Coco

Have you ever seen a Pixar movie? If not, reevaluate your life choices up to this point, and watch them, like, now. And when you do, you will experience what I call the Pixar-feeling. the Pixar-feeling is an enormous joy combined with tears of happiness and a dreamy state of mind. So, did Pixar achieve this feeling after the underwhelming Finding Dory?

Disclaimer: This is not a review in the sense that I will give a comprehensive and objective opinion, but rather what I felt about particular decisions by the filmmakers, written in a stream of consciousness style. There will be SPOILERS. I also apologize for my English, it needs improvement and I always like to hear how I can improve my writing.

The short answer is: Yes! Pixar delivered another masterpiece in its long tradition of making the best and smartest animation films in the business. Coco is the uplifting tale of Miguel who tries to get back to the world of the living after he was sucked into the land of the dead on Dias de Los Muertos. We follow him on the journey to the famous Ernesto de la Cruz, of whom he is convinced is his long-lost great-great-grandfather to receive the blessing to return to his living relatives. Telling this journey, Coco is about topics like the meaning of death and how Mexican culture deals with its deceased members of society (for a more in-depth look at the motifs of Coco, watch this). As always, Pixar delivers a heavy topic with incredible tact and in a way, even little kids can understand without losing subtlety.

There are very few things wrong with Coco and the only complaints I have are minor and unimportant when looking at the film as a whole. A thing that slightly bugged me was the overreliance on the dog Dante as comic relief. The body humor of the dog is funny at first, but loses its edge very fast and becomes annoying. The plot is also quite predictable. From the moment Miguel thinks de la Cruz is his relative, it is obvious that he isn’t and once we meet the character of Hector, it is also obvious that he is the relative Miguel is searching for.

A few days ago I said I would be listening to the soundtrack of Bright for the next few weeks, but now that I’ve heard Coco’s soundtrack, I will probably ignore Brights Hip-Hop and rather opt for Coco’s awesome music. But the music isn’t the only thing the movie excels at. Every frame of this piece of art is so incredibly beautiful and filled with color and life, I will buy the BlueRay once its out and watch it at half speed to see every detail put in this absurdly gorgeous movie.

Coco is one of those rare movies that trigger a wide range of emotions, from overwhelming tears of joy to sadness. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it NOW, come back and thank me for the recommendation. Now excuse me, I have to listen to the soundtrack and book a flight to Mexico.