Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post, I just saw COCO for the FIRST time and this is my takeaway from it. Carry on!

So Zayn has a cold and RJ decided he wanted to wait until his brother was a whole 5 months old to become jealous Jesse. He wants ALL the attention and I honestly don’t blame him because sharing the people you love SUCKS.

Anywho, since I noticed he was feeling a little bummed, I picked him up from school early the other day to take him to a “surprise”. We headed to the movies to see COCO and he was really excited! In case you have no idea what the movie is about here’s a trailer and summary:

“Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel (voice of newcomer Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (voice of Benjamin Bratt). Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector (voice of Gael García Bernal), and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel’s family history.”

I can honestly say I loved every minute of COCO and there were multiple times I found myself ready to laugh, cry and forgetting I was in the theatre with my 3 year old LOL. I can honestly say like almost every Disney Pixar film I’ve watched I took away some REAL lessons from the film.

**Tiny bit of spoilers below so if you haven’t seen COCO yet, you may want to check the film out first. It’s currently playing in theaters everywhere!**

Family is everything.

It doesn’t take long to notice the theme of family is heavily rooted within COCO. All up and through Miguel’s struggle he is constantly reminded that his family is the most important thing to remember. It’s exciting to watch him try to find himself & learning the lesson that family cannot be forgotten.

Follow your dreams. “Seize Your Moment”.

Miguel’s family’s ban on music is CLEARLY a struggle for him. All throughout the film he expresses his desire to be a musician and is constantly reminded of his family’s hate for it. In the end, it’s his ability to stay true to himself that helps him out of the Land of the Dead to reunite him with his family and even help Mama Coco out in a special way (I CRIED at this scene).

How people remember you after you’re gone is important. Your character determines your legacy.

That may seem like a lesson that’s a little deep for younger kids but I still think it can be taught in a way they can understand. Miguel searched all over the Land of the Dead for Ernesto de la Cruz and it turns out he was not the man Miguel hoped he would be. Ernesto’s deceit was the face of his legacy and once he was found out, he wanted to make sure he was still remembered for the man people THOUGHT he was.

All in all I enjoyed COCO, spending some one on one time with my big boy, and I learned something a long the way. I won all around when we saw COCO.