Movie Review - Coco

MegaSoulhero I saw an early screening of Pixar’s newest film! And for some reason, this screening didn’t show Olaf’s Frozen Adventure. So I didn’t get to see that. But I DID see an Incredibles 2 teaser which I’ll talk about in another post. But anyway, let’s talk about Pixar’s Coco!

It’s about a boy named Miguel who has a family that hates music because his great great grandfather left the family. Miguel, however, wants to be a musician and is inspired by a musician named Ernesto De La Cruz. After stealing a guitar, he becomes cursed and gets sent to the Land of the Dead and he has to try to get out of there before he permanently becomes a skeleton. He gets help from Hector to try to get to Ernesto De La Cruz who may or may not be Miguel’s great great grandfather. And I must say, this is one of the best movies I’ve seen this year! I loved everything about it! I didn’t have much of an interest in Mexican culture, but this movie made me really interested in it. First off, the animation is amazing! But since it’s Pixar, that’s not really surprising. The thing that stands out is the scenery. Especially the design of the Land of the Dead. There is just so much detail put into it. Every building has it’s own designs. Even the skeletons have their own designs. They all look different from each other. The characters are really great as well. Miguel may seem like just a cliché character who wants to follow his dream, but we still end up wanting him to follow it. It’s shown that he has such a passion for music. Hector I thought was the funniest character in the movie. He’s not just in it to be the comic relief, he’s actually very helpful towards Miguel. Sure he acts selfish at first, but he really grows as a character.

Let me address the elephant in the room. People say this is a Book of Life ripoff. Just because they’re both about the Day of the Dead, they both involve a main character who loves music despite their family not approving of it, and they both involve the main character ending up in the Land of the Dead. I can see the similarities, but I’m here to tell you that the story of Coco is very different. There are tons of story elements and plot details that make it stand out as an original film. I also feel like this one stays more true to Mexican culture than Book of Life did. And it helped that the movie had an all Latino cast. Plus John Ratzenberger. Something I also really like is that they actually make it look like Miguel is really playing a guitar. By that I mean his fingers are actually playing the correct notes. It would be easy just to have the character play random notes on the guitar while the music still sounds right, but they actually wanted to make us believe that he’s really playing the instrument. It’s that kind of detail that makes me love Pixar even more. It really shows how much research they’ve done to create something like this.

The music in the film is brilliantly written. There are quite a few songs in it, but it’s not a straight up music. The characters just perform these songs naturally. Like any normal person would. They don’t break into spontaneous musical numbers so that’s good. I’ll admit, I did get a little frustrated later on in the film. There was this one cliché that happened that I’m really tired of Disney doing. My jaw literally dropped and I thought to myself “Wow! Disney’s really doing this again?” But it actually ended up working very well here. It leads to a pretty great climax. There’s also a very big plot twist that happens. I won’t say what it is but I honestly wasn’t expecting it. Now that I think of it, it did seem kind of obvious. But it’s not a matter of being surprised by the twist. It’s the execution of the twist. The emotion in the characters’ expressions and the dialogue make it seem very emotional. Speaking of emotion, it’s very hard to make me cry during movies. I’ve only cried during at least 3 movies that I can think of. I was doing pretty fine while watching Coco, but then those last ten minutes came and I started bawling! No joke! Tears were running down my face and I was breathing heavily! Any movie that can make me do that gets a huge applause from me! And it wasn’t just me. I heard other people crying and sniffling during the scene. This is something that Pixar does best! Getting us to become emotionally attached to the characters!

Coco is not just a great movie, it’s my third favorite Pixar movie! Yep! It’s better than Up! This one just really gave me such a great feeling inside! It definitely feels like a true Pixar film! Pixar is back! This is the best animated movie of the year! I highly suggest you see it when it comes out! I’m even thinking about seeing it again! It is that good!

Score: 10/10

Comments

Phenomenal review! Man, you're one heck of a lucky guy to be able to see these movies so early! Are you able to see movies early all the time where you live? Anyways, this review already has me hyped up to see Coco in theaters this Thanksgiving! - visitor (11/19/2017)

This was the only time I got see a movie early. They did a special screening at Disneyland for passholders and I registered for it. - MegaSoulhero (11/19/2017)

Oh. Guess you lucked out either way. - visitor (11/19/2017)

This review itches me to come see this! - TristGamer (11/19/2017)

Just managed to watch Coco in theaters. And I must say, I had a very wonderful time watching the movie! The movie was very powerful in its presentation when it came to visuals, representation of Mexican culture, and its story, characters, and emotion. Like you said at your conclusion, I don't think any Pixar movie had me on the verge of tears since Up. I wasn't bawling up since like you, it's very hard for me to cry during movies, but Coco really made me feel on the verge of breaking into such. Overall, I had fun watching Coco. Also, my love for this movie has surpassed my love for The Book of Life! - visitor (11/26/2017)

It was an amazing movie. Even Cinemasins loved it, and he took like 4 sins off total! - visitor (5/28/2018)