Coco- Pixar Triumphs Again
Pixar has one of the greatest track records in cinema,
they’ve revolutionised and set a bar for animated films, other than a couple of
duds such as ‘Cars’ and ‘The Good Dinosaur’ they remain one of the most ambitious
and compelling studios working today. Needless to say, my expectations for Coco
were extremely high, and somehow this film managed to exceed them. Coco is a
complex and emotional film. It is full of complex themes, concepts and
relationships, it’s a miracle the film is as entertaining for children and
adults, it’s hilarious at points, excitingly tense and endlessly enticing. But
that’s what Pixar have mastered, Making kids laugh and adults cry, but still
managing to teach the kids about something they may not be familiar with.
Coco follows the story of a Mexican family, who are avidly
against music. However Miguel, the youngest, has a love for the singer and
actor Ernesto De La Cruz and wants to play music himself. I don’t want to
reveal more for plot sake, because this is a fast paced film, the first act
moves through plot beats incredibly fast, to give the remaining acts to have
more of an impact. Its opening is admittedly the least engaging part. This is
purely due to it having a clear point the film wants to reach, and it rushes
through moments, certain characters hardly get any character development, but
it doesn’t really matter as the focus is the rest of the film. It is a
double-edged sword as I would have love more character development to Miguel’s
family and slowing the pacing, but the film ultimately wouldn’t have the impact
in the third act if that was the case.
It is Pixar, so the animation is just beautiful. The
character designs are all a lot of fun, with personality and individuality to
every character, as well as how some of the designs come into play. The way lighting
is used in the film is incredible, it’s clearly thought out from a naturalistic
standpoint, but still used symbolically and to create beauty. And the locations
used allow Pixar to have so much freedom and colour, this has been the
potential bubbling in Pixar for years. It’s fair to say this is one of the most
beautiful films ever created, it has such a grand feeling to every shot and
set, that I honestly have never seen before.
Not many animated films grace the honour of two Oscars,
however Coco picked up Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for ‘Remember
Me’. This is so deserved, the score and soundtrack deserve such recognition. De
La Cruz’s songs are all so entertaining, whilst being culturally accurate and
used at certain moments. The titular song ‘Remember Me’ is almost a motif
throughout the film, we return back to it at several moments and each time has
this incredible emotion running throughout. a film prioritising theme and
accuracy for its soundtrack rather than what can sell the most albums (I’m
looking at you The Greatest Showman) is almost unheard of in Hollywood, but
Pixar have put the effort in and it payed off for the film as a whole.
Coco has managed to contrast this visual style that feels so
epic and grand with a plot that reaches some quite exciting heights, but yet
stick to keeping the moral and the focus to a very human theme. The film is
about family, now I’m very aware of the stereotype of saying a film is about
family, but this film puts such a spin on the idea. We touch on the importance
of the connection of family and individuality, and the relationship between the
two. I can name hundreds upon hundreds of films that follow a similar setup,
but Coco manages to create this debate and exploration of the topic that is
incredibly compelling. Pixar get criticised a lot for not being family
friendly, Coco is no exception, the film is dark and touches on some quite
tough and upsetting themes, the third act is really quite disturbing at times.
But in the end, the age of Miguel is the age intended for the audience, we are
placed so vigorously in his shoes, the very first thing we hear is his voice
talking and the last thing we hear is his voice singing. This is his journey,
physically and mentally we see him grow and learn to adapt to the ideas
presented, it’s a fantastic way to be able to communicate the same effect to
the children watching.
I have tried my best to sell this film without spoiling it,
I think for the sake of Pixar and animation in general this film needs the
attention. In in no ways did badly at the Box Office, it did exceptionally
well. I think for the sake of representation, ambition and beauty this film
deserves to be discussed. You may have noticed I am a fan of ambition in Film
and TV, if something is daring and controversial, I appreciate it a lot more
than a safe film, even if the same film is deemed better. This is because it’s
always best to push standards, Pixar breaks the glass roof with every film,
whilst companies like Illumination and DreamWorks seem to rebuild it every
year, lets enjoy the spectacle of the roof being broken, our expectations
shattering, even if it isn’t entertaining to everyone, it deserves to be appreciated.