Pixar’s Coco is a musical about the Day of the Dead and it will be the first from the studio with the lead being a person of color. The teaser trailer looked interesting and beautiful, but some fans of another Day of the Dead animation are a little pissed off. The Book of Life is from 20th Century Fox and was released in 2014. The movie is a Day of the Dead themed musical as well, using American music and changing it up in a beautiful way. It was directed by animator Jorge R. Gutierrez and people praised the movie for the way it portrayed such an important Mexican celebration. Do you see the similarities yet? Here is the teaser for Coco:

In 2013, the Walt Disney Company tried to trademark “Dia de los Muertos” as a title for a new Pixar film they were developing, but people became angry and said that Disney was trying to “trademark their culture,” so the company backed off. The movie, now titled Coco, comes out in November and people are saying that it is a complete rip-off of The Book of Life. Gutierrez, on the other hand, said that he supports his friends at Pixar on Twitter, “Seriously, I have lots of friends working on Coco and I wish them all success.” Most of the angry people are upset that Pixar staff described the new movie as a “unique idea”.

https://twitter.com/_myzhrdn/status/824111564089344007?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/aisu10/status/816901127232978944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Both Coco and The Book of Life are not just about the Day of the Dead, but also feature a live person travelling to the land of the dead. Well, SPOILERS, in The Book of Life, Manolo dies to get there and then returns, but it’s still close. They both also feature a lead character whose life revolves around their music. The Book of Life had Mexican animators and producers working on it for authenticity and when Coco was announced, everyone involved was Caucasian, which set off another wave of angry fans venting on Twitter.

do yourself a favor: skip Coco n give support to The Book of Life and its staff, a group of real mexicans who knows what they're talking abt

— RAVIEL @ ahegaoravi 🌹 (@ravinilla) January 5, 2017

Pixar eventually brought in award winning actor Gael Garcia Bernal along with an entire cast of Latinos, and they even formed a group of cultural consultants consisting of Mexican creatives. Unfortunately, some say that it’s too little too late, while others are just happy to have two movies about the Day of the Dead.

sorry but book of life has already been done. It does look good but seems copy cat-ish.

— Joe (@Unkas1626) March 15, 2017

How about instead of trying to compare Pixar’s Coco to The Book of Life, why don’t we be happy that we have two Dia De Los Muertos movies.

— Kris(Dalia1784) | VHS and Moonlander Fan🌙💫 (@dalia1784) March 15, 2017