In “Coco”, Pixar’s newest animated feature film, 12-year-old Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz. While attempting to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the colorful Land of the Dead. Early on in his journey, he meets a friend, and together they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the true story behind his family history. Julianna D’Amico told the Patriot Press that the film “touches on difficult subjects like loss and divorce, but in a kind and respectful manner.” She considers “Coco” to be a “fantastic movie”.

Critics and moviegoers seem to agree with D’Amico; the film has an impressive 97% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and made 450.8 million USD at the box office.

The movie is Pixar’s first dedicated entirely to a foreign culture, which was appreciated by Freshman Kendra Levendusky, who explained, “Growing up as an Asian American woman, it was important to me to have an Asian princess in a Disney movie; Now, as our society is becoming more tolerant, it makes me happy that there is a Hispanic main character in this movie “Coco.” The film’s creators took care to respect and to celebrate Mexican culture in their work.

Co-director and screenwriter Adrian Molina has said, “It’s not very often that we as Latinos or Mexicans are represented on screen in a way that celebrates the things that make us beautiful, confident and powerful, so with this film, I wanted this journey of Miguel and his family to showcase all of the things that we see in ourselves but don’t necessarily see on TV.”