When I walked into the theatre for a special screening of COCO nearly two weeks ago, I’ll be honest that I did not expect to be ‘wow’-ed. The trailer I had seen told me little about the movie, and I suspected that it would be a bit juvenile.  I was not surprised that my older kids did not want to come to the screening, nor did I insist upon it.

Was I ever surprised!

COCO did not turn out to be a movie about a boy, his guitar and a silly dog, which was the impression that I had.  COCO is first and foremost a movie about family. It is also a movie about following your dreams, but truthfully it is really a movie about FAMILY.

The movie takes place in Mexico at the time of celebrating Dia de los Muertos- The Day of the Dead. While I had heard about this day before, I never really had an understanding of it. COCO not only entertained me as a movie, but educated me about the traditions surrounding this important day in Mexican culture.

The concept sounds frightening but Disney Pixar has done an amazing job of making it all very family-friendly 🙂

Both my youngest daughter and I felt that the trailer that we had seen did not do the movie justice. We both actually LOVED the movie, and as I mentioned earlier- I really wasn’t expecting to. Truth be told, I think that the older kids missed out and I suspect they will enjoy it when it comes out on DVD.

In the meantime, if you can make it out to see COCO while still in theatres (opens today, November 22nd), it’s a beautiful family movie to watch and also to provide food for discussion about family traditions, dreams, family standing in the way of dreams and understanding what “family first” really means.

Tanya