For Pixar's misstep, there is always one great pounce forward

Rating: 9/10 (24 November 2017)

I initially planned to view this movie on Saturday, though neither dates seemed suitable for a movie centered around Día de Muertos (Pixar should have released this movie around October 22, as that would make more sense). Luckily, plans involving my brother's friends worked out later, and so he was able to view this movie tonight with me and my parents. So, what have I to say about this movie?
To be honest, the story, while strong by animation movie standards, is just barely outside the standards Pixar movies set over a decade ago (with Cars being an exception). It features fantastic messages about family coming before everything else, which I personally can relate to since my family is my main concurrent attachment. It is paced superbly and does share believable enough ideas to be easily conveyed in an imaginative family story. Probably the biggest, but certainly not fatal flaw, lies in its twists. Given how I thought Ernesto was a rather shady person from the start, I predicted some of his actions towards Miguel. Granted, they were executed with grace despite their predictability, which is why I took only a small bit from that. Otherwise, it has plenty of touching moments and fantastic chuckles interspersed throughout, even unintentionally. The characters are very well written and can provide for many reminders on why family is indeed important, no matter how enormous and bold our ambitions for fame may be. They can give us emotion we can't feel from simple friend relationships, and give us memories that, once they come back to us, cannot be lost for the remainder of our time on Earth. Depicting all this is Pixar's undeniably best animation yet, with fantastic attention to detail and especially inside the Land of the Dead, which has more colors than Trolls and the Finding Nemo series combined. However, it still has all the believability in both the Alive and Dead worlds that remind us why Pixar was once (and maybe still might be) one of the studios that defined animation as we know it. Mere language cannot describe the glory that the animation exudes like its catchy and even somewhat memorable music. That, in fact, is all I have to say about the latter.
If you observe Día de Muertos, know someone who does, or enjoy Disney and/or Pixar movies, I cannot guarantee you won't enjoy this movie. In fact, I'd say that this is up there with The LEGO Batman Movie as one of 2017's best family movies. As stumbling as Cars 3 was for Pixar, they have shown that with one film that didn't work (like Cars), their next attempt produces another masterpiece (like Ratatouille). Put simply, go see it.