Coco Good, Frozen Short Bad

As a huge fan of Pixar films I was naturally drawn to see Coco and based on what I had heard was naturally drawn to see this film.  I grew up near the border and have an appreciation for Mexican culture.  Personally I think Dia de los Muertos is a much cooler holiday than Halloween and appreciate the art and craft of it every year.

And in truth was not disappointed.  Coco was everything I had hoped for: fun, funny, cultural, engaging, and visual stunning.  Everything a fan of Pixar and cool cartoon films would want.  The characters are at the same time believable and appealing, the story solid with believable motivations for everyone, and trust me when I say see it on the biggest screen you can find in 3D as there are some shots that will blow your mind.

However there was a fly in the ointment and this fly was 22 minutes long with horrid insipid songs that made you want to take your drink straw and use them to puncture your own eardrums and it was called Olaf's Frozen Adventure.  Apparently it was made as a 30 minute TV show for ABC but the bigwigs at Disney opted instead to use it as a short in front of it's new Pixar film.  Now while Disney has had a few good cartoon movies lately (Wreck it Ralph) for the most part they are not on par with the quality of Pixar so this pairing was literally like having to take your less attractive younger sibling to the Prom.  

Ugh it was horrible.  The songs sucked, the story was tertiary and worthless, and if centered around Olaf, the least appealing character from Frozen.  Pixar shorts are generally experimental 5 minute animated clips often without even dialog that turn into awesome experiences and put you in a great mood to see the main event.  This one was a downer from the get go.  The worst part was the length.  After the first five minutes I thought "OK, this sucks but it must be close to over" but no.  It kept going on and on and on.  I was ready to go home by the end of it and that would have made this review quite the bummer.

Fortunately Coco started up and got me into it from the introductory exposition.  It is the story of Miguel who dreams of being a musician.  Unfortunately his family hates music as his great great grandfather abandoned his great great grandmother and daughter to pursue music.

Miguel wants to enter the Dia de los Muertos festival music contest but needs to get a guitar.  He learns that his hero, the great musician Ernesto, is his missing great great grandpa and uses that to justify stealing the guitar from Ernesto's tomb.  While doing so he is knocked unconscious and transport to the Land of the Dead.  

There he learns to return to the living he must get the blessing of his dead family.  However they will not give it unless he agrees to never again play music.  Instead he opts to find his great great grandfather Ernesto and get his blessing.  He adventures in the beautifully colorful and detailed land of the dead on his quest.  He meets a number of cool characters and hijinks ensues.  Overall a great story and movie experience.

So I will give Coco 5 out of 5 sugar skulls without the Frozen short.  With the short it gets 4 out of 5 Helados Frozen Ice Cream Bars (Coco makes up for a lot).  The short alone gets 0 out of 5 melted snowballs made of reclaimed sewer water.

The good news is Disney got the message and as of Dec. 8th has pulled the short from showings of Coco.  Go see the movie without the short.  Your kids will thank you and the kid inside you will thank you.