Coco is the latest offering from Pixar Animation Studios, a company who rarely put a foot wrong with the quality of their output (except maybe Cars 2… meh!) Coco follows the story of 12 year old Miguel, as he desperately shuns his family’s show making business, in the hope of following his dreams of becoming a musician. His adventures see him cross over to the land of the dead, where he can only get home once he has his families blessing to do so. But not content with going back to a life of shoes, Miguel seeks out the one relative he knows can help him.

As you would expect, Coco is visually spectacular, but because of the Mexican influences their is a particular riot of colour in this film, which at times is breathtaking. One of the best features of the film though is it’s music. These are not Disney sing a long songs, rather they are genuinely good tracks. That’s not to say i don’t enjoy listening to Prince Ali, or In Summer, but here the music is that which you could expect to hear in a square in mexico being played by a Mariachi band. the song “Remember Me” is particularly poignant.

Where Coco really triumphs though is in it’s grown up themes. Much like in the vein of Up or Wall-E, Coco deals with family and death beautifully and in a way children can understand. It is touching and very carefully done, and I defy you to get to the end with a dry eye. I became more than a little teary in the lats 10 minutes or so!

There is nothing I can criticise Coco for. I think it was just the right length and had the perfect balance of characters and story. It’s one I would love to watch again and on a first viewing it has made it into my Pixar top 5 with ease. With time and further digestion I suspect it will move further up the ranks. Coco learns from some of the minor mistakes of UP to create a beautifully engaging world, that teaches children the value of family.

4 1/2 / 5 Stars

Chris

@cw_stagg