Coco (2017)

Life’s not easy for Miguel.  He desperately wants to play music, but happens to be born into a family that despises the profession.  It all goes back to Miguel’s great-great-grandmother, Imelda.  She was abandoned by her husband, who wanted to go out into the world and entertain people.  She turned to making shoes to raise her daughter, Coco.  It was a profession passed down through the generations, meaning that Miguel does have a career waiting for him.  It’s just not the one that he would have chosen for himself.

The Day of the Dead is coming up, meaning that his family is preparing an ofrenda with pictures of deceased relatives.  At the very top sit’s a photo of Imelda, Coco and the great-great-grandfather.  (Being that the great-great-grandfather is persona non grata, his face is missing.)  When Miguel breaks the frame, he comes to realize that the man in the photo is dressed like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz.  He’s even holding Ernesto’s iconic guitar, which Miguel plans on stealing so that he might play in a talent contest.

The catch is that Miguel becomes invisible once he has the guitar.  He is seen by the dead, who have come over from the Land of the Dead.  Miguel is escorted over to the Land of the Dead, where he meets his deceased relatives, including Imelda.  The only way he can get back is with the blessing of a family member, which they are happy to give him, provided that he never play music again.  This sets off an adventure for the 12-year-old boy, who is set on meeting Ernesto, believing him to be the only family member that would give an unconditional blessing., as the rest of his family is kept in line by Imelda.

For those familiar with Pixar movies, I don’t know that there are going to be a lot of surprises.  Ernesto is a hero to Miguel and to a lot of other people.  It soon becomes clear that Ernesto has a past that he wants to keep hidden.  (Sometimes, heroes make the best villains.)  Then, there’s Héctor.  He offers to help Miguel if Miguel can take a picture back to the Land of the Living.  Héctor has only a daughter to remember him.  In the Land of the Dead, beign forgotten leads to a second, possibly real death.  Héctor would seem to have more to offer than would meet the eye.

There’s also the time limit set by having to return by sunrise.  If Miguel can’t do this, he’s stuck in the Land of the Dead.  It’s somewhat cliché to have it run down to the buzzer, yes.  But I’m not sure it would have been as much fun if Miguel had made it back with time to spare.

You might think that death and the afterlife wouldn’t be good for children.  The dead are portrayed as dressed skeletons, with the most obvious skeletal feature usually being the skull.  There are scenes with the skeletons coming apart and reforming, so this may be a judgment call for parents of younger children.  However, I don’t think it was meant to be scary.  Most of it comes off as being silly.

I hate to say that a studio’s output is safe, but I do think audiences can expect a certain level of quality from Pixar.  The movie is rated PG, but I would imagine a lot of this deals with the depictions of the afterlife.  (The only really gruesome death is when Ernesto is killed by a falling bell.)  I would think that children and adults alike could enjoy the movie.  The story of a boy trapped by familial expectation is one everyone can understand.

IMDb page

¡Three Amigos! (1986)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

When your town is being terrorized by a man and his cronies, where would you turn for help? Would you call the police? Call some friends? Is there a section in the phone book for stuff like that? Carmen lives in a small Mexican town being terrorized by El Guapo and his men. She’s desperately in need of help, but doesn’t know where to turn. She walks into a bar and asks for help, but gets nowhere with that. It isn’t until she walks in on a movie that she knows she’ll be saved.

The move in question stars Dusty Bottoms (played by Chevy Chase), Lucky Day (played by Steve Martin) and Ned Nederlander (played by Martin Short). Carmen sees them and doesn’t realize that they’re just characters in a silent film. She thinks that they’re real heroes, so she sends a telegram. Since she can’t afford much, “put on a show of your strength” becomes “put on show,” so The Three Amigos think that they’re being summoned to star in a show.

Since they’ve just been fired by their studio, the don’t hesitate to respond. It isn’t until one of them gets shot that they realize that El Guapo is for real. Being nothing more than actors, they cower in fear and run away. When they realize what El Guapo is capable of, they decide to stay and help. It’s not like they have anything to go back to, anyway.

All three of the characters are clueless to varying degrees. For instance, they have to find a singing bush, which will allow them to find an invisible man. When they approach a singing bush, they try to ask the bush if it’s the singing bush. Chase plays as close to a straight man as the three get with Short and Martin being a little goofier. (When a woman expresses interest in the not-so-bright one, another one asks which one she’s referring to.)

I remember the movie being a lot funnier when I was a kid, but might still stand up today. There is a part of it that seems dated, but not really having to do with factual stuff. It just seems like a product of the 80’s. I think part of it is that you don’t see comedies like this any more. If the movie had been made today, it would probably have slicker effects and totally different dialogue.

I also don’t know that it has a lot of replay value. I just rented it a few days ago and I wasn’t laughing like I used to at it. There are some movies that you can watch over and over again. This just doesn’t seem to be one of them. In my case, I think it comes from remembering too much of the story. The basic outline is so simple that you can easily remember what happened next. Even having waited 15 or 20 years between viewings, I found that there was very little that I had forgotten.

I think for someone watching it for the first time, it’s going to be funny. That’s why I’d still give it three stars. But rent it. Don’t actually buy it. See if you can get it On Demand or something. 

IMDb page