Pixar is going loco in its next animated movie, Coco, which will be coming out in winter 2017 with a story that takes us deep into the heart of the land of the dead. It’s the Disney animation studios’ 19th motion picture, but with both The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4 to follow, and Finding Dory and Cars 3 preceding it, the next fantastical adventure will need to be pretty special to stand out.
There are also some significant similarities to The Book Of Life, another recent CGI animation that has a journey into the Land of the Dead and a love of music at the centre of its plot. The Reel FX Creative Studios’ animation came out just a few years ago, so it might feel a bit too familiar for anyone that caught the 2014 film.
Release date
The Coco UK release date has been confirmed for Friday the ninth 19th of January 2018, nearly two months later than the US release on the 22nd November 2017, just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. When the film does finally arrive in the UK, it’ll be up against Liam Neeson action flick The Commuter, which is out on the same weekend, so Coco should be the only real family movie out at the box office. However, the limited competition won’t last for the Pixar animation film as it will also have Aardman return, Early Man, to face a week later on 26 January 2018.
Story
Plot revolves around a kid called Miguel with a big dream of becoming a great musician, despite his family’s long standing ban on music. You can see from the trailer (below) that Miguel will stop at nothing to make his dream a reality, including getting his hands on the guitar of his idol Ernesto de la Cruz, who’s musical videos he watches over and over again.
Things get a bit ghostly though when the series of events lead him to the Land of the Dead where he must head out on a journey to find the truth behind his family’s ban music. With the help of his dog Dante and trickster Hector, who he befriends along the way, there’s a family mystery that stands in between his return to the land of the living and making his musical dream come true.
Cast
Young newcomer Anthony Gonzalez takes on the lead role as Miguel with Gael García Bernal (The Limits Of Control) playing Hector and Benjamin Bratt (Doctor Strange) taking on Ernesto. The cast also includes Ana Ofelia Murguía as Miguel’s great-grandmother Mama Coco, Renée Victor as Miguel’s grandmother Abuelita, who continues the family dan on music with an iron edge; Jaime Camil and Sofía Espinosa Miguel’s mum and dad, Luis Valdez as Miguel’s uncle Tío Berto, and Edward James Olmos (Blade Runner 2049) as Chicharrón, Hector’s friend from the land of the dead who is grumpily being forgotten.
Alanna Ubach (Rango) plays Mamá Imelda, Miguel’s long-dead great-great-grandmother who doesn’t share his passion for music, Selene Luna stars as his late aunt Rosita, Alfonso Arau as his late great-grandfather Papá Julio, Herbert Siguenza as his twin uncles Oscar and Felipe, Cheech Marin (Cars 3, The Book Of Life) as the Corrections Officer in the Land of the Dead, and Blanca Araceli as a talent show host on the other side.
Age rating
The animated feature has been given an age rating on U in the UK by the British Board of Film Classification.
Production
Coco has been directed by Lee Unkrich, whose impressive back catalogue for Pixar includes Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3. He’s joined by Adrian Molina as co-director and Darla K. Anderson as the producer. You can see more on the production at the official Facebook page.
First impressions
Coco has the might of Disney and Pixar behind it, which is always a good indicator for a film, especially with Lee Unkrich in the director’s chair. However, it’s hard to put the comparisons with The Book Of Life to one side as the story feels too close to the Land of the Dead guitar vibe that was such a big part of that film too.
It will all come down to the delivery, though, so we’ll have to wait to see how the film finishes up when the UK release date comes around in January. It’s just a shame that there’s such a long gap from it coming out in the US, but at least there will be a fair few review scores out ahead of the film. If it doesn’t work out so well, there’s always The Incredibles 2 to look forward to.
