*MAJOR SPOILERS* So, I just saw Coco...

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Director: Lee Unkrich

Rating: PG

My rating: :star::star::star::star::star:

 

Hello my friends – here is a little mini review for you all. :D I know it’s been quite a while since I last uploaded a film review, even a mini review, but after seeing Disney/Pixar’s Coco at the cinema, I decided it was time to put on my critic hat again and share my thoughts on Coco.

 

:iconread-plz: WARNING - This review will have spoilers for Coco. I will put SPOILERS before paragraphs where major spoilers occur. :)

 

Now, before I continue, I shall address the elephant in the room and talk about another animated film based on the Day of the Dead that came out a few years ago, The Book of Life. A lot of people have been accusing Pixar of ripping off The Book of Life by making a film based on Dia de las Muertos, but I personally don’t think Pixar has been ‘ripping off’ Book of Life – especially seen as I heard Coco began production BEFORE Book of Life did – I’d more say it’s coincidence if they had similar themes. Both of them are based on Dia de las Muertos and the protagonists of both have a passion for music and playing the guitar, true, but I think it would be a bit unfair to immediately jump to calling one a rip off of the other as they both take on different themes. It’s the same as films about a boy and his dog, buddy cop films, fantasy films, romantic comedies, slasher horror films or ghost stories – a lot of them do have some similarities to each other, but no-one I know accuses Zootropolis of ripping off other buddy cop films, and there are many slasher films that have similarities between the way their killers operate. And plus…. How many Christmas or Halloween based films have you seen? :shrug: There are a TON of times Christmas and Halloween based films coming out and they all get represented in some way by a LOT of films. Dia de las Muertos is a holiday that does deserve more attention in mainstream cinema, and personally, I feel happy that we have more than one animated film coming out related to it. :aww:

Also, there are some noticeable differences between the stories of the two films. Book of Life more focuses on a love triangle between two childhood friends trying to win the heart of their other friend with one friend sacrificing himself to travel to the Land of the Dead to be with his crush, while Coco focuses on a young boy travelling to the Land of the Dead while still alive to learn more about his heritage and find his great great grandfather. Also, I found that more time is spent in the Land of the Dead in Coco, while in Book of Life, it switched much more often between the Land of the Dead and the land of the living – as well as the museum from the beginning of the film. So, they do have some similarities, but I do think they have more differences to them – namely in the storytelling and the character development.

 

Now, which one do I prefer, you ask? Well, I’m not just saying this to be prejudiced because Coco is made by Pixar, but I do prefer Coco overall. Not to say that Book of Life is BAD, but I just remember that when I watched Coco, I found the film flip flopped a bit too much between the Day of the Dead plot, the plot of the invading bandits, the romance plot and the museum – the plot had a lot going on and the film felt a bit busy – not saying it was bad, just a bit cramped for time. Coco’s runtime is a bit longer, and it keeps the focus more in one place. And I do have a personal preference for plots related to family than anything relating to love triangles, personally. :shrug:

Now with that said, I will admit that I thought that some of the scenes in Coco did drag on for a LITTLE bit at times – the film is about 2 hours long – but the pacing is solid for the most part. :nod:

 

Now, when it comes to the story that this film has – the ‘family member who has a dream that his other family members won’t allow’ – I personally don’t mind them as long as they have understandable reasons why the family conflict exists to begin with. In this case, a member of the Rivera family left his loved ones to pursue his dream of becoming a travelling musician and seemingly forgot about his family, never coming home. Becoming a pariah to his family for nearly 100 years, he’s never been forgiven for that fact, except for his great-great-grandson, Miguel, who wishes to follow in the footsteps of his idol Ernesto de la Cruz, a famous musician and movie star. Despite his family trying to keep Miguel in the cobbler’s profession like their family has been traditionally rooted in since his great great grandfather left them, Miguel runs away one night, wishing to take place in a music festival during Dia de los Muertos, but upon stealing the legendary guitar belonging to Ernesto de la Cruz, he becomes cursed and forced to remain in the Land of the Dead until he can break the curse.

 

Most of all, I really like how everyone in the Rivera family at least seems HUMAN – I think that the interactions that the family members have are extremely believable, and it’s interesting to see Miguel, the main character (who, interestingly, is played by Anthony Gonzalez, a real life mariachi singer – who is around 12 years old, the same age as Miguel – I know I often say this, but it is really nice whenever a film actually casts a child in a child’s role – insert Vanellope Von Schweetz related comment here as to what happens when the voice coming out of the child doesn’t match :XD: ) as, while acting like a believable rebellious boy and maintaining sympathy, acts a bit selfish sometimes during his pursuit of following his dream – being a bit overly headstrong and following the mantra of his idol de la Cruz – ‘Seize your moment’ – which can be seen as a good piece of advice and a bad one when taken the wrong way…. There are quite a few times in the time where his character flaw results in him pushing those who try to help him away – it takes a great talent to make a character like that while keeping them likeable, and I think they nailed it here. They could have easily just made another Princess Merida (the WRONG way to make this kind of character – a bratty little teen who cares nothing for the sake of her kingdom and just wants to ride around on horses shooting targets all day, never amounting to anything), but I feel that with the family being more strict with keeping Miguel’s passion in check AND being a bit harsh with keeping the family member who Miguel looks up to out of the family ofrenda, it makes more sense why Miguel would be so drawn to find his great-great-grandfather, in my opinion. And plus – being a musician CAN be a way to make a living and it’s not like the fate of a KINGDOM is put in jeopardy if he doesn’t marry someone, so I sympathise with Miguel a LOT more than I do Merida. :lol: Miguel acts much more like a real child to me, and he’s nowhere near as annoying as Merida. :)

 

I know that any concept of a family that vows to ban a dream always has the risk of backfiring and making the family look like jerks who are being mean for no good reason, but I do feel that the film makes a good job of making it understandable as to why the family wouldn’t want their son to follow down the same path. Even though I do think that the cousins felt a bit mean for no reason (they only appear in one scene and only make snide remarks at Miguel), and I thought it was a bit interesting that Miguel’s actual PARENTS take a bit of a back seat, I do like how this film shows interactions with the OLDER members of the family and has conflict come up there. It is nice to address relationships in a family that go outside of the parents – in films where there’s conflict between a child and a member of the family, it’s more often than not the father that they butt heads with, and it’s nice to see the film address the grandson-grandmother relationship, and how it writes Miguel’s grandmother as the stern but well meaning matron of the family – and I will admit it takes skill to make her funny at points too. :D Even if I think that the scene where Miguel’s shrine and handmade guitar is a bit tough to watch (not as bad as the scene where Triton destroys Ariel’s collection in The Little Mermaid, but a similar sentiment :o ), I feel the film does a much better job at making conflict between Miguel and his family without making the family come across as TOO mean. That’s a problem I had with ParaNorman and the way they wrote Perry Babcock – I thought Perry Babcock was WAY too mean spirited in that film and was even worse than most of the bullies that his son was forced to face, and it felt like a little bit abrupt to me when he changed his ways at the end of the film as he acted way too hostile towards his own flesh and blood in my opinion. But with Miguel’s family, I feel that there are more signs they do still care for him despite disagreements they have here, and I think that factors into a really important moral in the film….. :aww:

 

A central theme in the film that I love, which is central to the meaning of Dia de las Muertos itself is a central part of the film – how important keeping the memories of the dearly departed alive are. For a film based on a relatively lively holiday, this film does get surprisingly dark in places – probably another reason why I prefer this film to Book of Life is how there’s more of a pressing urgency in this film and the tone of the film does get more serious. Not to say light hearted films are bad – it’s just that I think the serious tone fits the holiday more, and I feel it suits the message of remembering your dearly departed and the central holiday more. Keeping in touch with everyone in your family, and the theme of the Final Death (what happens when no-one remembers you anymore in the land of the living), are both themes that I really loved and I thought were handled maturely. :aww:

In fact, I have to say that this is another strength of the film – it’s nice to see older relatives being focused on, and like with Up, I think this film does a really good job with the portrayal of the elderly (and adults for that matter – it does bother me a bit in family films where films just straight up say ‘Adults Are Useless’, so it’s nice to see Miguel get helped out a lot by the adults he comes across, and the adults help in his character development too), especially with Mama Coco.

Mama Coco is probably one of the best elderly characters I’ve seen for a long time since Carl Fredrickson from Up. The film portrays her as most likely suffering from Alzheimer’s, or at least some of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, meaning that she has times where she mistakes her family members for each other and has frequent bouts where she lacks lucidity and is losing what memory she has left, which I will admit is a frighteningly common and tragic occurrence in real life among the elderly, and the fact that the film treats it seriously is something I have to respect. But I love how the film shows her caring deeply for her family and being the only one who remembers her late father fondly, and the amount of emotion they convey on her face is really touching…. This film actually made me miss my own grandmothers, I will admit – I never knew my grandfathers as they passed away when I was very young, but the way Pixar effectively writes the elderly and helps to bridge the generational gap really well is something that is tough to do, but I think they nailed it really well. :clap:

 

Now, onto the topic of comic relief – in this film, we have Dante the Xoloitzcuintl/Mexican Hairless dog….. who is easily one of the cutest dogs I’ve seen in a Disney film for quite a long time – even considering Dug from Up. :love: He reminds me a LOT of my late dog Maddy – he has a lot of Maddy-ish tendencies. :love: I know that when it comes to the pet tagging along, or any comic relief for that matter that they can come across as annoying and pointless if not written well (I know that Hei Hei from Moana was NOT well received for this reason – and not to mention Hi-5 from the Emoji Movie…… :puke: ). But don’t worry – I can guarantee you that Dante is one of the best written tag along Pixar characters I’ve seen, and unlike Hei Hei, I think that he has a VERY good reason for tagging along. As well as behaving a LOT like a real dog, I really like the STORY reason as to why Dante tags along with Miguel. :love: And while he does have a few ditzy moments, I like how the film shows he’s not a COMPLETE idiot and has some smart and loyal moments while with Miguel – like any other dogs out there. :D

 

MILD SPOILERS

I really like the research that the film makers did here. A part of Mexican mythology is that Xoloitzcuintl dogs serve as spirit guides to the dead, and as such it turns out that Dante is a Alebrije – a creature that acts as a guide for departed souls. (By the way, something else I thought was really cool when I did research – Alebrijes have only been a central part of Mexican culture since the 1930s – when they were first created – I heard they came to their creator, Pedro Linares, in a nightmare when he was unwell, and the designs appealed to him so much he made figures out of them, and now they’re a central part of Mexican culture. :wow: )

MILD SPOILERS END

 

And speaking of doing research into Mexican history, I found the references to Frida Kahlo in the film to be a cool addition. As part of my art classes when I was in secondary school, we watched the 2002 biopic based on Frida Kahlo, and from what I can remember learning about her, her eccentricities and a few trademarks of her art style are very well captured in her cameo in the film – she acts as a performance artist for Ernesto de la Cruz’ Sunrise Spectacular in the Land of the Dead, and true to the real life person, her work has a lot of skeletons dressing up as her, fire and her own face appearing on inanimate objects – which appears in a lot of her art. Also, here’s something cool I found out about Frida Kahlo is that she is one of the people who helped bring attention back to the Xoloitzcuintl breed and included a lot of the dogs in her paintings, which is most likely why she became interested in Dante :meow:, and she has a pet spider monkey Alebrije, relating to her loving spider monkeys in real life too. :) I think the character herself is a really cool one too (she helps out Hector and Miguel on numerous occasions, and despite being an eccentric artist, she still allows Hector to borrow her costumes and let the Rivera family dress as her during the climax to go up against the villain :D ), and yes, it is funny when the characters try to dress as her.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD

While on the topic of Miguel’s family members, I really love the relationships Miguel has with his family members on the other side as well. :aww: As well as his living family, I especially love the relationship between him and his great-great-grandmother Imelda. Imelda is an AWESOME character – she died in her early 70s (confirmed by Lee Unkrich in an interview), but she helps to save the day with the numerous talents that she has, owns an awesome GIANT FLYING PANTHER Alebrije and attacks the villain numerous times, not to mention how successful she was as a businesswoman when she was alive with her family cobblers still going strong. :D Also, here’s my thoughts on her relationship with her husband – her husband DID walk out on her to pursue his dream and left her to raise a child and run a business on her own, so I do think it is understandable as to why she enforced the music ban to make sure no one else in the family would suffer the same heartbreak as she did, and even upon finding out the truth as to why her husband left her and couldn’t come back later on in the film, it does take some time for her to forgive him, which is a good sense of reality kicking in. I know a lot of people may think that she went a bit far to make sure her husband was forgotten, but to be fair, she thought he never came back for selfish reasons (rather than the real reason that she was unaware of), and upon learning the truth, she regrets her actions dearly.

SPOILERS END

 

Imelda’s personality reminds me a bit of a mixture between Toriel from Undertale, Monkey from Kubo and the Two Strings and the grandmother from Song of the Sea – a fierce, dominating and strong willed woman who, despite being a bit stern and having a bit of a fiery spirit, genuinely cares for her family and will do anything to keep them together and safe. (And plus, she and Toriel both turned away from a husband who, while having understandable motivations and remaining likeable, still did something that undermined their family structure.)

 

I know a common pattern in Disney films we’ve been getting recently have been the ‘charming, quick thinking con artist’ type character who becomes a foil for the protagonist – Flynn Rider, Vanellope Von Schweetz, Kristoff, Nick Wilde and Maui – and now Hector from Coco. I personally think they all work really well, they’re given good reasons as to why they have to scrape by and use tricks and cunning to just survive, and the films do a great job of making them likeable and endearing. Hector in particular provides a lot of the funny moments and visual gags in the film, playing off Miguel and Dante perfectly. :clap: He’s this dishevelled skeleton who is trying to cross over the bridge to the Land of the Living, but has been mostly forgotten by the outside world….. which leads to quite tragic circumstances once you realise he appears more yellow and rotted and much more worse for wear than the other skeletons in the film. :ohnoes: He’s a great example of a mixture between a hilarious and a tragic character all at the same time – much like a lot of the ‘suave con artist’ characters that have been coming out of a lot of Disney films recently. As I said, I really like these characters as they do a great job of HUMANIZING a lot of them (despite many of them not even being human).

 

MAJOR SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS

Actually – regarding Hector…. This film leads to one of the BIGGEST plot twists to come out of Disney for quite a long time. Now, I know that in Disney films (and quite a few Pixar films on their own) that have come out over the past decade, that some people have been saying that they are saying they’re going a bit far with plot twists, especially those relating to villains. Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, The Incredibles, Up, Toy Story 3, Cars 2, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootropolis, Moana and Coco have all had plot twists relating to the true identity of their villains, and I think that they all work out really well – I know that some people have been able to predict them, but I will admit that every single time they manage to catch me off guard, sometimes even on repeat viewings! Maybe I’m just bad at predicting plot twists. ^^;

Now, when I first saw Ernesto de la Cruz and the possibility that he may be Miguel’s great great grandfather, I was actually thinking ‘that’s pretty cool’ and ‘maybe the film doesn’t have a villain and it’s more about the importance of choosing family over your dreams’, but then the twist occurred when Hector reveals that Ernesto is nothing more than a thieving plagiariser who stole Hector’s lyrics without giving him the credit for it. In a way, looking back, it makes sense that this guy that even LOOKS a bit like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast could be revealed to be a jerk, but what ELSE he’s done caught me COMPLETELY by surprise. He actually KILLED his best friend in cold blood to steal his lyrics for himself, and even in DEATH, he still leeches off of Hector – making sure that Hector is forgotten by his family so that he can keep his own selfish legacy alive (MIGUEL is HIS great great grandson :ohnoes: ), and he shows how his ‘seize your moments’ catchphrase can take a very sinister dark turn to see exactly what he did to seize his moment.

While I have to say that Ernesto turns out to be one of the slimiest and one of the most ruthless of the Pixar villains (even rivalling LOTSO in that regard :ohnoes: - he is a rather monstrous piece of work when you realise what he’s done), I think Ernesto does make a pretty effective villain (at least until he turns into a nervous wreck and has his security guards fight for him), and it is interesting to see the film portray what would happen if Miguel and Hector continued heading down the paths they decided to turn away from. :o He reminds me a little bit of Charles Muntz, but rather than being unable to let go of the past, he’s keeping his fame going by any means necessary – even when he thinks Miguel could be his ancestor, he STILL tries to kill him to keep his ‘legacy’ alive. Which makes it all the more cathartic when he’s given his just desserts in a way that reminded me a bit of when Waternoose’s true nature was recorded. :evillaugh:

Also, this just makes Hector even more tragic and more of a Sad Clown kind of character. He DID try to come back to his family, going back on his decision to travel the world with Ernesto, but he was given a pretty gruesome death by his supposed best friend ON SCREEN :ohnoes: . And said friend is willing to see Hector die the Final Death just to MAINTAIN HIS FAME…. I also find it interesting that Hector has been confirmed by Lee Unkrich to have been only 21 when he was murdered – that’s younger than me! :o But no matter how young he is/was, he’s easily one of the best father characters I’ve seen in media – and for the record, I think Imelda is a pretty great parental figure as well, and it makes it all the more awesome when they make amends at the end of the film. :love:

MAJOR SPOILERS END

 

As is par for the course for Pixar films, the film is absolutely BEAUTIFUL – both in mood, designs and music. In terms of comparing it to the Book of Life, the designs of the Land of the Dead has more of a mix of a conventional city landscape with Mexican cultural visuals, but I think that as well as still capturing a lot of wonder and awesome surreal visuals in the Land of the Dead, having some similarities to the real world works quite well here, in my opinion, in showing how REAL the ‘lives’ of the dearly departed would be compared to their relatives in the land of the living. It reminds me a little bit of a much less gothic and slightly more colourful version of the Land of the Dead from Corpse Bride. :) Seeing the streets of Mexico in the land of the living reminds me even more of when I saw Frida when I was younger, and it is cool seeing the tradition of Dia de los Muertos being brought to life in this film. :aww: I heard that the Pixar crew went to Mexico FIVE TIMES during the production of this film, and it really shows that they did their research here. :clap:

Speaking of music – it’s interesting that most of the Pixar films don’t really have that many musical numbers present in them, but this film has the most musical numbers since Toy Story, but I do like how the film manages to implement the songs into the film’s plot really well. Music is used to show Miguel drawing inspiration from his idol, Miguel trying to find a way to find his great great grandfather in the battle of the bands, a really funny moment where Hector edits the lyrics of a raunchy song because Miguel is there (‘her….. knuckles drag on the floor’ :rofl: ), the film’s end and most likely one of the most heartfelt moments in the whole film. Rather than just slamming the brakes on the story like some musical films I’ve seen, I do like the way that this film uses it to keep the plot going, and every single one is audible chocolate. :aww:

 

MAJOR SPOILERS PRESENT

It goes without saying that this film has a TON of tear jerking moments in it, a lot of them revolving around the plot point of the Final Death, Miguel regretting his more selfish actions, the fact that Miguel risks the chance of dying for real if the curse isn’t lifted and the risk of him being forgotten by his living relatives, and last but not least, EVERYTHING ABOUT HECTOR. :cries:

I heard that during the scene where Hector sings his original version of Remember Me to his daughter Coco (not the bombastic generic love ballad version Ernesto turned it into, but the heartfelt version he wrote simply as a lullaby to his daughter :love: ) that a lot of people cried in the cinema, to the point where I feel bad that I didn’t shed a tear there (a part of my autism I don’t like is that while I do feel sad often I feel bad that I don’t cry as often as other people :( )….. But upon listening to the song again after watching the film, I truly began to get misty eyed. :cries: Here’s how powerful a scene it is – I could see my Dad sitting next to me tearing up in the cinema while watching it – I couldn’t see my Mom, but I don’t see my Dad tear up often, so that’s impressive on the film’s part - I just wanted to hug him AND Hector and Coco after that scene. The fact that Hector’s actor, Gael Garcia Bernal was apparently singing this to his REAL LIFE DAUGHTER, Libertad Garcia Fonzi makes it even more heartfelt a scene…. And even more so when Miguel sings the song to the elderly Coco, helping her remember her father again. It’s easily one of the most emotionally heartfelt scenes in any Pixar film, in my opinion, and I have to say the theme of the song is really respectful to the Mexican people and the theme of Dia de los Muertos – and even outside of the Day of the Dead, I heard a lot of people had memories of their own relatives who had recently passed away or were victims of dementia or Alzheimer’s, or even if they’re just leaving their friends and family to travel elsewhere, and found it even sadder. ‘I wrote that song not for the whole world, I wrote it for Coco’. :aww:

SPOILERS END

 

In short, I only have ONE thing to say to you all now – ‘Go watch this film as soon as you can’. :D I’m seriously trying to think which of the Pixar films is my favourite – Inside Out or this. :w00t: True, I do think that the villain is not as fun or entertaining as some of the other Pixar villains I’ve seen – but I will give the villain credit for probably being one of the DARKEST of the Pixar villains for his misdeeds (he’s probably closest in nature to Charles Muntz, but I will admit I did find Charles Muntz motivations more entertaining than the mere selfish pride that the villain here did – Charles Muntz didn’t anger me on as much of a personal level as Coco’s villain did – same as Syndrome, who I found very entertaining despite his genocide on superheroes), some of Miguel’s relatives felt a little bit bland (I think it’s odd that Miguel’s DIRECT PARENTS don’t have as big of a role here :o ), and maybe some scenes went for a bit longer than needed (the film does feel a TEENSY bit padded in places), but that doesn’t detract from the awesomeness and heartfelt moments that Coco has. The animation, characters (I think my favourite five are Hector, Imelda, Dante, Coco and Miguel), the themes of the importance of family connections, the emotional heartstring pullers, representation of Mexican culture and the music in the film are all brilliant, and I have a feeling that this film could easily now be in my Top 20 Favourite Films of all time, I love it that much. :love:

 

See you all soon! :wave:

© 2018 - 2024 Duckyworth
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alditoquerido's avatar
Also, I'm gonna be blunt here: while I liked your review, I don't like the part where you said this:

"A lot of people have been accusing Pixar of ripping off The Book of Life by making a film based on Dia de las Muertos, but I personally don’t think Pixar has been ‘ripping off’ Book of Life – especially seen as I heard Coco began production BEFORE Book of Life did – I’d more say it’s coincidence if they had similar themes. Both of them are based on Dia de las Muertos and the protagonists of both have a passion for music and playing the guitar, true, but I think it would be a bit unfair to immediately jump to calling one a rip off of the other as they both take on different themes. It’s the same as films about a boy and his dog, buddy cop films, fantasy films, romantic comedies, slasher horror films or ghost stories – a lot of them do have some similarities to each other, but no-one I know accuses Zootropolis of ripping off other buddy cop films, and there are many slasher films that have similarities between the way their killers operate. And plus…. How many Christmas or Halloween based films have you seen? Shrug"

It feels like you're being negative to the people who are asking what movie did better. Sure, there are people who are calling ripping-off, but NOT everyone investigates about the behind the scenes. And another thing: there's been only TWO American films about el Día de los Muertos thus far, so it's normal people's misconceptions about which it's the definitive genre movie, when the fact of the matter is that it's just a matter of opinions.

Sorry if I come across as aggressive, I just want you to improve better. Trying to understand better people's reaction and NOT generalizing so much. Me? I don't take very much as a big deal.

I don't know if you haven't seen James Bond movies (and I'm not assuming that you know everything about them, 'cause you're Brittish), but in the most recent one Specter, they opened in México City with a HUGE festival with parade and stuff about El Día de los Muertos and that's completely inaccurated. Yeah, my country highly criticized this opening scene. Meh, that film was underwhelming anyway.