Coco

We are in a period of reckoning like never before for Hollywood and its audience. Every day, there are new allegations of various degrees of heinousness against previously revered celebrities. Fortunately, this latest Disney-Pixar animated creation, directed by Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina, is the perfect antidote. Miguel (voice of Anthony Gonzalez), a young Mexican boy in a large family of shoemakers, dreams of being a musician like his hero (and Mexico’s most beloved singer), Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). The only problem is that his family has completely banned music, going so far as to smash his guitar to smithereens. A little magic on Dia de los Muertos, and Miguel is transported to the land of the dead. There he meets his ancestors, along with de la Cruz, a man whose eccentric ego even spills into his afterlife stadium shows. But as Miguel soon learns, his idol is flawed in ways that cannot be forgiven. As befitting the genre, there are impressive musical numbers and digitally created colors so vibrant they make the real world look goth. Plus, Miguel has a floppy-dog sidekick. Coco is a heartwarming story, about not only the importance of family and following your dreams, but also whether a person’s mistakes are redeemable.