Coco

RATING: A-

One of the biggest letdowns of the decade has been the "fall" of Pixar. Sure, they technically haven't really truly fallen. But they hadn't had an A-grade movie since Toy Story 3 in 2010. (Sorry, Inside Out fans.) A few of them have been pretty good, but still not quite great--and therefore not up to the same standard as the greatness we were given for so long from them. And a few of them have just been average--which, by Pixar standards, is not good at all. 

I wasn't really expecting Coco to break the rut and be a true return to form. I was interested in the "Dia de Muertos/Day of the Dead" concept from the beginning, but the story revolving around music and a kid stuck in a strict "anti-music" family did not sound that interesting. And given the last several years of Pixar, I had no reason to expect anything better than "good but not great." Right? Right? 

The story still does revolve around the kid (Miguel) who's stuck in a strict anti-music family. At first, it looks about as ridiculous as it sounds--the grandmother even goes after random innocent passerby who are playing music outside the house. (I guess it's intended for laughs, but it's really just stupid.) Matters aren't really helped by the fact that Miguel *does* have a passion for music and has an idol who just happens to be dead--which makes the film seem like a ripoff of Ratatouille at first. I'll be frank: while the film is interesting from the start, things don't really kick off until Miguel accidentally gets transported to the Land of the Dead itself and has to get back home. I won't say much else about the plot, but it gets a lot better from here. 

Yes, this is Pixar's best film in years. This also seems like their most inspired one in a long time. Despite a somewhat rough start that is unfortunately required to kick-start the plot and then the story taking a little while to move even after that due to required exposition and background information, the plot is actually quite excellent ultimately. For a while we're more or less taken on a journey through the Land of the Dead as Miguel seeks out his idol and ancestor. While the plot takes a little while to get moving here, it works because we're getting introduced to a whole new world/dimension (plus the different culture). Plus, plenty of exposition is needed to get to the final act--and thus to the actual major story events. 

It certainly helps that the Land of the Dead is gorgeous from an animation perspective--Pixar has been outdoing themselves the last few years in that department, and this film is no exception. There is an insane level of detail, and quite a lot of color differentiation that works without being distracting. It also helps that there's a fair amount of slapstick humor involving the skeletal humans that dwell in the Land of the Dead (literal jaw dropping). 

The story really does take its turn to fully shine in the final act, though. While someone may be on alert for a plot twist due to the amount of time left when it appears it's time to resolve things, they still manage to surprise with the actual plot twists that do happen. And after an exciting climactic act, the conclusion is very fulfilling--and things are wrapped up also a little emotionally, in typical Pixar fashion. 

Aside from the somewhat annoying start, there's not a whole lot else to gripe about. The main song "Remember Me" is a bit overplayed even in the course of the movie, but it works when it's actually important for it to do so. There's a couple of other musical numbers that just kind of feel like placeholders--they should appeal to mariachi fans, but are still more forgettable regardless. It doesn't help if you're the kind of viewer who doesn't care for musical numbers in movies (and I am one of those viewers). 

Coco may not quite be among the elite of Pixar films, but it's still a welcome return to form that we haven't seen from them in some time. It was hard to tell if Pixar was running out of ideas or if they just didn't care as much anymore, but this movie still proves there's some of their old selves still left in the tank. Hopefully they can keep this up and continue to delivery high-quality animated movies that basically anyone can enjoy.