Coco is a product from Pixar that visually shows us how far the studio has come since the days of Toy Story. The photorealistic-like CGI based animation quality gives crawling goosebumps! The colors and cinematography are on another level here! What an exquisite work by Lee Unkrich and team!
The film tells the story of Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez), a musically-inclined young Mexican boy who aspires to be a guitarist, just like the famous Ernesto de la Cruz (voiced by Benjamin Bratt), the star who influenced a whole generation of music lovers! Music however, at all cost, is forbidden in his family, due to the past wrongdoing of their ancestor. Abuelita Elena (voiced by Renée Victor), Miguel's hot-headed, rash and loving grandmother is a fantastic persona who enforces the ban herself, keeping the family closely tight within boundaries. In the midst of this, how Miguel goes about achieving his dream forms the crux.
Storytelling in Coco is an absolute A class experience! Narration through patterned fabrics is one example to showcase this point. A tale revolving the Mexican community and traditions is fresh! When our hero enters antithesis, he literally meets characters who are the upside down versions of the old world with a narrow bridge interconnecting both realms of different stasis. Just like the Land of the Living, the Dead have their own set of rules, systems, mechanics, etcetera. One may think that Ernesto de la Cruz is an obvious revelation on plain sight as Miguel's great-great-grandfather, but in reality it's a well-executed diversion!
Production design here is something to boast about! Family tree based photo stand arrangement, expressive skull faces, vast stage presentation setup and more illustrate the overflow of creative juices behind the making of this picture! However, certain portions or elements are bloated to be honest, such as the alebijres and trial actress' short rehearsal scene, which exist only for flamboyance purposes. The plot drags a little due to being mildly uninteresting after Miguel meets Hector (voiced by Gael García Bernal) albeit having approaching-death deadlines and unexpected first onstage performance. First encounter between Miguel and Ernesto de la Cruz is exciting though.
Primary issue with Coco deals with the protagonist’s dramatic need. Miguel wants to be a musician despite the odds. While we are traveling on this journey to see him succeed in his mission, the story takes a wild spin in the Mid-Point, uncovering that Ernesto de la Cruz is a corrupted man who killed Hector and stole the latter’s work of art for his own fame. What’s worse, Hector is our hero’s actual great-great-grandfather! These are great twists, and from hereon after, the film paddles on its 4th gear until finale! But, if we take a step back and look at what has transpired, we would realize that Miguel's goal has been diluted. The essence of theme became about appreciating family rather than reaching for dreams and finding one's place of belonging, but that was never in question at all in the first place. From the initial shot itself, the importance of family is stressed and we overwhelmingly felt the warmth of it surrounding the film's atmosphere. Miguel never did disrespect or depreciate his family. He just went for his dreams, but that's not equal to him disowning his family. The prime conflict was how to achieve his dreams despite all odds. Upon the twist, even though things got more engaging, it partially became a different story than what was intended to be told in the beginning.
Miguel's struggles & difficulties to accomplish his goals are felt. Although Coco is filled with adorable humor like the singing within the reach of security guards scene and many, many more, this motion picture has a climax that can even make any grown man cry! Hector's presumed death and Miguel asking Mamá Coco (voiced by Ana Ofelia Murguia) to remember Papá while playing 'Remember Me' pack a robust emotional punch!
Family. They are counting on us to remember them.