A beautiful celebration of family and Mexican culture.

Rating: 10/10 (1 March 2018)

'Coco' is a Pixar film directed by Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina. Lee Unkrich is a long Pixar creative behind such classics as 'Finding Nemo', 'Monsters Inc.' and the 'Toy Story' sequels. So it doesn't come as a surprise that he delivers once again with 'Coco' which is beautiful and vibrant in every way. Co-director Adrian Molina also deserves a lot of credit of course as he also wrote some of the original songs for the movie.
In fact every single person involved in creating this stellar animation deserves an abundance of credit as every aspect of the film is a pleasure to enjoy. Not only is it incredibly entertaining but it is emotionally resonant and introduces audiences who may not know much about Mexican culture to an authentic and heartwarming portrayal of it.
'Coco' is about young Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) who dreams of becoming a musician like his idol Ernesto de le Cruz however his family have banned music due to something terrible that happened a few generations ago. During Dia de los muertos, after a set of mysterious events, Miguel finds himself in the Land of the Dead. Once there, he meets trickster Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal) and together they go on an adventure to discover the real story behind Miguel's family history.
The entire voice cast is fabulous and they handle the comedic moments in the film very well as their timing is perfect. In particular, Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel, Gael Garcia Bernal as Hector and Benjamin Bratt as Ernesto de le Cruz are most noteworthy. The animation is typically stunning for a Pixar production and the eye-popping, colorful visuals complement the involving, heart-string tugging story wonderfully.
'Coco' boats a slew of original songs including 'Remember Me' written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (writers of 'Let It Go' from 'Frozen') which looks set to win the duo their second Oscar for Best Original Song after winning their first for the aforementioned 'Let It Go'. 'Coco' also looks strong to take Best Animated Feature which it so richly deserves. Not only is 'Coco' the best animated film of the year, it's one of the best films of the year period and I highly recommend it.