Very tasty animation

Rating: 8/10 (19 January 2018)

This review of Coco is spoiler free
**** (4/5)
DIRECTOR PETE DOCTER'S Oscar winning Inside Out wasn't just a film about four colourful characters with very different emotions. It was also one of the best looking animated features in recent years, with that and a heart-wrenching message at the end it was one of the films that firmly secures it among the Pixar greats with Toy Story (all of them), Up and WALL-E - and to be fair it deserves to be up there.

Their latest, Coco happily joins that list from a creativity point of view. The film takes place in Mexico taking a broad focus on the country's art, music, history and the customs including the annual Day of the Dead festival. We open with 12-year-old Miguel (Gonzalez) an aspiring musician who dreams of being famous like his idol Ernesto De La Cruz (Bratt) however his family's ancestral ban stops him from pursuing the dream. With his persistence and guitar in hand he's transported to the Land of the Dead. A musical underground town that's filled with high-rises beautifully lit streets, skeletons and spirit animals and thanks to the bright colour palette and stunning animation the film looks dazzling as Miguel travels through the town.

Typically like other Pixar top-formers it doesn't come without their storytelling grandeur, like with Up and WALL-E it comes with love and with Inside Out it hits all the points of emotion - this one is profound in cleanly cut messages; family, love, life and death (yes there's even death in the afterlife). However the toughest truth that the film comes with is the true power of forgetting (a disappearing skeleton is a sensational standout). And director Lee Unkrich's (Toy Story 3) approach to each will leave a soulful tear running down your cheek - and let's be honest we wouldn't blame you.

You have to credit Pixar for taking a beautiful look at another culture, yet full praise goes to the entirely Mexican-American voice cast from Gael García Bernal who plays Miguel's crafty skeletal guide, via Bratt as his idol and Alanna Ubach as his vicious Mamá Imelda etc. Still the best performance goes to Gonzalez as Miguel he shows pure confidence even with the film's blissful musical numbers. And it's here when Coco shows off its highest note, the music is fun, it's cheerful and giddy, yet like Disney's other musical gems the notes often hit right at home and this one is definitely no exception to that.

Their 19th film is indeed a flourishing return to form for Pixar, however it's not perfect as the story often covers similar ground with 2014s The Book of Life and sadly falls out of tune with that sudden drop. Still with that said Coco is a beautiful, colourful and emotional look into Mexico's artful culture, one that will leave a warm feeling deep in your heart and will have you dancing even after the credits stop.

VERDICT The latest offering from Pixar is a true artscape of colourful animation and raw emotional storytelling if the afterlife is this exciting then death truthfully shouldn't be anything to fear.