Miguel is the black sheep of his large crazy Mexican family of shoemakers due to his penchant for the forbidden vice of music. An accident on Día de Muertos reveals that his exiled great-great abuelo is actually popular musician Ernesto de la Cruz, much to the annoyance of his music-hating abuela Elena. One trip to Ernesto's crypt and strum of his famous guitar later, Miguel is suddenly transported to the Land of the Dead and begins his search for his banned family member. COCO is a delightfully entertaining breeze of an animated movie, that kind your heart needs when you a little cry or a reminder about the power of family and seeking your dream. The story has a thankfully casual pace, allowing the audience to enjoy its vibrant and musically inclined adventure with low stakes. There's a nice breath of fresh air with its structure, such as how the intended antagonist may be ruthless in their agenda but you clearly can understand their reasoning and why they're wearing kid gloves to catch that kid. It's just so very nice to have an exquisite Latino-based work brimming with culture and personality that's suited for children and families that isn't polluted with obnoxious helping hands for the language or the presence of a kid protagonist with vacant eyes and no soul. The backgrounds are all evocatively rich in their depth, detail, and sheer amounts of color and filled to the brink with crowds of splendidly designed characters. The voice cast is wonderful, with Gael García Bernal as Miguel's sidekick/guardian Héctor and Alanna Ubach as Mamá Imelda beings the absolute standouts for doing the double duty of emoting their lines and belting out tunes. The music is pretty good, especially Michael Giacchino's score, but I feel bad for Germaine Franco and Adrian Molina, as all of the original songs they produced are ultimately squashed by the heavyweight beast that is "Remember Me", the new contender for your kid's favorite song by the powerhouse couple of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. Unfortunately, though I was enraptured by its world and much of the heartwarming material caused me to tear up, the film quite quickly vacated out of my senses once I walked out of the theater. It could have been the fact that the script gets way too relaxed and often resorts to cliche storytelling and predictable outcomes that we have seen in other works and/or in other Pixar movies. It could have been the great but unnecessary twist the film pulls so it can have the standard Pixar final act that always closes out the show. It could have been many other things but there just sadly isn't a ton of resonance beyond its animated beauty or touching scenes to make COCO a true masterpiece. It may grow more in my heart in time or it just may be a brief euphoric experience today due to the current state of Pixar. Oh, and as for the now infamous "Olaf's Frozen Adventure" short that plays before the movie: it is an inoffensive treat but the long pace, weird retconning, and truly forgettable songs do hurt its amusement.
FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5
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