PIXAR remains the most innovative animation studio of this era.

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2018)

Coco is another fantastic addition to Pixar's film library, and what a library they've already established; they've tackled sentient toys, bugs, monsters in closets, cars, Parisian rats who can cook, superheroes, robots in the future, fish, a house flying by balloons, even dinosaurs, and now Pixar has taken on the extremely challenging topic of 'The Afterlife', specifically through a story revolving around 'The Day of the Dead' in Mexico. And it's fantastic: a seemingly simple story on the surface turns into a subversively great and thought-provoking masterpiece that makes up for one of the most beautiful animated films in recent memory.
Coco was directed by Lee Unkrich, the Pixar-vet who helmed Toy Story 3 in 2010, and boy this guy has shown that he's just as capable as Brad Bird, Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton; Unkrich is a man who's taken animation to new places like the rest of his Pixar-compadres have before, and Pixar is still delivering innovative movies left-right-and-center (with the exception of the Cars movies). I love Coco; it's a culturally gorgeous capsule that explores family, music, life and memory in exquisite detail. I'm speechless for how well realised this movie was. Yes the beats that lead us into the world seem pretty familiar, but by the time you're in the 'Land of the Dead' the terrain becomes more emotionally unpredictable and you're on a journey that speaks to audiences: young and old.
Coco is what computer-animation needed to have; a culturally specific story that speaks volumes about the universal relationship people have with music and family, making this one of the best 'me-too' kinds of stories to be told in the cinema. See it, and be amazed.