Dante

Dante is a character from the Disney/Pixar film Coco. He is a Xoloitzcuintle stray Miguel adopted as his pet and friend.

Appearance
Dante appears to be under-conditioned given the fact that he is a stray.

Much later after he, Pepita and the Riveras rescued Miguel and Hector from their exile in a cenote, Dante becomes an alebrije guardian and is revealed to gain wings smaller than Pepita's. He would retain this appearance only in the Land of the Dead.

Personality
Dante is extremely loyal to Miguel due to the fact that he adopted him earlier in the movie and the Riveras as a whole. This is seen when he actually guided Miguel and Hector to reunite with each other. He has a weakness towards food as it led Miguel to embarrassing situations in the film. He can be extremely defensive as he tries to prevent Miguel from finding Ernesto de la Cruz when he tried to escape from his family members and Hector. He can also sense spirits and was therefore the only living creature to live in the Land of the Dead.

Role in the film
Dante first appears coming out of a trashcan after Miguel drums it and an 'alebrije' stall close by. Miguel greets his friend and they walk into town. Although Miguel tries to keep Dante's adoption a secret, Dante shows up later to get Miguel's attention when the boy was walking home with his family. This proves to be a problem to Abuelita Elena who after berating a mariachi (with a chancla) in the Mariachi Plaza chases Dante (who tries to follow Miguel home) off with her chancla as she escorts her grandson home.

Later in the evening, Dante tries to eat the food offering on the Rivera's family ofrenda. Miguel (who has his self-made guitar) asked him to hide under it as Abuelita arrives. After Abuelita leaves the family ofrenda room, Dante tries to eat the food offering again only to be stopped by Miguel at the cost of the picture frame of Imelda, Coco, and Miguel's great-great grandfather. This makes Miguel realize that his great-great grandfather has the guitar as Ernesto and believes him to be the same person.

At night, Dante follows Miguel who ran away from his family to Santa Cecilia's graveyard but stops as he sensed spirits from the Land of the Dead. After Miguel is transformed into a spirit by strumming Ernesto's guitar in his mausoleum, Dante is the only living being who can interact with him. He then accompanies Miguel and the deceased Rivera family members to the Land of the Dead. After a rift between Miguel and his deceased family members (Imelda included) in the Department of Family Reunions, Dante accompanies Miguel and Héctor as they escape from Imelda's sight. Héctor takes them to the art district, during that time Dante spots a monkey Alebrije, whom he gets into a scuffle with. The alebrije's owner Frida Kahlo take a liking to him as she hypothesizes to Miguel about Dante being an alebrije guardian. During Miguel's performance in the "Battle of the Bands" contest, Dante brings Héctor into the performance. After their cover is blown by Pepita and the Riveras, Dante tries to bring Miguel (who left Hector after a scuffle between them) back to his family but is rejected by Miguel as a result.

Dante would later help Pepita and the Riveras to get Miguel and Héctor (who were exiled by de La Cruz) out of the cenote. During the rescue, Miguel declares him as a spirit guide for reuniting him and Héctor (his real great-great-grandfather) and Dante becomes an alebrije from Miguel's declaration. Dante struggles to fly after due to his small wings and keeps falling during the journey.

Dante later joins in the Rivera's mission to recover Héctor's photo from de la Cruz as he knocks down one of his security guards. He later tries to pull Miguel from Ernesto's grasp but to no avail. While Miguel is thrown by de la Cruz from the latter's stadium, he dives down and struggles to save him but fails as Miguel was heavy for him, causing Pepita to save Miguel instead. Dante remains in the Land of the Dead with Riveras after Imelda and a dying Héctor transports Miguel back to the Land of the Living just in time before sunrise. During the one year before the film's epilogue, Dante permanently resides in the Land of the Dead and appears to be friends with Pepita, thus becoming the family's new alebije guardian. He is last seen with Pepita accompanying Hector, Imelda, and Mamá Coco to the Land of the Living (taking on their animal forms once they enter) and they join in Miguel's celebration of music in the family during the next Dia de Los Muertos.

Trivia

 * Dante was inspired by the Xoloitzcuintle breed (or "Xolo") the filmmakers played with during the film's research process, which is the national dog of Mexico. According to Lee Unkrich, the Xolo is featured in legends of the Aztec afterlife where the traveler needed to have a Xolo with them to make the journey through the afterlife.
 * Dante's tongue hangs out on the side of his mouth. In real life, this is because the Xolo is genetically prone to losing teeth and their tongue will hang out when this happens. When learning this, the animators decided to make this trait part of Dante's character.
 * Dante may have been named after Ernesto de la Cruz's horse, since Ernesto owned a horse named Dante in one of his films.