The only song I liked from the film was "We Don’t Talk About Bruno"--not only is it a great song, it's one of the only ones in the whole film that genuinely sounds Colombian. Was very disappointed to see the lack of Colombian creatives on the production team as a whole (and it really showed in the film, unfortunately). I really thought there were some things they really, really nailed, like the house itself (and everybody living in the same house, hahahahaha), the toxicity of Latin families, the magical realism, the ethnic diversity in Colombia (!!!!!!)--all of which made me incredibly happy. (Especially since the latter of which was kind of a problem for Coco.) But having two (very American) people, being Puerto Rican and Cuban on the writing team instead of a Colombian writer....was definitely unfortunate. There's a lot of projection and broad-brush vaguely Latin-ness, when we are not all of the same people and it gets annoying when Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and, yes, even Mexicans, (esp. American ones) treat their experiences or traits as being universal. Even when composing the music, the song writer (who will not be named) said his version of "studying" Colombian music was replacing Puerto Rican instruments for Colombian ones and using their family (none of whom are Colombian) as litmus tests of if the songs were good or not. :/
Edit: this isn't mean to criticize PRs or Cubans or anyone, this is just a gentle reminder that we are not all the same people, and the more American centric and focused need to remember that other folks with less visibility and recognition need space to exist separately from us because our experiences are not universal and we are not all the same people.
