Not a fan; disappointed

Rating: 5/10 (30 October 2017)

First of all, I have always been a huge fan of Pixar. I loved nearly all of their films, except for Cars 3 and Brave (I actually thought Cars 2 was fine - don't hate me!). I am usually very open to most films and give them positive ratings despite a few flaws.
With Coco, I was utterly disappointed. I was lucky enough to snag a few preview screening tickets last Friday. I went with my wife and 8 year old child. My son really liked it, but that was mostly because of the outstanding animation (some of Pixar's best animation yet) and the lead character. My wife and I both found the same flaws in this.
The story is very different from what Pixar usually makes. Coco is not as childish or simple as most of their other works. The concept is guaranteed to teach children about a new culture that they might not know about. While this may sound like a huge positive, it completely ruins the film for adults who cared about the story. Almost every major plot point relies on the viewer understanding a certain amount of Spanish to know what is being said among the characters. Unfortunately, I took 4 years of French in high school and had absolutely no understanding of the Spanish language. I was confused as to exactly what was being said during the climax. A character mentions to another character some important detail about the story in Spanish (which I will avoid spoiling for you) that I had to infer for myself in order to keep up with the heavy story. I don't know if there were originally subtitles to the film or not, but my theater at least had no subtitles for English speakers.
From the trailer, this film appears to be more mature and daring than a typical Pixar film. In reality, this movie is just more confusing and goes for visually stunning shots more often than it goes for emotion. This is still a good movie for kids - as opposed to a movie like The Emoji Movie - and has a few teachable moments. There is a nice and thoughtful message in this, but no real impact or emotional weight to carry it through to viewers. Think of this film as an African proverb - it offers an important life lesson, but no emotion or story to accompany it.
In the end, I can't really recommend this film unless you are willing to sacrifice your standards of an engaging story and emotional impact for stunning visuals and an original concept from what used to be my favorite animation studio of all time.