Review: "Coco" Brings the Dead to Life in a Joyous and Memorable Way

Scene from Coco

There are few holidays as desperately in need of cinematic adaptation quite like Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The idea of it may sound macabre, but to see the imagery displayed every November 1 would suggest that it is a joyous occasion. With colorful sugar skulls and vibrant music, it deposits the idea that death isn't the end of someone's life. It lives on in the memory of the living, which is celebrated with colorful tapestries. Pixar's latest Coco is a film that fully realizes what makes this holiday so special not by detailing every custom, but by embodying the mood and themes of the holiday. It's a family film that ironically is full of life even as 90% of the cast is seen in the land of the dead. With beautiful animation that pays attention to details no matter how small (the on screen depiction of instrumentation has never been better for an animated movie), this film serves as a great introduction to secular audiences about not what Dia de Los Muertos is, but why it is celebrated.

The Top 10 Pixar Directors

This weekend marks the release of Pixar's 17th feature Finding Dory (review coming soon). Following the highly successful Finding Nemo after 13 years, it continues to see Pixar's influence on the zeitgeist being held strong and true. But what about the voices behind these now iconic films? With a strong and diverse roster of talents, it feels important to recognize the voices that brought the works to life. The following is a list of my Top 10 favorite Pixar directors based on how I ranked every entry. While the Top 5 features the familiar heavyweights, the bottom half manages to feature some lesser known talents that will hopefully continue to make quality work and find themselves further up on the list. For those missing, it was an often close competition and hopefully they will pose a threat as the studio enters its third decade of quality animated work.