Dante is a major character in Pixar's 19th full-length animated feature film, Coco.
He is Miguel's pet dog and best friend who helps his owner in finding his great-great grandfather in the Land of the Dead for his owner's passion in music. He would also embark in the quest to have Miguel face against Ernesto de la Cruz and return him to the Land of the Living.
His vocal sound effects were provided by Frank Welker, who also voices Pepita in the film. Welker also voices Curious George in the animated franchise of the same name, Garfield Cat in the animated franchise of the same name, Bronx in Gargoyles, Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones in the Scooby-Doo franchise, Dragon in the Shrek franchise, Zilla Junior in Godzilla: The Series, Spike the Dog in the Equestria Girls film series, Hu the Tiger in The Secret Life of Pets 2, Sven in the Frozen franchise, Zero in The Nightmare Before Christmas, Goddard in the Jimmy Neutron franchise, Abu and Rajah in the Disney Aladdin franchise, Momma Dino in Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Max the Sheepdog in the Little Mermaid franchise, and the Kitty in DreamWorks' The Bad Guys.
Background
Personality
Dante is extremely loyal to Miguel due to the boy's kindness earlier in the movie and the Riveras as a whole. Dante has a weakness toward food, as it leads Miguel to embarrassing situations in the film. Although Dante is superficially goofy and simple-minded, it is shown that he is smarter than he looks. Throughout the film, he covertly guides Miguel to Héctor whenever the dog runs off and brings them together. However, these attempts were motivated by benevolent intentions. Dante was eager to help Miguel find who he was looking for, although being a dog, his actions came across as the dog being overly excited and random. Dante can also sense spirits and was, therefore, the only living creature to live in the Land of the Dead.
Dante's loyalty is demonstrated to be his most endearing quality. He can become extremely defensive for Miguel's well-being, as he tries to stop Miguel from finding Ernesto de la Cruz after the boy tries to avoid his late family members and ditch Héctor; being fully aware of the boy's heritage. While he is most loyal to his owner, Dante is very sensitive when people close to him hurt his feelings. However, his loyalty is proven when he never gives up looking for Miguel, allowing the Riveras to rescue Miguel later in the film. It was because of this that Miguel's acceptance and declaration of Dante revealed Dante's true nature as a spirit guide. The revelation highlighted that, despite the opposition he faces, Dante's relationship with the people he identifies as his family brings him to help them however he can.
Physical appearance
Like most dogs of the Xoloitzcuintle breed, Dante is a skinny, almost hairless dog with wrinkled brown skin and long legs. He appears to be under-conditioned with a tear on his left ear, given the fact that he is a street stray. He also has messy-aligned ears and long whiskers on his muzzle, and his tail is notably bent. He is often seen with his tongue sticking out, due to his missing teeth and his crooked fangs.
Much later after he helped Pepita and Imelda rescue Miguel and Héctor from their exile in a cenote, Dante becomes an alebrije guardian and is revealed to gain wings smaller than Pepita's. This appearance retains Dante's body shape, although his skin became radically multicolored, his tongue turned blue, and his left and right eyes turned pink and yellow respectively. He would retain this appearance only in the Land of the Dead. When he returned to Santa Cecilia, he resumed his Xoloitzcuintle form.
Role in the film
Dante first appears when Miguel greets him as the dog rummages through trash cans. The two are very close to each other and Miguel probably considers him his one and best friend. Later, Dante is with Miguel in his hiding place entirely dedicated to his passion for music and the famous singer Ernesto de la Cruz. After Miguel's family decided that he would make shoes like them, the boy overhears Dante eating an offering for the ancestors of the Riveras. The incident led Miguel to learn that his great-grandfather was a musician and, on a whim, he left his family to play guitar in the Plaza of Mariachi.
By stealing de la Cruz's guitar, he is propelled into the Land of the Dead and only Dante can see him and interact with this world. He therefore follows Miguel who wants to find Ernesto de la Cruz and negotiates an agreement with the skeleton Héctor. After an argument, Miguel continues on his way alone and Dante tries to convince him to return to see Héctor. Miguel violently pushes the dog away and insults him before going to see de la Cruz in his big mansion. But upon learning the truth about the singer and Héctor's identity, Miguel is thrown into a cave that serves as a prison for Ernesto.
Fortunately, the duo are saved by the arrival of Dante accompanied by Imelda who rides Pepita. Along the way, Dante transforms completely into the alebrije that he was in fact from the start towards Miguel. Immediately afterwards, Dante takes part in the battle against de la Cruz and his security guards and besides tears off the head of one of them. When Ernesto throws Miguel off the top of the stage, Dante tries to catch up with him and it's finally Pepita who brings him back up. Dante is last seen in the living world with Pepita in cat form during Miguel's song surrounded by his whole family.
Gallery
Trivia
- Dante is a Xoloitzcuintle (or "Xolo"), which is the national dog of Mexico.
- Through the film, there are some hints to Dante being a spirit guide:
- When Dante makes his first appearance in the film, he pops out of a trash can next to a table displaying alebrije toys.
- After Miguel becomes a spirit, Dante is the only living being who can see him.
- In the Land of the Dead, Dante tries to stop Miguel from going to Ernesto's mansion.
- During production of the film, a Xolo dog was brought to the studio.
