What happens after we die? This is probably a question that every person asks themselves at some point and I am no exception. Thinking about what happens after we die is scary, at least for me. Coco surprised me by showing a world that is nothing like what I expected. The Land of the Dead is bright, colorful, and full of life. Families can still hang out there, memories matter more than anything, and the people we love never really leave us as long as we remember them.

The story is about Miguel, a young boy who loves music but comes from a family that has banned it for generations. This ban started because his great-great-grandmother Imelda was hurt when her husband left her and their daughter to pursue music and never came back. Miguel does not understand why music is forbidden especially when he looks up to his idol Ernesto de la Cruz. On the Day of the Dead, Miguel accidentally ends up in the Land of the Dead and discovers family secrets that completely change the way he sees his family and himself.

One of the things I loved about Coco is how it uses magic realism to tell its story. The Land of the Dead is shown with the same level of detail as the living world even though it is full of skeletons. The skeletons have their own neighborhoods, jobs, and problems just like the living world. They still care about how they look and they still want to visit their families on the Day of the Dead. This makes the movie easy to enjoy for kids while still giving adults something meaningful to think about. Miguel meets Héctor, a funny and charming trickster who later turns out to be his great-great-grandfather, and Dante, his dog, who becomes his spirit guide. Both characters bring humor and warmth to the story while helping Miguel on his journey.

When I watched Coco for the first time, I did not expect to cry so much at the end. I thought it was going to be a fun animated movie for kids, and it is fun, but it is also so much more than that. When Miguel finally sings "Remember Me" to his great-grandmother Coco and she starts to remember her father Héctor, I was not ready for how emotional that scene would be for me. Different people will react to this scene in different ways depending on their own experiences with family and loss. If you have ever lost someone you loved, this scene will probably make you think about them. If you have a close relationship with your grandparents, you might think about how important it is to listen to their stories before those stories are gone. Coco is full of twists and surprises too. Miguel’s idol Ernesto de la Cruz turns out to be the villain, and the guitar he thought connected him to Ernesto actually belonged to Héctor. 

The movie also makes you think about some deep moral questions. The main conflict is between Miguel's dream of becoming a musician and his family's ban on music. Was Imelda right to ban music forever because her husband hurt her? Is it fair for Miguel to have to give up his dream because of something that happened before he was born? The film does not give direct answers. Instead, it shows us that both sides have valid points.

In conclusion, Coco is one of the most beautiful and emotional animated films I have ever seen. I would give Coco a rating of ten out of ten.