Coco Christian Movie Review (2017)

Guidance: Talk Together

Coco is a warm, emotionally rich family film about love, memory, and family loyalty, but it is built around Día de los Muertos beliefs and a detailed afterlife framework that differs from Christian teaching. Many families may especially want to talk through its ancestor-focused spirituality, along with a few sad and tense moments.

Why This Guidance Level

This film is gentle in language and light in sexual content, and most of its peril stays within family-adventure territory. The main reason for caution is worldview: the story treats the dead as active, reachable, and dependent on family remembrance in ways that can conflict with Christian hope in Jesus Christ and biblical teaching about death. That makes it a thoughtful discussion film for many Christian families rather than a simple plug-and-play family pick.

Faith & Worldview Perspective

Coco strongly celebrates family love, sacrifice, honoring those who came before us, and the healing power of truth and forgiveness. Those are meaningful themes, and the tenderness toward aging family members is especially moving. At the same time, the film’s spiritual framework centers on Día de los Muertos, ancestor remembrance, and an imaginative afterlife where the dead return, interact with the living, and remain present through offerings and memory. That is a meaningful cultural setting, but it is not the same as Christian teaching about life after death, the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, or our hope in Christ rather than in rituals for the dead. Parents may want to discuss the difference between honoring family history and participating in beliefs about the dead that Scripture does not affirm.

Truths Reflected

• Family members should love, remember, and care for one another across generations.
• Truth, forgiveness, and sacrificial love can help heal deep family wounds.

Tensions to Discuss

• The film presents the dead as able to visit and interact with the living through Día de los Muertos practices, which conflicts with biblical teaching about death and the believer’s hope in Jesus Christ.
• It links ongoing existence and blessing after death to family remembrance and offerings, which may blur the Christian understanding that our eternal hope rests in God, not in human rituals.

Content & Discernment Markers

Occult & Spiritual Content

• The story openly explains Día de los Muertos as the night ancestors return to visit their families, and the family treats the ofrenda as part of that connection. This is central to the film’s world, not a passing detail. Christian families may want to discuss the difference between remembering loved ones and seeking spiritual connection with the dead.
• The movie’s afterlife setting includes deceased relatives who remain active, relational, and accessible. The tone is often colorful and affectionate rather than dark, but the spiritual ideas still sit outside a Christian understanding of death, resurrection, and hope in Christ.

Sexuality & Relationships

• Romance is very light. The story mentions a husband leaving his family and includes brief affectionate material tied to family history, but sexuality is not a focus.

Identity Themes

• Miguel feels deeply out of step with his family and says, “I am not like the rest of my family!” The film frames personal calling and family belonging as being in tension before moving toward reconciliation. Parents may want to discuss how gifts can be used faithfully without rejecting family responsibilities.
• The story encourages a child to pursue his talent even when family authority resists him. That can open a good conversation about honoring parents while also using God-given gifts with humility and patience.

Violence & Intensity

• There are family-adventure moments of chase, threat, and comic peril, along with some imagery involving skeletons, disassembled bones, and frightening supernatural figures that may unsettle younger children.
• The film includes sad material around abandonment, death, and fading memory, including an elderly relative who struggles to remember names and conversations.

Language & Humour

• Language is mild and mostly consists of teasing or insulting words such as “stupid,” “dumb,” “jerks,” “hate,” and “bum.” The humor is generally family-friendly, though some put-downs and sharp remarks appear in tense family exchanges.

Other Content Notes

• Adults sharply correct Miguel and strongly oppose music in the home. Lines like “No music! No music!” and “You will come home. Now.” show firm family authority and heated conflict. Parents may want to discuss the difference between loving protection and controlling fear.
• The film handles memory loss with tenderness through Mamá Coco, who has trouble remembering even close family members. These scenes can be moving and may raise questions about aging, dignity, and honoring elders.

Notable Moments

• Family history wound: Miguel explains the family story of a musician ancestor who left, shaping the family’s ban on music for generations.

  “And one day, he left with his guitar and never returned.”

• Ancestor observance: The film directly introduces Día de los Muertos as a time connected to deceased family members.

  “But my family still tells her story every year on Día de los Muertos … the Day of the Dead.”

• Memory loss tenderness: Miguel’s interaction with Mamá Coco shows affection and the sadness of fading memory.

  “Mamá Coco has trouble remembering things.”

• Music forbidden: The family’s rejection of music is stated bluntly and repeatedly in front of Miguel.

  “No music! No music!”

Discussion Prompts

• Honoring family without adopting unbiblical spiritual beliefs: What is the difference between remembering loved ones with gratitude and believing the dead return to us or depend on our rituals?
  • Biblical guidance: Scripture calls us to honor our family, but our hope about death rests in God and in Jesus Christ, not in offerings or contact with the dead.
  • Scripture: Exodus 20:12, Hebrews 9:27, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
• Using gifts while honoring parents: How should a child respond when he feels strongly called toward something good, but his family is fearful or resistant?
  • Biblical guidance: God gives gifts for His purposes, and children are also called to honor parents. Wisdom, patience, and truth matter when those tensions arise.
  • Scripture: Ephesians 6:1-3, Colossians 3:20, 1 Peter 4:10
• Truth, forgiveness, and healing family wounds: How does hidden pain affect a family, and why is truth-telling important for healing?
  • Biblical guidance: The gospel calls us away from bitterness and toward truth, forgiveness, and compassion. Christian hope in Christ gives a deeper foundation for reconciliation.
  • Scripture: Ephesians 4:25, Ephesians 4:31-32, Colossians 3:13
• Caring for the elderly and those with memory loss: What do Miguel’s conversations with Mamá Coco show about patience and love toward older family members?
  • Biblical guidance: God calls His people to show honor, gentleness, and steadfast love toward the elderly and vulnerable.
  • Scripture: Leviticus 19:32, Proverbs 17:6, Philippians 2:3-4