Pixar's finally back!

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 2017)

Coco's trailer seriously intrigued me. I was so interested simply because it wasn't a sequel to a pre-established Pixar IP. The last few movies from Pixar have been massive letdowns, be it the fantastic visuals but super weak plot of The Good Dinosaur, the failure to live up to the original of Finding Dory, or the complete redo/rehash of the first Cars that was Cars 3. Pick your disappoison. Get it... disappointment... poison... So Coco was the next film on the chopping block, and surely it wouldn't be that bad would it? And, it wasn't!
Not to call this movie a masterpiece, because it isn't. I'll go over some negatives first. The biggest flaw I can think of is that there's too many emotional moments. Like, awesome job here Pixar! It's the first of their films since Inside Out to leave an emotional impact on me. But it starts with one heavy emotional moment, then transitions almost immediately to another heavy emotional moment that seems a bit more predictable, then another and another (etc.), and then the movie pretty much wraps up on one last emotional moment. If these moments were spread out a bit more, and not shoved in directly after one another, it would be so much more emotional. The reason the moments in Inside Out work is because A: there's time to breathe and wipe away the tears in between, and B: there's only 3 or so of them, not... 17.
That's the only real flaw I could find. Now for some positives!
The animation is spectacular. Before the movie played in my theater (after the obnoxious "short"... but that's a review for another time), there was a little thing from Pixar showing how they animated the World of the Dead reveal scene, where Miguel sees the World of the Dead for the first time. It's some really impressive stuff, and learning how it was made makes the reveal all the more impressive. Outside of that, some of the other locations, such as the big party for the singer dude, or the actual human world, all look really detailed and impressive. This is one thing Pixar has always excelled at. Even if their films aren't all that great, the animation looks stunning.
Without giving away too much, the twist of the movie is very well done. It does lead into the multiple emotional moments, but it is handled very well. The resulting villain from said twist is super interesting and complex. A man who wants fame by any means necessary is a really interesting character, especially for a movie intended for a younger audience.
This segways nicely into my next compliment; the characters are very memorable and interesting. I like all the dilemmas they had throughout the runtime, and all the subplots are quick to understand and wrap up quite nicely. The basic issue of Miguel's family, the "music is a curse" thing, is handled very very well, without going into too much heavy handed explanation. That's the one thing Pixar is consistently good at (for the most part); even if it's not a good film, it at least tells a story.
There's enough humor to pull the film through the slower opening section. There's some nice humor before Miguel enters the World of the Dead, and when he does enter, there's quite a bit of humor involving skeletons, as one would expect.
I don't really know what else to say. I could sing this film praises as loud as the songs it sings itself (which are all pretty darn great as well), but I think I've made my point. This film is absolutely worth seeing, and I'm really happy Pixar is finally getting their A game back on.