History WesternAnimation / Coco

* AdvertisingByAssociation: As usual with Pixar films, the trailer says "From the creators of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' and ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory''".

** The [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory Pizza Planet]] truck drives past Miguel's house during his montage of Elena refusing music.

** [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory Woody, Buzz]], and [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc Mike Wazowski]] appear as piñatas.

-->-- '''Ernesto de la Cruz'''[[note]][[spoiler: actually by Héctor Rivera]][[/note]]

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: While not "gods" per se, the residents of the Land of the Dead require that the living either remember them or honor them by placing their pictures on their ofrendas. If this stops, then they suffer Final Death, and disappear from even the Land of the Dead.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Has its [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome/{{Pixar}} own page]].

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: The TimeSkip at the end has Miguel showing his new baby sister all of the deceased family members upon the ofrenda just before their grandmother puts up a photo of Mama Coco. [[DeadGuyJunior Fittingly]], the novelization confirms that the baby is named Socorro. Or, Coco for short.

** Ernesto murdering Héctor was already unforgivable, but the flashback showed that while Héctor was dying, Ernesto makes a smug comment that it was probably the chorizos Héctor ate earlier.

* TheAfterafterlife: Apparently the case with "the Final Death", according to the director Lee Unkrich in an interview [[https://www.npr.org/2018/01/10/577012780/coco-filmmakers-explore-the-connection-to-loved-ones-past]].

* TheAfterafterlife: Apparently the case with "the Final Death," according to the director Lee Unkrich in an interview [[https://www.npr.org/2018/01/10/577012780/coco-filmmakers-explore-the-connection-to-loved-ones-past]].

** The villain's {{Backstory}}: Ernesto de la Cruz only became the star he was after he murdered Héctor and stole his songs. He's also the only character to point out, quite correctly, that achieving your dreams sometimes means leaving your hometown and family, and this is framed in a rather negative light.
** It is also the reason why Mamá Imelda prohibited music for the Riveras. She doesn't hate music, quite the contrary, she was a musician herself along with her husband, but when her husband never returned home from his first music tour, Imelda believed that music could cause a person to become so ambitious that they would abandon their loved ones to chase their dreams. Afraid this might happen to her children, she prohibited music for her family. Ironically the prohibition almost forced Miguel to do exactly that and Imelda soon realizes that it didn't work too well. "NiceJobBreakingItHero", indeed.
** Zig-zagged by the ending, when the family let Miguel become a musician and he realizes the value of family at the same time. The evil of Ernesto's ambition could specifically be said because he was willing to sacrifice everything for it when he already had a family who needed him, and thus the ambition alone is not solely evil.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Ernesto got away with murder, theft, and plagiarism while he was alive, but was killed in 1942 by a falling church bell. But even in death, people still flocked to his concerts and he continued to throw many a party (of course, nobody knew the truth at the time). It wasn't until 75 years after Héctor's death that both the Lands of the Living and Dead learned the truth and Ernesto faced the consequences.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Ernesto de la Cruz, who was killed when a bell fell on him in 1942, [[ChekhovsGun has a similar bell fall on him]] after it is revealed in the EngineeredPublicConfession that he poisoned Héctor and stole his songs.

* MementoMacGuffin: Ernesto de la Cruz's guitar. Believing Ernesto to be his great-great grandfather, Miguel tries to steal it for the talent contest, leading to him being stuck in the Land of the Dead. It is not until the big PlotTwist does he find out that the guitar really ''did'' belong to his great-great grandfather, but it was actually ''stolen'' by Ernesto de la Cruz when he killed Héctor, becoming ''his'' [[SigilSpam iconic]] guitar throughout his career.

** Throughout the movie, the living skeletons can also be seen eating and drinking food, often obtained as offerings from their families. However, it is still directly stated that [[NobodyPoops there are no bathrooms in the Land of the Dead]].

** Santa Cecilia has an enormous shrine to Ernesto, who came from the town, in the center of the town cemetery. Once his treachery is revealed, it is ignored and falls into disrepair as former fans decide to forget him.

* TitleDrop: While Coco's name is mentioned earlier in the movie, it is said as a dramatic WhamLine later that gives off the impression of this trope.

** The crowd at the Sunrise Spectacular when they realize that Ernesto is the one who murdered Héctor.
** After throwing Miguel off the building, Ernesto returns to the crowd, confused why they're suddenly booing him and the orchestra turning on him. When he tries to win them back with singing "Remember Me", he gets food thrown at him. When he notices the large monitor showing Miguel being saved, he realizes the whole world has seen him admit to murdering his friend for the songs that made him famous. Then, he realizes his fate the moment Pepita sends him flying into the church bell that killed him in his previous life.

* CaughtOnTape: How Ernesto is exposed to the crowd as a fraud during the Sunrise Spectacular.

* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: Ernesto de la Cruz's version of "Remember Me" is big and flashy, and sounds like a fond farewell to all the women he's left behind and for people to literally remember him, while Héctor's is a slower, more wistful plea for his daughter not to forget about him while he's away working.

* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: Ernesto de la Cruz's version of "Remember Me" is big and flashy, and sounds like a fond farewell to all the women he's left behind, while Héctor's version is a slower, more wistful plea for his daughter not to forget about him while he's away working.

* BigShadowLittleCreature: The last scene has Dante tread in from the right followed by a huge shadow that looks like Pepita, but turns out to be a small cat; this is Pepita's true earthly form, as Imelda's beloved pet cat.

* HypocrisyNod: About halfway through the film the hypocrisy behind the ThickerThanWater mentality that is such a big part of Miguel's family. Miguel is running away from Imelda, who is saying that he has to pick a side between his family and music. He responds asking why nobody from his family is on his side. All he wants is to play music, is it really so unreasonable that a family who is supposedly so into loyalty support what makes him happiest? The question is never really resolved, or even brought up again, but the point still stands that Miguel makes a valid argument.

* HolidayPardon: Mama Coco's father is forgiven on the Day of the Dead after decades of being an UnPerson to their family when Miguel was inexplicably given the chance to meet him in the afterlife and know why he left his wife and [[ParentalAbandonment daughter]].[[LongLostRelative Héctor]] didn't want to; [[EvilAllAlong Ernesto de la Cruz]] murdered him.

** Zig-zagged by the ending, when the family let Miguel become a musician and he realises the value of family at the same time. The evil of Ernesto's ambition could specifically said to be because he was willing to sacrifice everything for it when he already had a family who needed him, and thus the ambition alone is not solely evil.
* AmusingInjuries: Let's just say that [[JustifiedTrope a lack of flesh and blood on your bones]] is bound to make these a regular occurrence. In an interview with [=NPR=], the creators point out that because everyone is already dead, no one can be seriously injured, and so the Land of the Dead is completely devoid of things like ''safety rails.''

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Ernesto got away with murder, theft, and plagiarism while he was alive, but was killed in 1942 by a falling church bell. But even in death, people still flocked to his concerts and he continued to throw many a party (of course, nobody knew the truth at the time). It wasn't until 75 years after Héctor's death that both Lands of the Living and Dead learned the truth and Ernesto faced the consequences.

* VillainSong: Ernesto's version of "Remember Me" could be seen as one after it's revealed that his version is a bastardized take on a ''incredibly personal'' father-to-daughter song.

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: For unknown reasons, the elderly Mamá Coco outlived her daughter Victoria, whom Miguel meets with the rest of his deceased relatives.

*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTU9mMixmJc Solo version for the Spanish release.]] Sung by Natalia Lafourcade with a more contemporary pop arrangement.

* AdultFear: The backstory of the Rivera family is steeped in this.
** On Héctor's side, his ''25-year-old'' childhood friend murdered him when he was only ''21 years old'' all on the account that Héctor wanted to return home to his wife and daughter, and because his family ''never'' learnt that he was murdered and believed that he abandoned them, Héctor ended up disgraced and ostracized from his family in the afterlife. He doesn't even realize he ''was'' murdered for ''96 years'' and when he does, Ernesto essentially tries to murder him ''again''.
** The reaction of the Rivera family members, both living and dead, when Miguel runs away. Both sets of family are frantically trying to find him like a child missing in a mall.
** Two of the Rivera ghosts, Julio and Victoria, were actually Coco's late husband and daughter respectively, meaning she's not only a WidowWoman who {{outliv|ingOnesOffspring}}ed one of her children, ''but'' a daughter who waited her entire life for a father whom she isn't aware was murdered.
** When Ernesto de la Cruz is threatening to throw Miguel off a building, Héctor is too weak from being forgotten to do more than plead helplessly: "He's a ''living child,'' Ernesto!"
** Lighter than the other examples listed here, but the idea that a beloved member of the family could one day become so senile, they don't understand anything that's going on around them, know what year they're in, or even recognize their own ''children'', is pretty scary to a lot of people. Especially since it happens in real life ''tragically'' often, and there's not much anyone can do to prevent it or fix it. It's doubly scary if you consider the possibility it could one day happen to you. But even though her memory is failing and she may not be able to say what she feels, Mama Coco still loves her family with all her heart, right up to the very end of her life (and beyond).
** During his life, Héctor spent so much time working away from home that he was genuinely worried that his relationship with his daughter would suffer for it. "Remember Me" is a sweet song, but it's also a product of guilt, a desperate plea for his daughter to understand that he still loves her even though he's not around to show it.
** Miguel's initial reaction when he realizes Ernesto de la Cruz is a murderer and plagiarist. It's a double-whammy of a BrokenPedestal. First, de la Cruz was Miguel's role model, such that Miguel wanted to pattern his whole life after his. Next, he still thought de la Cruz was his ''ancestor'' at that point in time, and it can be pretty horrifying to learn that there is a straight line of kinship between yourself and a monster.

'''Please move any character tropes to the ''Coco'' [[Characters/{{Coco}} character page]]'''.

Canten a coro [[note]]Sing as a chorus[[/note]], let it be known [[note]]deje conocer[[/note]]\\

Canten a coro [[note]]Sing as a chorus[[/note]], let it be known\\
Our love for each other will live on forever\\
In every beat of my proud corazón!''