Directed by Lee Unkrich, the movie Coco compares and contrasts between exact opposites. The living and the dead. As this sort of theme seems to be a bit rare in the film community, it is very interesting to see the cast put this kind of film together in a way that is very friendly to kids. When the words, the living and dead are said, people often think of happiness and a darkness. This film however is a mix of those, not only in the living, but it shows obvious joy, even with the dead.

The main plot in this movie begins with a family who is very passionate about Día de los Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead. This day celebrates people who have passed on in their family and remembering them. However, this family also is very passionate about something else, but not in a good way. The family hates music in an environment that is built on music. This results from the great great grandfather of the main character who the family believes abandon them to play music. The main character, Miguel Rivera, played by Anthony Gonzales loves music and at one point believes the best musician of all time, Ernesto de la Cruz, played by Benjamin Bratt is his great great grandfather. During the main problem in the movie, Miguel discovers Ernesto is a murderer who murdered his true great great grandfather, Hector, played by Gael Garcia Bernal. He concludes that family is much more important to him than music and therefore returns home and saves Hector by making sure he is not forgotten by his daughter. Although Miguel plays music when he returns back to the living, the main lesson is taught and he ensures family will always be his first priority.

The characters and how they develop throughout the movie are essential to the plot and the overall ending to the movie. Miguel, the main character changes drastically from the beginning of the movie to the end. Near the beginning of the movie, he believes that his family is just old shoe makers who do not believe in music. He tries to sneak out and perform but his family keeps a close watch over him as they seem to suspect that he is up to something. Near the end of the film, though he changes a lot and discovers that his family used to have a love as well as a talent for music. Just his discovering this and informing others brings his whole family together, living and dead to celebrate their differences but also their passion for music.

In all, this movie is very moving and it is very hard to expect what is going to happen at certain times. The film symbolizes how people can come to discover what truly means most to them in such a short amount of time, and how everyone should value what them and each other are passionate about. Many life lessons are learned along the way by all the characters which plays an important role in developing the plot and tying the story all together at the end.