Pixar's Coco

Has anyone here seen this movie yet?

I find it really sad that, ever since Toy Story 3, Pixar has been on a huge hit-or-miss run. They've had a couple genuine hits, like Inside Out; a few duds, like Cars 2 and The Good Dinosaur.

I must say, Coco is a major hit and I think it deserves to be regarded as one of their finest storytelling efforts yet. I'm happy to say it's up there with their best works, along with Up, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Inside Out and The Incredibles - among others.

Who's seen Coco this past holiday, or plan to at least?

@jaydan: I heard some say it's racist due to being all Mexican. Did this movie feel like it? If not, I'm gonna go see it Saturday night.

Flip the looking-glass and you'll see that racist people told you it's racist.

I enjoyed Coco, might see it again on a nicer screen at some point. I don't see how it was racist.

Only downside was that lengthy frozen short movie at the beginning with the awful singing.

@achilles614: yes that Frozen short was god awful, Disney should be ashamed of forcing that upon viewers.

There is nothing racist about the film. The film has an all Mexican cast, the film takes place in Mexico. What in God's name would anyone expect? My assumption over the other poster is he heard that accusation from insecure, racist white boys.

Yeah, there are those who will frame literally anything that doesn't prominently feature a white cast as racist regardless of what the film might actually be about.

But it's a Pixar film so they still managed to get John Ratzenberger in there somewhere.

I saw Coco with the fam today. Pixar generally does good stuff, and while I wasn't looking forward to this film necessarily it turned out to be really solid. I wasn't a huge fan of the Frozen short that preceded it but my kids loved it so we wanted to make sure we didn't miss it. We were running a little bit late so I was a bit worried we might miss some of the film. When the wife and I went to see Thor 3 the film started 15 minutes after the scheduled start time. Generally kids movies don't have as many trailers because there just aren't as many films that are G/PG rated to show trailers for, but between the trailers and the Frozen short the fucking movie started more than FORTY minutes after the scheduled start time. That's a new record.

-Byshop

Never heard about it.

Take a look. It deserves recognition.

@Byshop: How would you rank Coco with other Pixar films?

I think it might just be in my top five.

My top five, something like...

Ratatouille
Inside Out
Coco
Monsters Inc.
WALL-E

Watch Coco yesterday night, it was really good! I think this is one of Pixar's most beautiful and poignant film yet, and that's saying something. My Daughter and I saw it and we both got more than just "misty-eyed." I certainly got to me more than "Inside Out" did.

I think one should also recognize the visual artistry in this film. The animation is great and Pixar has upped the ante on how detailed they can be (characters have vellus hairs!). I'm struggling to think of another CGI elderly human character who was rendered so convincingly as Coco herself. Realistic wrinkled skin like this often isn't seen in CGI but it was well done here. A 8/10.

One thing that's worth noting, Coco does an incredible job interpreting Dia de los Muertos accurately while never once feeling like it sits the viewer down just to teach the holiday and culture.

Pixar really mastered the attention-to-detail here through fluid storytelling. Some things might not make immediate sense due to cultural misunderstanding, but absolutely everything in this film served a purpose -- even down to the stray dog, Dante, that Miguel let's guide. That particular breed of dog is believed to have connections to the spirit world, so it made sense to let Dante basically lead Miguel into the afterlife. Even the spirit animals have cultural significance and not just something Pixar made up for the context of the film. There were plenty of cameo appearances of famous Mexican figures - one of the most obvious ones, was Frida Kahlo - and there were plenty other cameos of famed figures.

The movie really taught the significance of why we should remember our ancestors and the significance of the holiday while never feeling like it just wants to teach us a text book lecture.

@jaydan: was it even the original vocalists? Something seemed really off, my GF and sister are fans of frozen and both of them thought it was bad. The vocals were very "shrieky", but that could've been the theaters audio setup.

I'm white and I liked the Mexican theme a lot, guess some people just get a little insecure. Heck my whole family enjoyed it and we're a bunch of southerners.

It was nice getting a little light-hearted perspective into those traditions. The cameos were a nice touch as well. The more I think back on the film the more it sinks in as a favorite Pixar film in recent times. Glad I saw it. Now to find/make guitar tabs for some of the songs in the movie :p

Good list! I love Ratatouille (was a cook for quite a while, and love to cook still), it really hits close to home in the best way possible. Inside Out was incredibly educational and insightful without being preachy.

I just might have to go see Coco if you rank it up there.

And Monsters Inc, I always forget about that movie; forget it's a Pixar movie, and forget it's out there. Such a great movie! Teaches us about fearing the unknown, corporate corruption, and how ridiculous it is.

Yeah Pixar really gets my tears going. I'm lucky in that I don't cry during sad movies, but man, if it's a happy-emotional movie, well...have you ever seen a large man cry? Not pretty :P

That's cool they really put a lot into the artistry and tech. Last time I remember being impressed like that was after watching a Blu Ray of "How to Train Your Dragon"; the detail of the furs (among other things) made it look actually real. Independently rendered hairs massed into a fur coat that moves when the character moves or when the wind blows, was pretty great. That, and how they somehow made the expressions and body language of the dragons identical to dogs and cats.

@jaydan: Since you've seen it, can I ask for a spoiler on the movie? We'll do it in spoiler quotes.

I've heard this goes for emotionally sad moments that will get people thinking about their grandmothers. Is that true?

It goes beyond that.

I don't think it's a particularly sad film. Not the way Inside Out or Up was. It's quite a joyous one. So much that it brings tears to people's eyes.

I'm surprised it's as well received as it has been. Nice to see a risk well received/rewarded.

Side bar: Inside Out--I thought it was ok, but didn't enjoy it as much as others it seems. There is one thing I never understood about the movie.

The gender of each emotion matches their human host...except Riley. For example, all the dad's emotions are depicted as male. All the mom's emotions are depicted as female. Riley has both male and female gendered emotions. Is she a hermaphrodite?

I don't know. Maybe.

Hard to say, honestly. I find it hard to do "best" rankings because different films/stories appeal to different moods, emotional states. Inside Out is a really solid story and I'd put Coco on par with that in terms of complex emotion, not just as entertainment but also teaching my kids which is a factor for me these days. Wall-E is one of my personal favorites for just being sheer entertainment. Up was also really good for the same reasons as Inside Out/CoCo, but I wouldn't say it's quite as deep as those two. Fun, though. Although, a little dark, though, so we haven't shown the kids that one. Monsters, Toy Story, and Cars series are solid "kids" movies but they are on a different, lower level as they aren't movies that really stick with me in the same way as some of the others mentioned. Haven't seen Ratatouille except in snippets when my wife was showing it to the kids.

-Byshop

@Byshop: Ratatouille is really one of my favorites, and I highly recommend it. I a fan of Brad Bird in general. I love The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

I should have looked up a list so I wouldn't forget any. Iron Giant is a good kid's movie, and closer to the kid's movies of when I was a kid where violence and peril and a generally less cartoony tone were more common. Look at all the Don Bluth stuff like Secret of Nihm and All Dogs Go To Heaven. It also had a similar "rotoscoped" feel to it like Don Bluth stuff. Incredibles is a great movie and I'm looking forward to part 2, but it didn't make me nearly cry like some of the others on the top of these lists because it's not that kind of movie.

-Byshop

@jaydan: How was the Good Dinosaur a dud?

First time hearing it but I'll give it a try.

I'm a fan of Pixar movies; some more than others. I would say Toy Story would be my favorite series followed by UP, Wall-E, & The Incredibles. As for Coco, I definitely want to see this movie but I'm not a fan of going to the movie theaters; much rather watch from the comfort of my own home plus I own an OLED...lol. So for now, I'll wait until it hits digital.

The Good Dinosaur is Pixar's lowest grossing film to date.

It fell into production hell as it continually got passed around by creative leads and directors which led to it facing delays in its release.

Because of it having different people thrown at it, it had an inconsistent flow to its story. Speaking of story, it was very weak compared to Pixar's best outings.

In my opinion, The Good Dinosaur was a very safe outing for Pixar, and that's a big deal because Pixar did not develop a huge legacy in their animation by making movies that merely play it safe.

The Good Dinosaur also happened to release the same year that Inside Out did, and the latter film swept the world away whereas The Good Dinosaur just felt like an afterthought.

My guess is the movie was far enough in production they couldn't just cancel it the way they canceled [would-be Pixar film] Newt years prior and waste all those resources. I would say the state of Pixar after all the hell The Good Dinosaur put them through was to just get it through the finish line and call it a day.