The Four Movies That Have Made Me Ugly Cry, Part 2: Coco
Posted on December 6, 2020 Posted by Athena Scalzi 25 Comments
You had to have known this one would be on the list at some point, right? If this movie isn’t on your list, I question whether or not you have tear ducts at all. Disney, Pixar, and Disney-Pixar movies are exceptionally good at making people cry, no doubt. I’ve definitely cried at just about every single one of them, but Coco is the only one that made me sob for forty-five minutes straight in the theater.
I actually saw it twice in theaters, once with my ex and once with my family. I cried the second time too, with my family. Not as much, but still a pretty decent cry. But it was really that first time through that hit me like a truck. It’s just so damn tear-jerky.
Oh, this is a good time to include your OFFICIAL SPOILER WARNING!
With any Disney/Pixar movie, you can expect to cry at the end. The end always gets ya. And in Up’s case, the beginning, too. However, Coco was special in the fact that it made me cry from the middle all the way to the end. And cry disgustingly hard. I was wiping snot on my damn sleeves for thirty minutes straight.
As many of you know, I am extremely white. Just, the palest bitch around. However, part of my family is Mexican. And I’ve always been interested in Mexican culture, festivities, food, etc. (I mean, who doesn’t absolutely love Mexican food?) This list of interests includes the Day of the Dead! I’ve always wanted to celebrate it, like authentically celebrate it with my family, but never really have. My grandma makes tamales and the like, but that’s about it.
Despite this, Coco felt familiar to me in many ways. The familial love, that value of family above all, is something very apparent in my family, especially the Mexican side. I saw my own great grandma, or as my grandma calls her, mamacita (little mother), in Mama Coco. After my family and I saw the movie together, it was nice hearing my grandma talk about how much it reminded her of her past, her life in Chula Vista and her family.
So, I think Coco hit me different for many reasons, personal reasons to do with family and the desire to be a part of a culture I’m not. This all of that is beside the point that the film has some seriously heart-wrenching moments.
From the moment Miguel finds out he’s related to Hector, to the part where Hector and Imelda send him back to the living world, to the scene where Coco walks across the marigold bridge with her parents, Coco is packed to the brim with emotional scenes that will at the very least make you tear up, if not full on cry. These tearful moments were so back-to-back, so relentless, that (like I previously mentioned) I cried from the middle all the way until the very end. The film just keeps hammering you with them!
Coco is regarded as one of the most beautiful animated films of all time, and while it’s true it is visually stunning, it is also beautiful in the way of writing. Disney-Pixar movies have storytelling and making people cry down to a science. Or maybe an art. An artful science. A scientific art? Yeah.
I truly love this movie, and if you haven’t seen it, I can’t recommend it enough. The music, the animation, the characters, everything about it is to die for. HAHA. Okay, you’re right, that was terrible.
Anyways, if you have seen this movie, tell me what you thought about it! Did you cry (your answer better be yes)? Did you love it? Let me know in the comments! And have a great day.
-AMS
Yes yes yes. this movie wrecked me. And then it did it again a couple more times. The themes of love, family, music, wisdom, and redemption, strike so deep and so true… Thank you for this heartfelt tribute.
This 76 year old northerner found Coco to be very touching. The ties to our ancestors is compelling.
I think there are many, many good points about Coco, but definitely the relationship between the grandmother Coco and her grandson, Miguel, is probably my favorite part. That even though the child and grandparent are so far apart in age, does not mean they don’t have significance to each other. In fact, it reminded me of the closeness I felt to my grandmothers. I think that’s what a good movie does–it brings out the feelings you have in your life. And yes, it was a real tearjerker. Even at my age-where I am closer to being Coco than Miguel.
I cried. Lots. Movies about family do that to me. Found family especially.
I love , love Coco, and, yes, I cry every time I see it. My son-in-law is Mexican and Spanish is my first language, so our family saw it first in Spanish and later in English. The soundtrack is not quite the same in both languages but still quite stirring in both. It’s my grandson’s favorite film to watch so the adults are drawn in over and over again.
Yes – Pixar is expert at making you feel (of course, a well-done commercial can make me well up! Okay – maybe a slight exaggeration, but my 22 YO daughter delights in glancing across the couch to see if my eyes are welling up at something-or-other). For me, Pixar’s most touching is “Finding Nemo” (being a father and all … all about learning how to let go, while trying to keep them near). Cheers. Geo.
The first time I tried to watch Coco, I got about 10 minutes in and stopped. I was SO MAD. I was furious. I couldn’t stand the way the family treated Miguel and his love of music. Music is SO important to me. And it’s so obvious how important it is to Miguel. I had trouble with understanding how a family could claim to love a child and yet deny that child’s obvious love of music. To me, it was obvious the family did NOT love Miguel.
A friend finally convinced me to try again and keep going. And I’m so glad I did. Coco is now one of my fav movies (even if it makes me cry :P). It’s still hard for me to get through the beginning, but that second half is so amazing.
I probably sniffled — I really don’t cry easily — but I adored this movie, especially the way the music was so joyful and such an important part of the story. It’s really a special movie.
I love Disney/Pixar movies. Love them. But none of the others ever wrecked me as completely as Coco did. Not even the opening of Up, which is an absolute masterclass in storytelling. I always find it slightly ironic that every time (except the very first) that Remember Me plays, by the time you get to the “Don’t let it make you cry” line half the audience is already sniffling if not bawling.
My wife’s mother suffered from dementia, and had more than a passing resemblence to Mama Coco, right down to the nickname “Mama”. My wife and I still cry every single time.
I’m not a huge fan of animated films but now I have to see this one. I love Ratatouille and the Incredibles and The Emperor’s New Groove, so…
Coco is my all time favorite animated film. Great music, great story, beautiful to look at, and it hits you square in the feelz.
You picked my two absolute favorite Pixar movies. I maintain that the opening sequence in Up was done just to refute the sequence in Citizen Kane where Kane’s marriage falls apart over a series of breakfasts.
And, yes, I choke up at the endings. Every time.
Yep, I cry every time I watch it, although maybe not as much as the first time. Such a great movie.
I hated Coco because I was SO mad at the wife/great-grandmother destroying her husband WITHOUT speaking to him. Bah, humbug. He was going to be lost forever and all for pride and spite. Stupid, stupid woman. I hated her so much it spoiled the film for me.
Oh, I LOVE Coco, and it always makes me cry. Such a wonderful movie. I’ve seen it probably a dozen times now, and always cry.
Coco is fantastic. If I can add a minor detail to the lovefest: they did such a good job animating the guitar playing in this movie. When you hear a chord on the soundtrack, and you look at Miguel/Ernesto/whoever’s fingers, they actually match up with what you are hearing! As a guitarist, it absolutely drives me nuts when movies don’t bother with those details. Coco got it right.
You might also like “Book of Life”.
I’m tearing up just reading the comments. This movie wrecks me, every time. The idea of being forgotten, or that someone won’t remember how much you loved them, is very hard to come to terms with, you know?
I love that movie so much. I think the first bit that really started me sniffling was when Héctor sings a last song for Chicharrón before he is forgotten…
You might like “The Book of Kells” and “Song of the Sea” by Tomm Moore/Cartoon Saloon. So beautiful…
Absolutely! I cry at lots of things, but this one really got me — and it got my always-stoic husband and kid too! All three of us sat there in the theatre sobbing.
A rock would cry at this movie. I cry every time I see it, which is lots of times now. Great movie. Off to see it again.
Yeah, I need to see this one of these days. It sounds lovely in all the right ways. I will bring my hankie :)
I rented and watched this movie last night. It had already been in my mental To Watch list, but you noodged me into actually watching it.
Did I cry? No. But I definitely got teary-eyed. Also, your spoilers totally failed to spoil anything for me, because my memory sucks. Maybe that’s why I don’t mind spoilers.
Beautiful movie. Heartily second the recommendation.
Since I don’t do scary movies, CoCo was my Halloween movie this year. Terrific!