My appreciation for the films of Pixar Animation Studios has stayed ridiculously high since I was born and for the last 22 years, the studio has released some of the best animations of all time. There was a point early on in Pixar’s career where they were throwing out work that received acclaim after acclaim, but things started feeling weird when "Cars 2" was released in 2011.
It was step-down for Pixar and it was their first “badly-reviewed picture” and afterward, it took a while for them to release something on the levels of the "Toy Story" trilogy, "The Incredibles", and "Up". "Inside Out" was Pixar’s first great film since "Toy Story 3" and I was confident they were back on their A-game because of that, but they went back onto the hit-or-miss train again.
When the marketing for "Coco" has begun, I had a sense of optimism and fear meshed into one reaction. However, "Coco" is another successful Pixar feature - and hopefully, a notice that they are going back to their pre- "Cars 2" phase.
Directed by Lee Unkrich, "Coco" follows aspiring musician Miguel Rivera, the youngest member of a family that has placed a ban on music for many generations, following a tragedy that occurred decades before Miguel was born. He has an admiration for the late Ernesto de la Cruz and starts getting excited to show his talent to a small Mexican village on Día de Muertos.
Miguel’s world turns upside down when being accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead and inadvertently runs into his deceased ancestors and a charming trickster named Héctor, who helps Miguel uncover secrets surrounding Miguel’s family lineage. The story does definitely feel run-by-the-numbers and is very predictable - for the most part. However, what makes "Coco" one of the year’s finest films is because of it’s rich and touching message that is able to resonate with audiences of all ages.
If there is one thing Pixar does right with all of their films: it is how to make their films look beautiful. The animation in "Coco" is a breath of fresh air and my eyes were in awe just by how gorgeous it looked. A lot of people have been comparing it to "The Book of Life" and the animation similarities are there for sure, but this is a vastly better-made picture.
The music cannot be overlooked here, both score-wise and song-wise, with “Remember Me” being one for the books. It happens to be obvious that 2017 is a strong year for composer Michael Giacchino, who is no stranger to composing Pixar films (he won the Oscar in 2010 for composing "Up"). I was also engaged from start-to-finish with the pacing being remarkably fast and it is guaranteed that this will end up winning all the Best Animated Feature accolades this award season.
It is disappointing to say that "Coco" is not the perfect film that I was hoping it would be, as the story is very predictable unfortunately and the villain is really weak. It is an unfortunate thing to say, but when it came to the villain’s storyline: it did not leave me engrossed and made me question Pixar and Lee Unkrich in the slightest.
They’ve given us some powerful villains, such as Sid, Randall Boggs, and Syndrome and while this does not rank as one of my favorites in Pixar’s catalog, I was still hoping for a much stronger antagonist. Granted, they are not in the film that much until the latter part of the second act, but with an interesting protagonist… must come to an engaging antagonist.
The story was really powerful and all, however, it was annoying to know that I saw a majority of what was to come from a mile away. Unpredictability is something animated films seem to lack nowadays and Pixar has done fairly well giving us moments that the audiences wouldn’t expect, but Coco did not ride that train of being an unpredictable film.
The thing that really matters, in the end, is that "Coco" is one of the best-animated films I have watched in years and it is a beautiful love letter to Mexican culture without rubbing it in your face. It is amazing to see Pixar continue their tradition to set their films in different parts of the world and with a lack of Mexican-centered animations, it was incredible to see "Coco" come to life.
This was such a ravishing effort for Pixar and I do hope it does not get overlooked next year when everyone starts talking about the highly anticipated "The Incredibles 2". From the music to the characters and the animation to the vibrancy, this was a fantastic film to watch and it has not left my mind since viewing it a while back.
