‘COCO’ POPS
Pixar takes heartwarming, vibrant journey on Mexican Day of the Dead
With an original story and eye-popping visuals, Pixar, which has been mired in sequels, strikes gold again with “Coco.” In the computer-generated comedyfantasy, a young boy named Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) travels on the semi-pagan Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos to the land of the dead to learn a secret about his family, including his still-living great-grandmother Coco (Ana Ofelia Murguia), and himself.
On this amazing journey, Miguel meets astonishing characters, not the least of which is his regal and skeletal great-great-grandmother Mama Imelda (Alanna Ubach), who refuses to return him to the land of the living unless he swears to give up the greatest love of his life: music.
Like the 2014 animated release “The Book of Life,” “Coco” is a celebration of Mexican culture and the sanctity of the family, as well as a film full of visual gags, including a literal jaw-dropping. In opening moments, we learn that Miguel's greatgreat-grandfather was a musician whose face has been cut out of a family photo and who, according to a bitter Mama Imelda, left the family to pursue fame and fortune, or as Miguel's favorite musician, the late, great Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt) puts it: “Seize his moment.” Ernesto is the “world's greatest musician” to his countless fans, dead and alive, and the composer of all his great songs, including the classic “Remember Me” (“Recuerdame”).
After her husband abandons her, Mama Imelda starts a family shoe business that still thrives. Miguel's loving Abuelita (Renee Victor), the great-granddaughter of Mama Imelda, keeps up the family tradition and forbids music in the house. Thus, Miguel, who has become a fine guitarist by studying the moves of his hero Ernesto de la Cruz, which he watches on old VHS tapes, must hide his playing from his parents and other family, even though he plans to compete in the annual village plaza competition.
How precisely Miguel is transported to the other side involves a stolen guitar, a bridge made out of orange flower petals and a world where animalistic spirit guides live alongside the dead. In this surprisingly animated and architecturally detailed macabre realm, Miguel meets Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal), a shabby character, who cannot travel to the land of the living on the holiday because no family has placed a photo of him on the flowerbedecked displays families create to celebrate their ancestors. In the land of the dead, once no one in the land of the living remembers you, you fade away.
“Coco,” which was directed by Lee Unkrich (“Toy Story 3”) and co-writer Adrian Molina (“The Good Dinosaur”), is in large part a musical with a Mexican-infused score by Michael Giacchino and tunes such as the folk music-style “Un Poco Loco” and 1920s and '30s ballad-influenced “Remember Me,” composed by the Academy Award-winning “Frozen” team Kristen AndersonLopez and Robert Lopez. Warning: Be prepared to buy your kids guitars after you take them to see this.