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1. What is the young hero's name?
Miguel
Miguel Rivera is twelve and lives in the fictional town of Santa Cecilia, named for the patron saint of musicians, which is a joke at the expense of his music-hating family. Anthony Gonzalez, a boy of about the same age, voices him and does his own singing.
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2. What instrument does Miguel love to play?
Guitar
Music is banned in the Rivera house, so Miguel builds a guitar from scraps and practices in a hidden attic shrine to his idol. Abuelita smashes it when she finds out, which is what sends him to a famous musician's mausoleum to borrow a guitar.
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3. Which holiday is central to the story?
Dia de los Muertos
The story turns on the one night of the year when the dead can cross back to visit, which is what makes the marigold bridge possible. During development Disney tried to trademark the holiday's name, and the outcry made it withdraw within days.
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4. What business does Miguel's family run?
Shoemaking
Imelda, Miguel's great-great-grandmother, took up shoemaking to support her daughter after her musician husband walked out, and banned music from the house. Every Rivera since has made shoes, and Miguel is expected to pick up the hammer too.
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5. What is the family's surname?
Rivera
Abuelita Elena runs the living Riveras with a flying chancla, and Mama Coco, her mother, is the oldest of them. The dead side is just as organized: Imelda leads the search for Miguel with her twin brothers Oscar and Felipe and Coco's husband Julio.
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6. Who is Miguel's famous musical idol?
Ernesto de la Cruz
De la Cruz is a golden age singing movie star modeled on real ones like Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, and he died on stage when a giant bell fell on him. His motto, 'Seize your moment', is the advice Miguel lives by until he learns what it cost.
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7. What is Miguel's street-dog friend called?
Dante
Dante is a hairless street dog who follows Miguel everywhere and turns out to be an alebrije, a spirit guide, sprouting wings and bright colors near the end. He is named for the poet who wrote his own guided tour of the afterlife, which is the joke.
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8. What breed is Dante modeled on?
Xoloitzcuintli
The Xolo is the national dog of Mexico, and in Aztec belief it guided souls to the underworld, which is why Pixar chose it. Dante's lolling tongue is a breed trait: the hairless gene often comes with missing teeth, so there is nothing to keep it in.
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9. What kind of flower forms the glowing bridge?
Marigold
Marigolds are the traditional Day of the Dead flower, strewn in paths so the dead can find their way home, and the bridge is made of their glowing petals. A single petal is also what Imelda uses to send Miguel back, with a condition attached.
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10. What is the family altar for honoring loved ones called?
An ofrenda
A photo on an ofrenda is what lets the dead cross the bridge, which is why Hector, with no photo on any altar, is stuck. The Riveras' ofrenda holds a torn photo of Imelda, little Coco and a man with his face ripped away, and that missing face drives the plot.
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11. Who becomes Miguel's scruffy guide in the Land of the Dead?
Hector
Hector is a charming hustler who paints Miguel up as a skeleton and borrows a guitar from his friend Chicharron, who then fades away because the last living person who remembered him has forgotten. Oscar and Felipe are Miguel's twin great-great-uncles.
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12. Who voices Hector?
Gael Garcia Bernal
Garcia Bernal, the Mexican star of Amores Perros and The Motorcycle Diaries, also sings Hector's songs, including the quiet lullaby version of Remember Me. Diego Luna is his lifelong friend and frequent co-star, which is the trap among the wrong answers.
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13. Who voices Ernesto de la Cruz?
Benjamin Bratt
Bratt, known from Law and Order and Miss Congeniality, plays de la Cruz with oily charm, but the character's singing is done by Antonio Sol. Edward James Olmos is in the film too, as Chicharron, the forgotten musician who fades away.
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14. How is Mama Coco related to Miguel?
She is his great-grandmother
Coco is Hector's daughter, the little girl he wrote his lullaby for, and by the time of the film she is very old and losing her memory, which puts his existence on the other side at risk. Abuelita Elena is Coco's daughter and Miguel's grandmother.
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15. Which song becomes especially important to Coco's memories?
Remember Me
Remember Me was written by the Frozen songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and won the Oscar for Best Original Song. De la Cruz belts it out, but it was written as a lullaby, and Miguel sings that version to bring Coco's memory back.
