It’s rather ironic
that with all this horrible controversy about a border wall between
the US and Mexico over the past year, we now get a beautifully
animated film that’s so rich and respectful of Mexican culture and
tradition. Oh Pixar you did it again. It practically erases the
critical slump you’ve had with a trifecta of “meh” releases
including “The Good Dinosaur” (which I enjoyed for what it was),
a fine, but unmemorable sequel “Finding Dory,” and the nearly
unwatchable “Cars 3” (a film so misguided I couldn’t even bear
to write even a scathing review of it). “Coco” is Pixar’s
return to form and features everything you really love about a great
Pixar movie: memorable characters, moments that make you cry, jaw
dropping animation, and a clever and original story. In fact, “Coco”
is so perfect that the only bad thing about it is that you’re
forced to watch a subpar 22 minute “Frozen” short that prepares you for
the feature film by forcing you to go through the five stages of
grief.
“Coco” tells the
story of a young Mexican boy named Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) who
loves music and aspires to be a famous guitar player like his
deceased hero Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). But his family
forbids any form of music since Miguel’s great-great grandmother
was abandoned by her musician husband. Her family now makes a living
as shoemakers and music is strictly prohibited. But Miguel, like so
many Disney heroes and heroines before him is a rebel and has
secretly taught himself to play guitar and still longs to be a
musician. He then goes on the adventure of a lifetime when he’s
accidently transported to the Land of the Dead during the annual Día
de los Muertos and learns a lot more about his heritage.
This “Day of the
Dead” celebration is where deceased family members are honored and
remembered. Well this is a Pixar film so they’ve taken a real life
tradition and turned it on its head in a really fun way. Dead
relatives can “visit” the world of the living if their family
members have displayed their photo in an ofrendo (an alter that
honors a deceased relative during the celebration). They visit by
going through a customs-like border area between the afterlife and
real life. While in the Land of the Dead Miguel attempts to find his
deceased hero and teams up with Héctor (Gael García Berna) a
down-on-his-luck musician who is trying to crossover to the Land of
the Living. Might I add that all the folks over in the Land of the
Dead are skeletons that are gorgeous rendered? The world that
directors Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina and their team have created
is, in a word, astonishing.
And of course it’s
not quite a Pixar masterpiece if you aren’t about to bawl your eyes
out by the end. Music is the soul of the film and here the emotional
song “Remember Me” (from the “Frozen” songwriting team) plays
a crucial role. You’re probably wondering why the film is called
“Coco” if the main character is a little boy named Miguel. Coco
is Miguel’s extremely elderly great-grandmother and by the time the
film enters its final act you are completely and emotionally sucked
into this fantastic story. If you’re not fighting back tears by the
end then you aren’t human. The film is about family, tradition, and
the power of music and it’s another brilliant and funny piece of entertaining
art from arguably the greatest animation studio ever. In other words,
to miss “Coco” would be a crime against humanity. GRADE: A
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