A vibrant, emotionally generous family adventure that blends music, mystery, and grief with real warmth and visual invention. It’s especially rewarding if you like stories about memory, legacy, and the way family history shapes identity.
Coco
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Family · Animation
Fri · 1h 45m
Director: Lee Unkrich
Starring: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt
Overview
Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector, and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history.
Director
Lee Unkrich
Cast
Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt
Curator Review
Verdict
A vibrant, emotionally generous family adventure that blends music, mystery, and grief with real warmth and visual invention. It’s especially rewarding if you like stories about memory, legacy, and the way family history shapes identity.
Best for
families and older kids who can handle emotional material
viewers who want a heartfelt tearjerker with humor
fans of colorful fantasy worlds and musical storytelling
audiences interested in Mexican culture and Día de los Muertos imagery
people who like stories about reconciliation, memory, and identity
Skip if
you want light, low-stakes kids entertainment
you dislike movies that aim directly for emotional catharsis
you prefer realism over stylized fantasy
you’re looking for a purely music-performance-focused film
Overview
Coco is one of Pixar’s most emotionally complete films: a bright, playful adventure that gradually reveals itself as a story about grief, remembrance, and the people we choose to keep alive in memory. The Land of the Dead is a feast of color and invention, but the movie’s real strength is how carefully it connects spectacle to family feeling.
Worth noting
It works as a musical, a mystery, and a coming-of-age story, with enough humor and momentum to keep younger viewers engaged even as the themes deepen. The songs are memorable, but the film’s most affecting moments come from its quiet insistence that love is sustained through stories, rituals, and attention.
Bottom line
What makes it linger is the balance: it never feels like it’s simply trying to make you cry, even though it absolutely will. It’s tender without being sentimental, and visually rich without losing sight of the emotional core. A standout family film with unusually strong resonance for adults too.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Matt Singer (4★) · 13011 likes
A story about death, murder, loss, grief, aging, dementia, living skeletons, and deadbeat dads. Y’know, a kids movie.
mememily (5★) · 8363 likes
goodnight to everyone except ernesto de la cruz
David Sims (4★) · 7062 likes
Me: Ah, there's already so many good animated movies about the process of death and family and letting go, what new is there to offer Pixar: We made a movie where DEAD PEOPLE CAN DIE IF EVERYONE FORGETS ABOUT THEM Me: *is unbearably devastated*
andrea🌹 (5★) · 5425 likes
apparently this film had elements that are banned in china but their censor board found it so nice and heartwarming that they allowed it anyway and honestly what a fucking mood
lauren (5★) · 5088 likes
“you’re gonna cry so hard at the end” yeah i started crying 19 minutes in, so jot that down
Themes
family legacy, memory and remembrance, grief and loss, music and identity, coming of age, intergenerational conflict, afterlife fantasy, cultural tradition
Topics
animated family adventure, musical fantasy, grief, memory, afterlife, Mexican culture, coming of age, heartwarming, tearjerker, colorful visuals