Coco

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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It may sound gruesome to base a children’s movie on Dia de Muertos, but the Day of the Dead is pretty popular in Mexican culture. That’s the holiday where families remember their loved ones who have died and celebrate to support their spiritual journey. 

Walt Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios have chosen that theme for its 19th 3D computer-animated film, a musical fantasy titled “Coco.”

“Coco” is based on an idea by Lee Unkrich, the Pixar director who won an Academy Award for “Toy Story 3.” He and Adrian Molina co-directed the film. Molina, it might be noted, is of Mexican descent.

The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who dreams of becoming a musician like his great-great-grandfather Ernesto de la Cruz, a popular singer-songwriter who died when he was crushed by a bell in a live concert. Because De la Cruz abandoned his family for fame, music has been banned in Miguel’s household. Thus, the only relative the boy likes is his great-grandmother Coco.

When Miguel tries to enter a talent contest, his parents destroy his guitar, so he breaks into De la Cruz’s mausoleum to steal the famous singer’s guitar to use for the contest.

However, in the process, Miguel gets transformed into a ghost, only visible to a street dog named Dante (get it?). He mingles in the cemetery with the skeletons of dead relatives. He finds himself trapped in the Land of the Dead, an afterlife dimension where deceased people come to visit their relatives on Día de Muertos.

Miguel meets up with a spectral trickster name Hector who was a songwriter for De la Cruz. When Miguel and Hector confront the famous musician’s spirit, the boy discovers that his family history is not what he thought it was.

“Coco” is playing at Tropic Cinema this week.

The voice cast stays true to the film’s Mexican heritage … with Anthony Gonzales as Miguel, Gael García Bernal as Hector, Benjamin Bratt as Ernesto de la Cruz, Edward James Olmas as Chicharrón, Cheech Marin as a correctional officer, and Ana Ofelia Murguia as Mamá Coco.

Yes, we know Benjamin Bratt is an American actor of Peruvian descent, but that’s close enough. After all, Disney got criticized for casting a non-Arab as Princess Jasmine in “Aladdin,” and the studio does not plan to make that mistake again.

Look at Disney’s “Moana,” starring Hawaiian-born Auli’i Cravalho and Samoan-descended Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. And “Brave,” which featured a mostly Scottish cast.

Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter says the studio is dedicated to creating inclusive films. “It’s very important to us . . . to have female and ethnic characters. As you’ll see in future films, we’re really paying attention to that.”

Pixar — and parent company Disney — are working hard to clean up their act. As a Vanity Fair article titled “The Year Disney Started to Take Diversity Seriously” put it, “Disney‘s past is littered with films that employed racist stereotypes. Beloved classics like ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Dumbo, for example, contain jarringly racist caricatures of Native Americans and African-Americans, while older films like the notorious 1946 ‘Song of the South’ will always be a severe embarrassment — and a testament of a grim past Disney is trying to leave far behind.”

This time around Disney rightfully drew criticism for trying to trademark “Day of the Dead,” a public holiday in Mexico. Tsk, tsk.

Dia de Muertos takes place from October 31 to November 2. But you can still celebrate it with “Coco.”

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com