Today I saw the movie Coco, and I was very surprised. I’m a big fan of Pixar films in general, but I was not impressed with Coco.
A major issue for me was how derivative the plot was. There are three major surprises in the plot, and one minor one. I knew that two of the major ones and the minor one were coming well before they showed up onscreen. I’ll admit that this is a somewhat elitist/”true nerd” thing to say, but it happened nonetheless, and it took me out of the movie experience. This is problematic because the emotional parts of the story depend on the audience believing that the character has truly lost something (before the movie shows how it isn’t actually lost). I think this predicability of the plot stems from the fact that the general arc of the story is nothing new: a boy wants to follow his dream, but society/family/etc. say that he’s wrong, and he has to find his own path. This is a standard trope in movies and the media in general and doesn’t help the situation.
I also found the main message of the story problematic. Coco is supposed to emphasize the importance of family: my problem was that it seemed to do this at the expense of all else. The main character actually states at one point that “Nothing is more important than family”. This is not a good message to be sending, particularly in this context. Culture is changing now, to the point that it is more socially acceptable everywhere for people to strike out on their own, irrespective of family traditions. One should never give up on a major life goal (being a musician, traveling, marrying someone) because family disapproves. But at least to me, Coco seems to be specifically encouraging this model that we see in certain cultures that ones family gets to dictate their life.
A final pain point is the striking similarity to the movie Book of Life. I’m not going to say that Coco was a total rip-off, but it certainly is uncomfortably close to the Book of Life in visuals, subject matter, and overall themes.
I agree with you that the movie’s easy predictability was disappointing. Also, I found the message of ‘family is always most important’ to be a weird and unsettling message to send in today’s age. Sometimes, your family IS wrong and sometimes your parents DON’T know what is best for you. Surely, it is better to forge your own path in life than resign yourself to a lifetime of unhappiness because of your unsupportive family?