Coco (Film Review)

Hector and Miguel from Pixar's Coco

Coco is probably one of the best Pixar movies ever. I have just watched the movie and I simply cannot stop raving about it. Before the movie was even released, I did not even think about the watching the movie. Somehow, I did not watch a single trailer and the movie was going to slip past me. Thankfully, a colleague of mine watched it with her daughter. She recommended us to watch it and claimed that we would cry. And she was right.

I'm always excited about new Pixar movies. My boyfriend claimed that he knew me "inside out", so I started referencing Pixar movies. As we walked towards the shopping mall, I told him how we had to go up to the cinema and how I hoped that the movie would be incredible. (Geddit?) Along the way, there was also an insect which annoyed him, so I had to slip in the phrase "a bug's life" too. Couldn't help myself. (He tried to say that there used to be a monster in the area, but I told him that he was being too obvious)

Anyway, first things first: there wasn't a Pixar short before the movie. Instead, audiences were "treated" to "Olaf's Frozen Adventure". Unfortunately, this "short" was not short at all. According to the Internet, it was twenty-one minutes long. Pixar shorts are usually about 5-10 minutes long, and there are usually more meaningful (E.g. La Luna, still my favourite one of all time). Don't get me wrong though; I'm not one of those Frozen haters. "Olaf's Frozen Adventure" is all about how Elsa and Anna realise that they don't have a Christmas family tradition. After ringing a huge bell in front of the townsfolk, Elsa and Anna would usually still be separated from each other because of, well, poor parenting. Olaf heads off (with Sven) and finds out how other people celebrate so that he could find a tradition for them. In the end, they realise that Olaf is their tradition! Aww. I like the idea, but I don't like the way it was executed. It came off as too cheesy, the songs were not memorable, and obviously, I went for a Pixar movie expecting a Pixar short, NOT DISNEY. Yes, I know that Disney bought over Pixar, but when I did not see Luxo Jr. I felt disappointed. (And also, I did not purchase the movie tickets, my boyfriend did. I did not look at the ticket stub so this was not what I expected.) This so called "short" should have been aired over Disney Channel or perhaps before the start of another Disney movie. 

Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way, on with the review! The film starts off with a little story (narrated using paper cutouts, aka papel picado) about how a man had deserted his family to pursue a music career. The man's wife had to turn to making shoes, and that's how the whole family business was set up. Miguel, the protagonist of the film, is part of this family and they absolutely hate music just because of his great-great-grandfather of his. However, Miguel loves music and he admires a dead celebrity, Ernesto de la Cruz. He even has a secret shrine of him (or should I say ofrenda) and a secret, self-made guitar. By staring at the screen of his secret television set, Miguel was able to learn to play his songs (maybe being musically gifted is in his blood) and could even quote Ernesto's lines from old black and white movies that he had starred in. As I was watching the first part of the movie, I thought that it was obvious: Ernesto de la Cruz was Miguel's great-great-grandfather, and the movie is about following your dreams. Boy was I so wrong!

The story takes place in Mexico and on the Day of the Dead. I was completely fascinated because I did not know that Mexican culture was similar to Chinese culture. The Day of the Dead reminds me of Hungry Ghost Festival and Qingming. It is no wonder why the film is doing so well in China. In the movie, we see Mexicans setting up ofrendas for their deceased family members, putting out offerings and visiting their graves. During Hungry Ghost Festival, this happens as well. Spirits are thought to be released from hell, free to roam the Earth and to gobble up all the food and drinks that are left out for them. In Coco, we see skeletal ghosts grabbing food, watching their descendants, and just having fun. There are Mexican marigolds everywhere, which would become extremely important in the movie. Someone from Miguel's family could give him his or her blessing and send him back to the human world if he touches the glowing orange petal.

I love how beautiful and colourful the land of the dead was. Miguel's dead family members bring him over the marigold bridge and we can see how the dead have to go through a scanner to see if their photographs have been put up on ofrendas. If their picture is not located, they would be unable to leave! Immediately, we see Hector being dragged back to the gate by security guards when he tries. Imelda, Miguel's great-great-grandmother, was unable to get to the other side since Miguel had taken the photograph. When we first meet Imelda, it is hilarious because she was at the Department of Family Reunions or something and she was hitting the computer with her shoe.

Since Imelda's blessing comes with conditions which would hinder him from becoming a famous musician like his idol, whom he now thinks is his great-great-grandfather, Miguel decides to run off and get Ernesto de la Cruz's blessing, thinking that the two of them would see eye to eye. He strikes a deal with Hector, who just wants his portrait to be displayed so that he can see his daughter again. Hector and Miguel visit the slums of the land of the dead, where skeletons hang out and pretend that they are family members because no one in the land of the living remembers them. We even see some Hector's friend fading and disappearing (kind of like a second death) because he has been forgotten. 

The plot twist comes with Miguel finally meets the famous singer. He sneaks into de la Cruz's party and falls into a guitar-shaped swimming which his idol saves him from. When Miguel claims that they are related, Ernesto de la Cruz takes his word for it without even questioning the boy! Obviously, he just wanted to look good in front of the crowd by saving Miguel and going along with whatever Miguel said. Ernesto de la Cruz even suggested that Miguel stay for his sunrise concert. He did not seem the slightest bit concerned that Miguel was slowly becoming a skeleton. Finally, Hector appears and confronts Ernesto and accuses him of stealing the songs that he had written! Miguel and Hector realise that Ernesto had poisoned Hector (which was the truth behind his death, not because he choked on chorizo, which was what he had been mocked for) and even used the same, exact line in one of his movies that was conveniently playing in one of the screens of his mansion. Narcissistic much? It also shows that Ernesto is not creative at all, since he can't write songs or movie scripts.

Hector gets dragged off by security and so does Miguel. They meet at the bottom of the pit that they had been thrown in. It is heartbreaking to find out that Hector was betrayed by Ernesto de la Cruz just because he felt homesick and wished to return to his wife and daughter. I initially thought that Hector was just pretending to know Ernesto de la Cruz to get out of trouble! And thankfully, Hector is Miguel's great-great-grandfather, not Ernesto, who would do whatever it took to become famous. His seemingly positive motto, "seize the moment", turns out to include murder. I did not expect this and I was glad that Pixar managed to catch me off guard. It also makes sense for Ernesto not to give Miguel his blessing, since they weren't related and it would not have worked anyway. Ernesto just wanted Miguel around to worship him. If you think about it, Ernesto shows Miguel the mountains of stuff that he has because tons of people remember him in the human world and send things to him via offerings (like how we burn paper money and objects to our ancestors). However, Ernesto doesn't actually go back like everyone else. He throws lavish parties and holds concerts instead! He's so self-obsessed that he doesn't care about his family and he probably doesn't even have one, so at the back of his mind he would have already known that Miguel was not related to him at all.

With the help of his family, Miguel manages to set things right. Apart from the skeletons, there's also Pepita, Imelda's spirit guide which looks like a huge cat with wings. Miguel's faithful companion, Dante, becomes a spirit guide as well! Although Dante seems like a goofy stray dog, he's actually the one who caused Miguel to think that Ernesto was his great-great-grandfather in the first place. This makes me feel that he was probably meant to guide Miguel on his journey all along. I think it is fascinating for Pixar to include all kinds of Mexican folk art in the film. The way spirit guides were designed to look in the movie was inspired by alebrije, which are sculptures of brightly coloured mythical creatures. Calaveras are used everywhere (there was a skull on the guitar and the characters are skeletons, obviously) because it is a movie about the Day of the Dead, but that is probably the only reason why I had a Halloween vibe about the movie. Dante, the Mexican hairless dog or Xolo, has also been aptly named since when I think of Dante, I think of the poem and his journey through hell (and also the video game Dante's Inferno). Besides, the appearance of a black dog is a symbol of death in Europe. (Just ask Professor Trelawney about the Grim)

When Miguel and the rest of his family try to get Hector's photograph back from Ernesto, they confront him at his sunrise concert and his true colours are revealed to his (deceased) fans live on camera. In the end, Miguel did not manage to save the photograph but he did get back to his family. Using his great-great-grandfather's guitar, he plays the song, "Remember Me" to Coco, Miguel's great-grandmother who seems to be suffering from dementia and losing her memory. Even though it was quite obvious that Miguel was going to do that so that Coco does not forget her father, it was difficult to hold back tears at this point. Later, we see Coco and Hector reunited in the land of the dead (after Coco passes on, of course). It would have been a real tragedy if Hector had disappeared just as Coco died and appeared in the underworld.

I really like how Coco kept all the letters that her father sent her, and how Ernesto was dealt with in the land of the dead and the land of the living. With the letters, Miguel was able to prove to the land of the living that Ernesto was a murderous fraud, and he was able to give credit to Hector for writing such wonderful songs. The letters were displayed along with his guitar for all to see. In the land of the dead, Ernesto is pelted with rotten tomatoes and whatever else the audience could find. Pepita grabs him and throws him towards a tower, where he is crushed by a bell. I'm not sure if you can actually die in the land of the dead (apart from vanishing because you have been forgotten). But it is still satisfying to watch because this was also how he died in the human world. All the wrongs have been righted in the end, and Miguel learnt that his family and his dreams are both equally important.