Coco

Overview

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Coco, a computer-animated fantasy movie based on an original idea by Lee Unkrich, follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who accidentally ended up in the Land of the Dead. With his deceased great-great-granddad's help, he aims to take him back to their family and thus reverse his family's ban on music.

The events unfold in Mexico on the Día de Muertos, a holiday celebrated in many Latin American countries. It is believed that on this day, the souls of the deceased relatives visit their homes, and their living loved ones should welcome them with peculiar altars, sweets, and favorite drinks of the dead.

Miguel comes from a hereditary family of shoemakers, but his dreams belong to music – the boy wants to play the guitar and sing. Since music is prohibited in their family because of his great-great-grandfather, who left his great-great-grandmother for the big and bright future in show business, the boy decides to change this by visiting the world of the dead and finding his relative.

This Pixar cartoon is an homage to Mexican culture: its national cuisine, music and traditions. The storyline is extremely simple and straightforward, but the story is told in such a touching and tender way that we come to realize that Coco is actually about how much meaning and value our family holds in our lives.

Coco tells us about death in simple and clear terms. And not only about naturally caused death, but also about violent death. It tells us that losing loved ones, though painful, is ultimately not scary as we will all die and join them sooner or later. The main thing is to remember those who have passed away.

Coco is an unusually warm cartoon both in terms of color and content. An almost ancient Greek myth about what is most important in the world. And even if you do not believe in what is happening on the screen, just remember yourself at the age of 10, when your mom and dad were young, and the future was bright and full of amazing possibilities.

Reviews

Gimly wrote:

Spectacularly colourful with a sweet, (albeit predictable) path. Certainly not a misfire from Pixar, but also did not appeal to me personally in the way that many of their other films have. _Final rating:★★½ - Not quite for me, but I definitely get the appeal._

furious_iz wrote:

**Beautiful, colourful and sweet** This film has real heart, with great messages about what family can and should do for each other. Great voice acting, great songs without having the burden of exposition via song that you find in the more musical ventures by Disney. I loved that you could see genuine guitar chords being played, so often in live action films the playing of musical instruments, especially guitar are poorly faked. None of that in this animated gem. One thing I personally loved was the depiction of Mexican culture. Although I really enjoyed _Moana_, I thought it was a little bit too much of a pastiche of multiple Pacific cultures when it should have just picked one (Maori) and stuck with it. _Coco_ celebrates Mexican culture, and depicts it well. The only thing missing for me was more Mexican cuisine. It can get a little dark in places, so maybe be careful when watching it with the little ones, but should appeal to most of the family. 9/10

priya_ wrote:

I loved the movie starting from the characters, animation, colors, emotions, story everything. A good way to tell how important a family is. Happy it had a happy ending.

r96sk wrote:

Sensational! 'Coco' is straight into my top five of Disney animations. The whole 105 minutes are a joy to watch, thanks to its rich and highly meaningful story alongside the wonderful animation and sharp humour. Safe to say, I was not expecting this film to smash it out the park - which it totally does. This is why I don't, personally, look up about films before watching them, I love being surprised. Big credit also goes to the cast, who play some awesome characters. From Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) to Héctor (Gael García Bernal) to Ernesto (Benjamin Bratt), among others, they are all very, very good. It isn't just the characters that make this memorable, it is also the excellent plot which is told beautifully. It's filled with not just comedy but also a load of heart - there's a few nicely done twists too. The world that they create around the Day of the Dead is fantastic, while the music fits perfectly. If you haven't already, you must watch this! It's brilliant!

CinemaSerf wrote:

Budding guitarist "Miguel" is puzzled by his family's long-established ban on anything musical. To him it just doesn't make any sense at all especially as, generations ago, his family were at the top of that very game. Determined to get to the bottom of that mystery so he can emulate the legendary heart-throb "Ernesto" (a cross between Julio Iglesias and Justin Bieber), he finds that serendipity takes an hand in things. On the Day of the Dead, he manages to get himself transported to the the vibrant and surprisingly lively land of the dead where he encounters the slightly mischievous "Hector" who promises to guide him to his great, great grand-father, find the truth and enable him to return home to a family that will, once again, embrace music. He has to get a move on though, as he only has the hours of darkness to fulfil his quest - so the race is on. Meantime some of his other, long deceased, family are also on his trail bent on returning him home without his music. To be honest, I found the underlying tale of loyalty and family to be just a bit overly-sentimental at times, but the quality and vivacity of the animation is a class apart - huge great eyes and smiles that tell the story so much better than words ever could. The story marries the musical with the dastardly and mysterious nicely with a well written script and a quickly paced storyline that is really quite entertaining. This works better on a big screen - it really shows the animators art off to best effect and, luckily, this has plenty for the adult audience too with some engagingly quirky characters.