Movie Review: COCO Follow The Yellow Petal Road

 

 

The afterlife has been at the center of many films in the past. Man's fascination with death and what may come afterward has always been a wealthy fodder for faith and art, and cinema is no exception. Since 1911's L'INFERNO ( Giuseppe De Liguoro, Adolfo Padovan, Francesco Bertolini) portrayed a chilling vision of Dante's hell, the after-world has been a constant presence in movies, being visited on occasion by Hercules, Santo, or even Robin Williams. Its portrayal has been at times grim, terrifying, institutional or spectacular.

Pixar's COCO falls into that latest category. It's probably the most gorgeous depiction of the Great Beyond, with its vibrant bridge of flowing petals linking the world of the living to a stunningly colourful Netherworld. The contrast could have been expressed in the same way the land of the dead was distinguished from the real world by having the latter look desaturated, like in Burton's THE CORPSE BRIDE. But directors Lee Unkrich (TOY STORY 2 and 3) and Adrian Molina tried a different approach.The Mexican town in which lives young Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) remains sunny and vibrant, exhibiting all the bright festive hues associated with the Dia de Muertos celebrations, and yet the afterlife still manages to turn the colour knob all the way to 11.

COCO follows the adventures of young Miguel, who wants nothing more than become a musician like the celebrated Ernesto De La Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), thus defying the family's shoe-making tradition. As he attempts to ''borrow'' the deceased Ernesto's guitar from his crypt, he is sent to the Land of the Dead, and can only return home if a dead relative offers him his blessings. Not an easy task, as his dead family, like the living one, opposes his dreams of being a musician. They resent Miguel's great-grandfather who left his family to pursue his own musical ambitions, never to return.

Deeply rooted in a Mexican culture, COCO nonetheless suffers from Disney boiling down the essence of that very culture to often trite stereotypes; The dead sports the decorated sugar skulls associated with Día de Muertos. You get mariachis, Frida Kahlo and masked wrestlers (with a cameo appearance by the Legendary Santo in the After Life). 

Legendary enmascarado Santo's cameo in the film.

The son of Santo (El hijo del Santo) at the Mexican Premiere of COCO.

However, it's difficult in an animated movie to stay away from cultural clichés, as was the case with the Guillermo Del Toro produced THE BOOK OF LIFE, which shares a certain amount of plot points with COCO. They also fish out other worthwhile aspects of Hispanic folklore in inspired moments, like for instance a traditional song about la Llorona (A spine-chilling fable about a crying woman's ghost, forever mourning her slain children).

 Furthermore, there has been attempts of late by Disney/Pixar to redeem themselves by avoiding the typical whitewashing. MOANA had Hawaiian actors and The Rock (who has Samoan descent) playing Polynesians, all citizens of the wider Pacific Islands. In COCO, the cast is mostly populated by Hispanics. While some of them are well known performers, none are of the calibre of the stars that often do voices in such animated fare. Although it can be argued that Disney doesn't really need stars to sell at this point, and that type of casting can further help to absolve the lack of cultural subtlety. COCO further tried to ''pander'' by having its premiere in Mexico, a whole week ahead of the rest of the world.

The stunning poster for the Mexican Premiere of COCO.

What matters in the end is the movie's impact, and in this case, COCO packs a heck of an sentimental wallop. Like most Pixar movies, it grounds its story in a very human principle which in this case is our relationship with the afterlife, and this need to be remembered. It's the basic emotional core of COCO, and it reaches a particular crescendo when the titular character, who is a secondary player in appearance, but drives the whole story, is starting to forget about one of her dead relative, threatening to cause his ''second death'' in the Land of the Dead. It brings home some powerful concepts that may escape the kiddies, but that most adults will be able to relate to.  

It's particularly poignant to name a movie that deals mostly with the importance of living in one's memories, after a character who is obviously battling Alzheimer's disease. The scene where Miguel attempts to jog her remembrance with a song (a technique that has proven effective in real life)  that had until then being used in a rather smarmy way in the film, will make the most hardhearted cry their eyes out.

In short, Pixar has done it again, creating a touching, gorgeous and ultimately relevant movie that will bring a certain amount of food for thoughts to the young and older ones, dazzle with its vibrant palette, and stand the test of time with its strong emotional core, providing an answer to the query posed by its Oscar bait of a theme song: ''Remember me.''

We certainly will.