Movie Reaction: Coco

Formula: (Inside Out + Death) * Mexico

There is a reason why Pixar is on top. Sometimes, I forget that when a lesser effort like Brave seemingly get rubber stamped by Oscar voters or another Cars sequel gets released. It also gets confusing when there's so little difference between Pixar and Disney Animation Studios anymore, but Pixar is at a level by itself. No other studio has the mix of box office success, critical approval, and awards attention that Pixar enjoys. While they aren't always as inventive as in that first decade and a half, resorting to sequels more often and with under-cooked ideas like TheGood Dinosaur not that long ago, it's nice to know that they can still deliver something worthy of their reputation like Inside Out and now Coco.

Coco is the story of Miguel, a boy in Mexico who dreams of being a musician despite having a family united against all music after a decades-old betrayal by Miguel's musician great great grandfather. For a Day of the Dead talent show, Miguel borrow the guitar from the shrine of Ernesto de la Cruz, a famous musician from his home town, This turns him into a ghost and sends him to the Land of the Dead. There, he receives the help of a drifter named Hector to get back to the Land of the Living before sunrise, when his condition becomes permanent. Oh, and there's a dog in a prominent role. I immediately and emphatically approve of that.

I think it's a great idea for Pixar to take deep dives like this into other cultures for inspiration, not just for inclusivity but because it's an easy way to shortcut some inventiveness. I really love the design of the film. Pixar movies always look good, but I can't remember the last time that it felt like the animators were this inspired. Every frame of this movie is packed with detail. That's the kind of thing I take for granted until it's missing (See: The Good Dinosaur).

I'm pretty mixed about the musical elements of the movie. This is the most music-heavy Pixar movie I can remember. Normally, the musicals are the domain of Disney Animation Studios. By far, the most impactful moments are tied to music or songs, and those scene really pack a wallop. On a personal level, I don't see the main song "Remember Me" becoming an ear worm like songs from Moana or Frozen became. The reason I'm mixed is mainly tied to Miguel. A lot of time was spent building up to him performing a song, and when it finally happened, I just didn't feel the electricity I needed to. It's a fine moment, but that's about it. Almost directly because of that, the movie dragged a little more in the second half than I expected. However, the very end forgives a lot of this.

(Speaking of drags on the movie: I wasn't a big fan of the Frozen short at the beginning. It goes on way too long and felt more required than clever or inventive. Also, I'm more bothered than I should be by the mixing of the studios. Frozen isn't Pixar.)

The voice cast was good. I don't know if anyone blew me away. I like that they opted to use all or nearly all Hispanic or Latino voice actors rather than do that thing where the leads are demographically, then the rest of the roles are voice actors trying to do an approximation. Don't worry. They still fit John Ratzenberger in.

I'm not sure what the right way to bring this up is, so I'll just put it bluntly: I don't think Disney scared away white people with this movie. I was curious about this going in*. Disney had a few masters to serve with the film. It's undeniably a play for Latino audiences who will only grow in importance in the domestic box office and have rarely been targeted with major films. Less cynically, I think the Pixar people were just interested to explore something new to them and excited to tell a story about it. At the same time, Disney wanted to retain the same audience that normally makes these films hits: an audience who, as box office numbers back up, are pretty allergic to anything "too foreign" or "too ethnic". I was pretty impressed by the balance of the movie. It's accessible while also a little different. Obviously, subtitles were a non-starter (although there are a healthy number of Spanish language showings of the movie). They sneak in what Spanish they can get away with though, and I enjoyed imagining the behind the scenes discussions that must've included suggestions like "OK. The grandma is exasperated. She can slip in a couple words there without anyone getting lost about what's going on". No doubt that Frozen short was included as a hedge to convince audiences who were on the fence. Perhaps I'm overthinking all this, but I guarantee Disney had plenty of internal debate about it.

Finally, I need to tip my hat to those screenwriters and storyboarders. My One Big Leap senses were tingling throughout this movie, especially when I picked up on the one big plot turn the movie was building toward. There were a number of things that really didn't make sense or were too convenient to forgive and, one by one, the movie addressed them all. They had me worried and I should've known better. The overall theme of family and how it ties to the Day of the Dead celebration is probably the film's greatest strength. I definitely got some Bing Bong tears late in the movie. Pixar is and always has been very manipulative with emotions, but they do it so well that I don't care.

Coco isn't one of my absolute favorite Pixar movies (Up, Inside Out, and Toy Story loom large). Upper half probably. That says more about the strength of the studio than anything. The movie is very enjoyable and offers that additional substance that films from  the other major animation studios lack (with very few exceptions - I'm looking at you, How to Train Your Dragon). It's hard for me to imagine someone not at least liking and enjoying this movie, even if it doesn't hit them in a profound way. In other words, it's Pixar being Pixar.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend