2017 Rental Roundup 4: It, Coco

After going overboard last week, I’m making this one quick and dirty. And I may as well, death is a rather unsettling topic, after all. Plus I only have five more movies for the 2017 roundups, so one of these was going to get two no matter what.

It

They did a good job with the setting and the language of that era. They even found child actors who were the right age and could act well! As I’ve lamented many times before, that isn’t easy. So props!

On the downside, I think the music and sound try WAAAAAAAY too hard, even for a horror movie. Honestly, it’s very distracting and LOWERS the fright value of the accompanying buildup and jump scares because it’s at the level of parody. On the trying too hard scale, it’s a 20 out of 5.

It’s also very jarring to see random Bangor, Maine, landmarks CG’d into the background of the very much not-Bangor location shots. I’m at a loss as to what the point was, honestly. The only people who would even recognize them are the very same people who would know they were completely out of place. I guess we’ll slot this into the trying too hard category, too.

Despite drawing from the same source material, It couldn’t feel more different from the original movie. Part of that is inevitable, given that the original had a much stronger focus on the adult half of the story. It is a rare case where splitting a book into two movies made perfect sense, and didn’t kill the pacing. The child half of the story really needed to be let out to breathe, and the new It performs that task admirably.

…though I’m disappointed that It 2 isn’t coming out 20 years later with the actual kid actors grown up. A bit of a risk, yes, but what a great opportunity. Maybe they’ll do a second It 2 anyway if it all works out.

Verdict: Rental (3/5). The things that nagged be about this movie nagged me bad. It might not get to you as much, though.

Coco

While we’re filing things, put this under Pixar Does what Disnot. Disn’t? Disdon’t? Anyway.

It seems like every time a Pixar movie comes up (that isn’t Cars, but that was deliberate on Pixar’s part), I liken it to Disney’s cartoon equivalent of Miramax. It’s a sublabel that tells stories Disney doesn’t want on their apparently too restrictive straight label.

Case in point: While Coco is about life (as told through death), it is the only Disney movie to embrace the concept that The Lion King merely touched upon: the idea that death is something natural and ordinary.

This of course, enables the stakes to be something more personal than the threat of death… but then the movie decides to veer back around and make it possible for the dead to permadie when they’re forgotten in life. It’s a bit of a dramatic overindulgence. While it does play nice with the movie’s theme about legacy, it grinds the gears of the rather blatant goal of helping kids stop panicking about mortality.

If you’re looking for deep themes, careful worldbuilding, personal journeys and truly heartfelt moments out of your Pixar movies, you’ll find them all here. And despite the flashy colors, you’ll find them much more consistently than you did in Inside Out. Further sort this into adult-safe.

I’m not even remotely an expert on Mexican culture, but I do hope this was well-researched and respectful. Pixar isn’t known for being tone-deaf, so they have the benefit of the doubt from me. It helps that this is far and away the biggest-budget feature with an all-Latino cast.

Also, it’s a movie about music, and I’m kind of a sucker for those. Enjoy the soundtrack!

Verdict: Go for it (4/5). Coco doesn’t meet its potential, but it’s still great. Also dinged for not having a Pixar featurette, which are often their best work.

KitKat flavor of the week: Orange

I know, this doesn’t usually happen. But we’re playing catch up on more than just movies after my vacation.

While I definitely prefer the Orange Cocktail Noir, people who like their candy to have a straight-up fruity flavor will find something to like here.