Review of Coco (2017) by Tal G — 08 Apr 2018

More Pixar movies about different cultures, please.

This was a mostly pleasant and solid experience. It was very interesting to see Pixar take on some culture's folklore this way. I must've been very special to see for people who grew up with that culture.

While being very solid and consistent, it didn't manage to go above anything I've already seen in animation movies. Not thematically, not visually, not in the way the narrative plays out... It's a very safe and by-the-books sort of movie in these aspects.

The story was one of the most predictable ones I've seen in recent memory. I was able to call every single plot point from the moment they introduced something into the story, and not because I'm praising myself here, but because it was really THAT predictable. You could say that it being predictable doesn't take away from how well it's been composed, but I disagree. I think that this movie could've punched much harder if the story wasn't so heavily reliant on the most overused cliches ever.

The visuals were great, very colourful and impressive, but not anything a contemporary viewer would be wowed by. The music was sweet, but also pretty elementary. I suppose it's fine for original Pixar stuff. The voice acting by most of the characters was serviceable, and the main kid did great. Also, it felt like they put just the right amount of Spanish in the movie.

It was a very pure hearted but ultimately rather simple movie. Emotional, but drawing the emotions from a well known kind of archetype I'm pretty used to. It didn't end up hitting as hard as it probably intended to. The cartoonish cliches that were used heavily in this movie didn't help either. Overall it was just another decent Pixar movie. The best part about it is the cultural detour Pixar took in making it.