I have always been intrigued by the culture of Mexico. The food, the traditions, and the celebrations of its people is nothing short of fascinating, and I would love to be able to spend more time there than I have. One of the things I am interested in is their celebration of El Dia de la Muerte, or the Day of the Dead.
“Coco” is the new animated film directed by Lee Unkrich (Finding Nemo, Toy Story 2) and Adrian Molina (who is making his directorial debut) and features the voice talents of Anthony Gonzalez (Icebox, Dante’s Lunch), Gael Garcia Bernal (Salt and Fire, Neruda), Benjamin Bratt (Doctor Strange, Miss Congeniality), Alanna Ubach (Waiting, Hand of God), Renee Victor (Entanglement, Saint George), Jamie Camill (Elsa & Fred, Devious Maids), Alfonso Arau (The Wild Bunch, El Topo) and Edward James Olmos (American Me, Blade Runner). It is the story of a twelve-year-old in Mexico named Miguel (Gonzalez), whose family history as it is celebrated contains four generations: his great, great grandfather left his child Coco and his wife to Mama Imelda (Ubach) to pursue a music career and he never returned to his family while Mama Imelda started her own family shoe business and banned music for generations. Flash forward to today where Miguel wants to break away from the family business and become a musician like his idol Ernesto De La Cruz (Bratt), who has also passed away and is considered one of the greatest musicians of all time. On El Dia De Muerte, Miguel ends up in afterlife and what follows is Miguel figuring out his family history and trying to get back to the living world before he is stuck there forever.
Although I see no nominations for the performances, the performances here are good and I think overall the right people were used for the characters. When it comes to the plot and storyline, I enjoyed it overall. The film runs about an hour and fifty minutes, which I thought was a little long, but not by much. I thought I did not drag overall, but maybe got just a tad slow and a little long for about a ten-minute period. When it comes to the plot, I did enjoy it overall, especially with a few nice twists. The plot may get a little too complicated for young children, but the animation, look and characters may still keep the young children still interested.
Now to the big deal for me, the look and animation., which truly blew me away with all the right colors and brightness used even at night and in the afterworld put me into visual overload because it was so beautiful. I was able to screen the film in 3-D, which I personally thought it enhances the film, and it may be worth it. This film is good for the entire family, so I will recommend “Coco” as in 3-D as a matinee or twilight in the theaters.