Film review: Coco (3 out of 5)

I distinctly remember watching Toy Story 3 back in 2010 and thinking '˜can animation get any better than this?'.
CocoCoco
Coco

In fact the art of animation, as seen in Coco, has moved on to incredible heights to the extent that just about any story must be feasible by those highly talented people at Pixar - there doesn’t seem to be anything holding them back.

In fact, when the plot of Coco moves into the Land of the Dead there is so much detail that you need to hit the freeze frame button in order to do it justice and take it all in.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And the skeletons, that apparently proved a tough ask to recreate, are excellent.

As with most Pixar movies, Coco is aimed at the family as a whole.

There are no clever in-jokes that only the adults will pick up on (as in Aardman films) but there’s also no shying away from emotion in case it upsets the youngsters.

The story revolves around young Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) and his shoe-making family in a Mexican village.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Although he loves music it’s banned in his home due to his great great grandfather walking out to pursue a musical career, never to be seen again.

One day Miguel accidentally ends up in the Land of the Dead and has to track down his ancestor to get back home.

For me the film really only gets going when Miguel mixes with the skeletons.

There’s a very basic but important message within the film that the family unit is vital and Pixar seems big on promoting such lessons in their movies.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It’s no surprise that Coco is up for an Oscar in the animated feature category.

And while this is very entertaining, perhaps it’s time now for Pixar to really push the boat out and try something totally different in tone.

Film details: Coco (PG) 105mins

Director: Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina (co-director)

Starring: (voices of) Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt

Screening courtesy of Horsham Capitol