Coco 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Coco 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 17, 2018

Coco may boast lavish production design, a big scope, great music, plenty of color, deep cultural saturation, and a sprawling roster of living and dead characters, but at its heart it's the story of a father and his daughter yearning to be reunited. It's no mistake the movie is titled Coco, so named for an elderly, wheelchair bound character who is the focal family's matriarch. It's not titled Miguel, who is the spunky little protagonist who only wants to play music, nor is it titled Day of the Dead for its abundantly colorful and visually arresting Mexican holiday setting. Like every Pixar movie, whether involving cars, robots, or toys, there's an extra-large heart at the center of the tale, a simple story of humanity and what it means to love, to remember, to cherish what's come before as a point of reference for moving forward into the future. For as strange as it might look on the surface, the movie is Pixar through-and-through, one of the studio's best and a film with so much heart beating through its characters, those in the flesh and those whose physical hearts may have long turned to dust but whose hearty spirits live on, if the living will allow, that is.

The Rivera family has built a rich tradition of shoe-making but has, for several generations, banned music in the decades following a time when the family matriarch’s father abandoned the family to pursue his dream of singing to the world. The matriarch, Coco, now an elderly wheelchair bound woman, is Miguel’s (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) great-grandmother. Miguel secretly harbors a desire to play music. He’s become quite the guitarist, but his family absolutely forbids him from practicing or even making mention of the word “music” in the home. His idol, Ernesto de la Cruz, an admired musician and movie star from way back when but who tragically died on-stage following a freak accident, guides Miguel’s dreams of musical stardom. Just as Miguel has worked up the courage to be himself with his music, his family decides it’s time to put him to work in the shoe shop. But when a family secret is revealed, he doubles down on his dreams, and his family doubles down on dashing them. The defiant Miguel desperately attempts to prove his musical worth by performing at the Day of the Dead festival with de la Cruz’s own guitar, which is locked away in a museum. Before he can perform, Miguel suddenly finds himself caught up somewhere between life and death, unable to be seen in the land of the living but reconnecting with his deceased family in the land of the dead, a world through which he must undertake a remarkable journey to find a distant relative, chase his dreams, and put a misunderstood chapter of his family’s history to peace.

Pixar is a studio known for innovative films and daring animated ventures with heartfelt and wholesome messages, and Coco may be at the top of the list in terms of story creativity, narrative construction, visual dazzle, and heart. The film, which is constructed around the “Day of the Dead” Mexican holiday, may appear to be about a person who doesn’t follow the rules but rather follows his heart, as his hero, Ernesto de la Cruz, says in an old video clip that Miguel has memorized. While the viability of chasing dreams, finding purpose, and following one’s own path might make for a noble story, it would make for a fairly trite story. Those are themes that Pixar has explored in the past, and the studio slyly makes Coco much the same, but only on its surface. The story takes shape and heart with a significant plot twist as well as an abundance of humanity and humility, even in the land of the dead, where the story’s theme relays the message that it’s the spirit and soul, not the physical body -- represented by the torn-off head in an old photograph that's central to the movie's story -- that makes an individual, and a family. The film dabbles in some clever plotting and basic animation antics and hi-jinx, with some catchy songs and cheerful moments and comic relief characters blended in, but the film ultimately evolves into an incredibly vibrant portrait of familial love with the bond between a father and a daughter at its very core, not evolving away from its central character Miguel but evolving towards its soul.

The film's thematic resonance, story depth, and surprise final focus alone make it a treat, but so too does the film's attention to detail and sense of authenticity even in a film that journeys to an invisible world inhabited by the dead. The film is robustly constructed, with the filmmakers clearly pouring not only researched and recreated visuals onto the screen but doing so with an obvious passion for vibrancy and complexity, making the world a believable compliment to the story it hosts. The film is beautifully rendered, lacking nothing in terms of modern digital amenities including dynamic coloring and various environmental elements that are as dense and complex as the real world they recreate. Characters are richly detailed and perfectly voiced by an impressively talented cast that immediately falls into character and understands the movie's broad structural components as well as its intimately designed heart and soul. The film is the total package of visual and narrative excellence, unsurprising coming from Pixar, a studio that continues to place emphasis on narrative purpose and heart with its visuals, which are the best in the industry, serving as mere supports to something much more meaningful and beautiful than any computer could ever produce.

For readers interested in learning a little more about The Day of the Dead, here is a good-read primer from National Geographic, along with several photos that show just how real the movie's setting has been made to be.

Coco 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Coco's 2160P/HDR-enhanced UHD presentation was reportedly crafted with Dolby Vision color enhancement, which is not present on this disc. The film was further apparently finished at 2K, and neither color nor detailing see a substantial boost above the reference quality companion Blu-ray. Comparing the two, the uptick in textural crispness is so minor as to be almost insignificant. Slight boosts in clarity on surfaces and clothes are evident, but minimal. Image clarity is a mite improved, but it seems to stem more from the more balanced, better pronounced color palette than any add to raw sharpness. The film is a little darker on the UHD, with the HDR coloring delivering firmer colors, more intensely saturated and nuanced and a little less punchy and loud. There's still high color visibility and diversity in abundance, but the Blu-ray is comparatively a little brighter. Still the improved saturation, relatively minor as it may be (which seems to be the general norm for animated features), does offer a pleasing boost to overall image stability and richness. Blu-ray-only viewers aren't missing anything earth-shattering or eye-popping with this UHD; the fairly flat transition in detailing and modest boost to coloring still make this the superior version, but not by leaps-and-bounds. It would have been interesting to see if a Dolby Vision encode would have added anything to the mix, because this is a film that deserves the absolute finest presentation possible.

Coco 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Coco's UHD features a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, whereas the companion Blu-ray only release offers a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 presentation. Frankly, there's not a significant difference at work. Neither track is particularly aggressive at reference level; both lack the dynamic intensity without cranking the volume beyond this reviewer's baseline settings. Turning the volume up does bring the track more in-line with expectations, but there's no denying that it's not as fundamentally aggressively positioned as other tracks. Still, overall clarity is quite good, with instrumentals rich and lively and various celebratory environments appropriately defined with festive din. Overhead engagement is minimal, with only a couple of distinct elements to be heard, such as a metal stairwell coming down into the soundstage. The overhead layer generally adds to the basic environmental construction, aiding in echoing reverberations in chapter 21 or wraparound crowd applause in chapter 16. The film's dialogue delivers good, clean delivery and consistent placement, though again it's better enjoyed turning it up a little beyond one's own sweet spot on the volume knob.

Coco 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Coco's UHD disc contains no extras, but all of the Blu-ray extras can be found on the pair of bundled discs. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase.

Disc One:

• Welcome to the Fiesta (1080p, 2:16): A "proof of concept" short film. With optional Director Lee Unkrich, Co-Director Adrian Molina, and Producer Darla Anderson commentary.
• Mi Familia (1080p, 10:00): The filmmakers share some of the rules they were forced to follow growing up and what they meant then and how they see them now. It also explores research for the film, including travel to Mexico to become immersed in the culture depicted in it and discover the characters who would appear in it.
• Dante (1080p, 6:14): A closer look at the dog that appears in the film and the canine inspirations for him.
• How to Draw a Skeleton (1080p, 3:18): A quick tutorial on drawing one of the key figure shapes from the film.
• Audio Commentary: Director Lee Unkrich, Co-Director Adrian Molina, and Producer Darla Anderson deliver an insightful track that opens with film structure insight and continues to explore story and character details, research trips to Mexico, background details, changes to the film along the way, visuals and visual effects, voice work, and much more.

Disc Two:

• A Thousand Pictures A Day (1080p, 20:03): A more detailed look at the crew's travels to Mexico to better understand the culture, characters, story lines, and details that would be central to the movie they wanted to make.
• The Music of Coco (1080p, 13:12): An inside look at the movie's authentic music and how it tells and shapes the story.
• Land of Our Ancestors (1080p, 6:19): A quick examination of the film's lively depiction of the land of the dead with, again, emphasis on research and real-world inspirations.
• Fashion Through the Ages (1080p, 8:39): This piece explores character costumes from both worlds, how they help define the film's tone and themes, and research into authentic Mexican clothing.
• The Real Guitar (1080p, 3:08): Crafting the guitar seen in the film in the real and digital worlds.
• Paths to Pixar: Coco (1080p, 11:44): A number of people from the creative team discuss their dreams from when they were children, their work histories, passions, and how they came to work at Pixar.
• How to Make Papel Picado (1080p, 2:19): A brief tutorial on crafting the Mexican decoration.
• You Got the Part! (1080p, 2:12): Young Anthony Gonzalez is given the part of voicing the lead.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 33:07 total runtime): Following an Introduction to the deleted scenes with Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina, the following scenes are included: Día del los Muertos, The Way of the Riveras, Celebrity Tour, The Bus Escape, Alebrije Attack, The Family Fix, and To the Bridge. Scenes are presented in their unfinished storyboard states.
• Trailers & Promos (1080p): Feeling -- United States Trailer #1 (2:12), Dante's Lunch -- Web Exclusive short film (1:56), Destiny -- Mexico Trailer (2:34), Journey -- Brazil Trailer (2:01), Belong - Australia Trailer (2:13), and Promo -- Un Poco Coco (3:05).

Coco 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Pixar's endless string of successful films doesn't trace back to a cinematic formula. It traces back to the humanity within each story. Coco may feature undead characters, but the movie is full of life and heart. Superficially it's the story of a musically inclined boy lost in the land of the dead but it's more appropriately defined as the story of a father and his daughter, one long deceased and the other an en elderly wheelchair-bound matriarch. It's one of the most heartfelt movies of its time and a jewel in Pixar's crown, a little strange at times but a beautiful canvas and a wonderful setting to reinforce the timelessness of human love and connection. Neither the 2160p video nor the Atmos audio offer a significant step forward over the excellent Blu-ray release. Both are very good in their own right, but the boost to picture and sound are in no way extreme. The included extras are fantastic. UHD-capable viewers may as well pick this one up for the boost to color the HDR provides, but there's otherwise little incentive to pay the premium for this release.