Miguel reveals that Héctor's decision to return home to her and Coco resulted in his death, and Imelda and Héctor reconcile. With the help of Dante - who turns into an alebrije - the dead Riveras find and rescue them. Miguel realizes that Héctor is his actual great-great-grandfather and that Coco is Héctor's daughter, the only living person who still remembers him. To maintain his legacy, Ernesto steals the photo and has Miguel and Héctor thrown into a cenote pit. Miguel soon realizes that Ernesto murdered Héctor using a poisoned drink and stole the songs he had written, passing them off as his own to become famous. Ernesto welcomes Miguel as his descendant, but Héctor confronts them, imploring Miguel to take his photo. Héctor attempts to return Miguel to his relatives, but Miguel escapes and infiltrates Ernesto's mansion, learning along the way that an old friendship between the two deteriorated before Héctor's death. In return, Héctor asks Miguel to take his photo back to the Land of the Living so he can visit his daughter before she forgets him and he disappears completely. Miguel encounters Héctor, a down-on-his-luck skeleton who once played with Ernesto and offers to help Miguel reach him. Imelda offers Miguel a blessing but on the condition that he abandon his musical pursuits when he returns to the Land of the Living Miguel refuses and attempts to seek Ernesto's blessing.
Discovering that he is cursed for stealing from the dead, Miguel must return to the Land of the Living before sunrise or he will become one of the dead: to do so, he must receive a blessing from a member of his family using an Aztec marigold petal that can undo the curse placed upon him by stealing Ernesto's guitar. Taking him there, they realize that Imelda cannot visit as Miguel removed her photo from the ofrenda.
However, he can see and be seen by his Xoloitzcuintli dog Dante and his skeletal dead relatives who are visiting from the Land of the Dead for the holiday. He enters Ernesto's mausoleum and steals his guitar to use in the show, but becomes invisible to everyone in the village plaza. Concluding that Ernesto is his great-great-grandfather, Miguel ignores his grandmother Elena's objections and leaves to enter a talent show for the Day of the Dead. One day, Miguel inadvertently damages the photo of Coco with her parents at the center of the family ofrenda and removes it, discovering that her father (whose face is torn out) was holding Ernesto's famous guitar. He secretly dreams of becoming a musician like Ernesto de la Cruz, a popular actor and singer of Coco's generation. Ninety-six years later, her great-great-grandson, 12-year-old Miguel, now lives with Coco and their family. She banned music in the family and opened a shoe-making family business.
“I love the irony,” says producerĭarla K. “If we can give them an authentic musical experience, it will help them make a lasting connection to the film.”įortunately, the Rivera family’s ban on music doesn’t extend to the film itself. “Our main goal is for the audience to walk away from the film feeling like they visited Santa Cecilia and spent time in the Land of the Dead,” adds Tom MacDougall, executive vice president of music at Disney. “We encouraged the team to be true to traditional Mexican music, but gave them the freedom to embrace new sounds,” he says. We have traditional Mexican music, original songs written for the film and a beautiful score by Michael Giacchino.”Īccording to Unkrich, the filmmakers wanted the film to honor its setting, but with an unexpected quality. “So his journey to pursue his dream is naturally filled with music. “Our main character, Miguel, is so passionate about music and he is really talented,” says Molina. Some characters are musicians, while others want nothing to do with it.”Ĭo-director Adrian Molina says that the Rivera family’s ban on music did not deter the “Coco” filmmakers. “‘Coco’ has music in its DNA,” says Unkrich. And according to director Lee Unkrich, it’s all rooted in music. “Coco” is about family, connecting with loved ones and pursuing your dreams.