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Pixar's Coco - spoiler free review
8 years ago
TL;DR = Through and Through it's on quality par with Disney Classic 2D animated. I'd rank it alongside Beauty and the Beast easy, no questions.
Ton of heart, balanced fare, and with basically none of the negatives you're probably thinking it will have.
Go see it!
... but if they show the Frozen short, leave the theatre for 15 minutes to get popcorn. that short is terrible and needs to be cut from existence.
==========
Saw it on Tuesday. Now that I've had time to digest it I can properly review it.
THE GOOD!
- It feels more like a Disney Classic Animated Film than a Pixar Film.
... and I mean the good Disney classics, like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, etc. (though it's definitely in the half-step lower that Beauty and the Beast was as opposed to pure gold Lion King / Aladdin)
- The music is amazing
I've had the main song of the film stuck in my head off and on and I've had no complaints about it.
... bonus points, they clearly wrote the lyrics in spanish first, then translated to english. Savvy viewers will be able to pick this up. Also, the soundtrack has Spanish language versions of the songs.
- The characters are fantastic
Expect fanart of Dante from me
- I seriously don't have complaints about it!
This is better explained through the subsequent section...
THE GOOD ASPECTS THAT ARE DERIVED FROM AVOIDING PITFALLS!
- It doesn't feel like a Pixar film!
Pixar films lately have been terrible. They also focus heavily on The Science of Sad (i.e. calculated forced tear jerkers or teaching kids the valuable life lesson of DEATH).
... It doesn't feel like that. The only times you might cry are when they touch on resonating tones (because the film is heavily family centric), but they aren't cry moments. So it's like Disney animated better films where you might get weepy eyed because it touches you. Not because they pull a narrative sucker punch.
- It isn't Book of Life!
I still haven't seen Book of Life myself. But I've read plot synopsis ... the two stories have basically nothing in common. So if that's a concern, don't worry about it.
- It doesn't follow the "but I wanna be an artist!" trope-line
I hate that plot line. Seriously, it's predictable sappy artuer wankery. Coco presents the foundations early on for plot twists later where it breaks away from that horrid story-flow. So it's not a "I'll show everyone artists are better than you pleb" story. ... but why it's different is spoiler territory, so I can't talk about it further.
- It isn't political!
This was a big concern going into it for me. And this is because of how pants-on-head retarded Hollywood liberals have become (let's politicize everything, get the facts wrong because we focus on feelings, and alienate everyone destroying our story!). There's absolutely ZERO political sentiments in there. That means it focuses on stuff that everyone can relate to ... WHICH MEANS IT'S A GOOD STORY.
- It doesn't get lost in its myth
This is a general concern about any film with magic elements: story tellers get sidetracked by the world/myth lore to the point where the audience can't connect. They keep it focused to a few simple/unique aspects that have a resonating quality to them ... which means you don't have to remember WHY something's important or get re-explained anything. It's stuff you likely care about.
THE BAD
FROZEN
it's that bad.
It's the only thing I regret and hate about the experience
And it frustrates me that they paired something so HORRENDOUSLY AWFUL with something so good.
The rumors are true about how terrible this thing is.
You'll wish everyone (except Oaken) dies by the time the "short" is over.
- rumor, that lines up with product, is that it was a made-for-tv special that got cancelled (because animated TV specials are almost always terrible)
- so it's 20 minutes, way too long
- the music is terrible garbage
- they made Olaf into a truly unbearable waste of space (actually impressive since I didn't mind him before)
- They made the clown the main character. That never works out.
- Olaf goes out literally looking for traditions. I mean ... WHAT. nobody can relate to this shit.
- you'll pray for a quick death and nail in the coffin to Frozen Fever ... and hopefully a cancellation of the sequel ... and with how bad this short is that just might happen
- the lesbian princess scrapped story line still hangs its awful uncanny head over the sisters (substantiated rumor is that Anna/Elsa lovers was plan A and it didn't test well, so they recast them as sisters ... and now you can't unsee it. ... Granted, I think it's more that Frozen isn't that interesting of a story, so having a divisive politicized element in a boring story will lose half your audience instantly as opposed to "THEY AREN'T READY!" but tumblr-ites will never accept that answer). This short did nothing to shift the dynamics away from Anna/Elsa being lovers ... which is totally weird since they're sisters.
- I mean, for example, Kristoff coulda been a bigger part in this to make Anna have an actual love interest (with an odd-couple romance) and further push that uncanny creepiness away ... BUT THEY ALSO COULD HAVE MADE A GOOD SHORT.
- i think i laughed a total of 3 times in 20 minutes
- I can't even imagine what the story boarding meetings where like when they crew had to try and sell each other on this garbage? Did those happen in a vacuum?
- We got this instead of a cool short like Piper. Screw you Disney. Screw you and your Frozen Fever!
- however, the sauna house guy, Oaken, makes a 60 second appearance. He's still an amazing character. ... that's the only good point of the short.
Out of spite, I'll pitch a better story line set in Frozen with the same parameters of it being a Holiday Special...
- Keep the intro gag that the sisters try to host a party and all the citizens go home to their families for christmas, leaving sisters without a party to host
- ... but then have Anna be torn between spending time with her boyfriend Kristoff (in some adorkable odd couple romance hijinks) or spend time with her sister ...
- and have Elsa feel a little bitter and jealous over this and sulk a little, with Olaf misunderstanding everything for comic dramatic irony
- then the sisters both get over their little argument, and apologize
- have a quiet ending where the characters spend time together (not some big chorus number full of painful sap)
- the idea is to strike tones with anyone who's dealt with marriage, significant others, and other time conflict of interests
- keep to 5-7 minutes and boom. Cute story, simple conflict that's resolved, stuff people can relate to
So yeah, IF they show the short. walk out for a 10-15 minute stretch. A lot of theater houses are complaining and are trying to figure out how to cut the short from their screenings. So you may not have to suffer.
Ton of heart, balanced fare, and with basically none of the negatives you're probably thinking it will have.
Go see it!
... but if they show the Frozen short, leave the theatre for 15 minutes to get popcorn. that short is terrible and needs to be cut from existence.
==========
Saw it on Tuesday. Now that I've had time to digest it I can properly review it.
THE GOOD!
- It feels more like a Disney Classic Animated Film than a Pixar Film.
... and I mean the good Disney classics, like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, etc. (though it's definitely in the half-step lower that Beauty and the Beast was as opposed to pure gold Lion King / Aladdin)
- The music is amazing
I've had the main song of the film stuck in my head off and on and I've had no complaints about it.
... bonus points, they clearly wrote the lyrics in spanish first, then translated to english. Savvy viewers will be able to pick this up. Also, the soundtrack has Spanish language versions of the songs.
- The characters are fantastic
Expect fanart of Dante from me
- I seriously don't have complaints about it!
This is better explained through the subsequent section...
THE GOOD ASPECTS THAT ARE DERIVED FROM AVOIDING PITFALLS!
- It doesn't feel like a Pixar film!
Pixar films lately have been terrible. They also focus heavily on The Science of Sad (i.e. calculated forced tear jerkers or teaching kids the valuable life lesson of DEATH).
... It doesn't feel like that. The only times you might cry are when they touch on resonating tones (because the film is heavily family centric), but they aren't cry moments. So it's like Disney animated better films where you might get weepy eyed because it touches you. Not because they pull a narrative sucker punch.
- It isn't Book of Life!
I still haven't seen Book of Life myself. But I've read plot synopsis ... the two stories have basically nothing in common. So if that's a concern, don't worry about it.
- It doesn't follow the "but I wanna be an artist!" trope-line
I hate that plot line. Seriously, it's predictable sappy artuer wankery. Coco presents the foundations early on for plot twists later where it breaks away from that horrid story-flow. So it's not a "I'll show everyone artists are better than you pleb" story. ... but why it's different is spoiler territory, so I can't talk about it further.
- It isn't political!
This was a big concern going into it for me. And this is because of how pants-on-head retarded Hollywood liberals have become (let's politicize everything, get the facts wrong because we focus on feelings, and alienate everyone destroying our story!). There's absolutely ZERO political sentiments in there. That means it focuses on stuff that everyone can relate to ... WHICH MEANS IT'S A GOOD STORY.
- It doesn't get lost in its myth
This is a general concern about any film with magic elements: story tellers get sidetracked by the world/myth lore to the point where the audience can't connect. They keep it focused to a few simple/unique aspects that have a resonating quality to them ... which means you don't have to remember WHY something's important or get re-explained anything. It's stuff you likely care about.
THE BAD
FROZEN
it's that bad.
It's the only thing I regret and hate about the experience
And it frustrates me that they paired something so HORRENDOUSLY AWFUL with something so good.
The rumors are true about how terrible this thing is.
You'll wish everyone (except Oaken) dies by the time the "short" is over.
- rumor, that lines up with product, is that it was a made-for-tv special that got cancelled (because animated TV specials are almost always terrible)
- so it's 20 minutes, way too long
- the music is terrible garbage
- they made Olaf into a truly unbearable waste of space (actually impressive since I didn't mind him before)
- They made the clown the main character. That never works out.
- Olaf goes out literally looking for traditions. I mean ... WHAT. nobody can relate to this shit.
- you'll pray for a quick death and nail in the coffin to Frozen Fever ... and hopefully a cancellation of the sequel ... and with how bad this short is that just might happen
- the lesbian princess scrapped story line still hangs its awful uncanny head over the sisters (substantiated rumor is that Anna/Elsa lovers was plan A and it didn't test well, so they recast them as sisters ... and now you can't unsee it. ... Granted, I think it's more that Frozen isn't that interesting of a story, so having a divisive politicized element in a boring story will lose half your audience instantly as opposed to "THEY AREN'T READY!" but tumblr-ites will never accept that answer). This short did nothing to shift the dynamics away from Anna/Elsa being lovers ... which is totally weird since they're sisters.
- I mean, for example, Kristoff coulda been a bigger part in this to make Anna have an actual love interest (with an odd-couple romance) and further push that uncanny creepiness away ... BUT THEY ALSO COULD HAVE MADE A GOOD SHORT.
- i think i laughed a total of 3 times in 20 minutes
- I can't even imagine what the story boarding meetings where like when they crew had to try and sell each other on this garbage? Did those happen in a vacuum?
- We got this instead of a cool short like Piper. Screw you Disney. Screw you and your Frozen Fever!
- however, the sauna house guy, Oaken, makes a 60 second appearance. He's still an amazing character. ... that's the only good point of the short.
Out of spite, I'll pitch a better story line set in Frozen with the same parameters of it being a Holiday Special...
- Keep the intro gag that the sisters try to host a party and all the citizens go home to their families for christmas, leaving sisters without a party to host
- ... but then have Anna be torn between spending time with her boyfriend Kristoff (in some adorkable odd couple romance hijinks) or spend time with her sister ...
- and have Elsa feel a little bitter and jealous over this and sulk a little, with Olaf misunderstanding everything for comic dramatic irony
- then the sisters both get over their little argument, and apologize
- have a quiet ending where the characters spend time together (not some big chorus number full of painful sap)
- the idea is to strike tones with anyone who's dealt with marriage, significant others, and other time conflict of interests
- keep to 5-7 minutes and boom. Cute story, simple conflict that's resolved, stuff people can relate to
So yeah, IF they show the short. walk out for a 10-15 minute stretch. A lot of theater houses are complaining and are trying to figure out how to cut the short from their screenings. So you may not have to suffer.
Actually, the short was ok for me. Likely because I haven't seen Frozen, and only have a general idea of the characters my niece is always gushing over. I watched more "Frozen" stuff in Season 3 of Once Upon a Time. For me it was "oh, this is what everyone is always on about. Oh, that's Olaf the Snowman." I wanted to get to Coco but really didn't think about it much.
In fact, I didn't think about it so much that while it wasn't completely erased from my memory it did detach from my Coco experience and floats out there as some "other" movie experience I had. In short, I forgot it was on front of Coco, so much I didn't even mention it to other people when telling them to see it.
Didn't know the Lesbian romance. Oh Lesbians! So yeah, I guess that would change things a bit.
Anyhow, absolutely adored Coco, and loved how Dante was both a horse, a dog, and a reference to Paradise Lost.
but soon's the film started I forgot all about it. lol
I honestly missed the reference of Dante. That's really sly of them. lol