Coco is one of those animated flicks that make you want to become a kid again; it covers all aspects of a kid’s life who wants to do something, but is banished from doing so just because one of their ancestors did the same and couldn’t do well.

Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) is one such youngster who runs away from his home to become a musician, even if it means living with the dead — literally!

The film revolves around Miguel, but he is named after his great-grandmother Coco, whose father left to pursue a career in music. The great-grandmother doesn’t know what happened to her father. That’s the reason she is about to forget him when suddenly Miguel is transported to the other side so as to get someone’s approval, be it his great-great-grandfather and then coming back to become a musician like Ernesto de la Cruz.

Little does Miguel know that his family is twisted because their patriarch left and not because they are shoemakers who hate anything related to music. He makes friends as well as enemies in ‘The Land of the Dead’ after he wins a music contest to get near his grandpa. Yes, there are skeletons as characters but you get used to them just like you got used to other horrifying characters in other cartoons.

Coco is like a vibrant fairytale where all’s well that ends well; the greens, the blues and the yellows make you want to jump in the animated world and be a part of it. The proverbial Land of the Dead is a happening place where the dead enjoy their ‘lives’ like the living beings and cross over once a year to meet their folks.

Is Coco one of the best works from the house of Disney-Pixar? It could be, since it keeps you engaged in the story, has memorable songs and dialogues to go with a brilliant screenplay. If making you cry at the end is the price of a good product from Disney-Pixar, so be it!

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 16th, 2017