Cruzing

Even though I have pretty much given up on animation, we decided to give Coco (2017) a try. We found it worthy.

Coco is a Pixar animation set in a small Mexican town. It stars Miguel, the son of a family of cobblers who have a taboo against music. It seems his great-great-grandmother was deserted by her musician husband. But Miguel loves music, especially the great Ernesto de la Cruz, born in the same town. On the Day of the Dead, he wants to compete in the music contest in town, but he doesn’t have a guitar. But he notices in a picture on the family altar, ofrenda, of his great-great-grandmother, there is a man with her, ripped out of the photo, but his guitar is plainly del Cruz’s. He is a descendant of the great man! So he breaks into de la Cruz’s crypt and steals his guitar to use in the contest.

But once he’s done this, he is transported to the land of the dead. His ancestors who have photos on the altar of a loved one get to visit earth, but since he took his great-great’s photo, she is stuck. And Miguel himself will be stuck in the land of the dead if he can’t get the blessing of a relative. His deceased grandmother is willing, but only if he gives up music. So he goes to seek the blessing of Ernesto de la Cruz.

On the way, he meets Hector, a scruffy skeleton with no living relatives who remember him - so he is caught trying to sneak into Earth dressed as Frida Kahlo. It turns out that Hector played with de la Cruz, and offers to get Miguel close to him. In exchange, he wants Miguel to get Hector’s daughter to put his photo on her ofrenda.

The look of this movie is wonderful, from the small town to the land of the dead. The spirits of the dead are skeletons with sugar skull heads, and the land of the dead is an immense, sprawling, piled-up, twinkling city. That was about my favorite part. Unfortunately, the music, which should have been stand-out, was my least favorite part. It seemed like it was written by someone who had heard Mexican music, but wasn’t particularly fond of it.

So that’s my review: good story, great visuals, weak songs. So, two out of three. Not bad.