Video review: "Coco"

While otherwise a strong movie year, 2017 was notably lacking in outstanding animated films. “Coco” was easily the best of the lot, though I’d also give some love to the underappreciated “Ferdinand” and “Loving Vincent,” which was animation-by-painting.

Anthony Gonzalez voice-stars as Miguel, a young boy who lives to play music. Problem is, his entire family has a bad history with musicians, stemming back to his great-great grandmother banning tunes from the household after her troubadour husband walked out on them. So Miguel plays on the side, hoping to enter the big music contest in honor of Ernest de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), a late, great singer who’s basically the Elvis of Mexico.

On the holiday of Día de Muertos, a day of devotion to the deceased, Miguel finds himself trapped in the land of the dead, where status is determined by how well you are remembered. Ernesto is the prince of the city, while others like the hapless Hector, a bumbling charlatan voiced by Gael Garcia Bernal, eke out an existence on the edge of the magical city, in danger of being completely forgotten and fading away into nothingness.

The dead are represented as cool-looking skeletons with googly eyes, still wearing the clothes, hair and facial expressions they had in life. It can be a little creepy for younger children, but we soon take the denizens at face value and fall into adventure. Miguel has until the next day to lift the curse, or remain trapped among the dead forever.

Filled with fantastic colors, rousing music, a vivacious Latin cultural theme and a heartwarming tale about the importance of family, “Coco” is a sheer delight for all ages.

Bonus features are exquisite, though most come with the Blu-ray combo pack. The DVD version includes a feature-length commentary track by directed Lee Unkrich, co-director Adrian Molina and producer Darla K. Anderson, plus a featurette on Dante, Miguel’s dimwitted canine companion.

Upgrade to the Blu-ray and you add seven deleted scenes and 11 more featurettes, including a travelogue through Mexico, the exhaustive animation process, original animated pieces and more.

Movie:



Extras:

Review: "Coco"

So, it turns out the 1% are living it up even in the Land of the Dead.

In “Coco,” the delightful new animated film from Disney/Pixar, we journey to the great beyond during the Mexican holiday of Día de Muertos, a day dedicated to remembering the dead. In this telling, the spirits of the dead are partying it up themselves in a fabulous city filled with color and music.

Represented as skeletons who still retain their hair and clothes, the dead have their own set of currency. And it’s not money, but memories.

If you’ve got a lot of people among the living who still remember you and place your photograph on a shrine, you get to travel back to the living to visit with your loved ones. You also get to keep the gifts they offer up to your memory, and the admiration of your fellow bags of bones.

It’s a dizzy, delightful concept from screenwriters Adrian Molina and Matthew Aldrich. “Coco” is a Latin-flavored feast of lavish entertainment that also nudges us to remember what’s most important: family. Veteran Pixar director Lee Unkrich (with Molina serving as co-director) ably guides us through an action-filled plot that pauses for a few sustaining moments of stillness and contemplation.

Anthony Gonzalez provides the voice of Miguel, the scrappy offspring of a family of shoemakers who hate music. Well, that’s not strictly true, but his great-great grandmother Imelda (Alanna Ubach) was furious when her troubadour husband ran off on her and forbade any music in their household. Trouble is, Miguel is a gifted musician who craves to release the song in his heart.

Miguel idolizes Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), “the world’s greatest musician” and an Elvis-type figure who became rich and famous on the back of his movies and songs, most notably his power love ballad, “Remember Me.” (Molina, Germaine Franco, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez provide the film’s wonderful songs.)

Through a bunch of contretemps I won’t bore you with, Miguel finds himself transported to the Land of the Dead, trapped to remain there forever unless he obtains the right blessing by sunrise. And that means tracking down his hero, Ernesto, who resides in a castle where the “rich” -- those revered and remembered -- are having a big fiesta.

Tagging along is his dimwitted canine friend, Dante -- a street pup who for some reason can also travel to the land of the not-living. And he picks up another companion in Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal), a clownish rapscallion who claims to know Ernesto.

During their journeys they visit the slums of the dead, where those in danger of being forgotten completely eke out a pitiable existence. Miguel and Hector also bump into other notable figures, like Miguel’s ancestors and artist Frida Kahlo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley), who gets slightly skewered.

The skeletons are visual marvels, with expressive eyeballs floating magically inside their skulls and bones that easily come apart and join back together again. For instance, when Hector needs to get down a precipice, he simply lets his body fall to the bottom and smash, then the pieces snap back together.

Be forewarned: although there’s no overt violence at all in the movie, the skeletons, themes about death and a few fearsome critters will prove scary to smaller children. My 4-year-old needed some lap time during the movie.

It’s been a rather weak year for animation, so it’s an easy to call to crown the imaginative, emotive “Coco” as the best I’ve seen in 2017.

Video review: "Toy Story 3"

The first "Toy Story" effectively launched the computer animation revolution, and by the time the sequel came out four years later, the war was over. "Toy Story 3," arriving 11 years after the second film, is like the return of the conquering emperor to survey his domain.

After spooning up more than $1 billion in box office sales, it's clear that despite challenges from some upstarts, Pixar remains the animation king.

"Toy Story 3" takes place in roughly real time. Andy is now a grown man about to depart for college, leaving Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie the Cowgirl (Joan Cusack) and the rest of the gang uncertain about their fate.

After some misadventures, they end up at Sunnyside Day Care, where a cuddly bear named Lotso (Ned Beatty) calls the shots. At first it looks heaven for old toys, what with the never-ending supply of children needing toys to play with.

But before long a nasty pecking order is revealed, and the toys long to go home -- even if it means a lengthy downtime in the attic.

Besides Lotso, the other top new addition to the mix is Ken (Michael Keaton), the original metrosexual. When he's not acting as the big bear's right-hand flunky, Ken is obsessed with collecting every fashion accessory available -- until he lays his plastic eyes on Barbie, of course.

Fun, adventurous and with a strong dose of pathos, "Toy Story 3" reminds us what a great golden age of animation in which we find ourselves.

Bonus features are simply stupendous.

Interestingly, there's a completely different set of extras with the DVD and Blu-ray versions. The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack includes both sets of goodies, plus a few more -- not to mention a digital copy of the film.

There's so much stuff, in fact, that it's impossible to catalogue it all. The following is just highlights.
DVD: "Day and Night" short film; new epilogue; Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs; "Paths to Pixar," "Studio Stories" and "A Toy's Eye View" featurettes.

Blu-ray: Interactive feature with director Lee Unkrich; commentary track; trivia game; Ken's Dating Tips; commercial for Lotso; featurettes on the Western opening sequence, saying goodbye to Andy and Pixar's "Accidental Toymakers."

In addition to these, the combo pack boasts several other featurettes and making-of docs, including a look back on the trilogy, with all the various toys who have appeared and the actors who provided the voices.

Movie: 4 stars out of four
Extras: 4 stars