The main vibe I get from it is "tries way too hard on everything, while nailing absolutely nothing." The whole film invokes the Eight Deadly Words for me. None of the characters connected to me (in some cases, I felt the opposite of what I was supposed to- Joaquin didn't seem that bad, and La Muerte is sort of irresponsible), and the plot isn't original or creative—unlike Moana, this is a serious drawback. There are also major flaws with the plot. The cosmic stakes of the movie are based on a petty wager on who of two fighting guys well get the girl. The movie mentions how stupid this is, but that doesn't help.The whole "family honor" theme bugs me with the abusive tones it takes, and the feminist themes with Maria are poorly done because she's inconsistent and the message is very heavy-handed. The framing device of the movie is entirely unnecessary and often annoying, and it builds up to an obvious and uninspiring twist.
The animation? Well, in the "real-world" scenes, it's incredibly plastic and screams CG, but the story world is okay, I guess. The whole "supernatural world is better than the real world" thing is tiresome by this point, and the character designs are often grotesque and overstylized so it can claim to have an art style. I only came close to laughing at one joke, and even though I knew where I was supposed to be amused, I never was. And yeah, there's a token black character for comedy...eugh. Overall, I felt like the film was trying to tell me how to feel rather than just letting me feel, and I don't respond to manipulative coercion.
I did sort of like the twist that led to the adventure segment, but that was just pulled out when it needed to be and the adventure itself really isn't one.
You can skip it, but I'd recommend at least trying it. Maybe it just wasn't for me. I'm looking forward to Coco, because even if it's Pixar's worst film, I imagine it'll do better what this film tried.
Not the great movie I expected...at all.
This film...bothers me.
The main vibe I get from it is "tries way too hard on everything, while nailing absolutely nothing." The whole film invokes the Eight Deadly Words for me. None of the characters connected to me (in some cases, I felt the opposite of what I was supposed to- Joaquin didn't seem that bad, and La Muerte is sort of irresponsible), and the plot isn't original or creative—unlike Moana, this is a serious drawback. There are also major flaws with the plot. The cosmic stakes of the movie are based on a petty wager on who of two fighting guys well get the girl. The movie mentions how stupid this is, but that doesn't help.The whole "family honor" theme bugs me with the abusive tones it takes, and the feminist themes with Maria are poorly done because she's inconsistent and the message is very heavy-handed. The framing device of the movie is entirely unnecessary and often annoying, and it builds up to an obvious and uninspiring twist.
The animation? Well, in the "real-world" scenes, it's incredibly plastic and screams CG, but the story world is okay, I guess. The whole "supernatural world is better than the real world" thing is tiresome by this point, and the character designs are often grotesque and overstylized so it can claim to have an art style. I only came close to laughing at one joke, and even though I knew where I was supposed to be amused, I never was. And yeah, there's a token black character for comedy...eugh. Overall, I felt like the film was trying to tell me how to feel rather than just letting me feel, and I don't respond to manipulative coercion.
I did sort of like the twist that led to the adventure segment, but that was just pulled out when it needed to be and the adventure itself really isn't one.
You can skip it, but I'd recommend at least trying it. Maybe it just wasn't for me. I'm looking forward to Coco, because even if it's Pixar's worst film, I imagine it'll do better what this film tried.