Coco

Pixar has always tested the boundaries of what’s possible in an animated film. And this time around, they’ve crossed the boundary separating the living and the dead to bring you this vibrant adventure about music, family, skeletons… and the occasional musically inclined skeletal family member. This movie has LAYERS. In Coco, a boy named Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) faces a problem: he longs to be a musician like his idol, Ernesto (Benjamin Bratt), but his family has enforced a generations-long ban on music ever since his great-great-grandmother was abandoned by her musician husband. Complicating matters is Miguel’s suspicion that Ernesto might actually have been his missing great-great-grandfather! To follow his dreams, Miguel borrows a guitar from Ernesto’s mausoleum in order to compete in a talent show in celebration of the Mexican holiday Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead – and finds himself stuck in the Land of the Dead instead. With the help of his skeletal relatives and a dead musician named Héctor (Gael García Bernal), Miguel unravels the truth of his family’s history as he tries to find his way back to the Land of the Living. If you’re you thinking, “Really? A family friendly movie about dead people?” – don’t worry. Instead of being a dour experience, Coco brings the dead to life in brilliant color, with lots of music, humor, wit and heart. An emotional journey with deep Mexican routes, the film went on to win two Oscars for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song.

May 29, 2018 Update: Pixar is back this summer with Incredibles 2.