Phillip Reviews: Coco and Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017)

Phillip873 WARNING: This will, I repeat WILL contain many spoilers! If you have not seen this movie yet, I advise skipping this review until you have!

I got to go see Pixar's Coco last week at one of my local theaters recently. I was very hyped up to see this because if you haven't noticed already I am a fan of Disney/Pixar animation, but I was worried I was overhyping it. Let me tell you, it totally lived up to my expectations, and I was incredibly happy that I got to watch this. However let's start with the 21 minute Frozen short "Olaf's Frozen Adventure", which preceded the movie (Yes I will be giving it a rating).

Olaf's Frozen Adventure:
So before the movie started, there was a little Disney short called "Olaf's Frozen Adventure" that had a runtime of 21 minutes. I didn't think it was as terrible as everyone said it was, but nonetheless it wasn't very good. I think the worst part was the dialogue, as it wasn't funny really, and it tried hard to be 'cute' and it was so sickly sweet that I felt like I was going to throw up freaking rainbows! Ok a bit of an overexaggeration, but it was still very sappy! The songs were OK, really forgettable but still not bad at all. The plot was about how Olaf wanted to find a Christmas tradition for Anna and Elsa since they don't have one. He finds some and gets lost, but is found, there's a musical number, the end! It really felt like a TV special, which it was probably originally meant to be, considering it is 21 minutes. I didn't think it dragged on too much as people have told me, probably because I was prepared for it. The animation was still gorgeous, but it really is not surprising at this point because if you have seen any Disney animation movies this decade, you would know they all look fantastic in terms of animation.
Olaf's Frozen Adventure Rating: 4/10 (Mediocre)
"Olaf's Frozen Adventure" is really not as terrible as people say it is, however it isn't good either. The dialogue and songs kind of suck but it isn't really offensive or anything. It's pretty much a TV special.

Coco:
OK, now we can talk about Coco!
Plot Summary:
"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."
-Source: IMDb

The Story:
I was surprised I was not bothered by the cliches in this movie. Such as the "person wants to do soemthing but can't due to people around him", or the "surprise villain". Then I realized it was because the cliches in this movie were handled with care. The great writing this movie has makes this whole thing work beautifully. It reminds me of The Lego Movie (an all time favirite of mine), which is also riddled with cliches. But its amazing writing is what makes it work and feel fresh! We understand the protagonist, Miguel, and his problems, what he wants to acheive and how far he will go to do it. The surprise villain was done fine, but I will admit once Miguel got to Ernesto de la Cruz's palace with Hector, I called that he was going to be the bad guy. But there is another twist the Miguel's great great grandfather is actually Hector, not Ernesto which I actually did not predict, so good on that! And the emotional impact this movie has is beautiful. I teared up a bit at Hector's whole backstory with Ernesto de la Cruz killing him and taking his songs, and how Hector would never see his family again, so he was nearly forgotten forever. I was actually hoping the movie ended happily, which it did, but I was still very sad when Hector was going to go through the final death because he was being forgotten. Again, that's because the writing is amazing, Pixar sure knows how to make these great stories! The humor in this movie is good too, I laughed at some parts. Overall the story may have cliches, but it is handled very well so it works great!

The Animation:
It's Pixar, so of course the animation is beautiful. The part where Miguel and his dog Dante enter the Land of the Dead was literally jaw dropping! All the models are detailed, it looks colorful, interesting, and all around GORGEOUS!! In fact, all the sets are incredibly detailed, and well made. There's not much to say here, you can totally count on Disney and Pixar to bring on great animation!

The Characters/Voice Acting:
I could totally connect with the main characters. Miguel, the protagonist, wants to play music and will go to great lengths to get his wish. He develops over the course of the story to care for his family more, and find out the secrets to his family tree. His great great grandfather Hector is also very well done as a character, as you actually feel very sad for him because of his heartbraking backstory that is revealed. The rest of Miguel's family have good character design and can be funny and have some depth, which is good to have for side characters. So what I'm basically saying is that all the characters are well written. The voice acting is done really well too. Most of the actors have this feel that they connect with their role, which I like.

Extra Thoughts:
This movie is incredibly accurate to Mexican culture behind the day of the dead. I've done research on this type of stuff before, as it is a part of my heritage (half Mexican), and it really feels like the writers really researched the culture. Other proof of this is the Mexican audiences completely loved this movie, and I believe it has the highest gross or box office (correct me if I'm wrong) of all time there. They really loved it, because they felt it was really true to their cultures. Another thing I would like to add is that, THIS IS NOT A RIP OFF OF "The Book of Life". I felt little to no connection between those two movies except for the look of the Land of the Dead. Their stories are completely different and so are the sets of characters. So you don't need to worry about that!

Rating: 10/10 (Fantastic)
Final Thoughts/Summary:
Coco is yet another Pixar masterpiece that has great writing, amazing emotional impact enough to make audiences cry, beautiful animation and settings, and great characters. I really would recommend this movie to anyone looking for a good animated movie!

Thanks for reading guys, I might review the new Star Wars movie next, because I'm going to see it Christmas day. Until next time everyone!

Comments

As always, great review. I liked that you bundled up Olaf's Frozen Adventure and Coco into one review. - visitor

Yeah I felt that was necessary, because I saw them both in the same sitting. - Phillip873