Coco (2017)

The first time I saw the Coco's trailer I thought it was a copy of The Book of Life and I told myself I would not watch it. But I do really love Pixar and everyone was saying how great it was and I couldn't resist.

Miguel Rivera (Anthony Gonzalez) is a 12-year-old boy who wants to follow his hero Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt) and become a famous musician. Music, however, is banned in his family of shoemakers and they just won't allow him to pursue his dream. But nothing can stop him and, along the way of achieving his dream, Miguel finds himself in the Land of the Dead and, with the help of Héctor (Gael García Bernal), a down-on-his-luck skeleton, he must find his great-great-grandfather to return to the Land of the Living.

Coco's is a charming, emotional, engaging and exciting story as well as one of the most complex and rich stories in animated films. It's a very well-written story that takes many surprising turns along the way and has such a witty twist that made my jaw drop and made me even more curious about what would happen next.

It's a story that manages to be funny and kid-friendly while dealing with important themes such as death, memory, passion, dreams, family and love. A story that once again delivers the 'family is important' message but it does it in such a genuine, heartfelt way that it feels like it has never been delivered before.

The characters are another very important part of Coco. They are interesting and likeable, they have a good development (I was quite impressed with the villain) and it's easy to relate to them. Miguel is an excellent lead and carries the whole movie effortlessly, but there's one character stealing the show, Gael García Bernal's Héctor, the silly skeleton who joins Miguel on his journey. I did love Frida Kahlo's cameo too, and the voice work is fantastic. Also, I liked the filmmaker's choice of having the characters speaking both in English and Spanish. No, you don't need Spanish to understand the film. If you don't speak it, you'll miss a few jokes, that's all.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Then, of course, there is the animation. I've seen a lot of animated films in my life and never before have I seen such attention to details, not even in Pixar's previous movies. Everything is gorgeous. The colours, the settings, the characters, but the biggest accomplishment, in my opinion, is having a character correctly playing an instrument. Miguel moves his fingers and places them exactly how and where a human would while playing a real guitar.

Another thing Coco is great at is blending musical numbers perfectly into the story. And how great those songs, inspired by Mexican music, are!

I am not Mexican, but I did study Spanish in high school, including el Dia de Muertos, and I think this film really captures the spirit of this Mexican culture, people, food and traditions.