Coco is a 2017 animated/adventure film directed by Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film’s voice cast features Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Renée Victor, Ana Ofelia Murguía and Edward James Olmos. Coco follows an aspiring musician Miguel, whose family follows an ancestral ban on music. Because of this Miguel enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer to prove that music is in his blood.
Geez what is going on Pixar? Ever since I watched and reviewed WALL-E I have been constantly disappointed in this production studio’s work. Cars 3 was a total mess, and Coco was no shinning star either. Sure this film explores many different cultures that we usually don’t get to see represented on the big screen, but what it adds in cultural significance it loses in its bland story. I have never been more surprised at the amount of people that have left mid screening than I have for Coco, and this film marks the final straw for my faith in Pixar.
Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the film I will admit that it had some great aspects to it. First of all this film looked absolutely gorgeous. Pixar blends the perfect amount of realism with cartoon into their worlds, and I’d have to say they’ve found the perfect balance between the two. There was a certain scene in particular that had me and the audience gasping at the realism of light and water animation, and Pixar does not skimp out on this film either. One of the most beautiful set pieces was the marigold petal bridge. My god it was so elegantly crafted that it really makes you want to jump into the screen and onto it yourself.
The film also does a great job at its voice acting as the characters really feel as if they’re in that world. I have to say that my favorite of the bunch was probably Gael García Bernal’s character who voiced Hector, and Anthony Gonzalez who played Miguel. It’s really hard to say one was better than the other when it comes to voice acting as the art is something that is impossible to totally grasp from the final product, but in the end Coco does a great job with immersing you through each character’s voice.
With all that being said there were a couple of issues I had with the film. The main issue I had was with the story’s overly generic plot. Sure, some of the plot twists in the film were a little unexpecting, but as for the rest of the film? Wow.. It’s really sad to see such a great concept get in lost in such a predictable story, as the film felt more like and idea with a beginning and end and then shoehorned a middle and climax somewhere in between. As for the exposition? Oh geez.. Film makers please learn from this sentence: Show, don’t tell. My god. We live in a universe where the producers of this film also made the beginning of Up, and that film has some of the best exposition in the business; if not the best. There isn’t a single spoken word in that beginning dialog and it tells us a hell of a lot more than this film ever does with its horrible narration. Also, a family that bans music? Seriously movie? No.
As for the music? Well, you’d think a movie about music would have good music, right? I don’t know. Sure there were some original songs thrown into the movie, but I’ve never known Pixar to be one for musicals. Because of this I was a little thrown off, and felt that there wasn’t a good enough reason for adding that aspect to the film other than Disney probably making them. Sure it sells singles, but none of the songs really stuck with me towards the end. Of course that’s my opinion, but even Giacchino score doesn’t really add much to Coco through my ears. With all that being said I will say that the music did feel genuine to culture it was inspired by. Yes you read that right, I didn’t like it but it was still tonally fitting for the film.
It’s honestly stuff like that which makes me really have no sympathy for this movie and why I’ve been reviewing this film so harshly. If this is a movie made to embrace a culture then do it! Have the actors speak in Spanish and subtitle it in English! Those are the things that count. Coco just felt like one of those films that had so much potential, yet was killed by the same old crap we’ve been seeing recently in Hollywood. There was never anything special about this film that stood out to me other than its beautiful visuals, and after one screening of Coco it’s hard to even give this film another try. Did I mention the Frozen short at the beginning? Oh, let me just say.. that.. was really bad. In the end I decided to give Coco an “Alright” on theVade Review Bar. Coco‘s vibrant world and beautiful visuals are what makes this film such a fun movie for anyone at any age. But with Pixar losing momentum after its pièce de résistance through WALL-E and Up, Coco just becomes another forgotten soul in the Land of the Dead.
