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Coco: Day of the Dead Film by Pixar

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AdricDePsycho Rock on, Gold Dust Woman from Never Going Back Again Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Rock on, Gold Dust Woman
#201: Nov 22nd 2017 at 5:40:22 PM

The Secret Life of Pets is already ripping off a Pixar movie, that's a low comment to make.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
LB7979 from the Netherlands Since: Mar, 2016 Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
#202: Nov 22nd 2017 at 5:50:44 PM

[up][up]And what movie is Coco supposed to be ripping off? The only Halloween/death themed animated movies I know are The Nightmare Before Christmas and that Tim Burton animated movie with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter (can't remember the name).

Elisabel from in a glacier's footprint Since: Nov, 2014 Relationship Status: Hiding
#203: Nov 22nd 2017 at 5:53:43 PM

[up][up] Indeed. I'm not sure he even noticed Coco was Pixar (he's smarter than me but not at all observant). Or if he did, he may have thought that, with Pixar making so many not-particularly-wanted sequels lately, it might have gotten into the business of not-particularly-wanted ripoffs as well.

[up] A while ago people were saying this was gonna be too similar to The Book of Life, another Day of the Dead film involving a musical protagonist from a non-musical family. This one actually started development first though, I believe.

edited 22nd Nov '17 5:55:57 PM by Elisabel

kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#204: Nov 22nd 2017 at 6:52:04 PM

How is it ripping off The Book of Life?? Neither production intended any kind of competition with the other. They're just about the same holiday. You wouldn't say A Christmas Story (1983) was ripping off Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)?

edited 22nd Nov '17 6:52:14 PM by kyun

AdricDePsycho Rock on, Gold Dust Woman from Never Going Back Again Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Rock on, Gold Dust Woman
#205: Nov 22nd 2017 at 6:55:22 PM

Everything I'm hearing about Coco only paints it as being similar to The Book of Life in that A: it's set around The Day of the Dead, B: it has a character who wants to be a musician despite everyone saying no, and C: it utilizes some of the same imagery and designs.

Never mind Point A is superficial, Point B is Pixar using archetypes it already has done in a "follow your dreams" plot, and Point C is because that imagery predates both movies in it being a staple of Mexican culture.

I mean never mind the director of The Book of Life gave the thumb of approval for this and was supportive.

edited 22nd Nov '17 6:55:58 PM by AdricDePsycho

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
kyun Since: Dec, 2010
#206: Nov 22nd 2017 at 7:21:36 PM

Those same imagery and designs are mostly from the holiday itself, and from Mexican culture. But there are many differences. The skeletons don't at all look anything like the ones in The Book Of Life, for example. Plus, in COCO there's no love story.

LB7979 from the Netherlands Since: Mar, 2016 Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
#207: Nov 23rd 2017 at 1:38:07 AM

[up][up][up][up]

Interesting, I didn't /don't know The Book of the Dead, now I want to see that one before I see Coco...

AdricDePsycho Rock on, Gold Dust Woman from Never Going Back Again Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Rock on, Gold Dust Woman
#208: Nov 24th 2017 at 2:08:43 PM

Well I just saw it.

Holy mother of all god this was beautiful. The animation, the scenery, the music, holy hell the music was beautiful. My dad is from Michoacan in southwest Mexico and he was singing along to one song that was fully in Spanish. The design for the actual little Mexican town immediately reminded me of parts of Michoacan I'd visited in the past. It felt legitimately authentic and I loved it.

As for the plot itself, it's typical Pixar, and mind you that's not bad. At this point you can kind of tell the cliches now: emotional journey, second act falling out, really heartwrenching flashbacks, the thing the protagonist is looking for turns out to be something different than what they actually get but it's fine because what they actually got was a lot better and more important, and there's a secret twist villain of course. But hey, I don't care. This still gave a genuinely great story of family, memory, and dreams. And my god this music was fucking great, I can't emphasize this enough.

After some kind of divisive films post-Inside Out, Coco shows Pixar still has it. This is something I'd been nervous about previously but this was fucking great. I laughed, I cried, and I felt happy to see this. If I have any complaints, it was that they showed the damned Olaf short before the movie and I walked out partway through it to take a leak and avoid it. 30 fucking minutes of the most overrated Disney movie ever made, fuck no. I'm starting to finally see why people hate Frozen so much and I just cannot stand it. But seriously go check out Coco.

EDIT: Okay, only a couple of complaints, mostly minor. The film has the alebrijes as being spirit guides but in Mexico, the alebrijes aren't really super old cultural mainstays or anything. They were a kind of sculpture created in the 1930's after an artist had a bad fever and a really trippy dream of a bunch of weird creatures repeating the word alebrije over and over. It felt kinda weird to make them underworld spirit guides. Additionally, the cameos of Frida Kahlo in there were kinda...weird, I guess? I love Kahlo's art and all but it felt like the film was leaning towards her being more of a performance artist. It wasn't too noticeable but it did kind of stick out to me. That being said I did like some of the cameos by Mexican celebrities in there. El Santo got one and my dad was trying to point out a Cantinflas cameo. Apparently there were cameos by Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete?

edited 25th Nov '17 1:14:41 AM by AdricDePsycho

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jamespolk Since: Aug, 2012
#209: Nov 25th 2017 at 1:55:57 PM

Just read an interesting article about how the Olaf short playing before Coco is not going over well. 21 minutes does seem awfully long for an introductory short.

https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/11/25/16697898/coco-short-olafs-frozen-adventure-hate-pixar

lalalei2001 Since: Oct, 2009
#210: Nov 25th 2017 at 2:03:20 PM

I like Frozen by itself well enough but everything else is a bit too much.

On Coco, I read the junior novelization and it kinda fell flat, but describing music is really hard XD;

The Protomen enhanced my life.
KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#211: Nov 25th 2017 at 2:30:00 PM

[up][up] 21 minutes?

Jeez, no wonder people complained.

Oh God! Natural light!
Kartoonkid95 Since: Jan, 2015
#212: Nov 25th 2017 at 4:31:32 PM

[up] How come nobody complained about how long Mickey's Christmas Carol or the Winnie the Pooh featurettes were when they played in theaters.

Ultimatum Disasturbator from The Wiggle Room (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#213: Nov 25th 2017 at 4:33:49 PM

Because they actually liked those,where as a lot of people see this as disney shoving frozen down their throats

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#214: Nov 25th 2017 at 4:36:33 PM

[up][up] Well, I imagine standards have changed somewhat - these days, somewhere closer to 5 minutes would probably be more acceptable (unless I'm underestimating the average length of a Pixar short).

edited 25th Nov '17 4:36:48 PM by KarkatTheDalek

Oh God! Natural light!
HamburgerTime Since: Apr, 2010
#215: Nov 25th 2017 at 4:54:32 PM

This. Was. AWESOME. Better than Inside Out, even. Nearly broke my don't-cry-at-fiction rule (self-imposed) at the end. Boo'd Lasseter when his name appeared in the credits, but he was only a producer which is far enough removed from the actual creative side to not leave me with a guilty conscience.

Ernesto was an interesting villain. I'd have liked to have seen more of him but he still got more to do than, say, Bellwether. Was pleased he wasn't a Karma Houdini - since he was largely unrelated to the main conflict of getting Miguel home I was worried he'd either be one or be punished in the Land of the Dead but still be remembered as a hero in the real world. There being something that proved his guilt there too was a nice touch.

edited 25th Nov '17 4:57:22 PM by HamburgerTime

BigMadDraco Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#216: Nov 25th 2017 at 8:13:38 PM

[up] I like to think that his infamy will keep his memory alive forever, but that bell will never be moved

While I'm a fan of normal musicals, it's nice to see a diegetic musical every now and then.

edited 25th Nov '17 8:17:06 PM by BigMadDraco

HamburgerTime Since: Apr, 2010
#217: Nov 25th 2017 at 8:18:23 PM

Also, discovering your favorite celebrity is a horrible person - how's that for topicality?

firewriter Since: Dec, 2016
#218: Nov 25th 2017 at 9:55:43 PM

[up]

If Ernesto was real, he would join everyone that has been outed as an asshole this year. Although in this case, it would be for murder instead of sexual harassment.

Even though Ernesto isn't Miguel's great-great grandfather, I do like the idea that the guy did have a few illegitimate children when he became a celebrity. And as it turns out he actually is a great-great grandfather, but now any descendants of his will be ashamed to be connected with him. Let's just say I have a fan fiction idea coming up.

HamburgerTime Since: Apr, 2010
#219: Nov 25th 2017 at 10:01:47 PM

From the moment the petal didn't light up when Ernesto gave Miguel his "blessing" I knew they weren't actually related.

LDragon2 Since: Dec, 2011
#220: Nov 26th 2017 at 12:04:28 AM

You know, I actually got a few Ego the Living Planet vibes from Ernesto once the big reveal kicked in.

edited 26th Nov '17 12:04:42 AM by LDragon2

Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#221: Nov 26th 2017 at 12:07:54 AM

Wow, went to see Coco with my mother (my maternal side is Mexican), and she was in tears by the end. I was very moved too. It surprised both of us considering my family has never celebrated Day of the Dead (it was considered too pagan.)

It was pretty amusing seeing reflections of my family in the characters. My grandmother is partly like Mama Coco on her nice days (though she has a mischievous "Who cares, I'm gonna die soon, bring out all the candy" side evil grin). And cranky Abuelita Elena is much like my Tia Rosalinda tongue. Miguel sounds like he could be one of my cousins, not just the voice but also the rapid excitement of his. Any worries that I had that the film would take a too "touristy" approach to Mexico were dissipated since it's set on a holiday, so it's fine things around town are a little exaggerated. Beyond that, it really nailed the massive importance Mexicans place on family. That's been missed basically every single American film set in Mexico or involving Hispanics since, I dunno, Spy Kids?

edited 26th Nov '17 12:19:43 AM by Tuckerscreator

AdricDePsycho Rock on, Gold Dust Woman from Never Going Back Again Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Rock on, Gold Dust Woman
#222: Nov 26th 2017 at 12:18:32 AM

Didn't the Book of Life have something like that?

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firewriter Since: Dec, 2016
#223: Nov 26th 2017 at 12:18:40 AM

The fact that he based a movie scene on what he did in real life makes him one heck of a smug bastardo. Twist villain or not, Ernesto really is a nasty piece of work who acts as a Shadow Archetype to Hector and Miguel.

Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#224: Nov 26th 2017 at 12:20:02 AM

[up][up]Haven't seen it.

[up]Kinda surprised he did that; even Claudius of Hamlet couldn't stand watching a play "coincidentally" of his own murder.

edited 26th Nov '17 12:21:05 AM by Tuckerscreator

AdricDePsycho Rock on, Gold Dust Woman from Never Going Back Again Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Rock on, Gold Dust Woman
#225: Nov 26th 2017 at 12:20:49 AM

Oh dude you should, it's pretty good. Not as good as Coco and it kinda has a bunch of flaws but it's great. The director was the creator of El Tigre too, so there's that.

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