[7.4/10] There is a certain Pixar magic. Towards the end of the film, once the crazy adventures are mostly adventured, and the major antagonist has been subdued, those manipulative show-offs reach out and tug on your heartstrings like a hungover twenty-something pulling down the shades. I am, however cold and cynical my heart may be, no where near immune to their charms.
So when Miguel sings his great great grandfather’s song to the person it was written for, and she wakes from her forgetful stupor to sing along, and brings out both the letters that tell his story to the world and the torn photo that’ll save his life (er, afterlife), it hit me hook line and sinker. Coco earns that moment. It earns that sentiment. And the afterglow of a family reunited, of feuds resolved and wounds mended, of music being a bridge to remembering one's ancestors rather than a wall between them, it’s easy to get swept up in that emotional swell and call the whole thing great.
But Coco wanders and stumbles to get to that point. It doesn't make that ending any less boffo, any less emotionally piercing, and yet it doesn't wipe away the standard wild and wacky adventure and trite theme the film uses to build to that point. If it leads to that extraordinary finish, it can’t be all bad, but it can’t help but leave you wondering why the rest of the movie can’t match that standard. It’s a pretty good movie with a pretty great ending.
Still, pretty good is pretty good! The film tells the story of a young boy named Miguel who loves music, to the chagrin of his tune-hating, shoe-making family. After a Footloose-esque tiff, he crosses over to the land of the dead during Dia de los Muertos, and after meeting his bony ancestors there, has to figure out how to resolve his musical passion and the importance of family.
That’s a hell of a presence! The best thing about Coco is its world. Very quickly, the film establishes what its rules are: when the ancestors can cross over into the world of the living, why you can stay in the afterlife vs. facing “the last death”, how the family blessing rules work to send Miguel back to the real world. All of these little strictures and regulations make for an interesting set of obstacles for our hero to have to leap over, and to build a story about family and memory around.
More than those magical laws, the land of the dead is just a cool little ecosystem. However predictable the story beats might be, you can always count on Pixar to wow you in the visuals department, and Coco doesn't skimp on that front. The glowing, multicolored world that the dead occupy is a feast for the eyes, with distinctive shapes, movements, and style. From the skeletal residents to the mural-skinned spirit animals to the bridge between worlds, it’s a joy to spend time in the afterlife.
The catch is that the story set there is no great shakes. The film hammers home the point that Miguel wants to be a great musician and that his family doesn't approve of it over and over and over again. There’s a lot to be said for having a main character with a clear, driving motivation, but Coco underscores the conflict so often that eventually it becomes rote. Everything hinges on that one drive, which makes for a good Aesop’s fable about the importance of making room for other things, but not necessarily a great overall story.
There’s also a fairly predictable reveal at the center of the narrative where, as in Up, the young boy’s idol turns out to be a selfish jerk who turns murderous and inadvertently teaches the protagonist to appreciate his familial connections over his grandiose aims. Once you figure out that Hector must be Miguel’s long lost great grandson, not De La Cruz, the movie’s vagary and convenience whenever anyone’s discussing the topic starts to feel corny and contrived. There’s a laudable lesson of learning that your heroes are flawed and there’s more to life than your individual passion at the core, but turning that whole thing into a secret murder story weakens the lesson, and puts a standard good guy/bad guy dynamic at the forefront rather than the maturation of Miguel or Hector.
Still, this is Pixar, so the script is fundamentally sound. Even if the twists seem overly telegraphed and the relationships destined to be mended, every setup has a payoff and vice versa. We learn of Miguel’s love for the linchpin song of the film, “Remember Me” in the film’s early going. We learn a little more than halfway through that, in actuality, Hector wrote it for his daughter. And in the end, we see Miguel playing the song to his abuelita Coco to remind her of her father, in the film’s best and most affecting scene. Whether it succeeds on every score, the entire movie is built like that, with minor details and important precursors established in time for them to come back in a big way down the line.
Along the way, there’s also the trademark Pixar whimsy that makes the proceedings more enjoyable even where the narrative becomes a bit trying. Dante the dog is an animator’s delight, all floppiness and spunk, and his reveal as a secret spirit animal is a delight. “Cameos” from Frida Kahlo and Santo help the world feel populated (and even come back in a relevant way in the film’s climax). And the whole picture taps into Mexican culture in a fashion that makes the entire story richer and more distinctive.
There’s just a moment when the credits have rolled, and the afterglow of family reunions and memory-restoring songs wears off, that you remember the clunky (bony?) path the film took to get there. Themes like the need to balance your passions with your family, and the importance of honoring the memories of those who came before are strong, but also come off a bit trite in delivery. The bulk of Coco’s melody is filled with repetitive licks and the odd, fumbling pluck, which makes it harder to bob your head along from beginning to end, but it does hit one hell of a final note.
Pixar explores Mexican culture, investigating the spirituality and mythos of Day of the Dead while digging into a family conflict that's several generations old.
It's a visual, audible and emotional delight, enlivened with loud splashes of color and texture, and accompanied by a constantly upbeat musical vitality. There's no escaping the visual fabric of this film, immersive and jaw-dropping, as it constantly one-ups itself right alongside the developing plot. Particularly stunning is our crossing into the land of the dead, a monumental city of stacked shanties that shimmers and glistens and pulses as its residents decorate and celebrate their annual recognition.
The story is simple but effective, perhaps a touch on the predictable side... but so are many animated classics, and sometimes there's something to be said for following through on a promise. Coco wears its heart on its sleeve, with a permeating, spirited warmth that's impossible to ignore, while also touching on tricky, lingering feelings of betrayal and repression.
Dazzling and optimistic, with a subject that's, surprisingly, never been explored with such playful reverence in a major family film. Good to see the studio has kept tabs on that bottled magic; for a while, I worried they'd misplaced it.
Disney and Pixar's Coco is a family-friendly movie that combines themes of life, death, legacy and family into a visually stunning and musically vibrant film. The story follows Miguel, a 12-year-old aspiring musician who wants to fulfill his dreams despite his family's ban on music. When he steals a guitar from his great-great-grandfather, he is transported to the Land of the Dead, where he must receive a blessing from a deceased family member before sunrise to return home. The movie is a positive addition to Pixar's repertoire, blending Mexican culture and tradition into a unique and ethereal story. Visually, Coco is bursting with color and vibrancy, and the all-Latino voice cast is exceptional. Although the movie may be scary for young kids, and some messages may not resonate, the overall positive elements outweigh the negatives. Coco is a celebration of life and legacy that will leave viewers with a warm feeling.
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Coco de Disney y Pixar es una película familiar que combina temas de vida, muerte, legado y familia en una película visualmente deslumbrante y musicalmente vibrante. La historia sigue a Miguel, un aspirante a músico de 12 años que quiere cumplir sus sueños a pesar de la prohibición de la música de su familia. Cuando le roba una guitarra a su tatarabuelo, es transportado a la Tierra de los Muertos, donde debe recibir una bendición de un familiar fallecido antes del amanecer para regresar a casa. La película es una adición positiva al repertorio de Pixar, que combina la cultura y la tradición mexicanas en una historia única y etérea. Visualmente, Coco está repleta de color y vitalidad, y el elenco de voces totalmente latino es excepcional. Aunque la película puede asustar a los niños pequeños y algunos mensajes pueden no resonar, los elementos positivos en general superan a los negativos. Coco es una celebración de la vida y el legado que dejará a los espectadores con un sentimiento cálido.
COCO (2017) REVIEW
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#COCO #COCOREVIEW
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:scroll: Plot: Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.
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:man:⚖ Review : Coco ia undoubtedly a marvel from Pixar Studios. Coco, in every aspect, is a truly wondrous work of art, and the fact that it is animated only helps it as the attention-to-detail is so perfectly crafted that you will find a new, amazing thing hidden in the background every time. With beautiful mix of mexican-american speech the movie is beyond beautiful. Visually Stunning Animations, soul soothing music and beautiful articulated events which keeps you truly immersed in an experience of a lifetime.
Coco is my current favorite on top the all of my loved amimation movies. Coco beautifully transcends into music, family and promises and keep you emotionally connected even after you finish the end credits. Coco is colorful and vibrant, blending a number of unique personalities and vivid landscapes. Director Lee Unkrich keeps the narrative taut; throwing in a couple of twists along with some truly powerful moments that will invariably pull at your heartstrings.
Overall Coco, is a beautiful, marvelous piece of work from the house of Disney. I must consider myself so unlucky that i missed this in theatres.
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:thumbsup:Goods :
1. Music
2. Animations
3. Climax
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:fire: Final Rating : 9.5/10
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:white_check_mark: Verdict : Watch this before you die..
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#disneyhotstar #pixarmovies #disney #disneymovies #coco
It is a wonderful movie, beautiful and it touches your heart, especially to me that I lost my mother in 2008 when I was 10 years old and it's a loss that I never got over and that today hurts me. teaches you the courage to fight for your dreams and without caring that you should never give up, that sometimes the circumstances force us to get away from the people we want but in spite of everything we always remember them and we carry them in our hearts, the song is simply beautiful and makes you cry, transmits many emotions, in short I can only say that the film is simply unique and it deserves that Oscar that won this year and that is 100% recommended. so I invite you that if you have not yet seen this incredible movie, go to the movie theaters or rent the movie or see it on a web page, but you can not stop seeing it, is one of the most beautiful animated films I've seen in my life, I'm still crying with emotion, is that the movie is absolutely beautiful and please see it as soon as possible, Anyway, that was all I had to say thank you for your attention.
I went in expecting absolutely nothing and came out mildly enjoying it. I'll just get a few things out of the way before I reach my verdict. As a rompy heart-felt Pixar movie, it works at hitting all the notes. Take your family to see it, you'll all enjoy it. If you're of Mexican heritage, I'm sure you will absolutely love the movie, I think that much is clear. I don't think anyone's shocked when the box office for this is the highest in all Mexico history. I've had a long, personal, and almost battered-house-wife-type relationship with Disney. That corporation has done so much shit in the past decade that has infuriated me to the point of boycotting any of their media, including the popular theme parks. But now that I have a MoviePass, I have no excuse to not see every movie that comes out into theaters, so I figured I'd waste a few hours to form my own opinion. Ignoring the infuriating Frozen short that plays before-hand, Coco excels at tugging the heart strings, while simultaneously adding nothing unique or original to Pixar's line-up. I know, according to premiere critics, every story-line that is possible has been done already, but it strikes me that Pixar doesn't really try to hide their formula. I think the biggest sin Coco commits is how blatant it is when it uses these cliches. The young boy who wants more out of life, but his family refuses to let him cliche, the villain is revealed to the world via hidden camera cliche, the stranger protagonist meets turns out to be family-related cliche, and so on, and so on. Some may not mind these tropes, and I'm totally okay with it. Ignoring the tiresome and eye-rolling story patterns, Coco does manage to shine through and give us a couple of great little moments, muddled in the predictable story. The twist reveal and flashbacks towards the end of the second act are the most interesting, to say the least, and will give people flashbacks to Jessie's backstory from Toy Story 2. It's the one aspect of the movie that really makes it stick out, as well as the nicely-done final ten minutes. I won't spoil what these are, but they're good sequences. They're what raise my recommendation for Coco from below-average to it's worth seeing in theaters. It's not something I'd rush out to see, but there's no harm in going to see it.
Review by GabyBlockedParent2017-12-16T04:32:53Z— updated 2018-10-27T03:10:28Z
After seeing several people on SM recommend that it be seen in Spanish if possible, I waited until I could find a theater nearby that was showing it. I am estatic that I saw it in Spanish. It was an amazing treat to see it in the language that the characters would have spoken. The spanish language voice actors are all Mexican, giving the film it's final seal of authenticity that the english language is missing (though this is not a negative critique of the english language cast, but rather an extra treat of the spanish language version).
The film is a heartfelt tribute to the tradition of The Day of the Dead, part of the cultural heritage of Mexico and it's indigenous roots. The film shows the time and care the producers, writers and director took in staying true to and understanding this celebration as observed in Mexico, from the offerings to the dead, the significance of the vibrant marigolds, and the love and gathering with our ancestors and family.
Yes, Coco follows the tradition of all Pixar movies, with a focus on love, family and friendship. The difference this time is that it places Mexico, its culture and its people, at the center of the story.