This one is super overdue, as I actually saw Coco back over Thanksgiving - but it's stayed with me, and it's no stretch - or surprise - to say that Coco is easily one of the best animated films of the year.
Hot off this summer's Cars 3, Pixar Animation Studios has served up a richly imagined fantasy of a young boy caught between family and destiny, with Mexico's Día de los Muertos serving as the connection between past and present, between the living and the dead. 12-year old Miguel Rivera (Anthony Gonzalez) burns with the desire to be a musician - just like his idol, the late-great Ernesto de la Cruz. The only problem is that music is forbidden in Miguel's family, thanks to his great-great-grandmother having been abandoned by her freewheeling musician husband - and the family has toiled away as dedicated shoemakers ever since. But what if fabled Ernesto de la Cruz was Miguel's great-great-grandfather?!
Miguel has a secret hideaway where he watches old de la Cruz videos, practicing his heart out on the coolest homemade guitar you've ever seen. His heart set on competing in a Día de los Muertos music contest, he sneaks into the legendary singer's crypt and borrows his storied guitar - which has the power to transport him to the Land of the Dead itself, where as a living boy (accompanied by his enthusiastic canine sidekick), he meets the skeletal forms of his departed relatives, who he enlists to help him find the mythical de al Cruz himself (Benjamin Bratt).
Co-directed by Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3, Finding Nemo) and former Pixar storyboard artist Adrian Molina, Coco is visually transcendent - an eye-popping explosion of fluorescent audacity that at times may evoke a more buoyant Tim Burton. Coco explodes with color and music, both of which completely delight and transport.
When Miguel finally meets the dashing de la Cruz in the flesh (so to speak), he's like Rudolph Valentino or Pedro Infante by way of Chinatown or a John Huston film - he may be a few degrees askew from the icon Miguel's always imagined.
Coco does many things beautifully, but perhaps most importantly, it depicts Hispanic culture with incredible respect, and brings to the front of the stage protagonists who are too often relegated to the sidelines. Pixar manages to avoid stereotypes and cliches with remarkable success, maintaining a rich depiction of family and heritage throughout every aspect of the film's story and its characters.
It also prominently features older characters, most importantly Miguel's great-grandmother, Mama Coco, with an incredibly weathered face that would be so easy to just look past. It's refreshing to see older characters revered, and treated as valued repositories of history and wisdom.
To get a sense of our household's representation of the Pixar fan base, we loved Cars 3 more than most, while Inside Out left us a little cold - but we all loved Coco. For a colorful fantasy, it doesn't shy away from the loss death leaves behind, and its emotional wallop may sneak up on younger viewers. But it's hard to imagine a more uplifting film the whole family can see together that so poignantly reminds you of the treasure you all are to each other, while making you laugh and dazzling your senses. Above all, Coco's afterlife is overflowing with heart, and as one of the film's ballads suggests, if you still have a chance to catch it in theaters, seize your moment.
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