REVIEW: Coco

Pixar Animation Studios’ 19th feature film introduces Coco, a colorful tale of “a 12-year-old boy with big dreams. It’s about a hardworking family with great traditions and a lot of love.

The film begins by highlighting Miguel, our protagonist’s love for music. He feels like he has to choose between his passion for music and his love for his family. Miguel struggles to share his talents with his family—to prove to them that making music is both beautiful and honorable. But he goes about it the wrong way.

Set in small-town Mexico on Día de Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, it’s both a color-saturated homage to this ancient Mexican tradition and a loving portrait of a family learning to accept the perspective of a new generation.

I was honestly going to skip Coco due to the wrong marketing of the film with the same story gist and setting thanks to the trailers and promotional materials. Snippets of its trailer shows a similar tale to Book of Life, the 2015 film also about the Day of the Dead. he studio has been facing criticism ahead of the release of Coco. I’d like to clear the air before everyone plans to boycott the film. Both films have a similar story, but different approach. However, that is not the case. One can easily be swept by the stunning visuals and festive colour palettes, and the animation is sublime.

But the real star here is the plot. It’s an inspiring story about a musician chasing his dreams despite his world telling him not to, and a heart-warming tale about family and staying grounded in your history and roots. The subject of family and culture is very close to my heart. In modern day, a lot of people have already assimilated well with the times. The younger generation seems to have forgotten their roots and aspire to be something entirely different, and don’t understand the concept of having a rich cultural background – not that this is wrong. I’m just glad that Pixar highlights the importance of family over anything else. Family will always be number one over all other things in life – even career.

Pixar is back with Coco that tells a family-friendly story centered entirely around death, one that reflects on the legacy we leave behind. Both the importance and the potential danger of respecting one’s heritage is highlighted, and proves to be an important theme in the movie. A great pinnacle for Mexican culture and heritage.This spectacular Pixar animation plays well with elements of Mexican folklore and art.

Let’s also give shoutout to Filipino Animator, Gini Santos, “COCO’s” Supervising Animator, the first ever woman in Pixar’s history to hold the position! Born in the Philippines, Santos was raised in Guam from age 3. She attended the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines where she graduated with a fine arts degree in advertising arts. After spending five years in the advertising industry, Santos returned to school and earned a Master of Fine Arts in computer arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Truly an inspiration to many Filipino artists in the making! Let’s support our fellow Filipino by watching Coco!