Coco Review

Coco Review

A spoiler free review:

Coco is finally here, after months of waiting and after practically every other country has seen this film is it here and this makes me so happy. There has been so much hype about this film and from everyone I know who has seen in, they love it and rate it very highly so I went into the cinema with very high hopes and I am happy to report I was not disappointed.

Going into the film I knew a rough storyline which is what I am going to share with you now: Miguel is a young boy who dreams about being a musician but is a part of a large Mexican family who has banished music from their lives. In a twist of event Miguel finds himself in the Land of the Dead, where he realises his family is much bigger and closer than it was before.

Firstly I am going to say that I love this storyline. Pixar does such an amazing job of creating new and imaginative ideas for story’s and Coco is no different. There is no film in the Pixar film library or even the Disney library that I would say this is similar to. It is an original.

The other thing that Pixar are improving on dramatically, even though I didn’t think it possible, is the scenery and the attention to detail. The world in which Coco takes place in is so colourful and so well detailed you feel completely immersed in the film which helped me, the audience, connect to the characters and there are a lot of characters I loved in this film. Not only Miguel but Dante and Hector too, and most importantly Mama Coco. I have never met a character that I am was more quickly drawn to and protective of than Mama Coco, she is only in a handful of scenes, speaks minimal dialogue, but she tugs my heartstrings.

Going back to talking about detail in this film, I noticed a few Easter eggs. The first was the pizza planet truck which can be seen within the first 10 minutes of the film when Miguel looked out of the window.

The second I’m not 100% sure was a real Easter egg but I believe I spotted a Nemo figurine on the second to top shelf where all the family photos were. Also on the alter is a snowman which looks like the snowman from the Pixar short “Knick Knack”.

The third Easter egg was a t-shirt a character was wearing at a concert which was black with a skull on the front, just like Sid has in Toy Story.

The fourth and the last Easter egg is easily seen, when Miguel is running through town very early on in the film you can see a lot of piñatas and there are three shaped like Mike Wazowski, Buzz Lightyear and Woody.

One thing I didn’t see though, but was looking out for was A113 and the Luxo ball. Please let me know in the comments below if you saw these.

 

This film was a step in a new direction for Pixar, they have opened there doors to another culture and I feel as though they have done it really well. From the opening scene of the Disney castle with the Mexican music playing, to the opening story of the film being narrated and shown through pictures of the different coloured paper cuts, the translated term for the paper. The film also teaches you about Ofrendas, which are the alters where you display the pictures of your departed relatives and Alebrijes which are spirit animals.

I also appreciated the nod to Frida Kahlo who if you didn’t know was a Mexican artist, however I do think they could have made that clearer for the people who don’t know who she is. There are a lot of Mexican facts I learnt from the film, but these are the major ones.

I have thought and thought and I have nothing bad to say about this film, even a week after seeing it I still think back to the film and how much I love it, the story, the look, the music, the voice acting (Anthony Gonzalez, a 13 year old boy was a perfect fit for Miguel), everything and if I had to be picky, my only problem is that during the trailers for the film, a lot of the comical moments are shown so that when watching the film in the cinema it isn’t as funny.

I am recommending this film to everyone, children, adults, Pixar fan, animation sceptics, everyone. This film is a rare gem that I feel everyone will get something out of the film they didn’t expect and if I had to give a tip: if you are a crier, bring tissues.

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Spoiler Zone 

I ‘m going to jump right in and say it, I loved the twist of Hector being Miguel’s dad and I didn’t see it coming. Now that I know about this plot point it does seem obvious, but because I was so wrapped up in the film, looking at how visually and emotionally beautiful it was, I didn’t have time to think about where this film was heading, I was just enjoying the story as it unravelled.

 

Pixar shows a murder! I couldn’t believe what I was watching. Never before have Pixar showed a character fall down dead, even as I write that I feel it was going too far. I do get that Pixar have shown attempted murder and several times used death as a threat, but never before have you seen a character murdered. I thought they did it in tasteful way, but I was just surprised that they went down this path of having Ernesto being a murderer.

If you have seen the film please let me know what you thought about the twists and turns of the film, did you predict that they were going to happen or were you completely surprised.

 

That’s all I’ve got to say on Coco for now, but come back next Monday for a look at the films to look forward to in 2019.