[yasr_overall_rating]
Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family’s ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to work out the mystery.
The best films work on multiple levels, engaging different parts of the brain. Pixar knows this better than most. After several recent missteps – “Finding Dory,” “Cars 3,” and the widespread derision towards what I personally think is a perfectly charming little adventure, “The Good Dinosaur” – “Coco” marks the company’s attempt to scale the heights of their best film so far, “Inside Out.” While not quite reaching them, Pixar doesn’t sear its wings against the sun either. Far from it. A story of a young Mexican boy reconnecting with his ancestors in the Land of the Dead during Día de Muertos celebrations, “Coco” provides a wondrous feast for the eyes and a great emotional workout; there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It may lack the searing poignancy of “Inside Out” and follow a somewhat-predictable structure, yet sometimes formula works if done right, and such is the case with “Coco.”
Born into a family of shoemakers, Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) is obsessed with Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), a famous guitarist and soap actor, who was tragically crushed by a… well, I won’t spoil one of the film’s many comic highlights for you. Miguel’s great-grandmother, Mamá Coco (Ana Ofelia Murguía), used to be married to a musician, whose face ended up torn out of their family photo; a dark past which led to the family turning their back on music. Despite their disapproval, Miguel signs up for a Day of the Dead contest – but after grandmother Abuelita (Renée Victor) smashes Miguel’s handmade guitar, the boy has no choice but steal (or “borrow”) his idol’s, from de la Cruz’s shrine at the local cemetery.
This leads Miguel to the spectacular Land of the Dead, a breathtaking vision that surpasses anything Pixar has done so far, by far. Filled with layers of railroads and highways, magnificent twisted buildings, a wild variety of skeletal inhabitants and neon spirit creatures, the metropolis has its own districts, from the slums to the most prestigious areas, each vibrant and dazzling, connected by ephemeral golden bridges.
Miguel, seeking his family’s blessing so that he could get back to the Living before sunrise – or he will turn into a skeleton himself (“La Cenicienta,” anyone?) – embarks on a search for de la Cruz, with the help of the misshapen Héctor (Gael Garcia Bernal). On the way, he encounters many imaginative characters, among them none other than Frida Kahlo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley), unibrow and all. When Miguel finally meets his idol, de la Cruz isn’t quite what the boy imagined…
Pixar has always nailed the what I call “tiny detours.” They’re not pop-culture puns or marvels of animated pixels (though there’s an abundance of both – the jaw-dropping dragons of the underworld are a particular standout, both a splendid visualization of the mythological alebrijes and a sly/loving reference to the spirit animals of Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy and Hayao Miyazaki’s “Princess Mononoke”). No, what I’m specifically talking about are the small gestures and expressions, the tiny, very human asides that give the characters their depth, their strength, their personality quirks. Lee Unkrich and his creative team clearly spend an inordinate amount of time studying human behavior and translating its nuances into animated magic.
They evidently spent just as much time studying Mexican culture, as it is depicted in all its glorious – if perhaps embellished – detail with much reverence and sensitivity. The team of animators went to Mexico and delved deep into its traditions. The Día de Muertos festival is about families honoring the journeys of their dearly departed, and one of “Coco’s” many memorable sequences involves Miguel making his way through tombstones and graves, all candle-lit altars with the deceased’s memorabilia. Every frame is peppered with some authentic detail. My friend from Mexico City, where the film premiered ahead of its U.S. release – raves about how “Coco” nails the tiniest of nuances. She would know. She’s Mexican.
One of the film’s many strengths is its refusal to shy away from adult themes. “Coco” does not underestimate its young audience’s intelligence, dealing with death (and murder), the loss of a father, living up to parental expectations; there are even timely references to illegal immigration. Its overall message of acceptance couldn’t be more relevant in our tumultuous times. Some of this will go over right over the young ‘uns heads, some of it will resonate but they won’t quite know why, and the stuff that sticks – well, it’s quite profound, calibrated to inspire and challenge a child. Just don’t blame them for belting out “Remember Me”, “Coco”’s lead tune (of which there are thankfully few, especially for a self-proclaimed musical), on par with “Moana”’s “How Far I’ll Go” (…before my parents shoot themselves) or “Frozen”’s “Let It Go” (…because I will never stop singing it).
Whether it’s Disney’s heavy-handed touch or a fear of TOO much “adultness,” there are moments in “Coco” that could have used more subtlety. Most of the film’s themes are spelled out by Ernesto de la Cruz, in snippets: “Never underestimate the power of music,” or “When reaching for the dream, [make sure to] hang on tight, make it come true,” or “One cannot deny what one is meant to be.” Thankfully, a clever mid-point reversal makes you reconsider the earnestness of those statements, rendering the obviousness somewhat forgivable. What’s harder to disregard is the film’s predictability. While the final scenes are surely powerful, I could see the exact beat-by-beat conclusion about halfway through the film. The sentimentality may be well earned, but it would have been nice to see Pixar slip the rug from under us a little instead of sticking to what works.
Regardless, this is superior entertainment, whether you’re nine of fifty-nine – and it’s because Lee Unkrich’s odyssey functions on so many levels: as a heart-tugging drama, rip-roaring adventure, subtle societal critique and splendid eye-candy. If “Cars 2” were Drakkar Noir, “Coco” is Pixar’s Chanel No 5.
In theaters Wednesday, November 22nd
[…] Coco […]