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Monday, 20 November 2017

‘Coco’ Review: A Sweet Family Tale That Joins the Ranks of Pixar’s Best

By Tomris Laffly

Pixar’s latest charts a beautiful, emotional journey through the generations of a Mexican family.

Some of Pixar’s finest animations honor the frequented storytelling tradition of a generational gap: a young underdog stands his/her ground against an unsympathetic family and comes of age. From Finding Nemo to La Luna and Brave, several films from the studio’s distinguished catalog pull relatable emotional heartstrings with tales of adolescent small-timers struggling to establish their voices and prove their worth to their elders. Lee Unkrich, the director responsible for my favorite Pixar film (Toy Story 3), brings this beloved convention to life in the vivid and thoroughly entertaining Coco. With an original story by Unkrich, Jason Katz, Matthew Aldrich and Adrian Molina (and a script penned by Aldrich and Molina), the big-hearted Coco joins the high ranks of Pixar’s best in telling the spirited tale of a resilient Mexican child’s poignant journey through his family roots. As one would expect from an accomplished Pixar film, Coco will capture your heart and bring you to tears with an unforeseen twist in the end, despite its slightly overwritten final act.

We follow the young, energetic pre-teen Miguel Rivera (Anthony Gonzales), who lives in the village of Santa Cecilia and dreams of becoming a musician in the footsteps of his legendary idol Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). But, in the words of the young Miguel, he is unfortunately cursed by a long-standing family principle that forbids music; a rule embraced by his ancestors after Miguel’s musician great-great-grandfather had abandoned his wife and daughter in search of fame and fortune. Since then, the family, led by a strong-willed great-great-grandmother, had built a successful shoe-making business (as efficiently told in Coco’s compact opening that summarizes this back-story.) But Miguel’s heart doesn’t belong to the craft of shoemaking. Hidden from his disapproving family, he secretly practices his music every day, and finally gets the chance to prove his talents on Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, at a local talent contest.

But instead of the stage, he accidentally finds himself in the luridly designed Land of the Dead, where the deceased get ready to cross a bridge and visit their living family members who commemorate them with wall-mounted photos on this annual day of remembrance and celebration. Needing a deceased family member’s blessing to return to the world of the living, Miguel joins forces with an outcast from the Land of the Dead in his quest: the frantic Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal). Often mocked by his fellow skeletons for his desperate attempts to cross the bridge (despite having no family members that put his photo up), Hector agrees to guide Miguel in exchange of sending his photo to the other side with him.

In charting the joint mission of Miguel and Hector, Coco offers up a number of genuine shocks and surprises that are better preserved than revealed in reviews. The story, which steadily grows in complexity (sometimes, to a fault), takes the dazzled viewer through the wild alleys and corners of the Land of the Dead, realized with countless tasteful, intricate details. I can’t accurately speak to the cultural authenticity of Coco’s visuals (though a clue to their appropriateness is surely the film’s record-breaking box office success in Mexico), but I can certainly speak to Coco’s mesmerizing aesthetic, brought to life under the leadership of production designer Harley Jessup. Easily among the most visually complex productions the studio has ever shouldered (along with Wall-E and Inside Out), Coco tastefully renders echoes of live-action films like The Fifth Element, Minority Report, and Moulin Rouge. Within regards to its slightly over-plotted story, don’t be surprised if you end up thinking about Back to the Future Parts I & II frequently. After all, this is a film about reckoning with family history, in which Miguel’s pursuit of Hector’s photo gives Marty McFly’s chase of the Sports Almanac a run for its money.

Coco never stops being sharp and delightfully pulls the rug from under the viewer a number of times. It’s thankfully among the Pixar works that don’t talk down to young viewers. Instead, Unkrich refreshingly trusts the emotional intelligence and even maturity of children. His film is filled with sincere life lessons (some of them, openly catered towards adults) and doesn’t pull its punches when it comes to putting a few scares on the screen. While it could have been leaner, Coco still belongs to Pixar’s elite class with a sweet, sophisticated family tale that defies generations and knocks down imaginary walls between cultures.

The article ‘Coco’ Review: A Sweet Family Tale That Joins the Ranks of Pixar’s Best appeared first on Film School Rejects.

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