Brilliant. Absolutely Brilliant!!!

Rating: 10/10 (20 March 2018)

In Santa Cecilia, Mexico, Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) is a twelve-year-old boy with aspirations to be a musician. This is taboo in his family who still greatly resent his great-great-grandfather for betraying his family to pursue fame and fortune via a musical career. During Mexico's famous Day of the Dead, a mishap has Miguel entering the spirit world of the dead in which he learns a lot about his family's history. ("Coco" is an animated Disney/Pixar production.)
Firstly, this has to be one of the most beautiful animated films ever. The elaborate, multi-dimensional, brightly coloured settings in both the living and spirit worlds are - please pardon the pun - to die for. One highlight is a colourful, flying, jungle-cat spirit guide.
The narrative has many adventurous twists and turns and it always stays within its theoretical structure of what life could be like in spirit world as well as how the spirits connect with the living. While this is engaging enough, the added humour is the icing on the cake. Such concepts include bureaucratic procedures of leaving and re-entering the spirit world. There are also numerous funny sight gags.
Adding to the already brilliant story is a rich, well-developed array of characters - indeed, they were truly "characters" in every sense of the term. The story is enriched even further with a unifying theme: the caution against the relentless pursuit of fame and fortune at the expense of other, more important things.
The story concludes with a scene that must be among the best of the year. Though the title character (Miguel's great-grandmother) is rarely seen, it is easy to see why the movie was named after her. Her special moment is a sincere tear-duct opener that also widely opens the heart. Truly memorable. The epilogue that follows this scene is also a delightful and intelligent conclusion.
2017 must be one of the best years ever for animated films. "The Breadwinner" and "Loving Vincent" are also superb. Yet, "Coco" manages to top even these two great works. It lives up to the historical intention of Disney (with its younger aspirant Pixar) of appealing to the child in all of us - even those of us who've lived so long, we forgot what childhood enthusiasm felt like. In this way, everyone behind "Coco" is a hero for reviving such feelings long buried. This film joins "The Wizard of Oz" and "ET" as classics whose premise involves a main character leaving "home" and spends the rest of the movie trying to get back.
It was also great news to know that this Hollywood production was very accurate in its depiction of Mexican culture and folklore. To finish on another pun: "Coco" truly is a gift from heaven.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS:
1) The Animation Team
2) Screenplay by Adrian Molina and Matthew Aldrich - from a story by Molina, Aldrich, Lee Unkrich (the film's director) and Jason Katz