Pixar’s Latest Coco Clips Reveal More About Its Animated Mexican Musical Shannon Liao - The Verge
go to original October 20, 2017

This week, Pixar released two new clips of its upcoming animated film Coco, a musical inspired by Mexico’s traditional Day of the Dead celebrations. One is a teaser, and another is a behind-the-scenes look at the film.

In recent years, Disney has ramped up its diversity efforts, producing films like Moana, derived from Polynesian culture, and Queen of Katwe, the based-on-real-life story of a Ugandan chess champ. But Pixar, acquired by Disney in 2006, hasn’t followed the same trends: it’s focused on stories set in Scotland (Brave), France (Ratatouille), America (Inside Out), and the fantasy worlds of The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory 2, and Cars 3. “With Coco, we got to visit the beautiful country of Mexico,” says story writer Adrian Molina, known for his work on Ratatouille and Monsters University. Coco features an all-Latinx voice cast. It’s produced by Pixar, and will be released by Walt Disney Studios on November 22nd, 2017.



In the behind-the-scenes featurette, the Pixar crew reveals that they visited Mexico for research, watching mariachi bands, shoemakers, and street life to help shape Coco and give it cultural authenticity. Through the trips, the filmmakers observed what a large part music plays in Day of Dead celebrations, and in Mexican culture in general. They adapted the story to make it more about music and not just family, according to director Lee Unkrich. The musical score for Coco was recorded by 50 musicians in Mexico City, using local instruments. It features work from Latina songwriter Germaine Franco and Mexican DJ Camilo Lara.

Read the rest at The Verge

Related: Disney/Pixar’s ‘Coco’ Opens Wide in Mexico Before the U.S. and the World (Newsline)

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