrenda'' altar and discovers that in the photo showing Imelda and a toddler-aged Coco appears a man: his face is torn, but he carries Ernesto de la Cruz's iconic guitar. The boy, convinced that he is actually descended from his idol, attempts to join a local talent competition, but then he's stopped by his relatives destroying his instruments. Completely frustrated, Miguel decides to go to the de la Cruz's mausoleum and take Ernesto's guitar, on the reasoning that as a relative he can use the precious heirloom.

 

 

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[Black Comedy]]: Inevitable in a film about the deceased. One example from early in the film is Ernesto de la Cruz death by crushing church bell.

* [[Celestial Bureaucracy]]: The Department of Family Reunions.

* [[Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You]]: Miguel's family ban on music was originated by the father of Mamá Coco abandoned her and her mother in pursuit of a musical career. {{Spoiler|Turns out the man was murdered just as he was planning to come back to them and the news of his death never reached his family.}}

* [[Decon Recon Switch]]: of the standard [[Follow Your Heart]] Aesop. It's deconstructed on how Miguel's dream of become of a musician, while loable, only serves to deepen the rift between he and his family, as he assumes they doesn't support him, and his actions he engages to ensure following it only serve to alienate them more and more. Then we seen the extremes of the "follow your dreams" mentality on {{Spoiler|Ernesto de la Cruz and his villainous, attention-whore personality and the murderous extremes he took to ensure his dreams of becoming a professional musician came true}}. The reconstruction comes when Miguel, {{spoiler|after his confrontation with Ernesto}} learns that, while having dreams is important, they shouldn't come at the price of your family and loved ones; after he lears this lesson, his family becomes more receptive to his dreams

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: The initial scene with Miguel and the Mariachi is played as if his family thought the Mariachi was a drug peddler or a pedophile preying on kids.

* [[Family-Unfriendly Death]]: {{Spoiler|Héctor's death. He is poisoned and his agonizing collapse is shown on screen.}}

* [[Flower Motifs]]: Aztec marigolds feature predominatingly, as they are in real life heavily associated with Day of the Death rites.

* [[Gratuitous Spanish]]: In the English version.

* [[Historical Domain Character]]: Frida Kahlo plays an important supporting role in the plot. There are also cameos of famous deceased Mexican artist like Jorge Negrete, Pedro Infante, [[El Santo]] and Cantinflas.

* [[I See Dead People]]: Miguel's dog Dante, can still see him even when he is in spirit form and is able to follow him to the Land of the Dead and interact with its inhabitants.

* [[Ironic Echo]]: Ernesto's catchphrase "Seize Your Moment" takes a darker meaning in the third act {{Spoiler|as it stops merely meaning "follow your dreams" but thakes the undercurrent of "if you have to murder your best friend to make them come true, so it be"}}.

* [[Logo Joke]]: In the Disney logo at the beginning of the film, the traditional "When You Wish Upon A Star" riff is played in a mariachi version.

* [[Never Say "Die"]]: '''massively''' averted given the film's theme.

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Ernesto looks a lot like Pedro Infante, and his career somehow parallels him.

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: {{spoiler|Had Héctor revealing earlier the names of his relatives, or having the Riveras told Miguel the name of his actual great-great-grandfather, we would have had no plot. Albeit it's implied that, while his relatives knew that Ernesto de la Cruz wasn't related to them, Imelda was so determined to erase the memories of Héctor from her life that she forbid even the uttering of his name, meaning that Miguel's parents and uncles legitimately may have not know how the man was named in the first place}}.

* [[Race Against the Clock]]: Miguel and Héctor have until the sunrise to avoid being trapped in the Land of the Dead forever and being definitely forgotten, respectively. Their respective countdowns are Miguel's progressive transformation into an skeleton and Héctor bones gradually turning yellow.

* [[Rewatch Bonus]]: the film is so filled of [[foreshadowing]], that it deserves a re-watch just to see if you caught all the hints.

* [[Secondary Character Title]]: Coco is Miguel's great-grandmother, but she earns the stills earns the right of being who the film is named for {{spoiler| due to returning to her being the entire motivation of Hector, the film's [[Deuteragonist]]}}

* [[Villain Ball]]: {{Spoiler|Ernesto de la Cruz held it when he included the night he murdered Héctor as an scene of one of his films. Only there, he cast himself as the ''[[Never My Fault|victim]]'' of such a plot, and naturally survives to rub more salt to the injury.}}

* [[Vile Villain, Saccharine Show]]: The film is one of Pixar's sweetest, but its actual villain {{Spoiler|Ernesto de la Cruz}} is one of their most vilest villains to date.

 

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[[Category:Pages Original to All The Tropes]]

[[Category:Pixar]]

[[Category:Western Animation]]

[[Category:Films of the 2010s]]