History TearJerker / Coco

** Yet another reason this scene is itself such a tearjerker is that it feels like the family is trying to sweep it under the rug, as though pretending ''this giant argument didn't happen''. Miguel is trying his hardest to defend why music isn't so bad, but his father adamantly tells him "[[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain End of discussion]]!"

* Even after realizing that Héctor was murdered while trying to come home, Imelda [[RealityEnsues understandably can't forgive Héctor that easily because he still left her and Coco in the first place]]; Héctor even admits that [[ItsAllMyFault he has no one to blame but himself for his current predicament]]. Fortunately, she decides to help Héctor be remembered again to the point where they eventually reconcile.

** If you take away all of her descendants, Coco’s actually pretty lonely. She’s outlived all of her previous family members and her husband, her old friends are probably long gone by now, and she literally can’t do anything because she could easily break.

* Miguel returning home and desperately trying to get Coco to remember Héctor might be the biggest tearjerker yet in the entire Disney/Pixar ouevre. At quite a few showings, the entire theatre was audibly weeping. The emotional weight of the entire movie building up to Miguel’s reconnection with his family, and bonding with Héctor, and the desperation of his last chance to preserve his memory, and thus keep "alive" the friend, mentor, and great-great-grandfather he’s only just met—and in doing so, finally allow Imelda and the whole family, present and passed, to heal— makes the stakes unbearably high. And of course, this echoes each audience member’s deepest feelings towards anyone they’ve personally lost, hoping beyond reason that we could somehow bring them back. So as he pleads with Coco, who we know wants nothing more than to see her father again, to merely do the one thing that will make this possible—to remember him—and she seems unable, we feel every moment of his desperation. When he finally plays "Remember Me" for her, almost convinced it won’t work, and more out of hopelessness than hope, we can’t help but grieve with him as by the end of the song he’s resigned to his ultimate loss. And then, it's followed by a [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments bittersweet]] moment where, slowly but surely, Coco begins to sing along. Even Elena cries at seeing her mother become lucid once more.

** Following that, when she still implores Miguel to abandon music, Miguel tearfully tells her she'll never understand what it means to support your loved ones or their dreams. She looks like [[KickTheDog she's been slapped with her own shoe]].
*** If you look closely when Miguel says she'll never support him, you can see he's close to tears. This isn't a deliberate act of KickTheDog: It's clear he ''wants'' his great-great-grandmother's support and approval... but he's thoroughly convinced she never will give it.

** There's something tragic in how Ernesto himself died, crushed by a bell due to a distraction of his staff. It's just so... mundane, it's merely an accident ending him while relatively still young. And while he ''had'' it coming, there isn't even anything karmic in the death itself. It's also a grim reminder of how, no matter how rich and powerful you are, you are still a fragile human being, subjected to the whims of fate. [[spoilers: Inverted with his final defeat in the afterlife by dropping a second bell on him, since this time it comes after he reveals his true nature and it's ''incredibly'' karmic and catarthic.]]

* Miguel's understandable devastation when Elena, over the objections of him and his family, destroys his guitar to make an example of how the Riveras do ''not'' want to accept his love of music, given how his great-great-grandfather left him. He decides to bail on his family as a result; the rest of his family's "MyGodWhatHaveIDone" reactions are understandable, considering that they're all taken aback by what happened and destroying Miguel's property has the potential to scar them for life.

** It's pretty sad when you see how the Land of the Dead has more youthful-looking people than older-looking, including several children, implying many of them died young.

** Following that, when she still implores Miguel to abandon music, Miguel tearfully tells her [[CallingTheOldManOut she'll never understand]] [[WhatTheHellHero what it means]] [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to support your loved ones or their dreams]]. She looks like [[KickTheDog she's been slapped with her own shoe]].

** Following that, when she still implores Miguel to abandon music, Miguel tearfully tells her [[CallingTheOldWomanOut she'll never understand]] [[WhatTheHellHero what it means]] [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to support your loved ones or their dreams]]. She looks like [[KickTheDog she's been slapped with her own shoe]].

* When Mama Coco wake up, the first thing she does, is showing concern for her daughter

** Much of the treatment Héctor receives in the Land of the Dead becomes harsher in hindsight. Due to the vague memory of his death, Héctor initially assumes that he died from food poisoning after eating a chorizo sausage. By the time Miguel appears, the other dead musicians have made a joke out of calling Héctor "[[BilingualBonus Chorizo]]", believing that he choked to death on one instead, and mock Héctor for not being invited to Ernesto's party. It fuels Héctor's distaste towards his original profession.

** To twist the knife even further, the novel [[ExpandedUniverse "Coco: A Story of Music, Shoes, and Family"]] reveals that Héctor and Ernesto were ''ChildhoodFriends''. Héctor even considered Ernesto his ''brother'' and held him in high regard. Which makes the betrayal doubly painful.
-->'''Héctor:''' (Attacking Ernesto) [[YouMonster How could you?!]]
** [[ExpandedUniverse "Coco: A Story of Music, Shoes, and Family"]] shows what was going through Héctor's head as he told Ernesto that he was going to return to his wife and daughter. He was worried for Ernesto as well, not wanting his best friend to hate him for his decision. As he's about to tell him this, Ernesto gives him the poisoned tequila. As he drinks from the glass, Héctor is happy that he can return home and that he's parting in good terms with Ernesto. Then the poison takes effect...

** Later, during the flashback, the reveal that the ''seemingly'' self-assured Ernesto de la Cruz, "Greatest musician of all time", is far less confident than we were lead to believe, so much that he begged Hector to stay. Again, that doesn't excuse the murder he would commit nor make him anymore sympathetic, but it's somewhat pitiful to see Ernesto so insecure in himself.

Hoo boy, where do you even start? Even by the standards of a Pixar film, ''Coco'' is one very heart-rending, tearjerking experience, breaking hearts-a-plenty. Here are some examples that show just why.

** After learning that Ernesto killed Hector, Miguel tries to remind himself that de la Cruz is his hero. But he looks back on all the times he left something at his de la Cruz offrenda, and wonders to himself if to him he was just another faceless fan to Ernesto.

*** If you look closely when Miguel says she'll never support him, you can see he's close to tears. It's clear he ''wants'' his great-great-grandmother's support and approval... but he's thoroughly convinced she never will give it.

** This leads to a happy Tear Jerker when she recognizes her daughter at the end, causing Elena herself to tear up.

*** One could argue that there's a glimmer of CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming here as well- the fact that they still exist in the Land of the Dead imply that they have relatives who love and remember them among the Living, and are making a point to keep their memories alive.

* Miguel returning home and desperately trying to get Coco to remember Héctor might be the biggest tearjerker yet in the entire Disney/Pixar ouevre. At quite a few showings, the entire theatre was audibly weeping. The emotional weight of the entire movie building up to Miguel’s reconnection with his family, and bonding with Héctor, and the desperation of his last chance to preserve his memory, and thus keep "alive" the friend, mentor, and great-great-grandfather he’s only just met—and in doing so, finally allow Imelda and the whole family, present and passed, to heal— makes the stakes unbearably high. And of course, this echoes each audience member’s deepest feelings towards anyone they’ve personally lost, hoping beyond reason that we could somehow bring them back. So as he pleads with Coco, who we know wants nothing more than to see her father again, to merely do the one thing that will make this possible—to remember him—and she seems unable, we feel every moment of his desperation. When he finally plays "Remember Me" for her, almost convinced it won’t work, and more out of hopelessness than hope, we can’t help but grieve with him as by the end of the song he’s resigned to his ultimate loss. And then, it's followed by a [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming bittersweet]] moment where, slowly but surely, Coco begins to sing along. Even Elena cries at seeing her mother become lucid once more.

*** What makes it especially sad is, if not to the same degree of bitterness, Coco followed her mother's footsteps: allowing one bad experience to keep her from doing what she loves best. At least [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Coco swore off dancing for the right reason.]]

Even by the standards of a Pixar film, ''Coco'' is one very heart-rending, tearjerking experience, breaking hearts-a-plenty. Here are some examples that show just why.

** After learning that Ernesto killed Hector, Miguel tries to remind himself that de la Cruz is his hero. But he looks back on all the times he left something at his de la Cruz offrenda, and wonders to himself if to him he was just another faceless fan to Ernesto.
* ''Coco'' came out shortly after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weinstein_effect Weinstein effect]] started and at the height of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_Too_movement Me Too movement]], where several much respected and famous actors and other film/television industry big shots were accused of sexual harassment and abuse. Several of them were found guilty, [[FanDisillusionment which destroyed fans' passion for them and their work]]. While the movie has been in production since the early 2010s, seeing Miguel and both the Lands of the Living and Dead [[BrokenPedestal lose all respect for de la Cruz]] once his crimes are exposed seems [[HarsherInHindsight eerily relevant]] for a time period where the same thing was happening to fans of several real-life celebrities. Even worse is that John Lasseter, Pixar founder/CEO and hero to many aspiring animators, was revealed to have a history of sexual misconduct barely a week before this movie was released in the United States, causing fans to lose respect for him as well.

** After learning that Ernesto killed Hector, Miguel tries to remind himself that de la Cruz is his hero. But he looks back on all the times he left something at his de la Cruz offrenda, and wonders to himself if to him he was just another faceless fan to Ernesto.

** After learning that Ernesto killed Hector, Miguel tries to remind himself that de la Cruz is his hero. But he looks back on all the times he left something at his de la Cruz offrenda, and wonders to himself if to him he was just another faceless fan to Ernesto.
* ''Coco'' came out shortly after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weinstein_effect Weinstein effect]] started and at the height of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_Too_movement Me Too movement]], where several much respected and famous actors and other film/television industry big shots were accused of sexual harassment and abuse. Several of them were found guilty, [[FanDisillusionment which destroyed fans' passion for them and their work]]. While the movie has been in production since the early 2010s, seeing Miguel and both the Lands of the Living and Dead [[BrokenPedestal lose all respect for de la Cruz]] once his crimes are exposed seems [[HarsherInHindsight eerily relevant]] for a time period where the same thing was happening to fans of several real-life celebrities. Even worse is that John Lasseter, Pixar founder/CEO and hero to many aspiring animators, was revealed to have a history of sexual misconduct barely a week before this movie was released in the United States, causing fans to lose respect for him as well.
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