I really enjoyed this film. The visuals were spectacular, it made me cry at the end and it was a good overall family entertainment.
The songs felt a bit lacking for me, partially because this movie wasn’t a musical per se as many other Disney films are so we didn’t get to see a full song in action.
The Mexican culture explored though was interesting, especially surrounding the significance of ancestral/family blessings in life and happiness.
The skeleton world was also interesting. I wondered why ancestors were represented as skeletons and not spirits that were just invisible but human like in form? Maybe this was to show the clear distinction between changing bodies as representing changing worlds and perceptions. My mom did comment that some of her pre-school kids perceived the skeletons as scary. I thought they bought a sense of eerie charm, although let’s face it, the skeleton world seems exactly like the human world. It’s not heaven, just a morphed continuation of life where you’re constantly dependent on your legacy in another world to survive.
I thought the charm of the movie came from how important family is to kids, and to people of all ages in general. Miguel, the main character of the film just wanted to become a musician, yet he couldn’t easily because of his family. The core insecurity of pursuing music in his current family stemmed from his ancestors, and what Miguel was able to bring from the ancestral world to the current world after his journey was the acceptance of music. With his family accepting music, Miguel was more free to pursue music than ever before.
The importance of family to an individual’s life and career path is one that is especially prevalent in Asian cultures. The hope to bring pride and happiness to one’s family is a constant goal in many peoples’ lives. This movie touched me when the family really saw that it wasn’t music that was the problem, but a misunderstanding. But even more that they fully embraced what Miguel wanted to pursue at the end, as all good families must do.
