Pixar's Coco (Post-release)

Just got back from seeing this. Absolutely loved it. An incredibly moving film. Maybe because I share a cultural heritage with this film is why it moved me so much, but its so great that I think anyone would be able to enjoy it.
 
A somewhat predictable storyline, with solid animation and decent character chemistry. I enjoyed it, but wish I heard more guitar work.

There was a little weirdness with how the film was presented. One being a hellaciously awful ~30 minute made for TV Disney Frozen “holiday special” which was substituted for the higher caliber Pixar animated short. So bad, 8-10 target marketed kids actually left for drink refills.

Other oddities being an out of place spoken presentation from the Coco film makers. It started with BTS DVD extras pointing out how laborious the city animation work was and ended sadly with them thanking the audience for coming. No, it isn’t sad to thank the audience, but it seemed sad in the wake of recent news events.

I seriously hope Disney never pulls that short Disney Princess/Pixar side cross-contamination crap again on another Pixar release. I liked Frozen, but that short was a visual crime compared to Day&Night, La Luna, Partly Cloudy, etc.
 
I loved it, my wife and I were in tears by the end of it, probably the only Pixar movie that has actually done that to me. Frozen can take a hike but I'm sure that point is moot.
 
Other than the Day of the Dead thing, I don't see the connection with Book of Life. Totally different stories. Its like saying all movies that take place in NYC are the same.
 
A somewhat predictable storyline, with solid animation and decent character chemistry. I enjoyed it, but wish I heard more guitar work.

There was a little weirdness with how the film was presented. One being a hellaciously awful ~30 minute made for TV Disney Frozen “holiday special” which was substituted for the higher caliber Pixar animated short. So bad, 8-10 target marketed kids actually left for drink refills.

Other oddities being an out of place spoken presentation from the Coco film makers. It started with BTS DVD extras pointing out how laborious the city animation work was and ended sadly with them thanking the audience for coming. No, it isn’t sad to thank the audience, but it seemed sad in the wake of recent news events.

I seriously hope Disney never pulls that short Disney Princess/Pixar side cross-contamination crap again on another Pixar release. I liked Frozen, but that short was a visual crime compared to Day&Night, La Luna, Partly Cloudy, etc.

Disney has removed the Olaf short!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ex...VED-from-Coco-screenings-Disney-Let-It-Go/amp
 
Oh man that is great news! Thanks, MovieFreak!

I am glad Disney can react in real time. That really speaks well for Disney. The storyline/dialogue seemed like a real rush job.

Also wanted to mention in the middle of the Olaf short, Gad absolutely kills a musical number. I hope Disney releases that song.

Anyway, this is great news, thanks!
 
My granddaughter loves frozen but I wasn't going to take her to see this and turn the evening into a two and half hour plus marathon. Now perhaps the wife and I will take her.
 
Other than the Day of the Dead thing, I don't see the connection with Book of Life. Totally different stories. Its like saying all movies that take place in NYC are the same.

Agreed, aside from the setting the two movies have nothing else in common. The stories are completely different, where as The Book of Life was a love story, Coco is about family and doing what you love.

I'd strongly recommend setting aside any pre-conceived notions about Coco because of its visual similarity to BoL and just go see it, I doubt you'll be disappointed. My wife and I went to see it Friday because my brother-in-law invited and we previously had no real interesting seeing based on what was shown in the trailer but we came away totally loving it. It was a beautifully animated movie with a wonderful that was very touching and if you somehow manage to come away from it completely dried eyed then you're just not human and are probably the same kind of person who watched Up and didn't get the least bit misty eyed at the beginning.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh man that is great news! Thanks, MovieFreak!

I am glad Disney can react in real time. That really speaks well for Disney. The storyline/dialogue seemed like a real rush job.

Also wanted to mention in the middle of the Olaf short, Gad absolutely kills a musical number. I hope Disney releases that song.

Anyway, this is great news, thanks!

I'm glad too that Disney is removing the Frozen "short" from the beginning of Coco, that was one long "short", way too longk, in my opinion. Watching it I was ready for it to be over by the end of the first act where Elsa & Anna ring the bell.
 
Yeah. I have nothing to say about this film except that it's amazing.

And I normally hate pixar stuff.

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I was disappointed.
I thought it was utterly bland and predictable.
They had so much rich culture to work with which made it all the more frustrating that pretty much everything, from design work to the plot and characters, were so dull and dephtless.

The plot was so very Disney paint-by-numbers that it started to feel like a chore about half way through. By the time they got to the mysterious patronage cliche' reveal (which was so painfully obvious) I was past ready for it to be over. My eyes were just about rolling by the end, and they may as well had "CRY NOW" flashing on the screen it was such heavy handed emotional manipulation.

The Book of Life was by no means perfect, but in comparison, COCO is as soulless as someone left off the ofrenda.
 
Was it better than Book of Life? Because that movie was awesome.

Other than the Day of the Dead thing, I don't see the connection with Book of Life. Totally different stories. Its like saying all movies that take place in NYC are the same.

Agreed, aside from the setting the two movies have nothing else in common. The stories are completely different, where as The Book of Life was a love story, Coco is about family and doing what you love.

I'd strongly recommend setting aside any pre-conceived notions about Coco because of its visual similarity to BoL and just go see it, I doubt you'll be disappointed. My wife and I went to see it Friday because my brother-in-law invited and we previously had no real interesting seeing based on what was shown in the trailer but we came away totally loving it. It was a beautifully animated movie with a wonderful that was very touching and if you somehow manage to come away from it completely dried eyed then you're just not human and are probably the same kind of person who watched Up and didn't get the least bit misty eyed at the beginning.

My biggest gripe against going to see it was that I thought it was going to be a Book of Life rip off.

I am so glad it was it's own thing.

Also the commercials I remember seeing gave no real detail as to what the movie was about

All in all, I reluctantly went to see it since my wife and daughter wanted to see it, and came out totally enjoying it
 
Sorry for the slight necro (pun intended) but here in Europe the movie is still in theaters. Unfortunately,so is theFrozen short, ugh....

Took my family to see the movie this weekend and we all absolutely loved it. I found it very touching, one of the very rare movies that made me shed a tear or two.

My wife asked me how that might be, since I'm a staunch atheist, but I told her the idea that the dead are not really gone as long as people remember them is, in fact, perfectly compatible with my (lack of) belief in the afterlife.

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I loved it. The emotions worked, and was a lot of fun.

But because this is what I do, I will now pick it to pieces! ;) But I must emphasize that in the end I think it's great.

The tradition's morbid emphasis on skulls and skeletons has always creeped me out, so I knew going in I'd have that hurdle. Thankfully the film helped me over it. (For the length of the film, that is...still not a fan!)

Photographs have only existed for about 160 years. What did the dead do before that, given that the tradition is older than that?

(I'm not really holding that against the film, it just came to mind.)

I, like the misdirect concerning who's the great great grand papa, but I still could have done without the feeling I was ahead of the movie for the several scenes it took the kid to make the initial (though incorrect) connection. "He's your great great granddad. He's your great great granddad. C'mon movie, stop being coy." If the film had perhaps given some indication of "we know you know, but let's watch the kid figure it out together!"...

An inconsistency with the established rules: Ernesto de la Cruz shows off his horde of offerings from fans. You have to cross over and visit the the ofrendas to collect those offerings. They don't just appear. You have to go get them! He's visited thousands of ofrendas, AND hosted a party AND threw a concert in one night? The dead don't seem to have magic Santa Claus time compression powers...

Also, the extra added McGuffin of getting the real dad's photo back: YOU ALREADY HAVE HIS PICTURE. Okay, the head's torn off. So? Also, getting his picture was only so that he could cross over and visit for one night. The night's about over, there is no point to that anymore. The goal now is to get Coco to remember him so he doesn't, um, die again. You don't need the picture for that!

The grandmother's cruelty, although explained, didn't feel redeemed. I'm still not happy with her.

A friend pointed out, and I agree, that we are again ahead of the movie when Miguel comes back and is pleading with Coco. SING TO HER, idiot! Takes forever to get to that moment.

There was some redundancy with Miguel saying a couple scenes in a row that he didn't listen to his family. Also I didn't like the false dichotomy of career=abandonment of family, choose one or the other. This was not resolved, Miguel was simply convinced to give up music (even though he ultimately didn't have to). He was going to allow the bitterness of a decades-dead matriarch continue to put a pall over his entire clan.

After Coco died, there was no longer anyone living who knew Héctor in life. Should he not have disappeared? By the established rules, they would never be together in the Land of the Dead.

Did I mention I loved it? :)

I saw it after the removal of the Frozen short, thankfully. But they still left in the live-action bridging segment! It was rather awkward, and it spoiled that great reveal shot of the Land of the Dead.
 
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Photographs have only existed for about 160 years. What did the dead do before that, given that the tradition is older than that?
If you want to extend that logic you can also assume that you have to be a Mexican spirit to return.

An inconsistency with the established rules: Ernesto de la Cruz shows off his horde of offerings from fans. You have to cross over and visit the the ofrendas to collect those offerings. They don't just appear. You have to go get them! He's visited thousands of ofrendas, AND hosted a party AND threw a concert in one night? The dead don't seem to have magic Santa Claus time compression powers...
He has hundreds of coyote spirits to smuggle them in. Duh.

Also, the extra added McGuffin of getting the real dad's photo back: YOU ALREADY HAVE HIS PICTURE. Okay, the head's torn off. So? Also, getting his picture was only so that he could cross over and visit for one night. The night's about over, there is no point to that anymore. The goal now is to get Coco to remember him so he doesn't, um, die again. You don't need the picture for that!
I think it's safe to assume the photo has to be a headshot. At the border they only scan faces.

I believe Hector knew that Coco was going to die soon and probably die that year. He even says that this year may be his last chance to visit. You can't assume that Miguel can easily get his great grandma to remember. To him she's been essentially inert and sedentary for his whole life.

Remember, the core struggle at this point is to have Hector see Coco one last time. I don't think anyone even thought of reversing Alzheimer's at this point. It's only much later when they had a moment to reassess their objectives.

The grandmother's cruelty, although explained, didn't feel redeemed. I'm still not happy with her.
My family is Asian. I can totally relate to this. Your elders are capable of trashing all your toys if they think it's for your own good, and then appallingly think they can make it all better with food. The grandma in the Mexican family is like the grandma in Asian families - she's the boss of the house and is charged with keeping the house rules and traditions. Only as an adult I can look back and realize how genuinely "messed up" some of this was. I wouldn't know how to rationalize that to some of my friends who didn't grow up with this. I can totally relate.

A friend pointed out, and I agree, that we are again ahead of the movie when Miguel comes back and is pleading with Coco. SING TO HER, idiot! Takes forever to get to that moment.
In terms of dramatic tension, yes, it's excruciating. I wish they lopped off 5 seconds from that. But it's also understandable that it might not have occurred to him to sing it at first. Hector only told Miguel what that song really meant with one sentence. Until then the song was always a love song from Ernesto so it needs a while to settle into his brain. Unlike the viewer he didn't have the benefit of that full cutscene of baby Coco being serenaded by papa nor did he have the foreknowledge of music, specifically that song, being a key theme to a story arc.

There was some redundancy with Miguel saying a couple scenes in a row that he didn't listen to his family. Also I didn't like the false dichotomy of career=abandonment of family, choose one or the other. This was not resolved, Miguel was simply convinced to give up music (even though he ultimately didn't have to). He was going to allow the bitterness of a decades-dead matriarch continue to put a pall over his entire clan.
As I said before. I'm in an Asian family. I can testify to how powerful the family influence is. There's always a small part of yourself that believes your elders are right and might just be saving you from yourself. The idea of complete independence from family and being self-made and breaking rules to follow your dreams is purely American.

I can totally understand why, in the US, this family connection even through adulthood can seem infantile. Conversely I've had friends in college tell me also they wish they had a cultural identity and family traditions as I did. It's a double-edged sword.

When I was young I wanted to be in product design and am largely self-taught in illustration. I was able to skip years when I applied to a program when I presented my portfolio to the Academy of Arts College in SF. I stayed there a year and was planning to transfer to the Art Center in Pasedena. In the meanwhile I also studied physics and biology and, with years of Asian family brainwashing as well as subtle (as well as overt) pressure I ended up going to medical school and becoming a physician.

You want to know the most "messed up" part? I'm not entirely sure they were wrong. I'm very happy being a doctor who draws as a hobby.

With my own kids I'm trying my best to balance the best of both worlds. I live in fear I'm messing them up somehow by being either too traditional or too loose.

After Coco died, there was no longer anyone living who knew Héctor in life. Should he not have disappeared? By the established rules, they would never be together in the Land of the Dead.
I think the presence of an ofrenda confers the power of personal memory to loved ones as well as those who have first hand memories. That works for me.

I saw it after the removal of the Frozen short, thankfully. But they still left in the live-action bridging segment! It was rather awkward, and it spoiled that great reveal shot of the Land of the Dead.
Same. Imagine if T2 began with Arnold going, "Oh hello. I'm Arnold on the set of Terminator 2 where I play a robot sent from the future. We do a lot of incredible stunts and cutting edge CGI. It was great fun making this movie and we're all very proud to present Terminator 2. I hope you enjoy!"

I've also heard more than one review where they thought it was hard to imagine how Imelda could hold such absolute contempt for Hector for decades when she clearly still loves him. I'll just say that I've dated Latin women and this is entirely plausible. They can make your life such an unrelenting hell simply because they still care. Indifference would be a welcome release. One ex girlfriend warned I shouldn't let her know where I kept my firearms simply because she knew herself enough that, if we ever got into a serious argument, she swears she would end up shooting me. She was dead serious.
 
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