15 Disney Characters And Storylines That Would've Really Changed These Movies, If They Weren't Cut

Director Lee Unkrich told Cinema Blend, "A series of strange events happened, and the boy ended up going to the land of the dead. But ultimately, that story, there was no Ernesto de la Cruz or any of that, it was a journey film that ultimately was about this kid coming to grips with his mother being gone and saying goodbye to her and letting go of her."

He added, "I realized at a certain point that the more that we were learning about Day of the Dead and what it's all about, I realized that we were telling a story that was completely antithetical, thematically, to what Dia de Los Muertos is all about. Because Dia de Los Muertos is about never letting go."