For a long time, Pixar Animation Studios wanted to avoid making anything even resembling a musical. Though the studio’s films often feature at least one or two songs, sometimes even including characters onscreen singing, Pixar movies could rarely be confused with Disney musicals like Beauty and the Beast or Moana. Its latest film Coco doesn’t quite qualify as a musical either, but unlike Pixar’s previous films, this movie is squarely about music.
From the beginning, Pixar has tried to eschew the perceived specter of music in its stories.
The tradition goes all the way back to Toy Story director John Lasseter, who has taken a leave of absence from Pixar amid claims of misconduct. When making Toy Story, Lasseter frequently pushed back against Disney executives, who wanted characters like Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear to break into song, even as Lasseter and co-writer Joss Whedon argued against using diegetic songs in a buddy comedy about toys.
The eventual compromise for that feature — Toy Story does feature a few songs, written by Randy Newman, which play over the action of a given scene to amplify the story’s themes and emotions — is represented in a lot of Pixar’s films. Since 1995, Pixar characters have sung onscreen (Sheriff Woody sings “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” in Toy Story 2 briefly), but not in the same manner as characters like Belle, Queen Elsa, Aladdin, and more. Pixar characters express their emotions, but through dialogue and action, instead of through song.Coco doesn’t exactly break out of Pixar’s pre-set mold either. Protagonist Miguel (enthusiastically voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) adores music, even though (or perhaps because) the rest of his family despises music due to one of their ancestors prioritizing music over family. He’s got a fair bit of talent on the guitar as well, idolizing the long-dead…
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