Director: Lee Unkrich Studio: Pixar Animation Genre(s): Drama/Comedy Rated: PG (For thematic elements) |
I’ve been giving people a sad evaluation for most of the
year: If you want a good animated movie, you must look outside of the United
States. While this has been an
unquestionably good year for animation, most people in the western region have
simply not seen many of the good movies.
I’m reviewing stuff like “Your Name,” “Loving Vincent,” and “A Silent
Voice,” while I have watched most of my friends go with heavy hearts to make
“The Boss Baby,” “Despicable Me 3,” and “The Emoji Movie” financial hits. I’ve watched people go into Smurfs: The Lost
Village” knowing deep down they are going to hate it…and yes, they hand over
their money anyway, almost in defeat.
You’d think with MoviePass and Sinemia out there, audiences would be
more willing to take a chance on a good, original movie. Turns out, they haven’t quite gotten to that
point…unless Pixar is making it!
For “Coco” is truly the breath of fresh air most audiences
will have longed for. It is charming,
funny, original, emotionally moving, and smartly written (which means it is the
exact opposite of everything in “Justice League”). It has its roots steeped in Mexican culture,
but the themes and emotions are universal regardless of age or race. It goes on to highlight why we as audience
members want to see Pixar take us on new adventures rather than doing sequels:
Because they are so damn good at it.
They have managed to take a relatively obscure holiday to most of the
world, properly show us what it is and why it is so important in Mexican
culture, and then give us a story that is so well imagined, that it sort of
feels like we’ve been celebrating it on a global scale all our lives. What’s more, our cast of characters may come
from a different country, yet they have traits that most of us can see in our
own family members while not “white washing” them.
Having been to Mexico myself, I was blown away by the detail
shown in the small town young Miguel Rivera (Anthony Gonzalez) lives it. From the authentic paint, to the marketplace,
even to how his family eats dinner…it reminded me so vividly of that trip I took
years ago. When the movie switches from
the authentic Mexican settings to the colorful underworld where spirit animals
are plentiful, and skeletons walk around freely (and have allergies despite not
having noses), giving death and the afterworld a colorful and lively (ho ho)
feeling, it does so in a way that is both artistic and creative at the same
time. Granted, there are some who will
read that last sentence and worry that Pixar is trying to cheapen the idea of
death, but I can assure you they are not.
Whether you want to believe it or not, it is a reality that many people
believe in some form of the afterlife.
This is one way to look at what happens after you die, and from a pure
story perspective it is an interesting one.
Also, there is a more ‘tangible’ form of death that occurs later on, so
kids are still faced with the idea at some point.
First and foremost though, it is a story of a young boy who
has a musical gift and wants to follow in the footsteps of Ernesto de la Cruz
(Benjamin Bratt), the greatest singer in all of Mexico. His family disapproves of music though (something
to do with a deadbeat father), and that burning passion coupled with family
doctrine leads the boy into the Land of the Dead (through a turn of events that
can only happen in a Pixar movie). The
setup is simple (as I suspect it must be), but as the film goes on there are
more layers to discover than I originally planned for. At one point Miguel runs into the dead soul
of a wandering street bum named Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal), who walks with a
limp and is on the verge of being forgotten and disappearing forever. This character is the one who provides lots
of laughs and has the most movement of anyone else in the film, yet he also
ends up being the most surprising creation out of all the characters, with the
most tragic backstory that I couldn’t predict no matter how hard I tried at
first.
His story might end in parents having to explain a few
things to their children, yet it is another splendid example of a company that
is unafraid to take risks and be hard on their audience. All of this is directed by Lee Unkrich (“Toy
Story 3”), who, many have noted beforehand, is a white film maker as opposed to
a Hispanic one. This has given people
pause for concern that Mexican culture and the significance of the Day of the
Dead holiday would be white washed and misunderstood. However, it should be noted that Unkrich is a
talented man who has worked at Pixar since “Toy Story,” and he took great pains
to understand the culture, hire authentic voices for the cast, and Mexican
consultants to ensure everything was perfect.
Really, if you didn’t know a white man was directing this, you would
assume this wasn’t the case. If
anything, “Coco” proves that talent has no culture barrier, and is a reminder
that good movies can bring us together in mutual understanding and respect for
one another. That makes “Coco” no only a
good movie but a socially important one that we need in such divisive times.
Note: “Coco” is preceded by “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, a featurette that was originally planned for TV, but is debuting here instead. It is a semi-sequel to 2014’s Academy Award-winning “Frozen.” While I personally enjoyed it quite a bit, it should be noted that it runs at a staggering 21 minutes, which means it will be at least 45 minutes before the feature presentation begins. Parents with antsy kids may want to squeeze an additional bathroom break in or consider showing up a little late is this fact bothers them.
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CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, there are some obvious themes of death, betrayal, and at least one graphic twists. Recommended for ages 7 and up.
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