Miles of Movies

                                                                                                      Coco is an animated film from Pixar about                                                                                                          Miguel, a young Mexican boy whose dreams of                                                                                                          becoming a musician are strictly forbidden by his                                                                                                    family since one of his ancestors abandoned the                                                                                                      family to pursue a musical career. On the Day of the                                                                                                Dead, as Miguel’s family is putting up photos of                                                                                                        their ancestors, Miguel runs away, determined to                                                                                                    live his dream by finding the famed musician                                                                                                            Ernesto de la Cruz. Instead, he ends up in the Land                                                                                                  of the Dead and must figure out how to get back to                                                                                                  the real world and convince his family that music is something they should allow him to do.

       This is a gorgeously animated film. The backgrounds and colors in this film just jump off the screen. The land of the dead, in particular, is very vibrant and feels even more alive than the land of the living. Miguel’s dog, who is a constant presence in the film, was delightfully animated in this really silly way that I loved. The music, which plays a big part of the film, is also very fitting and enjoyable, a surprise from Michael Giacchino. The film also features quite a few original songs which fit very well with the story.

       And the story has a real emotional punch to it. After all, Coco ends up in the Land of the Dead where he meets his deceased relatives - people his living family knew and loved. There is a certain weight to this holiday, the Day of the Dead, that is ingrained in this film’s narrative. You really feel like this film has emotional stakes and that the characters have a huge amount of respect and reverence for this holiday.

       Unfortunately, the story is very rushed, especially in the beginning. This film definitely needed to add a few minutes to make some of its earlier scenes feel less jumbled. It felt like the film and characters were jumping from place to place without really settling anywhere - I am finding it really hard to remember exactly what happened in any of these scenes or what led up to them since the film never took its time to make these scenes feel necessary. If the film had consolidated the plot in the first half a little but kept the same runtime, there would be a lot less distraction and a lot more time to focus on the meat of the film.

       Overall, I really enjoyed this film. The music and animation were fantastic and the story had emotional stakes. It was just a little too rushed in the first half before finding its stride in the second half. You really come to understand the great reverence and love this culture has for its ancestors and what family means to them and I thought the film delivered this beautifully.