:smack: I cannot believe I didn’t notice that.
Buh buh buh… de la Cruz’s horse in his movie was named “Dante!” That’s why the dog got named that. In-universe. Of course the writers know more than the characters!
Another interesting freeze-frame observation which demonstrates the commitment of the moviemakers to the Mexican-ness of the film: if you look at the City of the Dead, you may notice that the foundations of every block is a Mesoamerican pyramid (reminding me a lot of the Great Pyramid at Cholula.) Which hints that the traditions of Día de Muertos goes back farther than Mexico itself, or Catholicism.
Nice touch, IMHO. The whole thing shows evidence of a lot of research and thought.
It was cute for the first few minutes, but after that I got more and more impatient for them to wrap it up already and show the movie.
to make Ernesto a murderer. It felt too dark for the film. I think they could have found a way to keep the story mostly the same where he is a thief and a jerk but not a killer
While that specific point would be easy enough to change to
Hector actually dying of food poisoning or something and Ernesto stealing his stuff
that still leaves the matter of
Ernesto trying to effectively murder Miguel by trapping him in the Land of the Dead and Hector by taking away his last chance to be remembered and avoid a second death. That would be a lot more difficult to finesse without major changes to the story, and it works better if Ernesto is already established as someone willing to kill.
It’s clear that Dante was a spirit guide from the beginning – he could still see and interact with Miguel after he crossed over to the Land of the Dead.
While I didn’t dislike the film, I probably liked it less than anybody I know, and it’s certainly not in my Pixar Top 10.
While the visuals are often stunning and very impressive, I found them significantly imbalanced by a story I didn’t really care about. I will honestly say that I don’t get very sentimental about family or memory or legacy-building, so it wasn’t a theme that automatically evokes a knee-jerk response. But a good story is a good story, and I just didn’t find this one very compelling. It doesn’t help that it is incredibly familiar not only to The Book of Life (which I found funnier and more engaging), but also with The Corpse Bride Particularly in the murder-mystery component that emerges around ErnestoAnd it’s nowhere as terrible as The Good Dinosaur (which also had a juvenile protagonist). But Pixar films are usually rich with interesting characters, and aside from Hector, they all felt interchangeable or easily dispensable–especially the women (title character notwithstanding).
Definitely the best thing I liked were the songs. This is the first Pixar film that is also a musical since the original Toy Story (that’s typically been Disney’s domain) but I thought they were good songs and well-integrated into the story. And the ending is very emotional. I just wish the rest of the film was equally so.
Hmm I saw the film this afternoon and it did not have any Pixar short before it. The listed time that the film was supposed to end was 6:23pm but it actually ended at 6:00pm so I wonder if the short was removed for some reason?
Ah ok yeah, they did remove the short from all screenings of the film beginning on Friday Dec 8.
Well that explains that!
We saw it today. I thought it was gorgeous and moving. Loved the Dante reference (and the character). My favorite moment was Miguel deciding that getting his family’s blessing meant he could try again at the guitar.
I’ve not seen Coco yet, but really, really want to. For all the news of the short, I kind of want to see it now. I’m not going to the cinema with kids, so I can hack it. Where can I see the short now if I want to?
I swear I half heard a commercial on ABC that said it was airing it THIS week but I wasn’t paying attention.
The Frozen “short” is no longer playing with the film – not sure where you can see it. I presume it will eventually show up on at least one of the streaming services.
I read somewhere that the reason it was so long is that it was originally intended to be a TV special, not a short to be shown in theaters.
Which also explained why its animation quality was, at best, of the level of the old direct to DVD Barbie princess bits, and not of a Disney-Pixar movie release.
Did anyone mention how horrible it was yet?
Gael García Bernal. Promise.
According to the trivia section on IMDb, “In México, the Xoloitzcuintli* (the Mexican hairless dog depicted in the film) is the guide of the deceased through his/her way to the Mictlán (the underworld, the place where all the souls go after death).” That might explain Dante’s being at home on both sides of the bridge.
*Even owners of the breed just call then Xolos (Pronounced “cholo”) Everyone else calls then “X-dogs.”
I’ve been told they’re called 'es-kween-clay" in Mexican Spanish.
“Sholo” not “cholo.”
D’oh. I totally flubbed that one!
Yeah, a cholo is something else entirely.
Owner of a xolo here. There are variations of the spelling and pronunciation. Sometimes the last letter is i and others spell it ending with an e. But the word maintains the nahuatl pronunciation of the x which would be similar to the English sh.
Escuincle came from the nahuatl word for the dog but these days it is mostly used to describe small children and depending how it is used, can be derogatory.
Thanks for the spelling! That was the common pronunciation in León as recently as 2011. And yes, I remember it being used as an affectionate term for children. Everything can be derogatory, but I’ve not experienced that usage, but I didn’t hang around with cholos (in the norteamericano use of the word “cholo”).
Watched it. Loved it. The wife cries easily at movies to begin with, but this one really had her bawling. I predict an Oscar win.