Coco follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who sets off a chain of events relating to a century-old mystery, leading to an extraordinary family reunion.
This is pretty much the extent of what we know about Pixar’s non-Cars 3 related film of 2017. What it has immediately in its favor….is that it is not part of the Cars franchise (for those new to the blog, I am covering Cars 3 the way any sort of media is covering the current presidential administration: there’s hyperbole, lots of facial redness, and there’s a truck involved). It’s a part of my continuing healing process from having had to watch Cars 2. I don’t let go of things easily.
From the trailer, it kind of seems like Ratatouille if the rat was a kid and instead of wanting to cook, he wanted to rock…..in the City of the Dead. It ALSO has going for it, being the first film directed by Lee Unkrich since he made all of male America cry with Toy Story 3, so it is my expert opinion as a person who writes a little-read blog on moviedom….that this is your Pixar film to back this year. Coco opens October 30, 2017.
When you are making a film where the central theme is the pursuit of excellence, particularly when it’s in the realm of creativity, it kind of sets a high bar for the filmmakers. You can’t make a lazy, subpar film about a person passionately striving for artistic genius. This theme is why I love Ratatouille so much, and it’s why I’m anticipating loving this.
Are you a fan of Edward Scissorhands? It was one of the most important movies of my life, when I saw it as a kid. I always just read it as a film about the creative process (that which gives an artist his talent is also what separates him from the world) and the nature of celebrity, but recently I discovered that the film is a perfect allegory for autism. And I mean PERFECT. It’s like the film goes down a checklist, and covers all the basics. And this movie was made during a time when no one at all was talking about autism. It makes me wonder if Tim Burton is on the spectrum. More likely, he is close to someone who is, or maybe it’s Caroline Thompson, the screenwriter, who knows someone and introduced the element. But I find it interesting that Burton so clearly relates to it. In fact, it makes the film seem less self-pitying. The loneliness and pain in the movie becomes deeper, more realistic and credible, and less “goth.” The ending becomes a lot darker too. Burton seems to be saying that there is no hope for integration, that certain people are better off being isolated. Sorry for this tangent, I just find it interesting. People roll their eyes when they hear about “alienated artists,” but a lot of creative geniuses actually have it rough, because creativity comes from the same place as mental illness, ect.
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