Pixar only released one film in 2016, the hit Finding Dory, but next year they will release two: The sequel Cars 3 and the original film Coco, directed by Toy Story 3‘s Lee Unkrich. We’ve known Coco is about the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos for a while, but now we know the real heart of the story.
Coco’s concept art, featuring Miguel with his great-grandmother, Coco. Image: Disney
Entertainment Weekly revealed that Coco will feature the voices of Benjamin Bratt, Gael García Bernal and newcomer Anthony Gonzalez. Gonzalez is the main character, a boy named Miguel, who feels a deep connection to music despite his family banning it because of a complicated past.
Miguel’s favourite singer is the late Ernesto de la Cruz (Bratt), and when he discovers a link between them he follows it into the Land of the Dead. There Miguel meets his ancestors, but also teams up a ghost named Hector (Garcia Bernal) to find de la Cruz himself.
Admittedly, it sounds a little weird when you deliver it like that. But it’s Pixar. Do you trust them when it comes to original story? Did you think the rat chef or balloon house movies were going to work as well as they did?
The director also pointed out that casting really helped drive the story of the film. “It was important to us from day one that we had an all-Latino cast,” Unkrich said. “It focused us, and we ended up with a fantastic mix of people — some from Mexico and some from Los Angeles.”
Coco will be out 22 November 2017 in the US. Cars 3 will be out 22 June 2017.