Pixars upcomingCocomight be the movie Adrian Molina was always destined to make.

And it was on the subject of music when the director encapsulated his movie.

What could this duet across the living and the dead sound like?

And we needed these traditions to be embedded in the story somehow.

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And what a story it is.

Indeed, Miguels literally being burdened by his familys legacy.

And thats where the fun ofCocoreally begins.

I pitched three different ideas, Unkrich told me during an interview.

It was a long journey early on to figure out the story we wanted to tell, Unkrich said.

Music wasnt a big part of that story at all.

Mexico is a designers dream, production designer Harley Jessup marveled during a presentation to journalists.

This was like such a treat to get to work in this world.

Theres really a layer and history thats inspiring to us, Jessup revealed.

It is these subtle details, and an interest in the larger Mexican canvas, that greatly aidsCocos visions.

But he makes up for it all with personality.

Gloriously lovable, and extremly stupid, personality.

Theyre basically a big snuggly water bottle, Hoffman laughed.

They also served as guides for the dead, as they traveled from this world into the next.

Granted in the case of Dante that seems like a dubious tip of the hat.

Unwanted by Miguels parents, the animators leaned into the dogs gross-out appeal.

They also based the animation for his long slobbering tongue on Hank the Octopus inFinding Dory.

Like were breaking his ear, breaking his tail, losing teeth.

Lets just give him some proper eyes.

Lasseter suggested they play up the poor creatures slowness to heightened degrees.

The other fascinating character revealed during our Pixar visit also is rooted deep in Mexican culture.

Her name is Pepita, and she is an alebrijes, a chimera-styled being from modern Mexican folk art.

When we think of folk art, we think of the 1600s or a really longtime ago.

[But] he came up with them in 1936 when he fell ill. And he thought he saw donkeys with wings and lizards with chicken feet.

Now alebrijes are commonplace in Mexico, including having their own Mexico City parade.

Hence, their incorporation inCocoas spirit guides for the dead, animal amalgamations who serve our ancestors.

We venture to think about doing the realistic thing.

For Martinez, it meant getting away from the toyetic image of alebrijes today.

Its likewise obvious that Martinez has a personal love for this creature and everything she represents.

Its just something that Ive always loved about Mexican art, Martinez mused.

Its the combination of Mexican art, the colorfulness.

Its a sensibility shared by everyone else we met at Pixar during our two-day visit.

However, it also notably has a lot of harsh florescent indoor lighting at night and very little vegetation.

She also has reason to beam since her team came up with groundbreaking ways to reframe the other side.

So instead of a million lights, they now have something the computer considers a single light.

And submerged in the clouds are sneaky secrets, like skull-shaped easter eggs formed by shadows or negative space.

We also wanted to achieve that on a macro scale.

It helped us establish this concept of history in the towers, Bernardi said.

The idea that the Land of the Dead has been around since there were people.

And as the years went by, they worked their way up.

All four showcased the challenge of imbuing a liveliness to what are technically the remnants of the deceased.

So how did Mama Imelda and the rest of Miguels family become so lovable?

Simply put, it helps when you get creative with the anatomy.

Arriaga slyly admits they changed the anatomy quite a bit.

The end result is an afterlife that looks to be pretty swinging.

How does that duet live on, like Miguels ancestors, once this movie comes out?

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