Some of y'all gotta watch the video before commenting. My points are about the writing, not "which is more authentic." I think they both perfectly display different aspects of Mexican culture. If I can't connect to the characters in Coco, I can't say it's a better movie even if you want to argue it's better representation. Stuff like the setting, music, and even voice cast are pretty surface level things imo, if the writing isn’t that great then the rest of that doesn’t really matter
@@lexx1745 I think on some level when he “wins” he also knows that it’s a hollow victory and the only reason Maria’s even considering him is cause Manolo is dead.
SAME! I was surprised that the usual “Gaston Character” as like to call the trope, turned out to be a swell guy and I love the fact he was willing to defend the town without forcing Maria to marry him
The difference lies in The Book of Life being by someone who actually experiences Mexican culture regularly vs a huge corporation who doesn't even credit the family Coco is based on
Pixar team took multiple trips to Mexico for inspiration. Also a little weird given that The Book of Life has half-white half-latino/a cast meanwhile Coco is all-latino
@spencerlane415 crazy how that's just the cast! the movie was directed and partially written by Jorge R. Gutierrez. He was born in Mexico City, in Mexico. Taking multiple trips to Mexico will never make the team behind Coco Mexican. hope that helps! ☺️
@@spencerlane415 I mean, a team that went on trips for inspiration and an author/artist that grew up there and experienced it by himself isn't quite the same. Gutiérrez's work is almost always about his home, heritage and Mexican iconography. And the cast to me is just a consequence of this being a movie released in 2014... Or maybe there's biases. Diego Luna and Zoe Saldaña did work on another Gutiérrez' production not long ago in Maya and the Three, as yet again the main couple lmao
A lot of context for Coco was sadly put into the book. So mama Coco apparently loved music throughout the whole book. It was her mom and daughter that did the ban. I felt like this could have been important for us to know for the movie.
@@minimumwage2169 i haven’t seen it in a bit so maybe i’m misremembering but she didn’t seem to mind miguel singing to her/ talking about his music career,,, ik you could be like “well she’s old and doesn’t move much so really what do you mean” but if pixar wanted us to believe that mama coco was against him doing that they could’ve animated her with furrowed eyebrows and what not but they didn’t, she usually just had a content smile
I remember sitting in my Spanish class when my teacher asked us if we wanted to watch coco or the book of life and not a single person voted for coco cause that’s just how much better the book of life is. Truly an iconic film.
Then why was Coco a successful film at the time? I don't understand. And why did those kids liked The Book of Life much better than Coco? (By the way, I'm not defending Coco, I don't like very much Coco as well, personally. I just want to know the POV of other people, thanks.).
@@jmrabinez9254Coco was benefited from Pixar’s recognition at the time. Whenever you heard Pixar, you thought of amazing movies. That plus the good marketing made it successful imo
I do like The Book of Life more than Coco. Another reason why I like The Book of Life is that Manolo onscreen dies because he wants to see Maria again in the Afterlife. Hell the kids that are being told about this story question why they are being told about characters dying. The importance of the theme of the holiday they are using, "Day of the DEAD."
They really didn't have to kill all of Manolo's family, dude straight up lost his dad and grandma on the same day, and in the latter's case it's played as a joke. That was one of the few things i disliked about the movie
The book of life is FULL of passion in every aspect of its story. As someone who saw the book of life before coco, seeing coco just was so boring despite how much I heard about it.
I don’t hate coco, but I never understood the hype for it. It’s not terrible, it was solid, but the book of life was THAT amazing to watch even to this day. Also I think the art style for the film is unique, I love it when a film has its own unique art style where it’s not a “hey, I know that’s from that ONE studio!” thing.
ive been saying this for YEARSSS and enjoyed the book of life 100x more as a kid, still enjoy it now. it subverts expectations so well - making maria a strong female character and not just some damsel in distress, having manolo and joaquin remain friends despite their conflict with loving maria + how joaquin is basically the rich popular guy of the town while manolo is more of an outcast but they stay friends. the book of life also has SUCH BANGING MUSIC holy crap i still listen to the soundtrack, especially the apology song. the animation is so unique as well, the characters being wooden puppets but even when it switches into the "real world" segments the characters still have fun exaggerated features. i could go on and on about this damn movie
I also feel like The book of life made me a million times more intrigued to learn more about Mexican culture and beliefs. Coco in comparison felt less creative and passionate about the actual culture. Coco just felt like your basic cookie cutter story. But the book of life felt like a magical story book you would read in bed as a kid.
if it helps, i think Coco has a more accurate representation of what Dia de los Muertos feels like when you're walking through the streets. as in, its good passive representation of the holiday itself, but Book of Life feels infinitely more mexican (also has a lot more mythology, like Xibalba)
coco seems to me like the a babys first introduction to Mexican culture, for me. when i saw the book of life, it's much more in depth emotionally and gorgeous. i feel like i can relate to coco more because of how the movie makes me feel, the songs are powerful, and it made me feel a little bit someber the moment i saw the credit scene. "remember me" is a classic. i really love how the book of life is much more lighthearted, and "alternative" in comparison. the fact that they played radiohead is chefs kiss. anyways, what I LOVE what they have in common visuals, it's eye candy galore, and the ability to move you, emotionally. it's crazy!
How a Mexican who has lived 23 years in this country coco It's the best movie of both, We don't watch it for the story or the plot, it's because we're literally watching our family members again on the screen. Every time I watch the movie I cry because it reminds me of my father who passed away when I was 8 years old and since then every November 2nd I celebrate his memory. Coco It is much more Mexican than The book of life by far.
@@aragonmoralesfaustodavid5548 Well I’m sorry to hear about your father, but people watch things for different reasons. For me if the plot/story isn’t that good, then it doesn’t matter how well crafted the emotional scenes are. I’m also not sure how Coco is more Mexican. Maybe it’s more like your particular region, but Book of Life heavily draws from different aspects of Mexican culture, especially from the director’s own life
@@aolson1111 And? That’s not an indicator of how culturally connected you are. People have spent their entire lives in the US without speaking a lick of English. I’ve met people in Chicago more passionate about being Mexican than people in Tijuana.
coco is more focused on "yourself" rather than the needed theme being the day of the dead, theres literally like nothing that stood out in the land of the dead
Yes. But can anyone talk about how talent manolo is? Bro is basically practice both music and bull fighting. And not just any practice. It's practice enough to make a top tier performance. With the fact that bro never has any cheating item too. Yeah, I dont think anyone in coco can outperform that
Exactly. Bro was a perfect musician AND he could take on and dodge a giant skeletal bull. Not to mention before that he actually survived being attacked by HUNDREDS of skeleton bulls
Something that makes me like the book of life better than coco is the fact that, unlike in coco, there are actually higher powers that rule and put order to both the land of the remembered and the land of the forgotten (La Catrina, Xibalba and the Candleman). It felt weird for coco not to have any type of ruler/god of any kind, more so with the mayan motifs they went with for part of the land of the dead. It just felt loose in a way, even with the alebrijes (spirit guides). Also also, I much prefer the art direction the book of life had. Coco, while REALLY pretty and colorful felt a bit "flat" if that makes sense, it just felt like a fantasy town with skeletons but it didn't really feel that grand. Book of life on the other hand made the land of the dead (and forgotten), feel a lot more otherworldly and chaotic. It genuinely felt like another world from the sheer amount of weirdness it packed, just look at size of the parties from when Manolo arrives in the land of the dead or the look of la Catrina's castle for example, it looked both beautiful and massive, yet alien in a way, something you would expect from a spiritual world and something that coco greatly lacked in my opinion.
@@painterguy6469 I completely agree with what you said about the art directions. And I hadn’t even thought of the higher powers not being in Coco. Great points!
To be fair, a world built around humanity (even if it is dead, even if it's through divine/supernatural means) would retain its humanity. In Coco we're shown that people generally continue to do what they did in life after death which makes sense since those that are able to travel to see their family as themselves with their passions and memories. The world Coco builds has the same positives and negatives as the real world (strife, crime, class divisions) but also grandeur, delight, and especially familial love (though I think these, especially the last one were not well represented-not like that's an entirely bad thing though, most stories thrive through a healthy amount of interpretation of the mind through emotion and letting imagination do the work rather than fully fleshing things out). While I agree that a more alien and fantastical world would probably be more interesting, from the (VERY) limited knowledge I have on Dia de los Muertos (the dead come to visit as themselves, with their passions and memories intact) a reality where they are essentially living as humans generally within the confines of human life (not really fantastical) makes the most sense. Would be interesting to see a historical and modern perspective on this though. I totally agree that it's a shame they didn't show the land of the forgotten though. Wouldn't have really made sense with the current plot of Coco though, I don't think.
each time i hear people talk about the Book of Life and Coco, my reaction is always like that one meme about cakes: The Audience: ohhgg.. that cake is better than this one... Me, a mexican: *HOLY SH*T, TWO CAKES* (but fr i love these discussions)
I watched Book of Life when I was a child and I wanna say I prefer Book of Life’s animation. Not saying Pixar’s is bad,hell it’s fascinating BUT I like the animation with wooden like characters more
That was one of my favorite aspects, too. Not only with the fact that they're being reenacted with puppets with the children, but they kept them _as_ those puppets the entire film. Added such charm and uniqueness to it.
One thing i would like to note about the book of lifes animation too, the gods are not wooden dolls even in the story, adding a layer of seperation between them and the mortals. Its like they are higher beings even in this recreation of the stoey
Another small nitpick on Coco- If the song Remember Me was something that Hector sang to Coco all the time, composed just for her and did every night, then why did she not immediately say that De la Cruz was stealing his original work? It's the most popular song everywhere, how did she not hear it before that moment or just let that plagiarism persist her entire life?
@@Lance-wants-tea That’s a great point! I guess we can assume she didn’t cause of the family’s ban on music, but it’s kind of a weak explanation/payoff
I feel like it's actually realistic. How would Coco know that Ernrsto killed her Dad, or that he stole that song? To her, all she knew was that her dad ran off with other musicians and never came back. If she heard the song later in life by Ernesto, wouldn't she only assume that her dad had made it big at some point and not immediately assume the song was stolen? Also as a toddler, how would she be certain that her dad wrote that song only for her?
@Koramiii The lyrics of Remember Me are very clear that the song was made for a specific person. Coco herself had it sung to her every night and could probably grasp the importance of it, considering that when she does remember she shows letters and kept part of a picture of Hector in her drawer. She knows what the song was for, she was also a young adult at some point and probably heard it EVERYWHERE. Composers arent just people that hang around behind the scenes writing songs in basements for big artists. They also do get some recognition so I'm not buying that she'd never find it strange that Ernesto was the only one getting fame and glory WHILE PRANCING AROUND WITH HER DADS SONGS AND GUITAR
I mean it’s shown that Eliza doesn’t let anyone play music and cuts people off before they can even play for five seconds and Imelda probably did the same thing we can assume even if coco did hear someone playing the song she was HEAVILY discouraged from following up on it
@@aolive11 Wow! No way! Dia De Los Muertos is a traditional Mexican holiday and no one can own copyright on it? They might as well try copyrighting Christmas while they're at it!
@@Finity_twenty_ten Luckily that never went through. If we give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they wanted to make sure very specific parts (like Miguel’s character) weren’t stolen. But this is Disney we’re talking about…
Coco makes me cry whenever I watch it, and the book of life makes me sit in awe of South american/mexican culture. Both are very good choices, in my opinion.
@@MamaBinturongDIEGO LUNA, PUT SOME RESPECT ON MY MANS NAME😭😭😭 /j but yeah dude i FUCKING love Diego Luna. oh yeah fun fact- he and Gael García Bernal (the guy who voiced Hector in Coco) grew up together and are best friends :]
18:11 If I remember correctly, the movie offered a reason. When Hector’s friend passes on to the final death, Miguel says he’ll go back to the land of the living and remember him there, bringing him back. Hector then says that it doesn’t work like that and that in order for the dead person to stay alive (?), they need to have memories from people who knew them while alive passed down. For people like Frida and Ernesto, I assume they stay alive even if they have no one who directly remembers them is because they’re famous. Famous people have stories about their lives put in books, movies, articles, interviews, everywhere basically. And if they’re famous then those memories stay around constantly. Either that or I assume there’s people bragging about the fact that they’re distantly related to those people, so that’s a family connection lol
It wouldn't have been a plot hole if we actually saw if dela cruz had family/families with him in the land of the dead, cause he's truly not gonna be forgotten as he was too famous for family lineage to forget. But we didnt see anyone who he's a kin to in any manner. Although if that took place it would have broken the plot of him getting to announce miguel as a grandchild to all his fans and basically the twist.
Pretty sure it’s also insinuated that an actual picture of the individual being honored/recognized needs to be apparent in order for them to cross. That’s what the whole gate and face matching bit is when the dead go to cross the flower bridge.
@@spencertamv3930 yeah, pictures are really the important bit. Actually doesn’t seem like family really matters at all! One of the people crossing the border has his photo on his dentist’s ofrenda, and I mean that’s literally just a guy. Unless they’re related or friends (in which case why would border patrol refer to him as just “your dentist”), Disney implies that you could put a picture of pretty much anyone you’ve met and have memory of on your ofrenda, and they’ll be able to cross into the land of the living on dia de Los muertos regardless of how close you actually were.
Honestly, The Book Of Life and Coco are both solid in my opinion. You can’t really compare them because they’re both different movies, The Book Of Life is about romance and drama and Coco is about family values. Sure they may take place in Mexico and follow the Day of the Dead, and have some things in common like “you can’t play music or be a musician” but even that had different reasons in both movies. In The Book of Life, Manolo’s father didn’t want him to be a musician so he could focus more on bull fighting, but in Coco when Hector left Imelda and Coco for music, Imelda banned music from the family for generations to come because of a pettier reason. The main character going to the afterlife or The Land of The Remembered but still those were completely different reasons as Manolo basically committed s*cide to be with Maria (who wasn’t really dead after being bit by Xibala’s snake once) While Miguel stole Ernesto De La Cruz’s guitar and was transported to the Land of the Dead. The bell deaths were also similar but also quite different at the same time with Chakal getting crushed by the bell and then the bell blowing up on the inside, while Ernesto was crushed by the bell twice once during Remember Me that resulted in his death and at the end of Coco’s climax. I know both of these movies are similar but the themes are different. I love both of these movies so much and I can’t choose between which one I love more.
I have a dumb question: what is the significance of dying by large falling bells? What does that represent? I noticed quite a few animated movies utilizing it.
I like how you completely ignore everything he said in the video and go off on irrelevant tangents. One protagonist having a different reason than the other for the same premise doesn't discount either from being compared. That's like saying you can't compare black coffee to milk coffee. Sure you they have different ingredients, but they ultimately represent the same object and people will have opinions on which they prefer. And then you randomly talk about both movies having deaths by bells which have nothing to do with anything. He didn't even say the word "bell" even once in the video like what
i was always confused at how everything that happened in the land of the dead magically affected everyone who was alive like.. we didn't see how miguel explained all of that and how he got them to believe him we just got a time jump
@@AlexRamos49232why doesn’t it need to be explained? If it doesn’t need to be explained just because it’s a better movie then that’s fine but it sounds like favoritism
@allenromo7965 nope if you listen to the story. It really lays it all out. It's the magic of family love and never giving up on your dreams. You shouldn't either❤️
@allenromo7965 He literally gets Coco to talk fondly about her father and music, as well as the revelation that he didn't run away for music. The big reason they hated music was because they thought Hector ran away in order to pursue fame, but he didn't, so there was no reason for them to hate music any more
In Coco's defense, I think it's heavily implied that it's not just stealing from the death, but doing it in Dia de los Muertos. Lara Croft would be fine as long as she's not tomb raiding during this particular day.
i was a bit confused at first with the thumbnail BUT THEN 0:21 HITS AND I REALISED I'VE SEEN THIS MOVIES. i agree its peak, sorry for not watching the full video tough. +1 sub
In defense of Coco: 1. I think the implication is that stealing something from the dead on the Day of the Dead is a what caused the curse. Hand-me-downs and sentimental items from dead loved ones are obviously not the same thing. 2. I believe the memories of people have to be passed down generationally, meaning once Coco shared Hector’s memory, their family members could share it to the next generation.
I personally thought it was because the guitar originally belonged to Hector. Hector probably owned the guitar for a long time and he died carrying the instrument. Considering that he was murdered and his spirit was longing to see his daughter one last time, that would put a “family curse” on the instrument and maybe the book too. Normally this wouldn’t do much except it was the day of the dead, when the barriers between worlds is at their thinnest. Thus Miguel is spirited away when he strums it.
I love the book of life SO MUCH!! When I was a kid it was literally the ONLY movie i wanted to watch due to how much I loved the characters and story. When COCO came out my family wanted to watch it but I literally cried, saying that it was a knock off movie based on The Book of Life and I still haven't watched the movie in theaters or any streaming site, only through the internet. My family still quotes lines from the movie to this day, like how Maria said "I belong to no one" or the pointer finger during the Kiss Scene. The movie is just so much fun and from a critic's view also SO AWESOME. It's criminally underrated and will remain my favorite movie EVER. It left a huge impact on my life and still drives me to follow my dreams, maybe one day finding my own Maria that loves me for my passions and not something I'm forced to do! Also I was one of the ladies that jumped on Jaoquin at the end of the movie btw
@@IcyDiamond It's more so that they both have very similar plots, as explained in the video. A protagonist that has a passion for music is ostracized by their family, dies due to strange circumstances only to end up in the land of the dead, learns to be true to themselves during their journey alongside their deceased ancestors, and then goes back to the land of the living a changed but better version of themselves that follows their passion for music while developing an even deeper bond with their family. That specific plot describes both Book of Life and Coco, so with Book of Life coming out first, it's not too far fetched to see Coco as a copycat. They're both unique movies, but they're also very similar in terms of plotlines.
@IcyDiamond Yes, yes, I know, it's just that I was a spiteful 7 year old, and I haven't grown out of it yet out of stubbornness LOL They're both great movies, I just prefer The Book of Life overall
12:35 The reason Imelda was so angry was because Hector was gone for *years* at a time, and most likely unintentionally neglected the both of them. Hector still loved them both immensely, but got caught up in the fame. Imelda probably wanted to lay roots and settle down but Hector didn't want to let go of his ambitions yet. A tragic story on all sides if you look into the hidden lore and bonus features.
12:09 personally i saw this more of her being mad he left her alone with their child in the first place, not the fact he didn’t come back because he died 15:40 I also think in the movie they were trying to explain that whole thing by saying “it’s A DAY to give to the dead, not take” as in, specifically on that day you should only be giving to the dead, and if you take from them on that specific day then you will be cursed
I'm also of the opinion The Book of Life is a better movie, but there are two things I understood (or at least thought to be implied) that was mentioned as a criticism here for Coco. "Why is it that stealing the guitar Migeal brought him to the land of the dead? Wouldn't this apply to every grave robber?" Because of the emphasis that he stole it _specifically_ on Día de Los Muertos, a day that you're supposed to be _giving_ to the dead, that is why he was sent there. Not just because of the stealing, but because he did so on a day in dedication and honor is supposed to be brought to the dead, and he dishonored the dead by stealing the guitar. "Why does Mama Coco have to be the one to share the memories? Why can't Migeal tell the others and that work?" Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure it's either mentioned or at least implied that how sharing the stories of the dead work is that they initially have to be shared by someone who knew the person in life. When a dies, stories of their lives get told to their loved ones and that's how their legacy continues. This method wouldn't work for Migeal because he didn't know his great-grandfather in life, only Mama Coco was around at that point. These are all my thoughts and I'm not 100% certain they are correct, but they're my interpretations to the answers to your questions when it comes to world building.
@@namikkou Thanks for the comment! For point one, that’s an ok explanation but I still think the stuff like grave robbers or hand me downs would still apply, even if it would happen way less. For point 2, I guess I’m not really the biggest fan of that concept cause I feel Miguel sharing his experience should be the culmination of the themes, esp. cause he realistically has a better connection to Hector. But I think if they developed Coco more as a character I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with it. Thank you again for the comment and the clarifications!
@@aolive11 You're welcome! This is at least from what I understood in my interpretation of the movie. Grave robbers are awful, can't give you an explanation for that, but Hand me downs are given by the person or someone related to them to someone else. That isn't stealing, so it wouldn't count. I think (like I said), what Pixar was going for was that the reason he ended up in the land of the dead is because he stole from the dead _specifically on_ the day of the dead, which could be taken as a "sacred" holiday to the dead, or even more so an insult than normal. But if this isn't what they were going for, I'm unsure. Second point, yeah I don't like it either and not sure if it really fits, but it's the only explanation that really makes sense
@@aolive11 can't exactly call something you give away yourself to someone else stealing, which is the case for hand me downs Anyways always team book of life and it's great
There are even deeper layers to the guitar situation. You need to remember that the guitar ORIGINALLY belong to Hector. Considering he was a musician before getting married and took that photo with Coco and his wife, it could have been his for a long time and thus make it a sentimental item. Then he gets unknowingly murdered, linking his spirit with the instrument and maybe the book too. Lastly, he wants to see his daughter again but can’t. That would likely leave the item with the family curse as he grasps for a way to reach the world of the living. Now Miguel comes along with the desire to play music just like his great great grandfather and steals the guitar on the day when the barriers to realm of the dead is at their thinnest. The correct mindset + the family connection + a cursed object + the correct timing pulled Miguel into the spirit world at soon as he strums the guitar.
4:04 personally I believe that the reason the family accepts him is due to how coco reacted, imagine your mom has dementia and is forgetting more every day, but then you see her so happy due to music. I think the family seeing the happiness coco had from the music made them see the good in what was always shown as bad. that's just my opinion though
I thought this was extremely obvious. One of my grandmas struggled with dementia and that scene really spoke to me. I really dislike how everything needs to be “spelled out”, this was heavily implied
As a Mexican i prefer Coco, because in Mexico, the book of life originally none of the songs are traducted and all are in english, but in coco that is the oposite. A comentary that resumes everything is: "The Book of Life is made from mexicans to americans, Coco is made from american to mexican"
Ever since I was younger I always felt ashamed of my culture, growing up in America and seeing all the Mexican stuff they’d do at school always made it feel so cliche and unnecessary, I hated it. Whenever they asked me if I did anything for cinco de mayo or dia de los muertos it always felt so cheap, though I started to try to embrace my culture more, seeing coco definitely didn’t help. it once again felt like a flanderized version of Mexican culture and I just couldnt enjoy it. I never felt that way once when I was watching the book of life just feels so real and natural about Mexican culture, it’s so passionate and made me feel invested in Mexican culture, that movie made me feel great. To be fair when I was watching coco I feel as though I was purely focusing on negatives since i wasn’t in the best mental state, but I just have to say the book of life is always in my heart ❤️
@@LeisireRubi0 Hey, I’m glad The Book of Life made you feel good about your culture. And I’m honored my video made you feel seen. Thank you for watching and sharing your experience!
I kinda feel the same way about Moana, being pacific islander. I do enjoy the movie but it really just feel like a "Hey Westerners! Doesn't this culture look very pretty?" type of thing, rather than being a genuine story. (This is just how I personally feel about it anyway). Also I'm kinda sad that they only portrayed Polynesian culture and what little they showed of Melanesia were only the small villians (the Kakamora being inspired by Solomon Islands mythology)
@@heidenrosleinmondschein3933 Thank you for the insight! I never registered that since I’m not a Pacific Islander. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Coco isn't about the healing power of music or a need for Miguel to prove his worth. Its about familial bonds and how generational trauma can blind and alienate you. The theme of following your heart is just a catalyzing or motivating force that stumbles you into the rest. The Book of Life is also an amazing film but they're very different as following your heart, healing through music, freedom through passion, and complexity of masculinity are central themes. This isnt Antz vs A Bug's Life which have very similar messages in competition with each other. They should be compared as a "If you love this and want more with different flavors, you might like that".
As a mexican, i don’t really like Book of Life that much. I think its just a satire of mexican culture, it fails at portraying mexico, hell, the central region of mexico where they’re at isn’t even a desert. It feels more Spanish than Mexican, especially for the time period they were attempting to capture. Coco is much, much more accurate to mexican tradition and culture, and thats why i like it alot. Just personal thoughts from my part. I still think Book of Life is a good fun movie but not in the more culturally accurate way.
lol that’s what I was thinking. The town in the book of life looks a lot more like Spanish architecture. Mexico is much more colorful looking than that
I like how you point out, accurately, how campy and larger than life "Book of Life" can be. This is most certainly a flavour intentionally imbued by it's creator. The very same creator who made the Nickalodeon Cartoon "El Tigre: The Adventures of Mahny Rivera".
Okay but that would destroy the entire plot of the entire movie because the entire story is Miguel meeting his Great Great Grandpa and going back to the land of the living so if you kill him then that means that can’t go back to the land of the living because he is dead now, and when he dies he won’t be a human he will be a skeleton like the rest of the cast
@@Fandom_Man That could have a pretty simple explanation. It’s the Day of the Dead, so this is the one day the two worlds are connected, and people in limbo can cross both. Miguel would have to reunite with his body before the death is permanent (let’s say by midnight), similar to the film. In my opinion this change adds more stakes/consequences than what we were given.
@@aolive11 okay but in order to cross the bridge and get into the land of the living you have to have at least one photo of yourself put on a families ofrenda, and I know for a fact it will take more than a day for someone to consider you dead. Also if that is the case then this messes up the entire universe as well, your telling me that if you die on the day of the dead then that means everyone has a chance to go to the land of the dead and then has a chance to return back to the living world, your telling me you would rather have a random moment where anyone that dies on the day of the dead can go back to being alive just because their spirit returned to their body, rather than it just being a curse for stealing from the dead, it makes way more sense for the plot to be Miguel getting a blessing from his family because he did in fact steal from his family, and getting a blessing from one of them shows that they forgive him for stealing and also giving him a permanent task as a consequence for his actions.
@@Fandom_ManI didn’t mention this in the video, but the picture thing is also pretty dumb cause the more important part (in both real tradition and the movie) is keeping the memory alive. If it was about the photo on the ofrenda, why didn’t Hector get his final death immediately? The movie implies he’s saved once Coco gets her memory back. Plus, in the book of life the guy dies and he comes back, and they gave a good explanation. Also, he didn’t steal from his family, he stole from De La Cruz. Unless you're referring to the picture he stole, but a)stealing a picture isn’t stealing from the dead per se, and b) even if it was the movie heavily implies it’s because he stole the guitar
@@aolive11 no I am saying he stole from the dead because that guitar is Hector’s and Dela Cruz stole it from him for his performance. Also I don’t think you understand the meaning of the photos, the photos are a way of showing how you families and generations have a way of remembering their relatives, but even if certain skeletons photos aren’t on ofrenda’s that doesn’t mean they are completely forgotten in other minds, Coco still loved her father even after he left her and always was waiting to see him return home, also the scene where she started to remember who Hector is and her family, this is an actual way of making people who have trouble remembering certain events at an old age using their favorite song, a music sung back in their younger days.
@@Fandom_Man Oh, I see what you’re saying about the guitar. I see why you’d come to that conclusion, but it is just a theory (unless there’s a scene I’m missing where they explain that). And I don’t think a plot element of that scale should be up to interpretation. When it comes to the photos, I misinterpreted one of your other comments. So yes, one’s own memory should allow you to stay in the Land of the Dead. Now what I believe you were saying was that Miguel shouldn’t have been able to cross back to the Land of the Living in my rewrite (even in dead form) because his photo wasn’t on the ofrenda. My counter argument was that there shouldn’t be any border crossing concept related to photos on the ofrenda. Now yes this does change quite a bit, especially in relation to Hector’s character, but I think this would be better for both worldbuilding and thematic moments
As a Mexican I've always disliked the Book of Life. It feels so disconnected from the actual holiday, beliefs and traditions. It's a fantasy world that someone decided to loosely base on Mictlán, but still doesn't make sense with the actual cosmology of the Nahua. Coco however, is an actual homage to our traditions, history and people. It's afterlife is a more accurate portrayal of what the afterlife could possibly look like in modernity, as most who celebrate no longer believe in Mictlán or the Aztec pantheon, but rather a strange fusion that's more Catholic-heavy.
For me coco is boring. I don't know, maybe it's the conceptual style drawn by Disney or the cliché of the main villain that Disney always put on being good at the beginning and became the antagonist.
I honestly do agree with everything in this video: Don’t get me wrong, I love watching Coco and I think it’s one of Pixar’s best movies (not my favorite cause Inside Out is my favorite) but something about Book of Life is just so special to me and every time I watched it. I just loved it way more than Coco (and personally I think it handled protagonist who wanted to be a musician way better and the one complaint I had with Coco was that Miguel’s family specially the grandma never apologized for destroying his guitar)
Nah you tripping on the mama coco part, she was the only one in the family to show nothing against music and was never stated to be against music and was shown enjoying music from her father, not to mention it was strongly implied coco’s mom was the one who started the hatred and that coco was not against it or her papa due to the fact that coco called for her papa a lot throughout the whole film which showed she still held love for him at a surface level instead of being buried like her mom
Ive always felt so strongly this way. I remember my first time watching The Book of Life, in 6th grade spanish class. My teacher made us watch it in spanish (of course lol) and I immeditly fell in love with the holiday and culture and the same day went home and watched it again in english. I still like coco, but I feel The Book of Life did it so much better.
this is a joke that Jorgue Gutierrez, the director and character designer for book of life often makes, poking fun to how the hollywood movies only seem to focus in the USA. also is a mexican holiday
I grew up with this movie. Im glad this movie has been getting the praise it deserves. I wish it was more known. Coco is okay I guess, but Book of Life will forever be my favorite. Anyways back to trying to find that one movie I saw on netflix where this hot toucan witch cloned an army of robot chickens
19:50 That might have to do with the fact that it canonically, it actually is being animated with wood figures. Did you miss the first part of the movie?
Yeah, that’s the canonical explanation. I just appreciate that the writers/animators went out of their way to do the storybook concept instead of the almost generic 3D look most films had done
y es chistoso que realmente coco si implemento mejor las tradiciones mexicanas mientras que el libro de la vida aunque es una muy buena película realmente parece mas una pelicula basada en españa y no en méxico xd PD: vengo del canal de zowl (un mexicano(
@@Misbo3374 a mi el libro de la vida me gusta mucho tambien xd (como película diría que me gusta mas que coco la verdad) pero es innegable que pixar si hizo un mejor trabajo adaptando la cultura mexicana XD
Lo que dice el retarded de Zowl no tiene sentido, creer que es España solo por que las corridas de toros se practican, incluso después de la Independencia y actualmente, es absurdo. La herencia colonial es mostrada como un recurso de lo que es Mexico actualmente, no como el pilar fundamental que la historia de la peli.
As a Hispanic that know about Mexican culture. I can say, Coco is a better representation than book of life. Book of life is like an amalgam of Mexican stereotypes and the worst thing is that bullfighting is one of the few things that does not represent Mexico at all, but rather represents Spain. I guess that why a lot of americans like book of life more than coco it is because book of life is what americans thinks mexico is. And coco is what mexico is, what could be boring for some people.
@@emmanuelunsc I think Book of Life is just more enjoyable and straightforward, it has nothing to do with stereotypes. Both depict Mexican culture well, just in very different ways. Bullfighting was a big thing in Tijuana for a while, so it is still representative of Mexican culture. Coco represents a very specific aspect of Mexico well, but it doesn’t entirely showcase the whole country. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just what it is.
Not to mention that the book of life had such a beautiful art style, while yes, Coco is beautiful in its own way, but the designs are still just like the regular mold that Disney does for its 3-D movies. Completely agree in Coco, the whole Day of the Dead aspect sort of feels like an afterthought in the plot. Not completely, but just a little, while BoL has it as a big main factor for the whole movie along with the other subplots.
I'm gonna be honest, some of the points you made against Coco don't make a lot of sense. I understand the "no consequences" critique but like... "Miguel doesn't work to hard for his music" What does that mean??? Miguel learnt all of his musical skills in secrecy. He had to make his own guitar, hide his De La Cruz CDs from his family and had to learn to play just by watching De La Cruz. You can't tell me that he didn't work hard enough for his music after seeing all that. "The central theme of both stories is to stay true to yourself" Wrong, at least in the case of Coco. That is a theme, but the actual central conflict is against superstition. The theme of Coco is to get rid of the families harmful tradition against music that makes them lash out against anything vaguely musical. You're missing the forest for the trees here. "Shouldn't Coco still have terrible memories of her father?" Why would she? Remember Me is a lullaby that Héctor made specifically for Coco. He ran away while she was very young so it's very likely that she would have good memories of him unlike her mom who just thinks that he ran away searching for fame. Also in the world-building section: "So does anyone who robs a grave get sent to the afterlife?" According to the rules of Coco, yes. I fail to see why that's a problem with the world-building "What about hand-me-downs?" They won't count because that's not stealing. "Why can't Miguel pass-on Héctor's memory?" The movie explains this. You need someone who knew you in the living world to pass on your memory. As for Book of Life, I'm sorry but I genuinely found it to be a mediocre and forgettable movie with bland dialogue and a stupid love triangle plot. There were also a bunch a cutaways in the beginning and middle to these random schoolchildren that took me out of the movie. Cool artstyle, but that's about all I can praise about this movie
Aight, I won’t go over your critiques of Book of Life cause that’s up to personal preference, but here’s my rebuttal for Coco: 1. I’m not talking about earning musical talent. I’m talking about earning acceptance from his family. Which is a pretty big deal in the movie. He just gets a free card cause of the murder mystery, which goes to 2. A father leaving at a young age is a pretty terrible thing, especially since the explanation Coco would’ve believed is that he left for music. Most people are pissed at their fathers when that stuff happens, a lullaby isn’t gonna do anything. I’d want to forget that if my father left me. 3. Then why is everyone surprised that Miguel is there. Grave robbing is something that happens a lot, which in this instance I’m considering any archaeological find as grave robbing. And even in this case Miguel was gonna return it. Is it really stealing if De La Cruz doesn’t own it anymore. 4. Fine, hand me downs isn’t really stealing. 5. It would still be the same result if both Miguel and Coco talked about Hector. I don’t see why it makes a difference. They give an explanation but it’s a weak one Edit: 6. The theme of superstition and staying true to yourself is basically the same thing here. His family has a superstition, which Miguel doesn’t like, so now he has to overcome that by staying true to his love of music
@@aolive11 Fine here's my rebuttal to your rebuttal 1. He didn't really need to earn his acveptance though? Miguel was just the kid of the family, he had nothing to prove. I'd argue "earning acveptance from your family" isn't really as big of a theme as you claim. 2. Sure but it's not that unbelievable for Coco to miss her dad, especially if she was old enough to remember how they used to sing with each other 3. Is grave-robbing that common of an occurence? Idk, I guess you could say that people were more shocked by a random tween from the living world entering than the grave-robbing part. 6. Sure I'll give you that. I found it satisfactory but that gets into more subjective territory. Honestly as a film, Coco is one of the weaker Pixar films. Not bad, more like a 7/10.
@@ChiangKai-Shrek 7/10 is not a bad rating. It’s enjoyable enough. 1. You stated my exact problem. As a character I can’t connect with Miguel much cause he gets a free pass. I don’t think it super matters that he’s a kid, plenty of kids’ dreams are destroyed by abusive parents. I think the movie just has too many conflicting messages to really hone in on a central theme (which is probably what I should’ve stated in the before) 2. I think my issue would be solved if Coco as a character was focused on more. I can get behind the idea of missing her dad if they really delved into it. Cause as of right now I personally think she’d be more distressed than happy hearing the song. 3. Fair enough Like I mentioned, 7/10 is honestly a pretty good rating. I’m pretty harsh on it, but I think my main issues could be resolved with some relatively minor adjustments (other than Miguel dying, that’s not so minor lol)
@@aolive11 Yes exactly, Coco was enjoyable just nothing amazing As for the rest of your points, I don't really have much of a rebuttal, so let's just agree to disagree. Your video kinda made me wanna rewatch the Book of Life though, so I'm gonna do that tomorrow
I saw both movies. I liked Coco. I thought Book of Life was good but still a predictable romance at times. I don't think predictability is bad per say but it didn't subvert my expectations. Coco was a film about family, not romance. That's what I liked a lot more. It's rare to have a movie without romance for the main character. The lead of Coco, the kid, loves music and his family. He didn't need a romance plot. Book of Life is about many things, and romance is one of them too. But I thought a movie where the romance was background in Coco was interesting.
@aolive11 Do you know if Book of Life is available on streaming? I haven't seen it in many years but I would be willing to give it a re watch. Coco is more available thus I have seen it multiple times. I am willing to see Book of Life again and then share my thoughts if I believe a second viewing will change my mind.
@aolive11 Alright, I had the chance to rewatch the book of life. Upon rewatch, I stand by my original opinion. Coco and BoL are very different movies in tone despite using the Day of the Dead as inspiration. BoL feels very childish and immature in tone. It starts off by setting up a premise where kids are being told the tale. This idea might work for what it does yet it also dumbs down a lot because we hear the kid constant input and dialogue. But the whole tone of the movie feels way more immature on average. The movie never takes itself seriously so every important moment kinda falls flat. The biggest emotional scenes (apologizing to the skeleton bull in the underworld) are impactful but nothing truly tugs on the heart strings because the film never earns a mature, emotional tone. La Muetre and Xibalba are IMO the best things about the film. Their wager is a great concept. Their designs are 10/10. Their characters are great as neither is good nor evil. Manolo is a decent enough lead but I don't feel like his love for Maria is deep or meaningful. He just seems to love her cuz the plot says so. It's just so obvious that Maria will marry him that the entire plot feels pointless. The bet feels cheap when we as the audience could guess in the first 10 minutes that guitar boy will win the girl's heart eventually. Nothing subverts expectations. I would have vastly preferred if neither guy ended up with the girl tbh. Joaquin is played for laughs a lot. He has a good arc of being selfless by the end. But it's so unbearably predictable that Maria will not marry him. Maria feels kinda "I'm not like other girls" which hurts her as a character. The movie keeps insisting that she's better and different than other girls. She reads books for fun! She learned fencing and Kung fu in Europe! She doesn't wanna be a common wife to her husband! She feels like the stereotype of how fiction tries to portray a strong, independent woman, but tbh I don't think it felt earned or deserved. I don't see why either boy loves her so deeply during their decade apart. And when Maria falls flat, it cheapens the entire wager about who will marry her. She just feels like a generic girl that the plot insists the boys must love yet I never feel that love is earned. She reminds me of Belle from Beauty in the Beast. I don't like Belle tbh but at least she is the main character of her own film, while Maria is secondary to Manolo and Joaquin arcs. Maria doesn't really have an arc at all. She just goes abroad, levels up skills, and every guy wants to marry her when she returns. Seeing the ancestors in the land of the dead was nice but again the movie lost me in the comedy and the immature tone. The movie had the potential for emotional moments (like when Manolo reunited with his mom), but those brief scenes are lost in the sea of constant jokes and humor and childish scenes. This is minor complaint but Manolo doesn't even write his own songs. He sings existing songs. Some great musician he is. He doesn't even write his own material xD BoL is a movie with great animation and a unique premise of the wager between gods. But the romance is so bland and predictable that I don't feel like it was an earned romance triangle at all. Coco is a more mature plot that always takes itself seriously and has emotional scenes and dark scenes. Yes it also has comedy, too, and not all the jokes will land. But it's not childish or immature in tone. It has a great plot and it centers itself on family first and foremost. BoL is centered around romance primarily with family as the secondary theme.
So many people in these comments just straight up missed stuff in Coco 😭 I get preferring a movie over the other but some things have literally been explained so why even use them as your points as to why book of life is better. Like not understanding why Miguel’s family immediately accepts him after what happened with Coco… as someone who has had a grandmother struggle with dementia, I could see how anything and literally anything that could bring her back even for a few moments made my mum insanely happy even in such situations. They very much understood what was beautiful about something they had been disliking for pretty much no reason other than “it’s a family thing”. The stealing from graves thing? It’s explained in the movie lol
I don’t get why these movies are always pitted against each other. There’s like millions of Christmas movies out there and we just accept that, but how dare there be two movies about Día de los Muertos! Joking aside, they both slap.
Personally I'm not the biggest fan of The Book of Life, it has a myriad of pacing issues, we don't get to go to the land of the dead until OVER HALFWAY through the movie, the first half of the film is full of melodrama and pointless gags, while the second half rushes through the land of the dead part of the story which is supposed to be the main focus of the film. And as a Mexican, Coco just feels like a much more authentic depiction of life in Mexico, I mean there's a reason Coco broke records in box office sales in Mexico and The Book of Life sort of came and went. It's an ok movie but to say it's better than Coco, I never understood how, Coco isn't perfect but it's a much better made film.
@@tubguinace imo, Coco’s success has more to do with it’s good marketing and brand recognition than the quality of the film itself. It happens all the time with other lackluster films. I don’t agree with your takes on Book of Life, but I think that comes down to personal preference, and I respect your opinion. Thanks for the comment!
@@aolive11 Well the thing is, Mexican audiences loved Coco and seem to all agree the movie is very authentic. If it were down to marketing and brand recognition alone and the movie was truly seen as lackluster, then the audience reception wouldn't have been that positive. The Book of Life was heavily marketed in Mexico, I actually lived there when it was in theaters, Fox tried to push it to Mexican audiences hard especially with how popular Diego Luna is in Mexico, but it didn't quite stick. I know it's odd that the movie that was made by an actual Mexican feels less authentic to Mexicans than the Disney one, but when you realize Jorge Gutierrez spent most of his early life in Tijuana so he could commute to the US regularly to the point he actually went to school in the US, it starts making more sense. I'm not shitting on him at all, he's one of my favorite artists, but a lot of people overestimate just how authentic his work is. His expertise comes mostly from consuming Mexican media than his actual life experience, The Book of Life is more of a straight up tribute to the golden age of Mexican cinema than it is inspired by real life Mexico like Coco is. Sorry for the long reply, I just always find the discussion around this movie very interesting.
@@tubguinace I’m not saying Coco isn’t authentic or less so than BoL. My point with the marketing is that if a film with that level of hype even somewhat delivers people will love it. Endgame, The Force Awakens and Barbie aren’t that good but they received huge praise/success in large part due to the marketing and hype. I can’t really comment on the BoL’s push in Mexico cause I don’t live there. I will say I think because Coco’s character moments are better crafted they strike a more emotional response than Book of Life
The book of life has SO many more spaniard customs and influences and the weird song selection that break immersion immediatly. i admit its a really good movie but its more representative of Nueva España than representing México itself (which is fine, another example of this is the leyendas saga, e.g: la leyenda de la nahuala) Guillermo del toro has a more solid storywriting and independence compared to pixar having to play it stupidly safe due to disney being disney
I watched the Book of Life once and it was okay, it’s not bad but it literally made me feel nothing. Whereas Coco is probably one of those memorable movies, with an heavy emotional ending at the end along with an excellent twist villain. That’s just my opinion, just a disagreement I wanted to share.
Okay this is CRAZY coincidental for me. My friend and I watched this movie on Thursday the day this video was posted and we got into a deep discussion about how it was better than coco in its messaging and style and the like. To the point I decided to use it as a reference in a college discussion post later that night on entertainment vs Education and if there was a golden ratio in media. It’s a honest thing that Coco not only falls flat on its cultural influences, but it’s message of be who you want to be is muddled with the importance of family to me. Cause it feels more about family than it does being yourself. Also the fact that there’s a border control in coco makes me absolutely sick now that I realized it. And that there’s a class divide even in the afterlife. It hurts to see realizing it now when I’m older. Sure there’s a land of the forgotten in the book of life but it isn’t represented via being poor and being unable to see their families if they have any. It hurts to see now in coco, and it kinda has soured that to me.
that part of the class division and the border control counts as representation in Mexico because there is a lot of poverty in Mexico, and also there a lot of mexicans who cant go back to Mexico because they dont have documents, besides, there is actually a real fear when whe are trying to go to the USA, even if its just for shopping or visiting family. I recently moved to USA and I haven't been able to come back because my mother fears of insecurity in the border or even getting kicked out of the country. Also, i'm mexican and coco feels more like home than el libro de la vida
Unpopular opinion: While Book of Life is more adored than Coco, Coco is more sympathetic and realistic to our hispanic and mexican people, Coco also has original songs while Book of Life has american songs in it? Yeah no, Coco is my favorite overall I feel like Book of Life is more targeted to american audiences therefore I can see where your'e coming from, but coming from a mexican-american with a life deeply rooted with hispanic and mexican heritage and a lifestyle too, Coco hits harder, also Bull fighting originated in Spain...
Finally someone with common sense, i've been reading these comments for a while, just comments of people glazing The Book of Life with no arguments, having hearts from speedforce itself. While the comments that actually explain some of the nickpicks of Coco (which is most of the video), don't get any recognition
Hi, I'm Mexican too and honestly, I don't believe that! Especially on your point about "more American songs than Spanish songs" when the main song we *always* play at gatherings is literally a Spanish version of Achy Breaky Heart (No rompas mi corazón) and *everyone* comes out to dance to it. Also, yeah! Bull fighting does comes from Spain but *a lot* of our culture comes from Spanish colonialism----it's the whole reason we even speak Spanish in the first place! That bleeds into our culture and I don't really see a point in bringing it up tbh. Another thing is that I don't even think Coco represents our "lifestyles" very well. Sure, the streets *look* like Mexico but it feels like walking on a movie set. The narrative doesn't help either since music is a such a big part of our celebrations and having a family that separates themselves from it automatically makes the whole film feel foreign. I don't feel like I know these people let alone their way of life no matter how many Dia de los Muetros decorations they throw at the screen. It all feels very hollow to me
@ oh trust me I’m know a lot about my heritage and history on the ancient mexicas and Mexico itself but I get it some people are gonna have preferences but in all honesty I like book of life but coco just hits in the right spot :))
I agree with almost all of your points, except the questions you raise after the explanation for how Miguel got to the land of the dead. It was pretty clear that the guy was talking about stealing ON Dia de los Muertos, not just conventional grave robbing. Lara Croft isn't necessarily stealing personal items that held great sentimental value, and even if she were, all the owners would've been long forgotten. Even generational hand-me-downs are traditionally passed on before the death of the previous handler, making them gifts and therefore not stolen.
I honestly love Coco a lot and do somewhat prefer it over The Book of life, but I completely agree with a lot (if not all) the points made in this video. For me, both movies slap for different reasons.
Coco and the book of life aren’t even similar they just have similar themes because they revolve around the same holiday. The same as Christmas movies having similar themes any other similarities are just superficial . With that being said coco is more accurate to Mexican culture even down to its all Latino cast
@@jovanym2931 The movies have almost identical plots, character motivations, and other random things like twin ancestors and a villain dying from a bell. Their similarities extend beyond the shared holiday. Also, surface level stuff like the cast and iconography doesn’t necessarily make it more authentic. The Star Wars sequels have lightsabers, Tie Fighters, and Palpatine, and they’re not that authentic to Star Wars. I’m not arguing BoL is more authentic than Coco, but simply that it handles its themes better
@@aolive11an all Latino cast probably helped in making the movie feel more authentic though given that’s their culture or something very close to it… lol
Coco doesn't have the best writting but it represents the culture way better than any other movie. And it's the little details that makes it better, small refenrencies like "cine de oro age", the traditional long names of people, large families, architecture, traditional food and jobs, charro culture, music, as well as common social issues like classism, betrayal, the dangers of messing with powerful people (when Miguel is thrown to a pit for knowing too much) crossing "to the other side" and being unable to come back to your family. On the other side The book of life has a torero protagonist, which is not really representing mexican culture since is something more spanish than mexican unlike charro or mariachi which have spanish roots but were developed in Mexico, it has a generic town and in the music aspect, as much as I love Radiohead, watching a torero singing creep feels off. It's more appealing to the USA audience rather than Mexico's specialy when it's supposedly taking place in the postrevolutionary time. I don't go with the masses in things like "it's made in mexico so it's better or it's made by a mexican so it's better". The book of life has a good story but the way it represents the culture is so mediocre. As I said Coco doesn't have the best script but it really does an excellent representation of the culture even coming from people who are not from Mexico.
I think about both Coco and Book of Life at least twice a month. With the book of life its always about how good that movie was and how I never apreciated it enough as a kid. And that I should watch it again soon because it was REALLY good. With Coco is because I remember that video essay about how insensitive it is to real life inmigrants in the way it treats it as a necessary evil instead of a instated opression. And about how I should rewatch that essay because it was REALLY good. Rarely about the movie itself tho
I'm not trying to sound rude but bro spent the whole video talking about the negatives of Coco and barely talks about the negatives or positives of the book of life
5:22 ‘why would he want to go back?’ Look even if his family doesnt support music, theyre still his FAMILY yknow, his parents are still good to him! like he probably has friends and a life, and people he’s close to that he’d rather stay with. Would you rather stay with your family and friends your whole life or go and explore a random world where you barely know anyone and everyone is a skeleton?? Sure the afterlife would be cool for like a week or two, but Miguel’s a smart kid and knows he would still miss his family 😭
No, book of life has more Spain stuff than Mexico, is not better than coco. Honestly both are ok, both have great songs, great animation, and lot of good stuff, but definitely Is not better, I can say coco has more stuff of Dia De Los muertos instead of book of life, I mean Why a bullfight??? That stuff has nothing to do with Dia De Los muertos Meanwhile coco atleast had an excuse To carry its story without deviating so much from the original message So yeah, both are just ok.
I never loved Coco, I actually kind of disliked it the first time I watched but it’s grown on me. The book of Life, however, I remember watching in theaters and having so much fun. We got it on DVD as soon as it came out and I’ve watched it dozens of times. I feel like watching the book of life and loving it so much kinda didn’t allow me to like Coco as much because I thought Coco was supposed to be direct competition.
I remember my ex hated me for not liking it. I'm surprised no one in the land of the living stand up for Miguel when his family hated music you would think someone would argue with them saying "let the kid play music, its his choice" I think his family would get in trouble if Miguel's Grandma would have destroyed his guitar in front of a big crowd of people, I feel like Miguel should have ran for it he would have gotten a bunch of people defending his love for music, weird inconsistencie is Hector said Ernesto he sings remember me everytime and hears it every day but doesn't tell Miguel its his song, but way later in the movie he tells Ernesto he took his song, so what confused me is why didn't he tell Miguel about this way earlier? All of this could have been avoided, Not to mention Ernesto's movies just so happen to be still playing, but I guess they couldn't come up for his twist villain side, it annoys me when people say he's the best twist villains but Charles muntz was a way better twisted villain from being alone from decades and it made sense for him to go crazy so along I think Coco should have been rewritten by 90% of it.
@@pedrosaabedra5653probably because there was no point in saying it. Hector had been in the spirit world for over 100 years while Ernesto had deeply overshadowed him. The people who saw his original performances had long since been forgotten and most people dying would only know of Ernesto. At that point, it would be exhausting telling everyone he was the original writer while the public brushed him off as bottom feeder.
I personally prefer Coco for one reason, that being pacing. I feel like the Book of life didn’t have enough time for the latter half of it's story. In every other regard, the movie is pure art, especially in the moments in the real world. The characters all have excellent chemistry, and the scenes are done expertly. However, in my opinion, I felt that coco, while not as experimental, kept the standard it set for itself from start to finish. I intend to see the Book of life again, because in most other regards, it is done immaculately, but the pacing towards the end didn’t do it for me.
I've held this opinion for so long, but now that I'm older? I just like both for simply being a story. One about accepting who you are, and the other simply a betrayal and enlightening of the past with a storybook ending of "happily ever after." Both are good, but I also realize that both are about two very different things. It just so happens that they're on/about the same holiday =]
18:45 Coco breaks its own worldbuilding by having Hector say that the only way for people to stay "alive" in the afterlife is by being remembered by people who knew them "in life" (in the scene where he plays the song for Chicharrón: "when there's no one left in the living world who remembers you, you disappear from this world"). So he still should have disappeared when Coco died, because she was apparently the only person who remained on earth who knew him while he was still alive. De La Cruz should be gone, too, whose offerings all apparently come from fans and not anyone who actually knew him, but Hector also says that it's the "stories" people tell about them that have to get passed down by the people who knew them in life, so it's left pretty vague: literally when the last person who remembers you dies is when you vanish from the Land of the Dead? Or you vanish when stories about you stop being told? If it's stories being told, then De La Cruz being found to be a fraud has just made him nigh immortal; people are gonna be talking about that for a LONG time And how the heck did Miguel convince his entire town that their Town Hero was actually a fraud? He HAD to have found some irrefutable evidence to prove it for the entire frikkin' town to turn its back on De La Cruz by the next year (the letters would have proven that he stole Hector's songs, but not the murder), but then De La Cruz will probably STILL live in infamy in the Land of the Dead and will still have fans who remember him/leave him offerings (something-something "but De La Cruz was the one who made the songs famous, not Hector!"), so...what happened to him? What happened to his mansion? Are the offerings meant for De La Cruz seized and distributed to the poor folks now? Why does the Land of the Dead even have poverty OR border security?? What is the POINT of the border security if they physically can't cross the bridge if their picture's not on an ofrenda, anyway??
Yeaaaaaah... no. No. both are fine depending your genre. I personally liked Coco more ngl. It doesnt matter when it comes to culture that much for me. Sure the mexican culture has some beautiful visuals and literally most people dont even know anything about it but i personally liked Coco more. Just personal opinion.
4:19 her only memories of hector are of him being her dad, singing to her, taking care of her. so despite what the rest of the family says she still believes in him. it can be assumed that she wasn't as adamant about the ban on music as her mama imelda was(she was said to have lived a long time so SHE was probably the one enforcing it and passed the idea onto miguel's grandma)
Mexican here…. I love Guillermo Del Toro, you can feel his influence here… but I completely disagree, book of life feels like a good second draft of what could have been a great script. But there are incomplete arks, abysmal pacing, bland and unidimensional characters (two of which are the main ones, Juaquin and Maria) the fact that the story is being told to a random group of kids in a museum is terrible, slows everything down and has no reason or payoff… the script is ridden with issues like this that I’m sure would have been solved if the script went to two or three extra revisions.
That’s what I was thinking. Why can’t people just appreciate two films instead of making it a competition? Just because one is better doesn’t mean it undermines the other
Why not? It’s just an opinion. And it’s on a light-hearted topic too. People are allowed to express that. It’s one of the purposes of the internet. He never said Coco is bad, just that Book of Life is better in his opinion, and he makes his argument for that. I like Book of Life more than Coco too. I can’t help but have that opinion. Book of Life had more of an impact on me. But I’m not going to dislike someone who likes Coco more. Maybe instead of telling people not to express their opinions, learn to be okay with hearing different opinions (especially for a topic as light-hearted as “favorite movies”).
Btw for anyone curious, the director of the movie Book of Life, Jorge R. Guttierez, has a lot of other works as well. Maya & the Three is a story inspired by the Mayan mythos, and El Tigre on Nickelodeon. Supposedly there is also some opinion of his floating around that he included Bullfighting as the protagonist's main obstacle in his story of acceptance is because bull killing is still a thing, especially in his hometown, wanting to shine a light on the animal abusive sport.
now, book of life messes a lot mexican lore mixing Mayan culture, US mexican stereotype and all of that (which i dont care really) but has a more interesting story, Coco represents well Mexico but the history is quite "meh its okay" and yea im mexican
I’ve had “The Book of Life “on my “to watch“ list for years and years, and I’ve just never actually sat down and watched it because it didn’t look _that good._ You’ve single-handedly convinced me to actually sit down and watch it this week! Great video.
You raise a great point about the whole twist villain thing completely derailing the story. Hector left to pursue music and didn't make it as a musician due to. yk. dying and all of that. I suppose it's supposed to add to the feeling of injustice as a quick way to make us like Hector more and hate De la cruz, but honestly the exposition backstory just detracted from the themes for me. Okay, so he was trying to get back to his family and then he got murdered. What does that have to do with the theme? I assume the intended theme was the vague "power of family, how your connections with those who have passed continue to stay strong and how our traditions and stories keep our loved ones alive." Now where does murder come in? Where does De la cruz, who we thought was Miguel's family this whole time, come in? Still a great movie to me, but I remember even when I was 10 my first thought was "aren't they eventually going to start forgetting to put people on the ofrenda anyway?" Always loved book of life though !! I saw it in the movie theater with my dad and sister when I was like 7 (it's been out for a decade holy shit?!?!?) so I have really really warm and fond memories of it. I saw it again for the first time in a long time a few years ago and was a bit surprised by how many jokes there were, since I only really remembered the part where Manolo goes to the land of the forgotten. I think there's more heart and more layers to peel away with this movie, and that's why I love it. It seems very unserious and kids love it, but it also has so much love put into it
The ending of coco was really got me confuse of how people suddenly believe that the music belong to coco's father without any strong evidence. The only evidence was miguel's story to afterlife which i doubt a single adult would believe it lmao.
gringos siendo gringos coco is better and no it's not because of disney it's because of the representation of culture The Book of Life is entertaining but despite being directed by a Mexican, it enhances the stereotypes of what Mexico is, mixing it with things from Spain to reach a larger audience. inform yourself well Eso no es México, jajaja
The Book of Life was so much better with the Day of The Dead now that I make sense of it. To be remembered isn't to be PHYSICALLY remembered, it's to be SPIRITUALLY remembered. To be truly you. The amulet Joaquin had covered not just his body, but his spirit. I always thought that all they had to do to fix the plot of Coco was to just literally remember the guy. But that's not the point, which is why The Book of Life succeeds. To be remembered, you have to be yourself first, and all the characters could be literally remembered.
the thing for me is the beauty in the book of life. it’s so satisfying to watch. and the ending when instead of killing the bull, it turns into petals and flies away, is so beautiful. book of life is way better imo. great video 🫶
I remember watching The Book of Lie a million times, but I also love Coco. I am a Mexican and personally I love both movies. They both made me cry and I enjoyed both of them. The colors and music are beautiful in both movies. As I said it’s only my opinion.
Some of y'all gotta watch the video before commenting. My points are about the writing, not "which is more authentic." I think they both perfectly display different aspects of Mexican culture. If I can't connect to the characters in Coco, I can't say it's a better movie even if you want to argue it's better representation. Stuff like the setting, music, and even voice cast are pretty surface level things imo, if the writing isn’t that great then the rest of that doesn’t really matter
Then it’s a good thing cocos writing is great
sounds like a skill issue then
I remember watching this in spanish lclass recently lool
MY BOY I LOVE THE BOOK OF LIFE I'VE NEVER MET ANYONE WHO HAS SEEN IT
@@ratro8208 i love book of life i rewatch it every year
How it feels to have an opinion you’ve held for years get a random video essay on it
I WAS WAITING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS LMFOAOAOA
I know that feeling, I’m absolutely happy this film is getting more praise!
SO REAL
every time someone say the book of life is a coco ripoff, a puppy dies
Hell yes
Biggest thing that I like about book of life is that Manolo, and Joaquin remain friends in the end.
I love that he doesn’t become antagonistic when Maria ends up choosing Manolo too. He just accepts it and is inspired to better himself.
@@lexx1745 I think on some level when he “wins” he also knows that it’s a hollow victory and the only reason Maria’s even considering him is cause Manolo is dead.
I mean, he’s kind of melancholy at that point himself.
Manolo may have been his rival in love, but he was STILL his lifelong best friend.
SAME! I was surprised that the usual “Gaston Character” as like to call the trope, turned out to be a swell guy and I love the fact he was willing to defend the town without forcing Maria to marry him
FR
The difference lies in The Book of Life being by someone who actually experiences Mexican culture regularly vs a huge corporation who doesn't even credit the family Coco is based on
Plus I'm pretty sure Disney also tried to trademark "dia de los Muertos"
@@lily_obsessed-lesbian they did lol
Pixar team took multiple trips to Mexico for inspiration. Also a little weird given that The Book of Life has half-white half-latino/a cast meanwhile Coco is all-latino
@spencerlane415 crazy how that's just the cast! the movie was directed and partially written by Jorge R. Gutierrez. He was born in Mexico City, in Mexico. Taking multiple trips to Mexico will never make the team behind Coco Mexican. hope that helps! ☺️
@@spencerlane415 I mean, a team that went on trips for inspiration and an author/artist that grew up there and experienced it by himself isn't quite the same. Gutiérrez's work is almost always about his home, heritage and Mexican iconography. And the cast to me is just a consequence of this being a movie released in 2014... Or maybe there's biases. Diego Luna and Zoe Saldaña did work on another Gutiérrez' production not long ago in Maya and the Three, as yet again the main couple lmao
A lot of context for Coco was sadly put into the book. So mama Coco apparently loved music throughout the whole book. It was her mom and daughter that did the ban. I felt like this could have been important for us to know for the movie.
Dang, I didn’t know that. They really should’ve included that. Thank you for letting me know!
I always thought that might be true for the movie as well
i thought that was implied the whole movie??? unless i read too much into it??
@@miud2201how did you get there though?
@@minimumwage2169 i haven’t seen it in a bit so maybe i’m misremembering but she didn’t seem to mind miguel singing to her/ talking about his music career,,, ik you could be like “well she’s old and doesn’t move much so really what do you mean” but if pixar wanted us to believe that mama coco was against him doing that they could’ve animated her with furrowed eyebrows and what not but they didn’t, she usually just had a content smile
Book of life introduced me to Radiohead and that fact alone makes it a better movie
LETS GOOOO RADIOHEAD MENTIONED
BUUT IM A CREEP 🗣🗣🗣
REAL
@SuperCoolPersonCalledLillith WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE 😭😭😭😭
@SuperCoolPersonCalledLillith WHAT AM I DOING HERE 🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥
I remember sitting in my Spanish class when my teacher asked us if we wanted to watch coco or the book of life and not a single person voted for coco cause that’s just how much better the book of life is. Truly an iconic film.
@@sebastianoliveros7228 lol, that’s crazy
same
Congrats for your full class being extremely cultured, your Spanish teacher should be proud.
Then why was Coco a successful film at the time? I don't understand. And why did those kids liked The Book of Life much better than Coco? (By the way, I'm not defending Coco, I don't like very much Coco as well, personally. I just want to know the POV of other people, thanks.).
@@jmrabinez9254Coco was benefited from Pixar’s recognition at the time. Whenever you heard Pixar, you thought of amazing movies. That plus the good marketing made it successful imo
I do like The Book of Life more than Coco. Another reason why I like The Book of Life is that Manolo onscreen dies because he wants to see Maria again in the Afterlife. Hell the kids that are being told about this story question why they are being told about characters dying. The importance of the theme of the holiday they are using, "Day of the DEAD."
@@estebangutierrez160 Great point! I was gonna go into that as well, but the video was getting too long lol
They really didn't have to kill all of Manolo's family, dude straight up lost his dad and grandma on the same day, and in the latter's case it's played as a joke. That was one of the few things i disliked about the movie
@@Duskool That’s fair
The book of life is FULL of passion in every aspect of its story. As someone who saw the book of life before coco, seeing coco just was so boring despite how much I heard about it.
Yes 100%!!! The passion with the finale of the bull fight is just amazing.
Exactly the same feeling
I don’t hate coco, but I never understood the hype for it. It’s not terrible, it was solid, but the book of life was THAT amazing to watch even to this day. Also I think the art style for the film is unique, I love it when a film has its own unique art style where it’s not a “hey, I know that’s from that ONE studio!” thing.
ive been saying this for YEARSSS and enjoyed the book of life 100x more as a kid, still enjoy it now. it subverts expectations so well - making maria a strong female character and not just some damsel in distress, having manolo and joaquin remain friends despite their conflict with loving maria + how joaquin is basically the rich popular guy of the town while manolo is more of an outcast but they stay friends. the book of life also has SUCH BANGING MUSIC holy crap i still listen to the soundtrack, especially the apology song. the animation is so unique as well, the characters being wooden puppets but even when it switches into the "real world" segments the characters still have fun exaggerated features. i could go on and on about this damn movie
@@RedInDenim The Apology Song is such a banger!
@@aolive11I second this
I’ve rewatched it so many times. I do love coco but book of life is far superior
@@aolive11 I third this
I also feel like The book of life made me a million times more intrigued to learn more about Mexican culture and beliefs. Coco in comparison felt less creative and passionate about the actual culture. Coco just felt like your basic cookie cutter story. But the book of life felt like a magical story book you would read in bed as a kid.
It's also fun because the book of life has some Hispanic elements, but it still makes a better job than coco
Yeah!!! This movie is the definitive reason why I fell in love with Mexican culture
if it helps, i think Coco has a more accurate representation of what Dia de los Muertos feels like when you're walking through the streets. as in, its good passive representation of the holiday itself, but Book of Life feels infinitely more mexican (also has a lot more mythology, like Xibalba)
Coco felt like a story set in Mexico. Book of Life felt like going to a Mexican restaurant with your family and seeing a live band.
@@grammy_hnng Nah, coco feels more mexican, the book of life feels more how a pocho sees México XD
coco seems to me like the a babys first introduction to Mexican culture, for me. when i saw the book of life, it's much more in depth emotionally and gorgeous. i feel like i can relate to coco more because of how the movie makes me feel, the songs are powerful, and it made me feel a little bit someber the moment i saw the credit scene. "remember me" is a classic. i really love how the book of life is much more lighthearted, and "alternative" in comparison. the fact that they played radiohead is chefs kiss. anyways, what I LOVE what they have in common visuals, it's eye candy galore, and the ability to move you, emotionally. it's crazy!
@@mikaela3746 Very well put
How a Mexican who has lived 23 years in this country coco It's the best movie of both, We don't watch it for the story or the plot, it's because we're literally watching our family members again on the screen.
Every time I watch the movie I cry because it reminds me of my father who passed away when I was 8 years old and since then every November 2nd I celebrate his memory.
Coco It is much more Mexican than The book of life by far.
@@aragonmoralesfaustodavid5548 Well I’m sorry to hear about your father, but people watch things for different reasons. For me if the plot/story isn’t that good, then it doesn’t matter how well crafted the emotional scenes are.
I’m also not sure how Coco is more Mexican. Maybe it’s more like your particular region, but Book of Life heavily draws from different aspects of Mexican culture, especially from the director’s own life
@@aolive11 The Book of Life's director was educated and has spent most of his life in the US.
@@aolson1111 And? That’s not an indicator of how culturally connected you are. People have spent their entire lives in the US without speaking a lick of English. I’ve met people in Chicago more passionate about being Mexican than people in Tijuana.
In my opinion the book of life tackles the outside/living world more and better then how coco does as coco is more focused on the land of the dead
coco is more focused on "yourself" rather than the needed theme being the day of the dead, theres literally like nothing that stood out in the land of the dead
I liked both. I was aware of Mexican culture and Dia de los Muertos and other aspects, mainly being a Texan.
Yes. But can anyone talk about how talent manolo is?
Bro is basically practice both music and bull fighting. And not just any practice. It's practice enough to make a top tier performance. With the fact that bro never has any cheating item too.
Yeah, I dont think anyone in coco can outperform that
@@grildrago Facts were spoken
Exactly. Bro was a perfect musician AND he could take on and dodge a giant skeletal bull. Not to mention before that he actually survived being attacked by HUNDREDS of skeleton bulls
Something that makes me like the book of life better than coco is the fact that, unlike in coco, there are actually higher powers that rule and put order to both the land of the remembered and the land of the forgotten (La Catrina, Xibalba and the Candleman). It felt weird for coco not to have any type of ruler/god of any kind, more so with the mayan motifs they went with for part of the land of the dead. It just felt loose in a way, even with the alebrijes (spirit guides).
Also also, I much prefer the art direction the book of life had. Coco, while REALLY pretty and colorful felt a bit "flat" if that makes sense, it just felt like a fantasy town with skeletons but it didn't really feel that grand. Book of life on the other hand made the land of the dead (and forgotten), feel a lot more otherworldly and chaotic. It genuinely felt like another world from the sheer amount of weirdness it packed, just look at size of the parties from when Manolo arrives in the land of the dead or the look of la Catrina's castle for example, it looked both beautiful and massive, yet alien in a way, something you would expect from a spiritual world and something that coco greatly lacked in my opinion.
@@painterguy6469 I completely agree with what you said about the art directions. And I hadn’t even thought of the higher powers not being in Coco. Great points!
Also Coco never showed the land of the forgotten. I prefer Book of Life.
This !!
To be fair, a world built around humanity (even if it is dead, even if it's through divine/supernatural means) would retain its humanity. In Coco we're shown that people generally continue to do what they did in life after death which makes sense since those that are able to travel to see their family as themselves with their passions and memories.
The world Coco builds has the same positives and negatives as the real world (strife, crime, class divisions) but also grandeur, delight, and especially familial love (though I think these, especially the last one were not well represented-not like that's an entirely bad thing though, most stories thrive through a healthy amount of interpretation of the mind through emotion and letting imagination do the work rather than fully fleshing things out).
While I agree that a more alien and fantastical world would probably be more interesting, from the (VERY) limited knowledge I have on Dia de los Muertos (the dead come to visit as themselves, with their passions and memories intact) a reality where they are essentially living as humans generally within the confines of human life (not really fantastical) makes the most sense. Would be interesting to see a historical and modern perspective on this though.
I totally agree that it's a shame they didn't show the land of the forgotten though. Wouldn't have really made sense with the current plot of Coco though, I don't think.
each time i hear people talk about the Book of Life and Coco, my reaction is always like that one meme about cakes:
The Audience: ohhgg.. that cake is better than this one...
Me, a mexican: *HOLY SH*T, TWO CAKES*
(but fr i love these discussions)
Yes. One is better but OMG we got two animated movies about Day of the Dead.
@@princesspikachu3915 and 2 very good ones.
A mi en lo personal me gusto un poco más la de Coco, pero por poco, la neta ahí se dan un tiro las 2.
I watched Book of Life when I was a child and I wanna say I prefer Book of Life’s animation. Not saying Pixar’s is bad,hell it’s fascinating BUT I like the animation with wooden like characters more
@@LiterallyInklingGirl It has a very distinct animation style, which I really appreciate
@@aolive11it’s made by Jorge r Gutierrez who also made el Tigre so they both have very similar designs
That was one of my favorite aspects, too. Not only with the fact that they're being reenacted with puppets with the children, but they kept them _as_ those puppets the entire film. Added such charm and uniqueness to it.
I agree. As a kid I was legitimately obsessed with how incredible and unique Book of Life was!
One thing i would like to note about the book of lifes animation too, the gods are not wooden dolls even in the story, adding a layer of seperation between them and the mortals. Its like they are higher beings even in this recreation of the stoey
Another small nitpick on Coco- If the song Remember Me was something that Hector sang to Coco all the time, composed just for her and did every night, then why did she not immediately say that De la Cruz was stealing his original work? It's the most popular song everywhere, how did she not hear it before that moment or just let that plagiarism persist her entire life?
@@Lance-wants-tea That’s a great point! I guess we can assume she didn’t cause of the family’s ban on music, but it’s kind of a weak explanation/payoff
I feel like it's actually realistic. How would Coco know that Ernrsto killed her Dad, or that he stole that song? To her, all she knew was that her dad ran off with other musicians and never came back. If she heard the song later in life by Ernesto, wouldn't she only assume that her dad had made it big at some point and not immediately assume the song was stolen? Also as a toddler, how would she be certain that her dad wrote that song only for her?
@Koramiii The lyrics of Remember Me are very clear that the song was made for a specific person. Coco herself had it sung to her every night and could probably grasp the importance of it, considering that when she does remember she shows letters and kept part of a picture of Hector in her drawer. She knows what the song was for, she was also a young adult at some point and probably heard it EVERYWHERE.
Composers arent just people that hang around behind the scenes writing songs in basements for big artists. They also do get some recognition so I'm not buying that she'd never find it strange that Ernesto was the only one getting fame and glory WHILE PRANCING AROUND WITH HER DADS SONGS AND GUITAR
I think that, by the time anyone on the village had the mean to hear Ernesto singing, Coco could have just thought it became popular through Hector
I mean it’s shown that Eliza doesn’t let anyone play music and cuts people off before they can even play for five seconds and Imelda probably did the same thing we can assume even if coco did hear someone playing the song she was HEAVILY discouraged from following up on it
Didn't Disney try to copyright the holiday too?
No lol that was a “hoax” although I’m sure it was just a satirical joke
Yep, they tried unfortunately
@@aolive11 Wow! No way! Dia De Los Muertos is a traditional Mexican holiday and no one can own copyright on it? They might as well try copyrighting Christmas while they're at it!
@@Finity_twenty_ten Luckily that never went through. If we give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they wanted to make sure very specific parts (like Miguel’s character) weren’t stolen. But this is Disney we’re talking about…
@@aolive11 I bet you they just wanted to flex their legal muscles.
Coco makes me cry whenever I watch it, and the book of life makes me sit in awe of South american/mexican culture. Both are very good choices, in my opinion.
Oh my GODDDDDD THE APOLOGY SONG 😩😩😩😩 UGHHHHHH
manolo's va deserves more recognition bro
@MamaBinturong I'm saying, he's so talented
Facts 💯
@@MamaBinturongDIEGO LUNA, PUT SOME RESPECT ON MY MANS NAME😭😭😭 /j but yeah dude i FUCKING love Diego Luna.
oh yeah fun fact- he and Gael García Bernal (the guy who voiced Hector in Coco) grew up together and are best friends :]
18:11 If I remember correctly, the movie offered a reason. When Hector’s friend passes on to the final death, Miguel says he’ll go back to the land of the living and remember him there, bringing him back. Hector then says that it doesn’t work like that and that in order for the dead person to stay alive (?), they need to have memories from people who knew them while alive passed down. For people like Frida and Ernesto, I assume they stay alive even if they have no one who directly remembers them is because they’re famous. Famous people have stories about their lives put in books, movies, articles, interviews, everywhere basically. And if they’re famous then those memories stay around constantly. Either that or I assume there’s people bragging about the fact that they’re distantly related to those people, so that’s a family connection lol
It wouldn't have been a plot hole if we actually saw if dela cruz had family/families with him in the land of the dead, cause he's truly not gonna be forgotten as he was too famous for family lineage to forget. But we didnt see anyone who he's a kin to in any manner. Although if that took place it would have broken the plot of him getting to announce miguel as a grandchild to all his fans and basically the twist.
Pretty sure it’s also insinuated that an actual picture of the individual being honored/recognized needs to be apparent in order for them to cross. That’s what the whole gate and face matching bit is when the dead go to cross the flower bridge.
@@spencertamv3930 yeah, pictures are really the important bit. Actually doesn’t seem like family really matters at all! One of the people crossing the border has his photo on his dentist’s ofrenda, and I mean that’s literally just a guy. Unless they’re related or friends (in which case why would border patrol refer to him as just “your dentist”), Disney implies that you could put a picture of pretty much anyone you’ve met and have memory of on your ofrenda, and they’ll be able to cross into the land of the living on dia de Los muertos regardless of how close you actually were.
That feels like a contradiction if they have to have living people remember them in life and passing
Honestly, The Book Of Life and Coco are both solid in my opinion. You can’t really compare them because they’re both different movies, The Book Of Life is about romance and drama and Coco is about family values. Sure they may take place in Mexico and follow the Day of the Dead, and have some things in common like “you can’t play music or be a musician” but even that had different reasons in both movies. In The Book of Life, Manolo’s father didn’t want him to be a musician so he could focus more on bull fighting, but in Coco when Hector left Imelda and Coco for music, Imelda banned music from the family for generations to come because of a pettier reason. The main character going to the afterlife or The Land of The Remembered but still those were completely different reasons as Manolo basically committed s*cide to be with Maria (who wasn’t really dead after being bit by Xibala’s snake once) While Miguel stole Ernesto De La Cruz’s guitar and was transported to the Land of the Dead. The bell deaths were also similar but also quite different at the same time with Chakal getting crushed by the bell and then the bell blowing up on the inside, while Ernesto was crushed by the bell twice once during Remember Me that resulted in his death and at the end of Coco’s climax. I know both of these movies are similar but the themes are different. I love both of these movies so much and I can’t choose between which one I love more.
I have a dumb question: what is the significance of dying by large falling bells? What does that represent? I noticed quite a few animated movies utilizing it.
@@princesspikachu3915 I don’t really know unfortunately.
I like how you completely ignore everything he said in the video and go off on irrelevant tangents. One protagonist having a different reason than the other for the same premise doesn't discount either from being compared. That's like saying you can't compare black coffee to milk coffee. Sure you they have different ingredients, but they ultimately represent the same object and people will have opinions on which they prefer. And then you randomly talk about both movies having deaths by bells which have nothing to do with anything. He didn't even say the word "bell" even once in the video like what
@@readonlymemoriesbad example. A better one would be comparing blue lock to oliver and benji since both are centered on football
Correction: that is Hector’s Guitar that was stolen by Cruz. Hector’s murdered spirit longing to see his daughter was what cursed the instrument.
i was always confused at how everything that happened in the land of the dead magically affected everyone who was alive like.. we didn't see how miguel explained all of that and how he got them to believe him we just got a time jump
@@dimondcreeper0 They definitely needed to spend more time on that
It doesn't need to be explained. Coco is way better
@@AlexRamos49232why doesn’t it need to be explained? If it doesn’t need to be explained just because it’s a better movie then that’s fine but it sounds like favoritism
@allenromo7965 nope if you listen to the story. It really lays it all out. It's the magic of family love and never giving up on your dreams. You shouldn't either❤️
@allenromo7965 He literally gets Coco to talk fondly about her father and music, as well as the revelation that he didn't run away for music. The big reason they hated music was because they thought Hector ran away in order to pursue fame, but he didn't, so there was no reason for them to hate music any more
OML someone else finally brings up the book of life, it was so beautiful and underrated, but I had no one to discuss it with
In Coco's defense, I think it's heavily implied that it's not just stealing from the death, but doing it in Dia de los Muertos. Lara Croft would be fine as long as she's not tomb raiding during this particular day.
i was a bit confused at first with the thumbnail BUT THEN 0:21 HITS AND I REALISED I'VE SEEN THIS MOVIES. i agree its peak, sorry for not watching the full video tough. +1 sub
*HOMESTU-!!!*
@@theunknown2795 HEILL YEEAH. haven't changed my pfp in 8 YEARS.
In defense of Coco:
1. I think the implication is that stealing something from the dead on the Day of the Dead is a what caused the curse. Hand-me-downs and sentimental items from dead loved ones are obviously not the same thing.
2. I believe the memories of people have to be passed down generationally, meaning once Coco shared Hector’s memory, their family members could share it to the next generation.
I personally thought it was because the guitar originally belonged to Hector. Hector probably owned the guitar for a long time and he died carrying the instrument. Considering that he was murdered and his spirit was longing to see his daughter one last time, that would put a “family curse” on the instrument and maybe the book too. Normally this wouldn’t do much except it was the day of the dead, when the barriers between worlds is at their thinnest. Thus Miguel is spirited away when he strums it.
Plus this was also literally explained in the movie iirc 💀
I love the book of life SO MUCH!! When I was a kid it was literally the ONLY movie i wanted to watch due to how much I loved the characters and story. When COCO came out my family wanted to watch it but I literally cried, saying that it was a knock off movie based on The Book of Life and I still haven't watched the movie in theaters or any streaming site, only through the internet.
My family still quotes lines from the movie to this day, like how Maria said "I belong to no one" or the pointer finger during the Kiss Scene. The movie is just so much fun and from a critic's view also SO AWESOME. It's criminally underrated and will remain my favorite movie EVER.
It left a huge impact on my life and still drives me to follow my dreams, maybe one day finding my own Maria that loves me for my passions and not something I'm forced to do! Also I was one of the ladies that jumped on Jaoquin at the end of the movie btw
Two movies about the same holiday doesn’t mean one is a rip-off of the other
By your logic Elf is a Home Alone rip-off
@@IcyDiamond It's more so that they both have very similar plots, as explained in the video.
A protagonist that has a passion for music is ostracized by their family, dies due to strange circumstances only to end up in the land of the dead, learns to be true to themselves during their journey alongside their deceased ancestors, and then goes back to the land of the living a changed but better version of themselves that follows their passion for music while developing an even deeper bond with their family. That specific plot describes both Book of Life and Coco, so with Book of Life coming out first, it's not too far fetched to see Coco as a copycat. They're both unique movies, but they're also very similar in terms of plotlines.
@IcyDiamond Yes, yes, I know, it's just that I was a spiteful 7 year old, and I haven't grown out of it yet out of stubbornness LOL
They're both great movies, I just prefer The Book of Life overall
This is literally me coco is literally just a ripoff carried by Pixar’s reputation
@@triggerhappy4199 Holy shit it’s Trigger Happy from Skylanders, I love you man!
12:35
The reason Imelda was so angry was because Hector was gone for *years* at a time, and most likely unintentionally neglected the both of them. Hector still loved them both immensely, but got caught up in the fame. Imelda probably wanted to lay roots and settle down but Hector didn't want to let go of his ambitions yet. A tragic story on all sides if you look into the hidden lore and bonus features.
Maria was my bi awakening. She’s such a queen
She's mommy material
Omg congrats. Ugggh I remember wanting to be Maria so bad as a kid lol
@@corpsenymph4644The bi woman experience is wanting to be Maria and be with her at the same time lollll
I just love Latinas, Sonic
12:09 personally i saw this more of her being mad he left her alone with their child in the first place, not the fact he didn’t come back because he died
15:40 I also think in the movie they were trying to explain that whole thing by saying “it’s A DAY to give to the dead, not take” as in, specifically on that day you should only be giving to the dead, and if you take from them on that specific day then you will be cursed
I'm also of the opinion The Book of Life is a better movie, but there are two things I understood (or at least thought to be implied) that was mentioned as a criticism here for Coco.
"Why is it that stealing the guitar Migeal brought him to the land of the dead? Wouldn't this apply to every grave robber?" Because of the emphasis that he stole it _specifically_ on Día de Los Muertos, a day that you're supposed to be _giving_ to the dead, that is why he was sent there. Not just because of the stealing, but because he did so on a day in dedication and honor is supposed to be brought to the dead, and he dishonored the dead by stealing the guitar.
"Why does Mama Coco have to be the one to share the memories? Why can't Migeal tell the others and that work?" Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure it's either mentioned or at least implied that how sharing the stories of the dead work is that they initially have to be shared by someone who knew the person in life. When a dies, stories of their lives get told to their loved ones and that's how their legacy continues. This method wouldn't work for Migeal because he didn't know his great-grandfather in life, only Mama Coco was around at that point.
These are all my thoughts and I'm not 100% certain they are correct, but they're my interpretations to the answers to your questions when it comes to world building.
@@namikkou Thanks for the comment!
For point one, that’s an ok explanation but I still think the stuff like grave robbers or hand me downs would still apply, even if it would happen way less.
For point 2, I guess I’m not really the biggest fan of that concept cause I feel Miguel sharing his experience should be the culmination of the themes, esp. cause he realistically has a better connection to Hector. But I think if they developed Coco more as a character I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with it.
Thank you again for the comment and the clarifications!
@@aolive11 You're welcome! This is at least from what I understood in my interpretation of the movie.
Grave robbers are awful, can't give you an explanation for that, but Hand me downs are given by the person or someone related to them to someone else. That isn't stealing, so it wouldn't count. I think (like I said), what Pixar was going for was that the reason he ended up in the land of the dead is because he stole from the dead _specifically on_ the day of the dead, which could be taken as a "sacred" holiday to the dead, or even more so an insult than normal. But if this isn't what they were going for, I'm unsure.
Second point, yeah I don't like it either and not sure if it really fits, but it's the only explanation that really makes sense
@@namikkou Ah, I see what you’re saying about hand me downs. Yeah, that makes sense.
@@aolive11 can't exactly call something you give away yourself to someone else stealing, which is the case for hand me downs
Anyways always team book of life and it's great
There are even deeper layers to the guitar situation. You need to remember that the guitar ORIGINALLY belong to Hector. Considering he was a musician before getting married and took that photo with Coco and his wife, it could have been his for a long time and thus make it a sentimental item. Then he gets unknowingly murdered, linking his spirit with the instrument and maybe the book too. Lastly, he wants to see his daughter again but can’t. That would likely leave the item with the family curse as he grasps for a way to reach the world of the living.
Now Miguel comes along with the desire to play music just like his great great grandfather and steals the guitar on the day when the barriers to realm of the dead is at their thinnest. The correct mindset + the family connection + a cursed object + the correct timing pulled Miguel into the spirit world at soon as he strums the guitar.
4:04 personally I believe that the reason the family accepts him is due to how coco reacted, imagine your mom has dementia and is forgetting more every day, but then you see her so happy due to music. I think the family seeing the happiness coco had from the music made them see the good in what was always shown as bad. that's just my opinion though
I thought this was extremely obvious. One of my grandmas struggled with dementia and that scene really spoke to me. I really dislike how everything needs to be “spelled out”, this was heavily implied
As a Mexican i prefer Coco, because in Mexico, the book of life originally none of the songs are traducted and all are in english, but in coco that is the oposite. A comentary that resumes everything is: "The Book of Life is made from mexicans to americans, Coco is made from american to mexican"
Ever since I was younger I always felt ashamed of my culture, growing up in America and seeing all the Mexican stuff they’d do at school always made it feel so cliche and unnecessary, I hated it. Whenever they asked me if I did anything for cinco de mayo or dia de los muertos it always felt so cheap, though I started to try to embrace my culture more, seeing coco definitely didn’t help. it once again felt like a flanderized version of Mexican culture and I just couldnt enjoy it. I never felt that way once when I was watching the book of life just feels so real and natural about Mexican culture, it’s so passionate and made me feel invested in Mexican culture, that movie made me feel great. To be fair when I was watching coco I feel as though I was purely focusing on negatives since i wasn’t in the best mental state, but I just have to say the book of life is always in my heart ❤️
This video essay makes me feel a little seen, I just couldn’t explain what made the book of life better to me it just felt so good.
@@LeisireRubi0 Hey, I’m glad The Book of Life made you feel good about your culture. And I’m honored my video made you feel seen. Thank you for watching and sharing your experience!
@@aolive11 absolutely! This video is plenty well made and thank you- still on that journey and trying to embrace it more and I appreciate it. :D
I kinda feel the same way about Moana, being pacific islander. I do enjoy the movie but it really just feel like a "Hey Westerners! Doesn't this culture look very pretty?" type of thing, rather than being a genuine story. (This is just how I personally feel about it anyway). Also I'm kinda sad that they only portrayed Polynesian culture and what little they showed of Melanesia were only the small villians (the Kakamora being inspired by Solomon Islands mythology)
@@heidenrosleinmondschein3933 Thank you for the insight! I never registered that since I’m not a Pacific Islander. Thank you for sharing your experience!
my uncle knows the director of the book of life and thats my biggest flex about him
Nice!!
Lucky
I’m gonna keep it real, coco deadass made me cry
@@bdcchicken Yeah, that’s totally fair
Coco isn't about the healing power of music or a need for Miguel to prove his worth. Its about familial bonds and how generational trauma can blind and alienate you. The theme of following your heart is just a catalyzing or motivating force that stumbles you into the rest.
The Book of Life is also an amazing film but they're very different as following your heart, healing through music, freedom through passion, and complexity of masculinity are central themes.
This isnt Antz vs A Bug's Life which have very similar messages in competition with each other. They should be compared as a "If you love this and want more with different flavors, you might like that".
As a mexican, i don’t really like Book of Life that much. I think its just a satire of mexican culture, it fails at portraying mexico, hell, the central region of mexico where they’re at isn’t even a desert. It feels more Spanish than Mexican, especially for the time period they were attempting to capture. Coco is much, much more accurate to mexican tradition and culture, and thats why i like it alot. Just personal thoughts from my part. I still think Book of Life is a good fun movie but not in the more culturally accurate way.
lol that’s what I was thinking. The town in the book of life looks a lot more like Spanish architecture. Mexico is much more colorful looking than that
I like how you point out, accurately, how campy and larger than life "Book of Life" can be. This is most certainly a flavour intentionally imbued by it's creator. The very same creator who made the Nickalodeon Cartoon "El Tigre: The Adventures of Mahny Rivera".
I’m just glad others are still talking about the book of life
Okay but that would destroy the entire plot of the entire movie because the entire story is Miguel meeting his Great Great Grandpa and going back to the land of the living so if you kill him then that means that can’t go back to the land of the living because he is dead now, and when he dies he won’t be a human he will be a skeleton like the rest of the cast
@@Fandom_Man That could have a pretty simple explanation. It’s the Day of the Dead, so this is the one day the two worlds are connected, and people in limbo can cross both. Miguel would have to reunite with his body before the death is permanent (let’s say by midnight), similar to the film.
In my opinion this change adds more stakes/consequences than what we were given.
@@aolive11 okay but in order to cross the bridge and get into the land of the living you have to have at least one photo of yourself put on a families ofrenda, and I know for a fact it will take more than a day for someone to consider you dead. Also if that is the case then this messes up the entire universe as well, your telling me that if you die on the day of the dead then that means everyone has a chance to go to the land of the dead and then has a chance to return back to the living world, your telling me you would rather have a random moment where anyone that dies on the day of the dead can go back to being alive just because their spirit returned to their body, rather than it just being a curse for stealing from the dead, it makes way more sense for the plot to be Miguel getting a blessing from his family because he did in fact steal from his family, and getting a blessing from one of them shows that they forgive him for stealing and also giving him a permanent task as a consequence for his actions.
@@Fandom_ManI didn’t mention this in the video, but the picture thing is also pretty dumb cause the more important part (in both real tradition and the movie) is keeping the memory alive. If it was about the photo on the ofrenda, why didn’t Hector get his final death immediately? The movie implies he’s saved once Coco gets her memory back. Plus, in the book of life the guy dies and he comes back, and they gave a good explanation.
Also, he didn’t steal from his family, he stole from De La Cruz. Unless you're referring to the picture he stole, but a)stealing a picture isn’t stealing from the dead per se, and b) even if it was the movie heavily implies it’s because he stole the guitar
@@aolive11 no I am saying he stole from the dead because that guitar is Hector’s and Dela Cruz stole it from him for his performance. Also I don’t think you understand the meaning of the photos, the photos are a way of showing how you families and generations have a way of remembering their relatives, but even if certain skeletons photos aren’t on ofrenda’s that doesn’t mean they are completely forgotten in other minds, Coco still loved her father even after he left her and always was waiting to see him return home, also the scene where she started to remember who Hector is and her family, this is an actual way of making people who have trouble remembering certain events at an old age using their favorite song, a music sung back in their younger days.
@@Fandom_Man Oh, I see what you’re saying about the guitar. I see why you’d come to that conclusion, but it is just a theory (unless there’s a scene I’m missing where they explain that). And I don’t think a plot element of that scale should be up to interpretation.
When it comes to the photos, I misinterpreted one of your other comments. So yes, one’s own memory should allow you to stay in the Land of the Dead. Now what I believe you were saying was that Miguel shouldn’t have been able to cross back to the Land of the Living in my rewrite (even in dead form) because his photo wasn’t on the ofrenda. My counter argument was that there shouldn’t be any border crossing concept related to photos on the ofrenda. Now yes this does change quite a bit, especially in relation to Hector’s character, but I think this would be better for both worldbuilding and thematic moments
As a Mexican I've always disliked the Book of Life. It feels so disconnected from the actual holiday, beliefs and traditions. It's a fantasy world that someone decided to loosely base on Mictlán, but still doesn't make sense with the actual cosmology of the Nahua. Coco however, is an actual homage to our traditions, history and people. It's afterlife is a more accurate portrayal of what the afterlife could possibly look like in modernity, as most who celebrate no longer believe in Mictlán or the Aztec pantheon, but rather a strange fusion that's more Catholic-heavy.
You got it reversed
@@tvirus9369 He didn't lol
@@Misbo3374 he did
For me coco is boring. I don't know, maybe it's the conceptual style drawn by Disney or the cliché of the main villain that Disney always put on being good at the beginning and became the antagonist.
5:00 the answer is love. Miguel as a child still holds appretiation to his familly and will put it higher than anything.
ThE PoWeR Of FrIeNd ShIp, shut up, just shut your mouth please
I honestly do agree with everything in this video:
Don’t get me wrong, I love watching Coco and I think it’s one of Pixar’s best movies (not my favorite cause Inside Out is my favorite) but something about Book of Life is just so special to me and every time I watched it. I just loved it way more than Coco (and personally I think it handled protagonist who wanted to be a musician way better and the one complaint I had with Coco was that Miguel’s family specially the grandma never apologized for destroying his guitar)
Nah you tripping on the mama coco part, she was the only one in the family to show nothing against music and was never stated to be against music and was shown enjoying music from her father, not to mention it was strongly implied coco’s mom was the one who started the hatred and that coco was not against it or her papa due to the fact that coco called for her papa a lot throughout the whole film which showed she still held love for him at a surface level instead of being buried like her mom
Ive always felt so strongly this way. I remember my first time watching The Book of Life, in 6th grade spanish class. My teacher made us watch it in spanish (of course lol) and I immeditly fell in love with the holiday and culture and the same day went home and watched it again in english. I still like coco, but I feel The Book of Life did it so much better.
12:58 Where IS Spain in their world? Every time it does a zoom out, we see that most of the earth is Mexico.
this is a joke that Jorgue Gutierrez, the director and character designer for book of life often makes, poking fun to how the hollywood movies only seem to focus in the USA.
also is a mexican holiday
@@j0357 Well that doesn't explain where Spain is on their Earth tho.
@Finity_twenty_ten most us Latinos are born with a dislike of Spain. It might be genetic, probably something to do with the past.
@@killatubbyNah, it's because of their DBZ dub, lol. 😂
I grew up with this movie. Im glad this movie has been getting the praise it deserves. I wish it was more known. Coco is okay I guess, but Book of Life will forever be my favorite.
Anyways back to trying to find that one movie I saw on netflix where this hot toucan witch cloned an army of robot chickens
19:50 That might have to do with the fact that it canonically, it actually is being animated with wood figures. Did you miss the first part of the movie?
Yeah, that’s the canonical explanation. I just appreciate that the writers/animators went out of their way to do the storybook concept instead of the almost generic 3D look most films had done
y es chistoso que realmente coco si implemento mejor las tradiciones mexicanas mientras que el libro de la vida aunque es una muy buena película realmente parece mas una pelicula basada en españa y no en méxico xd
PD: vengo del canal de zowl (un mexicano(
Andale, parece más que la gente americana le gusta más el libro de la vida por la nostalgia y la acción que la pelicula en sí
@@Misbo3374 a mi el libro de la vida me gusta mucho tambien xd (como película diría que me gusta mas que coco la verdad) pero es innegable que pixar si hizo un mejor trabajo adaptando la cultura mexicana XD
Lo que dice el retarded de Zowl no tiene sentido, creer que es España solo por que las corridas de toros se practican, incluso después de la Independencia y actualmente, es absurdo. La herencia colonial es mostrada como un recurso de lo que es Mexico actualmente, no como el pilar fundamental que la historia de la peli.
Maya and the Three is another media that beautifully represents Latin history and culture
Aren’t they also made by the creators of the Book of Life?
@lazy_doormat3076 yes!
I love that series. Idk but it feels even more special than the book of life
@@yl861 it really does
As a Hispanic that know about Mexican culture. I can say, Coco is a better representation than book of life. Book of life is like an amalgam of Mexican stereotypes and the worst thing is that bullfighting is one of the few things that does not represent Mexico at all, but rather represents Spain. I guess that why a lot of americans like book of life more than coco it is because book of life is what americans thinks mexico is.
And coco is what mexico is, what could be boring for some people.
@@emmanuelunsc I think Book of Life is just more enjoyable and straightforward, it has nothing to do with stereotypes. Both depict Mexican culture well, just in very different ways.
Bullfighting was a big thing in Tijuana for a while, so it is still representative of Mexican culture.
Coco represents a very specific aspect of Mexico well, but it doesn’t entirely showcase the whole country. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just what it is.
@@aolive11 but coco is better representation of Mexico than the book of life
Not to mention that the book of life had such a beautiful art style, while yes, Coco is beautiful in its own way, but the designs are still just like the regular mold that Disney does for its 3-D movies. Completely agree in Coco, the whole Day of the Dead aspect sort of feels like an afterthought in the plot. Not completely, but just a little, while BoL has it as a big main factor for the whole movie along with the other subplots.
I'm gonna be honest, some of the points you made against Coco don't make a lot of sense. I understand the "no consequences" critique but like...
"Miguel doesn't work to hard for his music"
What does that mean??? Miguel learnt all of his musical skills in secrecy. He had to make his own guitar, hide his De La Cruz CDs from his family and had to learn to play just by watching De La Cruz. You can't tell me that he didn't work hard enough for his music after seeing all that.
"The central theme of both stories is to stay true to yourself"
Wrong, at least in the case of Coco. That is a theme, but the actual central conflict is against superstition. The theme of Coco is to get rid of the families harmful tradition against music that makes them lash out against anything vaguely musical. You're missing the forest for the trees here.
"Shouldn't Coco still have terrible memories of her father?"
Why would she? Remember Me is a lullaby that Héctor made specifically for Coco. He ran away while she was very young so it's very likely that she would have good memories of him unlike her mom who just thinks that he ran away searching for fame.
Also in the world-building section:
"So does anyone who robs a grave get sent to the afterlife?"
According to the rules of Coco, yes. I fail to see why that's a problem with the world-building
"What about hand-me-downs?"
They won't count because that's not stealing.
"Why can't Miguel pass-on Héctor's memory?"
The movie explains this. You need someone who knew you in the living world to pass on your memory.
As for Book of Life, I'm sorry but I genuinely found it to be a mediocre and forgettable movie with bland dialogue and a stupid love triangle plot.
There were also a bunch a cutaways in the beginning and middle to these random schoolchildren that took me out of the movie.
Cool artstyle, but that's about all I can praise about this movie
Aight, I won’t go over your critiques of Book of Life cause that’s up to personal preference, but here’s my rebuttal for Coco:
1. I’m not talking about earning musical talent. I’m talking about earning acceptance from his family. Which is a pretty big deal in the movie. He just gets a free card cause of the murder mystery, which goes to
2. A father leaving at a young age is a pretty terrible thing, especially since the explanation Coco would’ve believed is that he left for music. Most people are pissed at their fathers when that stuff happens, a lullaby isn’t gonna do anything. I’d want to forget that if my father left me.
3. Then why is everyone surprised that Miguel is there. Grave robbing is something that happens a lot, which in this instance I’m considering any archaeological find as grave robbing. And even in this case Miguel was gonna return it. Is it really stealing if De La Cruz doesn’t own it anymore.
4. Fine, hand me downs isn’t really stealing.
5. It would still be the same result if both Miguel and Coco talked about Hector. I don’t see why it makes a difference. They give an explanation but it’s a weak one
Edit:
6. The theme of superstition and staying true to yourself is basically the same thing here. His family has a superstition, which Miguel doesn’t like, so now he has to overcome that by staying true to his love of music
@@aolive11 Fine here's my rebuttal to your rebuttal
1. He didn't really need to earn his acveptance though? Miguel was just the kid of the family, he had nothing to prove. I'd argue "earning acveptance from your family" isn't really as big of a theme as you claim.
2. Sure but it's not that unbelievable for Coco to miss her dad, especially if she was old enough to remember how they used to sing with each other
3. Is grave-robbing that common of an occurence? Idk, I guess you could say that people were more shocked by a random tween from the living world entering than the grave-robbing part.
6. Sure I'll give you that. I found it satisfactory but that gets into more subjective territory.
Honestly as a film, Coco is one of the weaker Pixar films. Not bad, more like a 7/10.
@@ChiangKai-Shrek 7/10 is not a bad rating. It’s enjoyable enough.
1. You stated my exact problem. As a character I can’t connect with Miguel much cause he gets a free pass. I don’t think it super matters that he’s a kid, plenty of kids’ dreams are destroyed by abusive parents. I think the movie just has too many conflicting messages to really hone in on a central theme (which is probably what I should’ve stated in the before)
2. I think my issue would be solved if Coco as a character was focused on more. I can get behind the idea of missing her dad if they really delved into it. Cause as of right now I personally think she’d be more distressed than happy hearing the song.
3. Fair enough
Like I mentioned, 7/10 is honestly a pretty good rating. I’m pretty harsh on it, but I think my main issues could be resolved with some relatively minor adjustments (other than Miguel dying, that’s not so minor lol)
@@aolive11 Yes exactly, Coco was enjoyable just nothing amazing
As for the rest of your points, I don't really have much of a rebuttal, so let's just agree to disagree.
Your video kinda made me wanna rewatch the Book of Life though, so I'm gonna do that tomorrow
@@ChiangKai-Shrek Thanks for the respectful criticism! I hope you have a good rest of your day!
I saw both movies. I liked Coco. I thought Book of Life was good but still a predictable romance at times. I don't think predictability is bad per say but it didn't subvert my expectations. Coco was a film about family, not romance. That's what I liked a lot more. It's rare to have a movie without romance for the main character. The lead of Coco, the kid, loves music and his family. He didn't need a romance plot. Book of Life is about many things, and romance is one of them too. But I thought a movie where the romance was background in Coco was interesting.
@@l.n.3372 Good points!
@aolive11
Do you know if Book of Life is available on streaming? I haven't seen it in many years but I would be willing to give it a re watch. Coco is more available thus I have seen it multiple times. I am willing to see Book of Life again and then share my thoughts if I believe a second viewing will change my mind.
@@l.n.3372 It’s actually on Disney Plus! I think the original studio was under 20th Century Fox, so when that got bought out so did Book of Life
@aolive11
Awesome thanks! I'll watch it maybe this week and if I have any new thoughts, I'd be happy to chat here again with you.
@aolive11
Alright, I had the chance to rewatch the book of life. Upon rewatch, I stand by my original opinion. Coco and BoL are very different movies in tone despite using the Day of the Dead as inspiration.
BoL feels very childish and immature in tone. It starts off by setting up a premise where kids are being told the tale. This idea might work for what it does yet it also dumbs down a lot because we hear the kid constant input and dialogue. But the whole tone of the movie feels way more immature on average. The movie never takes itself seriously so every important moment kinda falls flat. The biggest emotional scenes (apologizing to the skeleton bull in the underworld) are impactful but nothing truly tugs on the heart strings because the film never earns a mature, emotional tone.
La Muetre and Xibalba are IMO the best things about the film. Their wager is a great concept. Their designs are 10/10. Their characters are great as neither is good nor evil.
Manolo is a decent enough lead but I don't feel like his love for Maria is deep or meaningful. He just seems to love her cuz the plot says so. It's just so obvious that Maria will marry him that the entire plot feels pointless. The bet feels cheap when we as the audience could guess in the first 10 minutes that guitar boy will win the girl's heart eventually. Nothing subverts expectations. I would have vastly preferred if neither guy ended up with the girl tbh.
Joaquin is played for laughs a lot. He has a good arc of being selfless by the end. But it's so unbearably predictable that Maria will not marry him.
Maria feels kinda "I'm not like other girls" which hurts her as a character. The movie keeps insisting that she's better and different than other girls. She reads books for fun! She learned fencing and Kung fu in Europe! She doesn't wanna be a common wife to her husband! She feels like the stereotype of how fiction tries to portray a strong, independent woman, but tbh I don't think it felt earned or deserved. I don't see why either boy loves her so deeply during their decade apart. And when Maria falls flat, it cheapens the entire wager about who will marry her. She just feels like a generic girl that the plot insists the boys must love yet I never feel that love is earned. She reminds me of Belle from Beauty in the Beast. I don't like Belle tbh but at least she is the main character of her own film, while Maria is secondary to Manolo and Joaquin arcs. Maria doesn't really have an arc at all. She just goes abroad, levels up skills, and every guy wants to marry her when she returns.
Seeing the ancestors in the land of the dead was nice but again the movie lost me in the comedy and the immature tone. The movie had the potential for emotional moments (like when Manolo reunited with his mom), but those brief scenes are lost in the sea of constant jokes and humor and childish scenes.
This is minor complaint but Manolo doesn't even write his own songs. He sings existing songs. Some great musician he is. He doesn't even write his own material xD
BoL is a movie with great animation and a unique premise of the wager between gods. But the romance is so bland and predictable that I don't feel like it was an earned romance triangle at all.
Coco is a more mature plot that always takes itself seriously and has emotional scenes and dark scenes. Yes it also has comedy, too, and not all the jokes will land. But it's not childish or immature in tone. It has a great plot and it centers itself on family first and foremost. BoL is centered around romance primarily with family as the secondary theme.
So many people in these comments just straight up missed stuff in Coco 😭 I get preferring a movie over the other but some things have literally been explained so why even use them as your points as to why book of life is better. Like not understanding why Miguel’s family immediately accepts him after what happened with Coco… as someone who has had a grandmother struggle with dementia, I could see how anything and literally anything that could bring her back even for a few moments made my mum insanely happy even in such situations. They very much understood what was beautiful about something they had been disliking for pretty much no reason other than “it’s a family thing”. The stealing from graves thing? It’s explained in the movie lol
Yeah i feel like people are just hating a bit
Reminder. These are the same people who made free birds. Im not joking
were going back in time to the first Mexican history movie to get coco off the hollywood grounds
That’s right, we’re going back in time to the first Mexican history movie to get Coco off the Hollywood grounds!
I don’t get why these movies are always pitted against each other. There’s like millions of Christmas movies out there and we just accept that, but how dare there be two movies about Día de los Muertos! Joking aside, they both slap.
Personally I'm not the biggest fan of The Book of Life, it has a myriad of pacing issues, we don't get to go to the land of the dead until OVER HALFWAY through the movie, the first half of the film is full of melodrama and pointless gags, while the second half rushes through the land of the dead part of the story which is supposed to be the main focus of the film.
And as a Mexican, Coco just feels like a much more authentic depiction of life in Mexico, I mean there's a reason Coco broke records in box office sales in Mexico and The Book of Life sort of came and went.
It's an ok movie but to say it's better than Coco, I never understood how, Coco isn't perfect but it's a much better made film.
@@tubguinace imo, Coco’s success has more to do with it’s good marketing and brand recognition than the quality of the film itself. It happens all the time with other lackluster films.
I don’t agree with your takes on Book of Life, but I think that comes down to personal preference, and I respect your opinion. Thanks for the comment!
@@aolive11 Well the thing is, Mexican audiences loved Coco and seem to all agree the movie is very authentic. If it were down to marketing and brand recognition alone and the movie was truly seen as lackluster, then the audience reception wouldn't have been that positive.
The Book of Life was heavily marketed in Mexico, I actually lived there when it was in theaters, Fox tried to push it to Mexican audiences hard especially with how popular Diego Luna is in Mexico, but it didn't quite stick.
I know it's odd that the movie that was made by an actual Mexican feels less authentic to Mexicans than the Disney one, but when you realize Jorge Gutierrez spent most of his early life in Tijuana so he could commute to the US regularly to the point he actually went to school in the US, it starts making more sense.
I'm not shitting on him at all, he's one of my favorite artists, but a lot of people overestimate just how authentic his work is. His expertise comes mostly from consuming Mexican media than his actual life experience, The Book of Life is more of a straight up tribute to the golden age of Mexican cinema than it is inspired by real life Mexico like Coco is.
Sorry for the long reply, I just always find the discussion around this movie very interesting.
@@tubguinace I’m not saying Coco isn’t authentic or less so than BoL. My point with the marketing is that if a film with that level of hype even somewhat delivers people will love it. Endgame, The Force Awakens and Barbie aren’t that good but they received huge praise/success in large part due to the marketing and hype.
I can’t really comment on the BoL’s push in Mexico cause I don’t live there. I will say I think because Coco’s character moments are better crafted they strike a more emotional response than Book of Life
But.. baba grill.. im a weirdo.. buy my Gucci.
The book of life has SO many more spaniard customs and influences and the weird song selection that break immersion immediatly.
i admit its a really good movie but its more representative of Nueva España than representing México itself (which is fine, another example of this is the leyendas saga, e.g: la leyenda de la nahuala)
Guillermo del toro has a more solid storywriting and independence compared to pixar having to play it stupidly safe due to disney being disney
I watched the Book of Life once and it was okay, it’s not bad but it literally made me feel nothing. Whereas Coco is probably one of those memorable movies, with an heavy emotional ending at the end along with an excellent twist villain. That’s just my opinion, just a disagreement I wanted to share.
Okay this is CRAZY coincidental for me.
My friend and I watched this movie on Thursday the day this video was posted and we got into a deep discussion about how it was better than coco in its messaging and style and the like. To the point I decided to use it as a reference in a college discussion post later that night on entertainment vs Education and if there was a golden ratio in media.
It’s a honest thing that Coco not only falls flat on its cultural influences, but it’s message of be who you want to be is muddled with the importance of family to me. Cause it feels more about family than it does being yourself.
Also the fact that there’s a border control in coco makes me absolutely sick now that I realized it. And that there’s a class divide even in the afterlife. It hurts to see realizing it now when I’m older. Sure there’s a land of the forgotten in the book of life but it isn’t represented via being poor and being unable to see their families if they have any. It hurts to see now in coco, and it kinda has soured that to me.
Yeah, the border control in Coco is pretty sus
that part of the class division and the border control counts as representation in Mexico because there is a lot of poverty in Mexico, and also there a lot of mexicans who cant go back to Mexico because they dont have documents, besides, there is actually a real fear when whe are trying to go to the USA, even if its just for shopping or visiting family. I recently moved to USA and I haven't been able to come back because my mother fears of insecurity in the border or even getting kicked out of the country. Also, i'm mexican and coco feels more like home than el libro de la vida
I really hope this doesn't make people think you have to hate one movie to like the other. I absolutely love both of these movies.
Most of these comments are just hating on Coco and glazing BoL lol
Most of these comments (and some points brought up in the video) straight up missed details in Coco though which is pretty annoying and stupid
Unpopular opinion: While Book of Life is more adored than Coco, Coco is more sympathetic and realistic to our hispanic and mexican people, Coco also has original songs while Book of Life has american songs in it? Yeah no, Coco is my favorite overall I feel like Book of Life is more targeted to american audiences therefore I can see where your'e coming from, but coming from a mexican-american with a life deeply rooted with hispanic and mexican heritage and a lifestyle too, Coco hits harder, also Bull fighting originated in Spain...
Well yeah… so many people who comment don’t really see both sides and yes i get that’s not the point but yeah…
(don’t hate me.😅)
Finally someone with common sense, i've been reading these comments for a while, just comments of people glazing The Book of Life with no arguments, having hearts from speedforce itself. While the comments that actually explain some of the nickpicks of Coco (which is most of the video), don't get any recognition
Hi, I'm Mexican too and honestly, I don't believe that! Especially on your point about "more American songs than Spanish songs" when the main song we *always* play at gatherings is literally a Spanish version of Achy Breaky Heart (No rompas mi corazón) and *everyone* comes out to dance to it. Also, yeah! Bull fighting does comes from Spain but *a lot* of our culture comes from Spanish colonialism----it's the whole reason we even speak Spanish in the first place! That bleeds into our culture and I don't really see a point in bringing it up tbh. Another thing is that I don't even think Coco represents our "lifestyles" very well. Sure, the streets *look* like Mexico but it feels like walking on a movie set. The narrative doesn't help either since music is a such a big part of our celebrations and having a family that separates themselves from it automatically makes the whole film feel foreign. I don't feel like I know these people let alone their way of life no matter how many Dia de los Muetros decorations they throw at the screen. It all feels very hollow to me
@ oh trust me I’m know a lot about my heritage and history on the ancient mexicas and Mexico itself but I get it some people are gonna have preferences but in all honesty I like book of life but coco just hits in the right spot :))
@edgaryanez9221
"F*** the Spanish, I have nothing to do with them" - 🧒🏼
"My ancestors helped Pizarro defeat the Incas" - 🧒🏾
Tisk tisk tisk
I agree with almost all of your points, except the questions you raise after the explanation for how Miguel got to the land of the dead.
It was pretty clear that the guy was talking about stealing ON Dia de los Muertos, not just conventional grave robbing.
Lara Croft isn't necessarily stealing personal items that held great sentimental value, and even if she were, all the owners would've been long forgotten.
Even generational hand-me-downs are traditionally passed on before the death of the previous handler, making them gifts and therefore not stolen.
I honestly love Coco a lot and do somewhat prefer it over The Book of life, but I completely agree with a lot (if not all) the points made in this video.
For me, both movies slap for different reasons.
Coco and the book of life aren’t even similar they just have similar themes because they revolve around the same holiday. The same as Christmas movies having similar themes any other similarities are just superficial . With that being said coco is more accurate to Mexican culture even down to its all Latino cast
@@jovanym2931 The movies have almost identical plots, character motivations, and other random things like twin ancestors and a villain dying from a bell. Their similarities extend beyond the shared holiday.
Also, surface level stuff like the cast and iconography doesn’t necessarily make it more authentic. The Star Wars sequels have lightsabers, Tie Fighters, and Palpatine, and they’re not that authentic to Star Wars. I’m not arguing BoL is more authentic than Coco, but simply that it handles its themes better
@@aolive11an all Latino cast probably helped in making the movie feel more authentic though given that’s their culture or something very close to it… lol
what is the name of the song 1:30 onwards
It’s called La Llorona, a traditional song related to the holiday
You can easily find it by "Llorona de Azul Celeste"
@@aolive11 thank you
@@The_Man734 No problem!
It's called Oppenheimer
Coco doesn't have the best writting but it represents the culture way better than any other movie. And it's the little details that makes it better, small refenrencies like "cine de oro age", the traditional long names of people, large families, architecture, traditional food and jobs, charro culture, music, as well as common social issues like classism, betrayal, the dangers of messing with powerful people (when Miguel is thrown to a pit for knowing too much) crossing "to the other side" and being unable to come back to your family.
On the other side The book of life has a torero protagonist, which is not really representing mexican culture since is something more spanish than mexican unlike charro or mariachi which have spanish roots but were developed in Mexico, it has a generic town and in the music aspect, as much as I love Radiohead, watching a torero singing creep feels off. It's more appealing to the USA audience rather than Mexico's specialy when it's supposedly taking place in the postrevolutionary time.
I don't go with the masses in things like "it's made in mexico so it's better or it's made by a mexican so it's better". The book of life has a good story but the way it represents the culture is so mediocre. As I said Coco doesn't have the best script but it really does an excellent representation of the culture even coming from people who are not from Mexico.
That’s a very interesting take. The two movies are very much Ying and Yang then?
I think about both Coco and Book of Life at least twice a month. With the book of life its always about how good that movie was and how I never apreciated it enough as a kid. And that I should watch it again soon because it was REALLY good.
With Coco is because I remember that video essay about how insensitive it is to real life inmigrants in the way it treats it as a necessary evil instead of a instated opression. And about how I should rewatch that essay because it was REALLY good. Rarely about the movie itself tho
Did coco have Radiohead? No? That’s what I thought
Most unrealistic and the worst part about The Book of Life is that Manolo sings Creep by Radiohead and still gets the girl
Me when i am wrong
SOMEONE FINALLY SAID IT. THANK YOU
Yeah, I remember that a youtuber named: Fishmob's movie and TV explained why he thinks the message of Coco is bad....
I'm not trying to sound rude but bro spent the whole video talking about the negatives of Coco and barely talks about the negatives or positives of the book of life
5:22 ‘why would he want to go back?’
Look even if his family doesnt support music, theyre still his FAMILY yknow, his parents are still good to him! like he probably has friends and a life, and people he’s close to that he’d rather stay with. Would you rather stay with your family and friends your whole life or go and explore a random world where you barely know anyone and everyone is a skeleton?? Sure the afterlife would be cool for like a week or two, but Miguel’s a smart kid and knows he would still miss his family 😭
No, book of life has more Spain stuff than Mexico, is not better than coco. Honestly both are ok, both have great songs, great animation, and lot of good stuff, but definitely Is not better, I can say coco has more stuff of Dia De Los muertos instead of book of life, I mean Why a bullfight??? That stuff has nothing to do with Dia De Los muertos
Meanwhile coco atleast had an excuse To carry its story without deviating so much from the original message
So yeah, both are just ok.
I never loved Coco, I actually kind of disliked it the first time I watched but it’s grown on me. The book of Life, however, I remember watching in theaters and having so much fun. We got it on DVD as soon as it came out and I’ve watched it dozens of times. I feel like watching the book of life and loving it so much kinda didn’t allow me to like Coco as much because I thought Coco was supposed to be direct competition.
I remember my ex hated me for not liking it. I'm surprised no one in the land of the living stand up for Miguel when his family hated music you would think someone would argue with them saying "let the kid play music, its his choice" I think his family would get in trouble if Miguel's Grandma would have destroyed his guitar in front of a big crowd of people, I feel like Miguel should have ran for it he would have gotten a bunch of people defending his love for music, weird inconsistencie is Hector said Ernesto he sings remember me everytime and hears it every day but doesn't tell Miguel its his song, but way later in the movie he tells Ernesto he took his song, so what confused me is why didn't he tell Miguel about this way earlier? All of this could have been avoided, Not to mention Ernesto's movies just so happen to be still playing, but I guess they couldn't come up for his twist villain side, it annoys me when people say he's the best twist villains but Charles muntz was a way better twisted villain from being alone from decades and it made sense for him to go crazy so along I think Coco should have been rewritten by 90% of it.
@@pedrosaabedra5653probably because there was no point in saying it. Hector had been in the spirit world for over 100 years while Ernesto had deeply overshadowed him. The people who saw his original performances had long since been forgotten and most people dying would only know of Ernesto. At that point, it would be exhausting telling everyone he was the original writer while the public brushed him off as bottom feeder.
I personally prefer Coco for one reason, that being pacing. I feel like the Book of life didn’t have enough time for the latter half of it's story. In every other regard, the movie is pure art, especially in the moments in the real world. The characters all have excellent chemistry, and the scenes are done expertly. However, in my opinion, I felt that coco, while not as experimental, kept the standard it set for itself from start to finish. I intend to see the Book of life again, because in most other regards, it is done immaculately, but the pacing towards the end didn’t do it for me.
I've held this opinion for so long, but now that I'm older? I just like both for simply being a story. One about accepting who you are, and the other simply a betrayal and enlightening of the past with a storybook ending of "happily ever after." Both are good, but I also realize that both are about two very different things. It just so happens that they're on/about the same holiday =]
18:45 Coco breaks its own worldbuilding by having Hector say that the only way for people to stay "alive" in the afterlife is by being remembered by people who knew them "in life" (in the scene where he plays the song for Chicharrón: "when there's no one left in the living world who remembers you, you disappear from this world"). So he still should have disappeared when Coco died, because she was apparently the only person who remained on earth who knew him while he was still alive. De La Cruz should be gone, too, whose offerings all apparently come from fans and not anyone who actually knew him, but Hector also says that it's the "stories" people tell about them that have to get passed down by the people who knew them in life, so it's left pretty vague: literally when the last person who remembers you dies is when you vanish from the Land of the Dead? Or you vanish when stories about you stop being told? If it's stories being told, then De La Cruz being found to be a fraud has just made him nigh immortal; people are gonna be talking about that for a LONG time
And how the heck did Miguel convince his entire town that their Town Hero was actually a fraud? He HAD to have found some irrefutable evidence to prove it for the entire frikkin' town to turn its back on De La Cruz by the next year (the letters would have proven that he stole Hector's songs, but not the murder), but then De La Cruz will probably STILL live in infamy in the Land of the Dead and will still have fans who remember him/leave him offerings (something-something "but De La Cruz was the one who made the songs famous, not Hector!"), so...what happened to him? What happened to his mansion? Are the offerings meant for De La Cruz seized and distributed to the poor folks now? Why does the Land of the Dead even have poverty OR border security?? What is the POINT of the border security if they physically can't cross the bridge if their picture's not on an ofrenda, anyway??
Yeaaaaaah... no. No. both are fine depending your genre.
I personally liked Coco more ngl. It doesnt matter when it comes to culture that much for me.
Sure the mexican culture has some beautiful visuals and literally most people dont even know anything about it but i personally liked Coco more. Just personal opinion.
4:19 her only memories of hector are of him being her dad, singing to her, taking care of her. so despite what the rest of the family says she still believes in him. it can be assumed that she wasn't as adamant about the ban on music as her mama imelda was(she was said to have lived a long time so SHE was probably the one enforcing it and passed the idea onto miguel's grandma)
14:20. Imagine he was family and still left but was also still a killrr who offed his best friend to steal his songs. That would be a baller movie
That probably won't be a good kids movie tho.
Totally. I would love to see that. (Maybe not a kids movie though...)
Mexican here…. I love Guillermo Del Toro, you can feel his influence here… but I completely disagree, book of life feels like a good second draft of what could have been a great script. But there are incomplete arks, abysmal pacing, bland and unidimensional characters (two of which are the main ones, Juaquin and Maria) the fact that the story is being told to a random group of kids in a museum is terrible, slows everything down and has no reason or payoff… the script is ridden with issues like this that I’m sure would have been solved if the script went to two or three extra revisions.
The book of life was amazing, Coco was also amazing, why compare?
That’s what I was thinking. Why can’t people just appreciate two films instead of making it a competition? Just because one is better doesn’t mean it undermines the other
Why can't we compare? Exactly
Why not? It’s just an opinion. And it’s on a light-hearted topic too. People are allowed to express that. It’s one of the purposes of the internet. He never said Coco is bad, just that Book of Life is better in his opinion, and he makes his argument for that. I like Book of Life more than Coco too. I can’t help but have that opinion. Book of Life had more of an impact on me. But I’m not going to dislike someone who likes Coco more. Maybe instead of telling people not to express their opinions, learn to be okay with hearing different opinions (especially for a topic as light-hearted as “favorite movies”).
@@Hummingbird14-ff6de everyone like this mans comment cuz all they're doing is spitting straight fax
Btw for anyone curious, the director of the movie Book of Life, Jorge R. Guttierez, has a lot of other works as well. Maya & the Three is a story inspired by the Mayan mythos, and El Tigre on Nickelodeon.
Supposedly there is also some opinion of his floating around that he included Bullfighting as the protagonist's main obstacle in his story of acceptance is because bull killing is still a thing, especially in his hometown, wanting to shine a light on the animal abusive sport.
now, book of life messes a lot mexican lore mixing Mayan culture, US mexican stereotype and all of that (which i dont care really) but has a more interesting story, Coco represents well Mexico but the history is quite "meh its okay"
and yea im mexican
book of life is just a movie you’d watch in school
Coco is better!
Its ok to be wrong
Agree to disagree
@WolfTrot nah
I’ve had “The Book of Life “on my “to watch“ list for years and years, and I’ve just never actually sat down and watched it because it didn’t look _that good._ You’ve single-handedly convinced me to actually sit down and watch it this week! Great video.
You raise a great point about the whole twist villain thing completely derailing the story. Hector left to pursue music and didn't make it as a musician due to. yk. dying and all of that. I suppose it's supposed to add to the feeling of injustice as a quick way to make us like Hector more and hate De la cruz, but honestly the exposition backstory just detracted from the themes for me. Okay, so he was trying to get back to his family and then he got murdered. What does that have to do with the theme? I assume the intended theme was the vague "power of family, how your connections with those who have passed continue to stay strong and how our traditions and stories keep our loved ones alive." Now where does murder come in? Where does De la cruz, who we thought was Miguel's family this whole time, come in? Still a great movie to me, but I remember even when I was 10 my first thought was "aren't they eventually going to start forgetting to put people on the ofrenda anyway?"
Always loved book of life though !! I saw it in the movie theater with my dad and sister when I was like 7 (it's been out for a decade holy shit?!?!?) so I have really really warm and fond memories of it. I saw it again for the first time in a long time a few years ago and was a bit surprised by how many jokes there were, since I only really remembered the part where Manolo goes to the land of the forgotten. I think there's more heart and more layers to peel away with this movie, and that's why I love it. It seems very unserious and kids love it, but it also has so much love put into it
The ending of coco was really got me confuse of how people suddenly believe that the music belong to coco's father without any strong evidence. The only evidence was miguel's story to afterlife which i doubt a single adult would believe it lmao.
gringos siendo gringos
coco is better and no it's not because of disney it's because of the representation of culture
The Book of Life is entertaining but despite being directed by a Mexican, it enhances the stereotypes of what Mexico is, mixing it with things from Spain to reach a larger audience.
inform yourself well
Eso no es México, jajaja
Ambas tienen estereotipos, no significa que una sea peor que la otra. Ten educación, estás comentando debajo del trabajo de alguien
The Book of Life was so much better with the Day of The Dead now that I make sense of it. To be remembered isn't to be PHYSICALLY remembered, it's to be SPIRITUALLY remembered. To be truly you. The amulet Joaquin had covered not just his body, but his spirit.
I always thought that all they had to do to fix the plot of Coco was to just literally remember the guy. But that's not the point, which is why The Book of Life succeeds. To be remembered, you have to be yourself first, and all the characters could be literally remembered.
the thing for me is the beauty in the book of life. it’s so satisfying to watch. and the ending when instead of killing the bull, it turns into petals and flies away, is so beautiful. book of life is way better imo. great video 🫶
I remember watching The Book of Lie a million times, but I also love Coco. I am a Mexican and personally I love both movies. They both made me cry and I enjoyed both of them. The colors and music are beautiful in both movies. As I said it’s only my opinion.