{"id":8209,"date":"2018-04-04T13:06:23","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T17:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=8209"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:24:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:24:30","slug":"coco-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=8209","title":{"rendered":"Coco-2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coco-2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Lee Unkrich<\/strong><\/p>\n

Voices Anthony Gonzalez, Benjamin Bratt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #737<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed April 4, 2018<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Winner of the 2017 Best Animated Feature Academy Award, Coco is an exuberant and colorful affair, filled with marvelous lighting and a Mexican cultural infusion that serves the film well, making it feel robust in its diversity and inclusion.<\/p>\n

The overall theme of family, traditions, and musical celebration is apparent, making for good razzle-dazzle with lots of upbeat songs and dance.<\/p>\n

Mixed in is a lovely inter-generational theme, where older folks are respected, something lacking in today’s real world.<\/p>\n

Miguel Rivera is a twelve-year-old boy living in Mexico with his extended family, including his elderly great-grandmother, Coco, who is sadly suffering from intermittent dementia.<\/p>\n

Through flashbacks, we learn that Coco’s father (Miguel’s great-great-grandfather) was an aspiring musician who abandoned the family for greener pastures.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, the Rivera clan banned all music in favor of a modest shoe-making business.<\/p>\n

As Miguel realizes his passion for music, he comes into conflict with his family, who have other aspirations for him. Miguel embarks on a fantastic journey to the magical and somewhat frightening land of his deceased ancestors, coinciding with the festive Day of the Dead celebration, a Mexican cultural tradition.<\/p>\n

There, he realizes the true nature of his great-great-grandfather’s sudden departure.<\/p>\n

Coco is a film that all family members can enjoy, and it is structured just that way. The blatant use of multiple generations greatly appeals to the idea of blending the family unit.<\/p>\n

Pixar successfully sets all the correct elements in place for a successful film, and the well-written story only adds layers. The film is quite mainstream, yet appealing to the masses.<\/p>\n

Perhaps very young viewers may become frightened by some of the skeleton-laced faces of Miguel’s ancestors in the other world where he visits. Still, these images are somewhat tame and mixed with vibrant colors and extraordinary production numbers.<\/p>\n

These images are undoubtedly meant to entertain rather than frighten, and the creatures have a friendly vibe.<\/p>\n

Having viewed the film on an airplane traveling cross-country (admittedly not the best way to watch a film), the lovely and touching musical number “Remember Me (Lullaby)” entranced me, so much so that I was moved to tears right on the plane.<\/p>\n

How’s that for effectiveness?<\/p>\n

The emotional impact of this song impressed me immensely about Coco, even when the story is occasionally secondary to the visual or musical elements.<\/p>\n

In fact, the story began to lag slightly until the aforementioned big musical number came into play. The song really kicked the emotional action into high gear, and I became more enamored with the characters and their connections to one another.<\/p>\n

Miguel and his relatives’ love became more apparent, and the conclusion is pleasing and satisfactory.<\/p>\n

A slight miss in the film, corrected midway through, is Miguel’s bratty and entitled nature. He heaves sighs when he does not get his way, which seems more apparent early on and was quite the turn-off.<\/p>\n

At first, I did not care for the character, yet I knew I was supposed to.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the character becomes the film’s hero and ultimately proves to be a sweet, likable person. I pondered, “Is that what kids like these days?”<\/p>\n

Pixar does it again, creating a family-friendly experience with a positive yet non-cliched message of belonging, forgiveness, and the importance of family connections that feels fresh.<\/p>\n

In current times of divisiveness, especially with immigration and other cultures being attacked, how appropriate is it to experience Coco (2017), a feel-good yet not contrived project?<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations: 2 wins-<\/strong>Best Original Song-“Remember Me” (won)<\/strong>, Best Animated Feature Film (won)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coco-2017 Director Lee Unkrich Voices Anthony Gonzalez, Benjamin Bratt Scott’s Review #737 Reviewed April 4, 2018 Grade: B+ Winner of the 2017 Best Animated Feature Academy Award, Coco is an exuberant and colorful affair, filled with marvelous lighting and a Mexican cultural infusion that serves the film well, making it feel robust in its diversity … Continue reading Coco-2017<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[348,8444,37,6428,2145,353,1580,199,49,7386,6461,384,192,3901,201,3357,2668,3034,11095,7408,5687,6787],"tags":[347,8445,54,6429,2152,354,1584,200,252,7387,6463,385,193,3905,257,3360,2670,3038,11100,7409,5693,6796],"class_list":["post-8209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2017-movie-reviews","category-angus-maclane","category-animatedfilms","category-anthony-gonzalez","category-benjamin-bratt","category-best-animated-feature-oscar-winners","category-cheech-marin","category-childrensfilms","category-comedies","category-dan-scanlon","category-dave-mullins","category-disney-films","category-dramas","category-edward-james-olmos","category-fantasy-films","category-gael-garcia-bernal","category-john-ratzenberger","category-lee-unkrich","category-luis-valdez","category-madeline-sharafian","category-pete-docter","category-trevor-jimenez","tag-2017-movie-reviews","tag-angus-maclane","tag-animated-films","tag-anthony-gonzalez","tag-benjamin-bratt","tag-best-animated-feature-oscar-winners","tag-cheech-marin","tag-childrens-films","tag-comedies","tag-dan-scanlon","tag-dave-mullins","tag-disney-films","tag-dramas-2","tag-edward-james-olmos","tag-fantasy-films","tag-gael-garcia-bernal","tag-john-ratzenberger","tag-lee-unkrich","tag-luis-valdez","tag-madeline-sharafian","tag-pete-docter","tag-trevor-jimenez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8209"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23158,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8209\/revisions\/23158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}