LOS ANGELES (CNS) — The Los Angeles City Council declared Tuesday, Feb. 27, as “Coco Day” in honor of the Oscar-nominated animated feature.
The Disney-Pixar film about a Mexican boy who travels to the Land of Dead won the 2018 Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Motion Picture and is nominated for two Academy Awards — Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song. “This movie is so timely. It covers several themes that are relevant today, including dreams/dreamers, immigration, family and crossing over using a bridge — not a wall,” Councilmember Gil Cedillo said. “In the era of Trump, this is how we combat the negative stereotypes coming from Washington, D.C. We honor the richness of the Latino community by creating a film that captures intricately the essence of what it means to be Latino.”
Cedillo added that he wanted “to applaud Disney-Pixar for investing a nine-figure budget on ‘Coco’ and for featuring an all-Latino voice acting cast. It is important for our children to see characters on the big screen that talk and look like them. I went to see this movie with my granddaughters and I walked out of there with a tear in my eye and my head held high because I felt proud. ‘Coco’ is definitely an Oscar contender.”
Lee Unkrich, the film’s co-director, producer Darla K. Anderson and actor Anthony Gonzalez were on hand to receive the honor.
“When we started making ‘Coco’ back in 2011, the world was a very different place, most notably in terms of politics,” Unkrich said. “Our intention was always to tell a great story celebrating the beautiful people, the beautiful culture, the beautiful traditions of Mexico, but we didn’t know just how important the message would become.”