'Coco' Movie Review

The newly added movie to the Disney collection was 2017's Coco (2018 if you live in the UK).

It follows the story of a young Mexican boy, Miguel, who strives to be a musician, to be like his idol, Ernesto De La Cruz. However, his family is strongly against musical activities because of Miguel's great-great grandfather leaving to pursue his music career and, unfortunately, never returning, leaving his wife to raise and support her child on her own.

After accidentally knocking his great-great grandmother Imelda's photo off the family ofrenda (a display table for deceased family members), he finds that the man with no face in the photo has the same guitar as Ernesto's, leading Miguel to believe that his idol is his great-great grandfather.

His family doesn't take kindly to this information and plan to tighten the reins on Miguel's musical hobbies. Miguel runs away to perform in the Dia de los Muertos talent show. Because he has no guitar, he asks the spirit of his great-great grandfather to borrow his. After he takes the guitar, he is magically transported to the land of the dead, where he meets his deceased family members. They, too, are against his musical hobbies and refuse to send him home unless he promises to never play music again. And so Miguel starts his quest to search for his great-great grandfather and musician, Ernesto, to send him home instead. Along the way, he meets Hector, a skeleton who has difficulty crossing over to land of the living to see his family. They make a deal to have Miguel put up his photo on the ofrenda after Hector helps him home so he can cross over.

This movie is a beautiful story about the importance of family, and I couldn't find much wrong with this masterpiece other than the not-so-subtle turn of events. Coco really sucks you into the story and is a beautiful reflection of modern Mexican culture during Dia de los Muertos and includes some Mexican celebrity cameos.

The songs are beautiful and Miguel's voice actor is very talented in both acting and singing. Who doesn't love Hector? After you learn his story, it's impossible to not emotionally connect with him and the ending...Dear lord, the ending is nothing short of sentimental and just perfect.

I can very much appreciate the amount of effort gone into animating the skeleton characters, because 206 bones means 206 different areas to animate at once, as well as clothes resting on said bones instead of usual skin poses—a challenge for anyone. Not to mention the huge amount of skeletons in the land of the dead.

There is also a scene with water that Miguel falls into, and animating water is harder than creating real water. To make real water, all you have to do is mix oxygen with hydrogen and boom, water. Animating water can take weeks at a time, adding all the layers required to make it look 3D as well as the objects under the water having to have a rippling effect in time with the movement of the water. And then there's wet clothes and hair, which takes even more work to be draped over the skin and given a heavy texture.

As I said before, the only issue I have with this movie is the not-so-subtle turn of events. What I didn't see was the following event after this, which I will not explain because it is a very heavy spoiler.

I recommend this movie to anyone who loves a good laugh and a chance to learn about Mexican culture, or just any Disney fan would weep at just how stunning this movie is. Everything from the storytelling to the animation to the voice acting is nothing short of perfect.