Coco Review

Thanksgiving is a strong holiday for Disney as they currently own nine of the top ten spots on the list of the biggest three-day and five-day Thanksgiving opening weekends with "Frozen," "Moana," "Toy Story 2," "Tangled" and "The Good Dinosaur" currently comprising the top five. They're about to add another juggernaut to that list as Pixar's latest original film "Coco" will be hitting theaters. Now to be clear, this is referring to all movies distributed by Mother Disney, which is quite a bit nowadays. Now if we're being specific, "Coco" comes to us via Pixar Animation Studios, which is different than Walt Disney Animation Studios, even though both are owned and distributed by Mother Disney. Pixar used to be the kings of animation as nearly every movie they put out would practically be guaranteed to be a great movie and a box office monster as at one point they had a streak of nine straight movies make over $200 million at the domestic box office. Recently they've been a bit more spotty that one would like as, since "Toy Story 3" in 2010, the only true classic Pixar they've come up with is "Inside Out," with "Finding Dory" also coming close. But thankfully I'm here to reveal that they've conjured up another huge winner as "Coco" is definitely one of their top tier films.

"Coco" is the story of a young boy named Miguel who is an avid lover of music. The problem with this is that music is banned in his family due to actions of Miguel's great-great-grandfather, a musician who abandoned his family to pursue his music career. That made his great-great-grandmother bitter towards music, so she refused to allow it in her household and the tradition of no music passed down through the generations. This sets up a conflict with young Miguel who has to pick between following his musical career or honoring his family and he is angry at his family for not letting him pursue his music career, so he is leaning towards leaving his family to play his music. Through a series of events, Miguel ends up in the Land of the Dead during Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, where he has to get the blessing from his ancestors or remain their forever, and they're also wanting him to promise to never play music before they give him their blessing, so this leads us through a rather eventful journey through the Land of the Dead as Miguel tries to resolve this conflict. As far as why the movie is called "Coco," it's actually a very beautiful title for the movie, but I'll let you discover the specific reasons on your own as minor spoilers would be required to elaborate.

The obvious comparison for this movie is the 2014 film "The Book of Life." Some will wonder why Pixar is doing that movie all over again. Now I can't speak for everyone, but I actually wasn't a huge fan of "The Book of Life." I thought it had a very unique animation style that almost made it appear like a stop motion film with toy figurines, even though it was 100 percent computer animation. That's all the movie really had going for it, though. I thought the story was uninspiring and the characters were forgettable. It felt more like a cliché love story with a Day of the Dead backdrop rather than a movie that was focused on honoring Mexican culture by going all in on the Day of the Dead themes of honoring and remembering your ancestors. I didn't hate the movie, but I saw the potential the movie had and was disappointed that it didn't live up to that potential. Thus when I saw Pixar had their own Day of the Dead movie coming up, instead of being confused as to why we were revisiting "The Book of Life," I was extremely excited because I felt like Pixar could actually deliver me the movie that I wanted "The Book of Life" to be. A movie whose sole focus is to go all in on helping all of us remember and respect our ancestors, thus giving us the Day of the Dead that we all deserve.

The reason why I love "Coco" so much is that it ended up being the exact movie that I hoped it would be. This is a very Mexican movie and I mean that in the best way possible. It felt like a movie made by Mexicans that was intended on being released solely in Mexico. I almost felt like it would've been more appropriate to watch the Spanish version of the movie with English subtitles as if this were a foreign film. In fact, while typing this review I've been listening to the "Coco" soundtrack on Apple Music, which has all the English songs and the Spanish songs. I think I like the Spanish version of the songs better than the English versions that I can understand because they are just so pretty. Now I'm certainly not an expert on Mexican culture and tradition, even though I have plenty of Mexican friends. What I do know is that this movie was released in Mexico on October 27, shortly before Day of the Dead, and is now the highest grossing movie ever in Mexico, passing the previous record set by "The Avengers." I've also read reactions from people there who have praised the movie for doing a beautiful job of honoring their culture. So I feel confident in declaring that this movie does indeed do a beautiful job of honoring this great culture and tradition even though I'm not an expert.

Continuing this Mexican theme, as I went and re-read my review of "The Book of Life," one thing that I noted in that review is that a good portion of the cast were American and it seemed like they were also dumbing down this holiday for an American audience by spending a while explaining what this holiday was while being nervous to immerse themselves too much, as if they would lose their American audiences that the movie seemed intended for. This is definitely not the case here in "Coco" as they dive right into this holiday and these themes without spending any time explaining the holiday, as if they already know that their target audience is well aware of the holiday. And just by looking at the names of the cast members on IMDb, I'd be willing to guess that most of the cast are either Mexican or have Mexican heritage, which I think is a good thing. Sometimes Hollywood feels the need to cast American actors to play or voice foreign people as if they wouldn't make money otherwise. Then we have cries of white washing throughout the internet. Even though I think people go a little overboard with these complaints, it is nice when a movie that's intending to honor a culture actually uses actors who represent that culture. That makes a big difference.

Going back to my American perspective on this movie, I don't think you need to have a vast knowledge of Day of the Dead or Mexican culture to love and appreciate this movie. I feel that the themes of family unity are universal, thus I feel that everyone can relate to the messages portrayed here. The kid Miguel in this movie can represent all of us as we are sometimes frustrated with things that are family has done or is doing to us. Yet despite this, we can learn through the eyes of Miguel the importance of family as he learns these very lessons through this journey in the Land of the Dead. Even more specifically, we can learn to love and respect our family members that went before us. Thus the movie teaches lessons of genealogy and family history work. We may know the stories of our parents or grandparents, but how far back do we know? Are there some ancestors that are in risk of being forgotten? If so, what are we going to do to remember them? This is the purpose of the Day of the Dead holiday and these are the themes that "Coco" drives home as our main kid tries figure out how to properly balance his priorities in his life of following his dream and honoring and remembering his family. These are powerful lessons that were very inspiring to me.

When it comes to animated films, often the stereotype is that these movies are for kids. Yet I think we all know that when it comes to Pixar, their absolute best movies are the ones that resonate just as equally, if not more, with the adults than the kids. Movies like "Toy Story 3" and "Inside Out" are fun enough for the kids, but the themes present are ones that are better understood and appreciated by the adults watching the film. I honestly think this is exactly where "Coco" stands. There's enough in here to grab the kids' attention and help them have fun, but if you're going to "Coco," you're not going to so that your kids can have a fun time at the theater. You're going for your own personal enjoyment while hoping that your kids enjoy the film as well. In fact, if I were to pick a side for this movie, I'd say this movie is more for adults and less for kids. And in true Pixar fashion, "Coco" does an absolutely beautiful job at tugging at your heartstrings. If Pixar movies in the past have made you cry, then don't leave your box of tissues at home for this one because you're going to need them. And then you're going to go home with a new or renewed desire to research your own ancestors and learn of their stories so that they won't be forgotten for future generations.

In summary, "Coco" does everything that we've come to expect from a Pixar movie. The reason why I've been so harsh on recent Pixar movies such as "Cars 2," "Cars 3," "The Good Dinosaur" and "Monsters University" is that I know what Pixar is capable of and I thus I have a very high bar for them when I go into a new Pixar movie. While that might seem unfair, movies like "Inside Out" and now "Coco" prove to me that it's OK to have these high expectations because Pixar is still capable of meeting them. In terms of where "Coco" ranks among the Pixar classics, I'm having a tough time figuring out a specific ranking in my head just because Pixar has made so many good movies and this is their 19th feature-length film, and this will be the 15th one that I think is really good. What I'm more comfortable with at this point is separating these movies into categories. In the top category that I would label as Pixar classics, I currently have "Toy Story 3," "Toy Story," "The Incredibles," "Monsters, Inc.," "Finding Nemo," "Inside Out" and "Up." "Coco" will now join that group. That should make you excited. The only reason I'm not giving it a perfect score is that it took a bit getting started and is slightly predictable. That said, the grade that I'm settling with for now for "Coco" is a 9/10.




P.S. - Before you get treated to this new Pixar classic that is "Coco," you will be subjected to a 21-minute short film called "Olaf's Frozen Adventure." This will be a good time to go to the bathroom, stretch your legs, go buy some concessions or whatever it is you do to prepare yourself for a movie because this little holiday short film is way too long and really annoying. And this is coming from someone who still really likes "Frozen," despite the fact that it has become the cool thing to hate the movie. I like the two story arcs that Anna and Elsa go through. I like our side characters, including the normally hilarious Olaf. And I really enjoy the music. And I respect the fact that it has become this young generation's version of "The Lion King." And I didn't even mind our little "Frozen Fever" short film in front of 2015's "Cinderella." But this short film made me want to melt Olaf and banish Anna and Elsa to a deserted island. I don't think this is indicative of how "Frozen 2" will turn out because I think Disney's main team of animators and writers will take special care of that one. But if I'm wrong and it is, we are all in trouble. Perhaps your young girls will enjoy seeing their favorite characters again, but for me I was really just wanting "Coco" to start. Fair warning.