In a scene from the film, a similar character appears with a Mexican hat, winking at the work of José Guadalupe Posada as La Calavera Catrina. Toy Story (1995) • A Bug's Life (1998) • Toy Story 2 (1999) · Monsters, Inc. (2001) • Finding Nemo (2003) • The Incredibles (2004) • Cars (2006) • Ratatouille (2007) • WALL-E (2008) • Up (2009) • Toy Story 3 (2010) • Cars 2 (2011) • Brave (2012) • Monsters University (2013) • Inside Out (2015) • The Good Dinosaur (2015) • Finding Dory (2016) • Cars 3 (2017) • Coco (2017) • Incredibles 2 (2018) • Toy Story 4 (2019) • Onward (2020) • Soul (2020) • Luca (2021) • Turning Red (2022) • Lightyear (2022) • Elemental (2023) Miguel sneaks into the mansion, where a surprised Ernesto welcomes him. Héctor arrives, again imploring Miguel to put up his photo. Ernesto and Héctor begin to argue; Miguel learns that Ernesto and Héctor used to perform together, and when Héctor wanted to break up the act and return home, Ernesto, who could not write songs himself, poisoned Héctor and stole his guitar and songs, passing them off as his own. To protect his legacy, Ernesto seizes Héctor's photo, and has Miguel and Héctor thrown into a cenote pit. There, Miguel discovers that Coco's father and Imelda's lost husband is Héctor, not Ernesto. Abell, Bailee (September 8, 2021). "Miguel Has Two DIFFERENT Appearances in the Disney Parks!". Inside the Magic . Retrieved September 18, 2023. As the sun rises, Héctor begins to disappear. To save him, Imelda blesses Miguel without conditions, and he rushes to Coco's side. After failing to help Mamá Coco remember, a tearful Miguel is comforted by Luisa and Enrique, consoling that they are together now. Using Héctor's old guitar, Miguel sings "Remember Me", a song that Héctor used to sing to Coco during her childhood, which sparks her memory and revitalizes her. She retrieves from a bundle of mementos the missing part of the photo from the ofrenda, with Héctor's face. With Coco's support, Miguel's family reconciles with him and accept music into their household.

This is the first Pixar film to feature a song composed by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter said, "At every imaginative juncture, the filmmakers (the screenplay is credited to Pixar veteran Molina and Matthew Aldrich) create a richly woven tapestry of comprehensively researched storytelling, fully dimensional characters, clever touches both tender and amusingly macabre, and vivid, beautifully textured visuals." [97] Robert Abele of TheWrap praised the film, saying: "If an animated movie is going to offer children a way to process death, it's hard to envision a more spirited, touching and breezily entertaining example than Coco." [98] In his review for Variety, Peter Debruge wrote, "In any case, it works: Coco 's creators clearly had the perfect ending in mind before they'd nailed down all the other details, and though the movie drags in places, and features a few too many childish gags... the story's sincere emotional resolution earns the sobs it's sure to inspire." Debruge also described the film as "[An] effective yet hardly exceptional addition to the Pixar oeuvre." [99] Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four, writing that "There's a touch of Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki in the film's matter-of-fact depiction of the dead interacting with the living, as well as its portrayal of certain creatures" such as Dante and Pepita. He concluded his review by stating, "I had some minor quibbles about [ Coco] while I was watching it, but I can't remember what they were. This film is a classic." [100]Alanna Ubach on Playing the Fiercely Strong Mama Imelda in Pixar's 'Coco' ". November 21, 2017. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018 . Retrieved May 28, 2018. When Miguel is walking down the streets at the beginning of the movie, piñatas of Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and Mike Wazowski can be spotted. a b "The person who inspired Mama Coco". New China TV. Archived from the original on August 25, 2019 . Retrieved July 16, 2019.

After Miguel plays " Remember Me" on Héctor's guitar, Coco brightens and sings along with him. She reveals that she had saved the torn-off piece of the family photo with Héctor's face on it, then tells her family stories about her father, thus saving his memory as well as his existence in the Land of the Dead. Miguel's family reconciles with him, ending the ban on music. On April 13, 2016, Unkrich announced that they had begun work on the animation. [44] The film's writer, Adrian Molina, was promoted to co-director in late 2016. [14] Unkrich said that Pixar wanted "to have as much contrast between" the Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead and that many techniques were used to differentiate the worlds. Color was one: "Given the holiday and the iconography, [Pixar] knew the Land of the Dead had to be a visually vibrant and colorful place, so [they] deliberately designed Santa Cecilia to be more muted" said Unkrich. [3] Production [ edit ] Development [ edit ] Lee Unkrich (pictured in 2009) first conceptualized Coco in 2010. Coco (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on January 4, 2023 . Retrieved March 3, 2023.Gettell, Oliver (February 18, 2018). " Three Billboards triumphs at BAFTA Awards: See the full winners list". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 17, 2021 . Retrieved February 17, 2023. Many years later, Imelda's great-great-grandson, Miguel, now lives with the elderly Coco and their family, including Miguel's parents and his grandmother, who are also shoemakers. Despite his family's music ban, Miguel secretly idolizes the deceased musician Ernesto de la Cruz and teaches himself to play guitar by watching Ernesto's old films. On the Day of the Dead, Miguel inadvertently bumps into the family ofrenda, breaking a frame containing a photo of Imelda and an infant Coco. He discovers a hidden section of the photograph that shows his great-great-grandfather, whose head has been torn from the photo, holding Ernesto's famous guitar. Believing this proves Ernesto is his relative, Miguel tells his family he will become a musician. This is Pixar's second film to focus mostly on cast members with a specific nationality, the first one was Brave which focused on actors with a Scottish nationality while Coco emphasizes on actors with a Mexican nationality.