History YMMV / Coco

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** While Imelda's taboo towards music is based on the fear of getting her family separated, it ultimately comes out as overbearing and causes unnecessary damage to her family. They are not allowed to participate in any forms of music. This comes off realistic to viewers with similar family taboos. Even she has her reason, Imelda's actions tend to be strict and unreasonable to many viewers.
** Same can be applied to Mama Elena. While her protectiveness to Miguel and her family is genuine, she does in fact threatens people near her family for doing music-related activities. Even goes as far as destroying Miguel's guitar and causing him to run away from home. This is viewed as rude and dismissive to others and hard to sympathize with.

** TheReveal (the beloved Ernesto de la Cruz is actually a fraud and murderer) is a lot harder to swallow after Pixar founder/CEO and hero to many aspiring animators John Lasseter took a leave of absence, and ultimately resigned at the end of the next year, following reports of his history of sexual misconduct and mistreatment of female and minority employees. Even worse, it occurred ''1 day'' before the movie was released! And not just Lasseter. The movie came out within a period of accusations of sexual assault and harassment by much respected and famous actors and other film/television industry big shots that destroyed fans' passion for them and their work, much like how Ernesto's actions being revealed to the public almost instantly turned his fans against him. Additionally, reportedly John Lasseter stole the idea and credit for ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' from one Jorgen Klubien, an animator who was friends with Lasseter at [=CalArts=] and later Pixar, [[KickedUpstairs and booted Klubien to script-writing]] before removing him from the film altogether. The parallels to Héctor, Héctor's friendship with Ernesto de la Cruz, and how Cruz ultimately threw Héctor, his best friend, under the bus in order to steal Héctor's idea and went on to fame and glory are eerie.

* MindGameShip: Hector/Ernesto (Also known as Ernector.) There's surprisingly a decent amount of fanfics made about the pairing despite [[spoiler: the latter's murder of the former.]]

** Pepita [[spoiler:and Dante]] are awesome alebrijes, so naturally there is official Disney marketing of them. Whether or not they pay royalties to the still-living Mexican family who created the ''concept'' of alebrijes, and with alebrijes being a very closely-protected cultural heritage of Mexico, is another issue.

** Same can be applied to Mama Elena. While her protectiveness to Miguel and her family is genuine, she does in fact threatens people near her family for doing music-related activities. [[spoiler:Even goes as far as destroying Miguel's guitar and causing him to run away from home.]] This is viewed as rude and dismissive to others and hard to sympathize with.

** The RunningGag of Elena using her shoe as a WeaponOfChoice, ''especially'' if you're Mexican or know someone who is and remembers this popular form of CorporalPunishment.

* ParanoiaFuel: The idea that a favorite actor, singer, or musician may turn out to be [[NiceCharacterMeanActor bad]], or even [[UpToEleven murderous]]. What's scarier, the thought that even the ''nice'' actors aren't so nice [[WhatYouAreInTheDark behind closed doors]]...

* SpiritualAdaptation: This is undoubtedly the greatest LighterAndSofter ''ComicBook/{{Ghost Rider}}'' Musical we can watch. In other terms, it's better than the actual Ghost Rider movies we had.

* HarsherInHindsight: TheReveal (the beloved Ernesto de la Cruz is actually a fraud and murderer) is a lot harder to swallow after Pixar founder/CEO and hero to many aspiring animators John Lasseter took a leave of absence, and ultimately resigned at the end of the next year, following reports of his history of sexual misconduct and mistreatment of female and minority employees. Even worse, it occurred ''1 day'' before the movie was released! And not just Lasseter. The movie came out within a period of accusations of sexual assault and harassment by much respected and famous actors and other film/television industry big shots that destroyed fans' passion for them and their work, much like how Ernesto's actions being revealed to the public almost instantly turned his fans against him. Additionally, reportedly John Lasseter stole the idea and credit for ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' from one Jorgen Klubien, an animator who was friends with Lasseter at [=CalArts=] and later Pixar, [[KickedUpstairs and booted Klubien to script-writing]] before removing him from the film altogether. The parallels to Héctor, Héctor's friendship with Ernesto de la Cruz, and how Cruz ultimately threw Héctor, his best friend, under the bus in order to steal Héctor's idea and went on to fame and glory are eerie.

** Same can be applied to Mama Elena. While her protectiveness to Miguel and her family is genuine, she does in fact threatens people near her family for doing music-related activities. [[Even goes as far as destroying Miguel's guitar and causing him to run away from home.]] This is viewed as rude and dismissive to others and hard to sympathize with.

* UncannyValley:

* UnfortunateImplications: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQFVby3If5U As this video points out]], the film features a portrayal of a border control system in the afterlife that risks normalizing a militarized border. Notably, the border system in the film, while portrayed as an obstacle, is never outright condemned. And the film's happy ending contends with portraying the border as a simple fact of life, in contrast to how other corrupt systems like the Scream Factory in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' are dismantled and replaced.

** Early reviews for this movie seems to indicate that it's a step in the right direction for Pixar, with critics saying that while it's a bit more familiar than Pixar's classic movies, it also has considerably more effort put into it than the rest of their DorkAge movies (minus ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' and ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'').

** Be careful what you carry taboo on since it might actually be beneficial to you.

** The eponymous Mama Coco. Her father left her when she was very young and was murdered on his way back. She was raised by a very embittered mother. When she herself grew older, both [[AdultFear her husband and one of her daughters passed away before her]]. And through it all, she likely witnessed most of her descendants hating on her father for decades. Despite all these, the woman appears to be unfaltered by negativity.

* MemeticMutation: The picture of Miguel used for his character folder on the character page has become one thanks to WebVideo/SchaffrillasProductions.

* CatharsisFactor: Everything that Ernesto goes through after TheReveal of his murder of Héctor, given how he is a big time HateSink and had been a KarmaHoudini for almost 100 years.

* FandomEnragingMisconception: While fans of both ''Coco'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'' don't mind if one compares one with the other, do '''not''' call ''Coco'' a ''Book of Life'' ripoff in front of any ''Coco'' fan. Unless you want to hear a lengthy speech about the massive differences between the two works, as the only thing they have in common is the setting, the protagonists having vague similarities, Creator/AnaDeLaReguera voicing characters in both (the Latin American Spanish dub only for ''Coco''), and both taking place on the Day of the Dead.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** An in-story version: when Miguel first learns the story of how Héctor died, which his slum-musician friends play off as him choking on his food while Héctor claims it was food poisoning, everyone mocks him and laughs at him; even Miguel laughs. But then we learn he was actually given a poisoned drink by Ernesto, who played off the symptoms as food poisoning -- and Héctor, not knowing any better, believed this for ''96'' years. Not funny at all now.
** Another in-story example: At first, Héctor's zany schemes to get back into the Land of the Living look comical… until you learn ''why'' he wants to cross over. It's so he can see his daughter, the only person alive who remembers him and who is slowly losing her memory, meaning he'll fade away from the Land of the Dead soon. He's not just being goofy, he's desperate.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** While it's possible that he was just that confident that his secret was just that safe, Ernesto did not ''need'' to put the way he murdered Héctor on one of his films, down to his parting speech; and his arrogance cost him everything.
*** He also didn't need to steal Héctor's guitar. If he hadn't done that, Miguel would never have connected de la Cruz to his family and tried to steal from his crypt, and thus never would have gone to the Land of the Dead and discovered what happened.
*** The fact that he felt the need to ''murder Héctor at all.'' While he lacked the ability to write songs, Ernesto was handsome, charismatic, talented at singing and playing guitar, and the two were already on the cusp of fame when Héctor decided to go home. Ernesto's paths forward were numerous and likely very, very easily accomplished.
*** Lastly, he was arrogant and stupid enough to not destroy Hector's photo and throw him into a cenote because he believed that Hector was already forgotten. Instead, Hector comes back, this time with his family, and takes back the photo. Even when they do lose the photo, the whole scenario would’ve never happened if it weren’t for Ernesto's never-ending arrogance.
** [[RuleOfThree Three times]], Imelda falls into this trope:
*** Miguel insists that the guitar that cursed him belonged to his great-great-grandfather, and the clerk confirms that the curse is a family matter.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Imelda would realize that Miguel shouldn't know who her husband was, and even if he did that he couldn't have found his guitar, given what she thinks she knows about him. Or at least realize that there was more to the story of her husband than she believed.\\
'''Instead:''' She reacts exactly the same way as Elena at the mention of her husband without a second thought, reinforcing Miguel's mistaken belief of the identity of his great-great-grandfather.
*** When Miguel bails from his family, there's no doubt he's going to look for his great-great-grandfather to get a blessing without her conditions. By the time she catches up to Miguel, it's obvious that he's not going to accept her blessing if it comes with a "no music" condition.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Imelda would put returning Miguel home alive as a greater priority than forcing him to continue the family tradition.\\
'''Instead:''' She again implores Miguel to choose between staying alive and being a musician, leading him to bail on her again.
*** There's just no excuse for not noticing Miguel singing and dancing at a music competition with her husband, especially since the song they were singing [[WordOfGod was written for her by Héctor]].
*** In general, Imelda seems to be operating under the logic that music can rip families apart, and ''only'' music can rip families apart. The idea that something else, like, say, being forced to give up your dreams under threat of death, might cause some tension doesn't seem to occur to her.

!! '''Spoilers involving this movie will remained unmarked. Spoilers involving other works will remain marked, though. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!'''

* FandomEnragingMisconception: While fans of both ''Coco'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'' don't mind if one compares one with the other, do '''not''' call ''Coco'' a ''Book of Life'' ripoff in front of any ''Coco'' fan. Unless you want to hear a lengthy speech about the massive differences between the two works, as the only thing they have in common is the setting, the protagonists having vague similarities and both taking place on the Day of the Dead.

* MoralEventHorizon: Ernesto de la Cruz crosses over when he kills Héctor with poison and takes credit for all of his work in order to make himself a big celebrity, ''[[SpeakIllOfTheDead even stealthily bragging about his murder in one of his movies]]'', without showing any remorse decades later. He crosses this even further when he tosses Miguel off of the Sunrise Spectacular building to prevent him from revealing his immoral deeds to the Land of the Living.

** ''Coco'' has been accused of ripping off a cartoon called WesternAnimation/ElTigre[[note]] coincidentally also made by Jorge Gutiérrez, while Imelda's voice actress Alanna Ubach voiced the titular character[[/note]] since both main characters have Rivera as a last name and the setting is Mexico. However, this was most likely coincidental.

** The film was an unexpected hit in China, presumably because of its themes revolving around family, memory, and honoring ancestors, [[ValuesResonance all of which are traditional elements in Chinese culture]]. [[https://twitter.com/leeunkrich/status/945868492179324928 It's made more than all the previous Pixar films in the country]] ''combined'', and [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2017/11/27/how-coco-got-all-those-ghosts-past-chinas-superstition-hating-censors/#166e3fbb20b0 so popular that it wasn't even censored or banned by the Chinese Censorship Bureau, despite their own rules prohibiting the display of supernatural elements (especially skeletons), presumably because they were just that moved by the film's story.]]

** After Miguel and Héctor's meeting with Ernesto goes bad, both are tossed into what looks to be an old well some 100 feet deep leading into a natural cave. The typical name for a dungeon built like this is an "oubliette", which means "place of forgetting". What's the one thing the people in the land of the dead fear?
** In addition, said holes are "cenotes", found in the Yucatan peninsula, where the asteroid that helped kill the dinosaurs hit, and were revered by the Mayans as both a source of freshwater and as an entrance into the afterlife.

* ValuesDissonance: The film is set in a small town in rural Mexico, where interconnectivity between generations is treated very seriously and with the utmost respect. As such, given the choice between family and passions, "family comes first". The film ''does'' make it a point to show that elders can be wrong, but does so very gently, and the possibility of simply pursuing your dreams regardless of whether your grandmother (let alone your long dead great-great grandmother) approves is just not acceptable.

* ValuesDissonance: The film is set in a small town in rural Mexico, where interconnectivity between generations is treated very seriously and with the utmost respect. As such, given the choice between family and passions, "family comes first." The film ''does'' make it a point to show that elders can be wrong, but does so very gently, and the possibility of simply pursuing your dreams regardless of whether your grandmother (let alone your long dead great-great grandmother) approves is just not acceptable.