Teacher Guide
Learning goals, teaching notes, and answer keys.
View Teacher NotesPaper & online answer keysCoco Movie Guide
Choose the format that fits your classroom, then explore the film through focused questions and evidence.
About the Film
Miguel’s pursuit of music uncovers a family story that has been misremembered. Examine how songs, objects, and testimony connect identity with remembrance.
Movie at a Glance
- Release year
- 2017
- Genre
- Animated family fantasy
- U.S. rating
- PG
- Runtime
- Approx. 106 minutes
- Director
- Lee Unkrich; co-directed by Adrian Molina
- Screenplay
- Adrian Molina & Matthew Aldrich
- Based on
- Original story drawing on Día de Muertos traditions
- Music
- Michael Giacchino
- Featured cast
- Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt & Ana Ofelia Murguía (voices)
- Story setting
- Fictional Santa Cecilia, Mexico, and a fantasy Land of the Dead
Check your edition when planning class periods; cuts and playback speeds can change runtime.
Content to Preview
- Skeleton imagery, death, a murder revelation, and threats of being forgotten.
- Grief, separation, and distress involving an elderly family member.
- Peril and some intense confrontations despite the colorful fantasy setting.
Preview your edition, follow school viewing and permission policies, and provide an appropriate alternative assignment. Suggested grades 5–12 are Teach Arcade’s classroom recommendation, separate from the film’s U.S. rating.
Classroom Connections
Use scene evidence to explore the topics above. Pair historical portrayals with reliable sources, literary adaptations with their texts, and animated metaphors with appropriate factual context.
Film details, advisories & classroom context: Disney film information · Content advisory (spoilers)