I wasn’t prepared for: The Good Dinosaur 🦕
Lately I’ve been watching Disney and Pixar movies with my daughter, which has been so exciting and fun. Before? I barely watched movies or went out of my way to see the new kids movies. Because honestly? Why would I? I didn’t think they deserved my attention in my early twenties.
But, these movies? These movies have teeth and they are not afraid to bite.
I wasn’t prepared for The Good Dinosaur. I had never heard anything about this one. Nobody talks about it, which is criminal. I gave it a chance because my daughter laughed at the info screen. It starts out like a nature documentary for gentle souls, then BAM!!! Here’s your father, dead in a landslide, looking you in the eyes with his last breath like, “I love you, son.” Pixar had absolutely no right or reason to animate that .2 second shot of Poppa looking at Arlo. I knew it was coming, too, as soon as I saw the landslide. I sobbed instantaneously.
Then there’s Coco, and I’m sorry, but that one hurts.
The music, the memory, the way Miguel’s family tries to “protect” him while suffocating his spirit, it’s all TOO familiar.
And the ending? When the great-grandmother finally remembers because of one tiny spark of song? That was incredible and touched my spirit.
It made me think about how scared I am to leave my daughter alone in this life. It reminded me of how I do everything for her to remember me and have a piece of me for when I’m gone. I’ve watched this movie three times now and every time Mama Coco walks away as an old lady skeleton with her family, I look at my daughter and tell her that will be us someday because I will always, always be there with her.
Throughout all lives in all timelines.
But I’m cracked open with salt on the wound because I’m a mom now.
Because I’ve felt like the forgotten girl, the silenced child, the one who wasn’t supposed to have a voice.
These stories are reminding me what it means to belong to someone. And how deep the ache runs when that belonging is interrupted. So I have to do everything to use my voice like Arlo and roar when needed, even when I’m scared. Create art like Miguel, even if my family doesn’t understand me.