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During my trip to San Francisco to learn about PIXAR’s newest movie, COCO, I also learned about Alebrijes, which are part of the Mexican culture.  They are animals that are a mix of a bunch of animals.  In the story of COCO, we meet Pepita.

She’s a colorful Alebrije who is a bit of tiger, ram, eagle and lizard.  She is beautiful and is an important charactor in the movie.  She helps to guide us through the Land of the Dead.

Alebrijes are beautiful in color and a bit crazy!  We had the chance to paint our own Pepita and it was a lot of fun.  I didn’t do nearly as good as a job as PIXAR did in COCO, but it was fun trying.

Another important animal in the movie COCO is Dante.  He is Miguel’s best dog friend and he’s quite the charactor.  Dante was inspired by the Mexican Hairless dog, the Cholo.  What is really unique about them is the fact that their tongue is always hanging out of their mouths.  The reason for this is they loose most of their teeth therefore there is nothing to hold their tongue in their mouth!

They had a fun time using Dante’s tongue to bring some comedy to the movie.  He’s absolutely adorable and I think kids and adults will fall in love with him.

I am so excited to see the rest of COCO next month and I hope you are too!

Check out the new trailor for COCO…

COCO opens in theatres everywhere on November 22nd!