Film Name: 寻梦环游记 / Coco
Life always brings unexpected surprises—sometimes encounters you’d search high and low for, other times serendipitous discoveries that lead you to a whole new world. I hadn’t expected much from this film, yet it unexpectedly took me on a deeply moving journey. If I had to compare the surprise of “Coco” to something, it feels a bit like stumbling upon a hidden paradise—that unexpected arrival of a beautiful world is truly delightful. The difference is, when we leave that paradise, the profound emotion lingers with us.
Orange marigolds form bridges connecting the worlds of the living and the dead. The living use them to guide spirits, believing their departed loved ones remain by their side even when unseen. On the Day of the Dead, spirits must return to their hometowns, homes, and families—watching over them silently, even if unseen. When the sincere gratitude of the living intersects with the enduring devotion of the departed, the profound emotion born of familial bonds moves every viewer. After all, who doesn’t have parents, grandparents, or loved ones whose names they will forever cherish?
The world’s truly timeless festivals are those rooted in family and faith. Through animation, “Coco” fulfills these simple family wishes and devout prayers, breathing life into the original spirit of Mexico’s Day of the Dead. It is a utopia of family and kinship.
When the song “Qing Ji Zhu Wo” plays again, you find yourself remembering that melody—because you genuinely want to remember and be remembered, to know those you love and care for, and to know that you are loved and cared for in return. In this utopia, even the deepest conflicts between loved ones arise from love, are filled with love, and will inevitably dissolve through that love within the heart. They transform into hands clasped on the marigold bridge, into blessings made of chrysanthemum petals without any strings attached, and into the steadfast solidarity and inexplicable harmony that emerge when true peril arrives.
“Coco” isn’t a musical, yet it holds a special place for music—because music is a dream. For some reason, the very name “Mexico” evokes the feeling that deeply regional music must flourish there. Street music is immensely popular in Mexico, a national treasure recognized as part of the world’s cultural heritage. Just like the singing god depicted in the film, these artists perform and create while wandering, feeling life with their very being and expressing it through music. Born into a musical family, young Miguel carries the wandering singer’s genes in his blood. His family’s restrictions cannot suppress the innate, divine urge in every cell of his being to feel life and pursue art.
Though Miguel comes to understand that family matters more than music, he ultimately saves his family through music. Thus, dreams can align with family. This is a utopia of music and dreams.
Thanks to Coco’s influence, Mexico’s Day of the Dead may truly be gaining global recognition. The film’s ability to portray skeletons—creatures that should inspire fear—with such warmth, daring to depict tender ancestors and family members as skeletal figures, stems precisely from the Day of the Dead’s tradition of beautifying the image of skeletons. Just as pumpkins are essential to Halloween and reindeer to Christmas, skeletons are indispensable to the Day of the Dead—symbols of humor, wit, and even joy.
Isn’t this precisely the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional culture we’ve been striving for? “Coco” reimagines Mexico’s Day of the Dead culture through a utopian lens, framed by dreams and the theme of familial bonds. I truly wish to revisit this paradise once more. If fate permits, next time, let me experience it in real life.
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