Coco - Pixar movie about Dia de Los Muertos

[NinjaPug]

Pixar finally released a title and some details about this movie.

The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dia De Los Muertos, as it’s been called, finally has a real title. Pixar revealed at today’s D23 presentation that the movie is officially named Coco, after one of the major characters in the story. Lee Unkrich is directing and Darla Anderson is producing. The pair last teamed up on Toy Story 3.

Unkrich explained that he’d discovered Dia De Los Muertos through the artwork. His appreciation of the colorful skeleton folk art led to his emotional investment in the holiday, which Unkrich described as a sort of “big family reunion between the living and the dead.”

The premise of the story comes from a simple question: “What if you could meet your long dead family members?” For research, Unkrich traveled to Mexico to see how the holiday was celebrated in different places, meeting many families and experiencing the traditions with them.

Described by John Lasseter as “breathtaking, beautiful, and fun” and by Unkrich as “emotional,” Coco follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who sets off a chain of events relating to a century-old mystery.

While further plot details are being kept under wraps for now, D23 attendees were shown a diorama, not originally intended for public viewing, that offered a taste of the general mood and tone. Here’s a description of what they saw:

A character lights a candle in a cemetary, as fireworks go off in the sky. An old woman drops flower pedals as she limps toward a colorfully decorated grave.

Cut to colorfully dressed skeletons dancing and playing music in a long, store-lined alley way. The skeletons detach their heads and legs during the course of the dance.

A mariachi band is playing. A boy drops his skull mask and the music stops for a second. Then the music resumes, and as fireworks go off, we see an aerial view revealing that the block is shaped like a skull.

http://www.slashfilm.com/pixar-coco-d23-expo/

[drgon78]

Sounds interesting.

[Wildcat]

Sounds grim for a Disney movie.

[Cure]

So it's the Book of Life.

[drgon78]

It does sound like the book of life but better.

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by NinjaPug

Pixar finally released a title and some details about this movie.



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CMaeP2OUwAE3Qb1.jpg

http://www.slashfilm.com/pixar-coco-d23-expo/

I remember reading that Disney tried to trademark the term Dia De Los Muertos, but they couldn't cause Mexico came in, and stopped them from trying to trademark there Holiday.

[NinjaPug]

Originally Posted by Cure

So it's the Book of Life.

I wondered if this project had been scrapped due to Book of Life since we hadn't heard anything about it since it was announced in 2012.

I gotta think it'll be a different take or Pixar would've scrapped it like they did with Newt since the story was too similar to Rio.

[The Stryker]

Originally Posted by NinjaPug

I wondered if this project had been scrapped due to Book of Life since we hadn't heard anything about it since it was announced in 2012.

I gotta think it'll be a different take or Pixar would've scrapped it like they did with Newt since the story was too similar to Rio.

Or they just figure Book of Life faded away quick enough that they could slip in and do the same thing.

I liked Book of Life but it wasn't the hit that Rio was.

[NinjaPug]

Details on the story and voice cast:

Without further ado, we present the plot of Coco, along with its leading voice cast:

Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel (voice of newcomer Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (voice of Benjamin Bratt). Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector (voice of Gael García Bernal), and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel’s family history. Character actress Renée Victor also joins the cast as Abuelita, Miguel’s grandmother.

“It was important to us from day one that we had an all-Latino cast,” Unkrich told EW. “It focused us, and we ended up with a fantastic mix of people — some from Mexico and some from Los Angeles.”

According to EW, “Bratt was cast relatively early on — Unkrich says he was the first, in fact — but Bernal took some more internal legwork. ‘Gael was someone we were considering early on, but I didn’t know if I’d be able to sell him [to Pixar chief John Lasseter] because he’s done so many films I’ve loved through the years, but he hadn’t really done comedy … Thankfully, our casting director said, ‘Have you seen this new show that Gael’s in?’ And it was Mozart in the Jungle, and I started watching and thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s so funny, he’s so charming, and he’s perfect.’ So, thank God for Mozart. It didn’t take any convincing on John’s part.’”

Newcomer Anthony Gonzalez is described as a “triple-threat who does all his own singing in the movie and came to the filmmakers’ attention during a nationwide search for Miguel — and not just as the character’s final voice, but his scratch (or temporary) one. ‘We actually had another kid doing scratch for Miguel who’s now 17 or 18, which should tell you how long we’ve been working on the movie, but his voice changed long ago, and it was actually in trying to find a new voice for the scratch that we found Anthony,’ says Unkrich.”

[TheSkeletonMan939]

I can only imagine how frickin' gorgeous the animation will be.

[drgon78]

Nice art work, can't wait to see the finished product.

[NinjaPug]

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Has Pixar ever ventured into this sort of high fantasy before? I think this is a first for them.

[sdp]

In recent years the US has totally Americanized Dia de Muertos and transformed it into something it really isn't and Mexico has embraced it and welcomed it with open arms. It's rather odd. Mexico also made a Dia de Muertos CG movie that came out like 2 years ago or so, didn't watch it but the style seems pretty much the same albeit coco has a much larger production budget.

[Utrommaniac]

There is really too much similarity to Book of Life for my taste - especially since Book of Life was originally pitched to Pixar at the first place...and was rejected.

[BubblyShell22]

Sounds interesting. I might have to check it out.

[ToTheNines]

God ****ing dammit. Why is Pixar so good?

[Shark_Blade]

Originally Posted by Utrommaniac

There is really too much similarity to Book of Life for my taste - especially since Book of Life was originally pitched to Pixar at the first place...and was rejected.

Book of Life looks terrible though. I'd reject it too.

[plastroncafe]

Aside from being about the same holiday, I'm really not seeing a whole hell of a lot to compare Coco with Book of Life.

Do people also say this about Christmas movies?
"Oh I can't watch this one, it looks too much like that other one!"

[Allio]

Originally Posted by sdp

In recent years the US has totally Americanized Dia de Muertos and transformed it into something it really isn't and Mexico has embraced it and welcomed it with open arms. It's rather odd. Mexico also made a Dia de Muertos CG movie that came out like 2 years ago or so, didn't watch it but the style seems pretty much the same albeit coco has a much larger production budget.

Stories in general change with the generations and some are forgotten