Review of Coco (2017) by Jacob B — 13 Mar 2018

The nitpicky asshats will point out why the movie's called Coco since they did the Legend of Zelda thing where the titular character isn't the protagonist and is instead a kid named Miguel. But that's not the point.

I admit the movie gave off a bad first impression not simply because of Pixar's decline in quality in recent years but also because the teaser trailer gave off the impression that it was going to be a Book of Life knockoff.

Although in that movie, he doesn't even die until the third act which trailers made the main selling point. However, that has always been Pixar's thing. The trailers make the movie look like your generic animated comedy but are more than that.

And Coco is no exception. Once again, Pixar demonstrates how they're still the best in the business when it comes to modern animated movies. They're not terrified of moral guardians, something which even DreamWorks succumbed to after How to Train Your Dragon 2 despite what my opinions have to say about that.

The animation is beautifully crafted. The animators once again worked their asses off and it shows. There's always a fine level of detail added. It deals with the themes of death from a child's perspective amazingly well and balances out slapstick antics with skeletons and a fine level of poignancy especially near the end of the movie.

The music. Oh, God, the music. It's practically tearjerking. Bring some onions as an excuse for crying. Since most of Pixar's cast and crew was Latino, it showed that this was indeed Pixar's love letter towards Mexican culture, specifically Dia de los Muertos.

Nothing feels like it's racist. There's is a predictable plot twist since we're constantly whacked on the head about a certain fact regarding Miguel's family but what movie hasn't done that? I think that was the writer's point.

That you shouldn't make blind beliefs based solely off of pictures. Looks can be deceiving. Family comes first, all dreams have their own limitations, we should always consider the consequences of pursuing fame.

And also, don't steal on the Day of the Dead if you're Mexican. Much like Inside Out and, to a lesser extent, Finding Dory, Coco shows that Pixar still hasn't lost their touch. Let's hope Incredibles 2 is just as awesome as the first movie.

It has the same director though given Tomorrowland's reputation, we might have to be wary when going to see it. Only time will tell.