REview: Disney Pixar’s Coco

Pixar’s latest release Coco might just pull at your heartstrings. Here’s our review.

There is something particularly special about movies whose age ratings do nothing to take away from what they offer. Pixar and Disney both understand how to make timeless classics, films that hold more than time sensitive relevance and that surpass entertainment and which are treasured by nostalgia.

There latest release Coco is centered around the idea of seizing your moment and it, in its captivating blend of vivid colour and spirited musicality seizes its’ audience.

Striking A Cord

Coco tells the story of a young boy in pursuit of his dream, one that, in a typical storytelling trope, naturally goes against his family’s wishes and thrusts him into the unforgiving ultimatum of choosing his family or his happiness. Miguel Rivera (Anthony Gonzalez) is secretly trying to do everything he can to play music with his family’s support, however, since his great-great-grandmother Imelda (Alanna Ubach) and his elders have all banned music by threat of chancla to the back of the head.

We soon discover that this stretches back to when Imelda was abandoned by a rogue musician, Héctor River, who had a dream of playing music to the masses rather than staying home and raising his daughter Coco. Although Miguel adores his great-grandmother Coco, his need to express himself through his musical aptitude that harkens back to his legendary ancestry proves too strong.

Hitting All The Right Notes

Created by the team behind Finding Dory and Toy Story, the movie certainly lives up to both of those iconic movies and even manages to surpass key moments in them. As with all Pixar creations, Coco has an underlining moral message aimed at young budding minds.

Centered around Dia De Los Muertos, Coco helps the audience, those who might know and those who don’t know about it, get a greater understanding of the legendary Mexican holiday. Straight away the film immerses the audience in the fictional Mexican setting of Santa Cecilia, named after the patroness of musicians, Saint Cecilia, without being overwhelmingly educational. 

While the core message of Coco is heavy, there is an airy lightness to the comedy that manages to offer silver, gold, and fluorescent linings to every cloud encountered. Is everything always as it seems? Is the grass ever really greener? If you love someone can they ever really leave you? Those are just some of the daringly existential questions that can be taken from first viewing but Coco may require rewatching to get a full understanding of the message of the film.

Tale As Old As Time

The classic Disney brand of humor is on show throughout Coco and as usual, they pull it off with aplomb. At different times the foreground, background, character, and dialogue are all utilised at once to create comic moments. Dante, Miguel’s adopted street dog, is one of the centers of physical comedy joining Zazu, Sven, Piglet, Pascal, Maximus, and Lumiere as iconic Disney Pixar sidekicks.

But what makes the film truly special is that all the main characters don’t need to be overly explained, their history feeling relatable and entirely relatable. Within a few minutes, you feel like a guest of the Rivera family who has been invited to their Dia De Los Muertos celebrations with open arms.

The soul of the film is the score, the thrumming mariachi guitarrón elevating and diversifying the usual Disney styling. Though the music is pervasive, Coco is less about springing into song mid-sentence and more about how music is the very heart of the Rivera family. It slots in as it always should, fitting and breathing another facet of life into an already bustling film. The music has a purpose and tells a story of a history, the same songs being sung by different voices at different times to enrich the contextual message that music and more especially lyrics can have.

Songs Of Praise

Pixar’s continued ability to push the envelope when it comes to creating mesmerizing animation is a joy to behold. And Coco is a perfect showcase of their abilities. There are scenes in the film, wide expansive shots that are filled with colour, that are completely mind-blowing because they pack so much detail in each frame. There is movement throughout the whole film, a constant rhythm and bounding quickness that allows it to be constantly entertaining and engaging.

Coco is a feat of animated magnificence that brings the storytelling abilities of Pixar to the front. It deals with the concept of death in a way that a younger audience may be better able to understand while reconciling with the pain of loss.

Coco is a movie that cannot be overlooked. Though it seems playful from the outside, the heart of the movie delicately helps deal with family bereavement through incredible and undeniable wholesome positivity.

Share On