"SC-S31/W6-Movie Magic |Movies that stay with you(Coco)

	screenshot from goggle

Write on a movie that has never left your mind because it impacted you.

The movie that never left my mind because it impacted me was Coco. These are some of the details about the movie.

Items	Details
Movie Name	Coco
Producer	Darla K. Anderson
Year	2017
Director	Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina
Genre	Animation / Fantasy / Family / Adventure
Release Date	November 22, 2017
Duration	About 1 hour 45 minutes
Setting	Mexico, especially the fictional town of Santa Cecilia and the Land of the Dead
Theme	Family, tradition, music, memory, love, forgiveness, identity, and following one’s dreams

These are the names of the lead characters in the movie.

Character Name	Real Voice Actor
Miguel Rivera	Anthony Gonzalez
Héctor	Gael García Bernal
Ernesto de la Cruz	Benjamin Bratt
Mamá Imelda	Alanna Ubach
Abuelita Elena	Renée Victor
Mama Coco	Ana Ofelia Murguía

The movie Coco is a very heart warming movie that talks about family, music, memory, and tradition through the Mexican celebration known as Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

	Miguel (screenshot from Google)

The protagonist of the movie is a young boy of about 12 years old name Miguel Rivera, who loves music but it’s not allowed to practice playing his guitar because music is banned in his family. But he would secretly play his music and watch music videos of his role model, the most celebrated musician of all times in Mexican history Ernesto de la Cruz.

He was hoping to be like Ernesto and somehow believed that he was his ancestor because there was a picture of a man holding Ernesto’s guitar on their family portrait but the man’s head was torn off.

The reason music was banned in their house was because his great great grand Father left his wife Imelda to pursue his music carrier. Imelda felt abandoned and since then banned music in the family and started a shoe business. Generations after continued with this hatred for music and became shoe makers.

	mam Imelda (screenshot from goggle)

One day Miguel was seen secretly practicing guitar and the guitar was taken from him and broken, on the night was the night for the celebration of the night of the dead, he mistakenly breaks the family photo on the family ofrenda while trying to proof his connection with Ernesto.

Tired of fighting with the family, he angrily ran away from the house and went to the mausoleum where the image of Ernesto was kept with his guitar and collected the guitar to use for a music competition. When he strummed the guitar, Something magical happened.

He became invisible to the land of the living and entered the land of the dead. In the land of the dead, He saw his dead relatives even though living people cannot see them. He then learnt that he had incured a curse on himself by stealing the guitar and he needs the blessing from his family before sun rise else he would be stuck in the land of the dead forever.

His great great grand mother Imelda offers him a blessing but on the condition that he won’t play music again. Miguel refused because music was his passion, rather he left to find Ernesto because he believes Ernesto would grant him a blessing without forcing him to leave music.

	Hector and Miguel (screenshot from goggle)

On his way to find Ernesto, he met Hector. Hector is a struggling skeleton who is on the verge of being forgotten because nobody placed his photo on his family ofrenda (altar). Hector promised to help Miguel reach Ernesto’s mansion if he promised to help him return his picture to his family’s alter so that he won’t be forgotten for ever.

As they made their way to Ernesto’s mansion, Miguel and Hector had so many adventures and obstacles. They escaped danger, did music together and hence bonded slowly along the way. Miguel finally meets Ernesto who was initially very nice to him until Hector confronted him and revealed the truth.

	Ernesto (screenshot from goggle)

Hector and Ernesto were good friends and music colleagues until Hector wanted to go back home but Ernesto poisoned him, and took his songs and guitar which made him very rich. All the popular songs even the famous remember me was writing by Hector and not Ernesto. It was then Miguel realized that Hector was his great great grand father and not Ernesto.

Ernesto then trapped Hector and Miguel in a pit in order to protect his reputation. Miguel and Hector escape from the pot and exposed Ernesto. Miguel was able to return to the land of the living before sunrise with his family blessing.

	Miguel and mama Coco (screenshot from goggle)

He sings remember me the popular song to his great grand mother Coco who was Hector’s daughter and was almost losing her memory. She brought pictures and letters to show that Hector was a loving father after all and the family learnt the truth that Hector didn’t abandoned them and that music was not the enemy of the family.

One year later on the day of the dead, Hector and the dead relatives came visiting as his picture has now been placed on the family ofrenda and Miguel played his guitar before his family with their support.

The movie ended with a loving family celebration that honours both love and memories across generations.

Which scene still stays in your mind? Why?

	Miguel singing with Hector (screenshot from goggle)

This movie is a very emotion compelling one and the beautiful scene that stayed in my mind was the scene where Miguel and Hector did music together while they were on their way to find Ernesto’s mansion. They were looking for an access to go to the concert held by Ernesto and the only way they could do that was to feature in a music concert so that they can be selected to attend the concert.

They didn’t rehearse any music and wasn’t ready for the concert but they had to coperate very well and pulled off a great show loved by everyone. The music scene was very captivating and I loved the song they sang. The name of the song was poco loco. Because of how I enjoyed the scene and how it has stayed with me, I even went ahead to learn the lyrics of a part of the song. Hahahah.

I truly loved this scene and sings that song all the time. I have included a video where I sang a part of the song. Hahaha. That’s to show you how much I enjoyed that particular scene. It was fun and heart warming.

What message did you carry forward?

The message I carry forward from this movie is the importance of parents listening to their children and learning to hear them and understand them as against just issuing orders and telling them what to do and what not to do. Parents should support their children’s passion and talents and help them develop them even if they are not inline with what they want for the child.

Each child is created uniquely and with unique talents and passions which the parents should help to nurture and not kill even if it’s not what they envisage. This will help the child to rise to their full potential and not raise rancor between parents and children.

We see this play out in so many families today. If Miguel’s family had supported him initially, he won’t get into all those problems but thank God it ended well but it could have led to a whole lot other problems and disunity in the family. So when I give birth to children, I should look forward to supporting their passions and help nurture it than fight them or insist they become what I want rather than what they are wired to do.

Would you recommend this movie? Why?

	screenshot from google

Yes, yes and yes. I would recommend it to anyone who has a good appetite for good and engaging love for animated movies. This is not just one of those regular animations. It was a block buster and the movie won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for “Remember Me.”

I will recommend it because it has a strong emotional story line and the animation was beautiful and very colorful which I believe people would love. It also has a very strong family theme and showcased in a beautiful way the Mexican culture and a good celebration for the song remember me.

The movie generally is very interesting and the songs are very touching. Something anyone who has a good taste for good movies would want to indulge in. So I’d recommend it any day any time.

IPFS Video