Review of Coco (2017) by Maddi G — 20 Dec 2017

More Than Just a Passion.

At present, the Mexican population is one of the most judged by the Americans. There are inhumane plans to prevent their passage in the territory of the United States as it is to build a famous border wall and among many other things. Therefore, having a large American company import a film of protagonists and Mexican history can have a great impact on American society. These companies are Disney and Pixar that have marked the lives of many children and young people for several years. Accompanying this, the purpose of children's films, in addition to entertaining children, is to promote values and carry a deep and real message that maybe the child does not understand at the moment but that parent or manager who accompanies him to watch the movies understands it and in some way, it moves him. Therefore, most of the time the movies educates both; the infant and adult. Mentioning that, I can say I liked the film because, besides being created by an American company that accepts these people, the American population has the opportunity to learn more about the Mexican culture an realize that we all go through similar adversities... we are all humans.

The titled movie "Coco" reports the story of a Mexican child who wanted to be a musician, but because of family tradition it was prohibited to be a musician. Therefore, the child decides to play his guitar in a talent contest undercover of its relatives to demonstrate to the world the great musician he was. For his luck, the day of the contest was the same day of the Day of the Dead and he had to spend the whole day along with his family to celebrate it. While they all were in the cemetery remembering their family, the child decides to escape to find an instrument to play in the contest so he decides to steal a guitar from one of the biggest musicians and most successful one of the Mexican history who had already died. At the moment of stealing it from him, he appears in the world of the dead persons and he can only escape with the blessing of a relative and accepting the requisites that the relative proposes to him. After accepting, it begins the passage of the boy to look for a relative who offers him its blessing along with the permission of being able to become a musician.

The story of the same one is a quite structured one although it is not one that is organized in a chronological order. It starts by reporting the past of the family and why they decide to hate any one that was a musician. It continues with the present of the child and its passage of going so far as to turn in musician and inside its passage there appear many flashbacks that fit with the reasons of hate towards the musicians from his family. The characters did not turn aside of its role and with this I refer to that it is possible to identify that it is a person of Mexican culture. For example, there are movies that the original role of the protagonist it supposes to be Latin, Korean, Japanese, European, etc. ... depending on the story, and the producers usually choose persons who do not qualify with the role of the protagonist and somehow part of the plot gets lost because it does not fit with the person. The viewer already has an idea of how it is supposed to be the protagonist and ends up being completely different from the one whom you were imagining to be the ideal. But in this case the protagonist sticks to its role.

The composition of the music for the movie was an exquisite one that made you want to sing mariachi music until you lost your voice. With the music the viewer could feel so many emotions by the passion the protagonist was dedicating to each song. Although it is a cartoon movie, the viewer feels, cries, laughs and gets angry because behind every character there is a real story. Also, all the songs that were listened in the movie were mariachi songs, typical genre of Mexico, and each one was keeping a message that was going as regards to the story of the movie, from the freedom up to the memory.

On the other hand, the scenery was fascinating because you could appreciate every detail for more minimal that it was. For example, the scenery of the World of the Dead persons was one that was consisting of 20 scenes that were creating only one image making the background one full of specific details to achieve a general image. The animation and texture of the background was excellent, whenever a character was moving from one place to another it was as if it really was leaving a mark in the space that he was treading. For example, the details in the character, both the hair and the clothes, seemed to be real.

It is a movie that I fully recommend because it is full of surprises. When you were thinking that it already had the concluded movie, it surprised you with other things different from those that you had already raised. For this reason, the movie does not bore the viewer because every time something happened you will want to know what would actually happen or what that situation will become. I recommend, if you understand the Spanish language, to see it in Spanish because it makes you feel familiarly with the Mexicans. Since it is known, the Spanish language is the one that prevails in Mexico and to listen to mariachi music in English, for me, it would be quite strange and this Mexican flavor would get lost. Nevertheless, if you do not understand Spanish I suppose that the message will be delivered no matter what. Also, I recommend you to be prepared with towels to see the movie because you will cry from beginning to end.