So We Saw Pixar's New Animated Feature "Coco" Today (Spoilers - add spoiler tags please)

[bcla]

Yeah, it being made for TV makes sense that it would be 1.78:1. I had the same experience too and I always wonder if our projectionist messed something up, though is that even really possible anymore with digital?

I also think it's weird that they did not advertise this or give any warning about it at all. A lot of people in my theater were confused, especially with the long run time. When the credits ran I heard a kid ask loudly "Was that the movie?" Obviously Disney was trying some kind of experiment here, but I would say the results show that they should keep the shorts around the usual 7 or so minutes and leave the half-hour stuff for another venue.

I think it's the first non-Pixar short that was released with a Pixar feature. I've read that it was scrapped from most Mexican showings of Coco after complaints.

The look was kind of strange, but I get why it looked like that if they shoehorned it into the file or print. I think some movie theaters still order film prints instead of digital files. From a technical standpoint I don't see why it couldn't have been done where it would properly fill up the screen, but they did what they did (which was effectively reverse letterboxing).

I was trying to find some article mentioning how the aspect ratio looked on screen, but couldn't find anything until I came across this:

https://www.thetoptens.com/worst-things-about-olaf-s-frozen-adventure/

This is another way to tell that this was meant to be a T.V. special. They didn’t even bother to fix the aspect ratio! It made it even harder to watch! It has an aspect ratio that’s made for being shown on T.V.. It just looks weird when watching it on a larger screen. They could’ve easily fixed it to make it more watchable. We’re just watching this small square image on a long screen! It doesn’t look good! I really wish they changed it.​

And yes there are steps they could have taken to reprogram the sequences to match the aspect ratio. I remember years ago Pixar actually remastered several movies for a 1:33:1 aspect ratio video release. They would simply render it again with modifications to match the aspect ratio. They do all sorts of things including inserting different characters into scenes for different distribution (i.e. Cars 2) and could theoretically reanimate mouths to match different languages.

 

[Ariel484]

I think it's the first non-Pixar short that was released with a Pixar feature.

I think you're right, and my husband and I were pretty disappointed by that. We always really like the Pixar shorts, they're like a nice little bonus!

 

[bcla]

I think you're right, and my husband and I were pretty disappointed by that. We always really like the Pixar shorts, they're like a nice little bonus!

The quality of recent Disney shorts has been pretty good though.

 

[Ariel484]

The quality of recent Disney shorts has been pretty good though.

I agree - this one was an exception.

 

[bcla]

I agree - this one was an exception.

Sure. It was a TV special repurposed for the big screen. Wouldn't be the first time they did something like that. Disneytoons originally made Planes: Fire & Rescue for direct to video, but they upped the budget after seeing early results.

However, shorts like Paperman and Feast were really, really good.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

Saw it Saturday night with my 20 DD. We were both sniffling by the end! I really wanted to see this movie before I heard anything about it, and I'm so glad I did.

I thought Olaf's frozen adventure was cute! I'm seeing an overwhelming amount of hate for this short- not really sure why.

I personally found Dante to be pretty annoying and almost useless, but he did redeem himself later in the movie.

 

[NotUrsula]

DD10 did not much like the film, except for the music. She was distracted from the plot by all of the skeletons; she found them creepy. DH & I liked it very much, though because of some personal parallels to the plot, I was rather a wreck by the end.

I thought that the Olaf short was cute, and the timing and aspect ratio didn't bother me. What DID bother me was the major plot hole it contains.

Spoiler: Spoiler

In the original film, Anna did not recognize Olaf until he said his name, when she suddenly remembered him and that Elsa had created him. That doesn't exactly jibe with the supposed tradition of exchanging drawings of Olaf every Christmas.

Oh, and I REALLY didn't like Dante. Dogs with freaky long tongues rather creep me out, especially when they are that stupid. (Naturally, DD liked Dante, and wants the stuffie. No way is that thing coming into my home.)

 

[BrianL]

I thought Olaf's frozen adventure was cute! I'm seeing an overwhelming amount of hate for this short- not really sure why.

I didn't hate it by any means. I thought it was pretty cute and funny. There were a lot of songs, though they were just okay (kinda like Frozen). Elsa's dress was stunning, if it makes sense to say that for a cartoon. Even someone behind me commented to her child "Look at Elsa's dress!"

Overall, I liked it very much, but I do see where the placement in front of an already long movie without warning has rankled some people. Me, I can sit there forever and absorb anything Disney with no problems, but I think this experiment was a fail and the short would have been better served as a TV special as it was designed to be.

 

[bcla]

I didn't hate it by any means. I thought it was pretty cute and funny. There were a lot of songs, though they were just okay (kinda like Frozen). Elsa's dress was stunning, if it makes sense to say that for a cartoon. Even someone behind me commented to her child "Look at Elsa's dress!"

Overall, I liked it very much, but I do see where the placement in front of an already long movie without warning has rankled some people. Me, I can sit there forever and absorb anything Disney with no problems, but I think this experiment was a fail and the short would have been better served as a TV special as it was designed to be.

I heard that there was going to be a Frozen short before Coco, but I wasn't sure it was going to be that long. From what I've heard, Disney put out the word that it was going to be shown in order to get more people into theaters who might be more interested in the Frozen franchise than in seeing Coco itself.

 

[BrianL]

I heard that there was going to be a Frozen short before Coco, but I wasn't sure it was going to be that long. From what I've heard, Disney put out the word that it was going to be shown in order to get more people into theaters who might be more interested in the Frozen franchise than in seeing Coco itself.

I don't know why. Coco had a ton of positive buzz and stellar reviews. It didn't seem like a hard sell.

 

[bcla]

I don't know why. Coco had a ton of positive buzz and stellar reviews. It didn't seem like a hard sell.

Who knows. However, I have no reason to doubt that it wasn't a marketing decision based on the popularity of all things Frozen.

There are many Pixar shorts in the works, so whatever they might have been working on could just be packaged with the next Pixar movie coming up.

 

[saradela]

In Mexican Culture, the dog ( in this case DANTE ) is a Xoloexcuincle, hairless dog that was used for sick people, they will give warmth to the sick persons body, also, it is known in Mexican folklore, that anyone who is good to a dog , the day you die, it will come for you to show you the way....also the tradition states that the celebration of "dia de muertos" is a Friday and a Saturday, Friday is for the visit of kids that are gone, so you have to put sweet bread , and Saturday is for the grown ups, to come and visit. Mixtic cementery

 

[saradela]

By the way...I loved the movie!!!!!

 

[wenrob]

I let my kids play hooky for their birthday and we went and saw it today. I’m too tired to figure out the spoiler thing so I’ll just say Coco got to me right away. By the end I was freely crying. We all were, even DS. Beautiful movie both visually and storyline.

Saw it Saturday night with my 20 DD. We were both sniffling by the end! I really wanted to see this movie before I heard anything about it, and I'm so glad I did.

I thought Olaf's frozen adventure was cute! I'm seeing an overwhelming amount of hate for this short- not really sure why.

I personally found Dante to be pretty annoying and almost useless, but he did redeem himself later in the movie.

I didn’t hate the short but I hated having to sit through it. It was completely out of place and way too long. It kind of made me feel trapped. I really missed getting a cute little Pixar short.

 

[kbmartin]

I was emotionally destroyed after watching Coco. I pretty much ruined a sweater by wiping my eyes on it constantly, and there is now makeup all over it. I cried through the end as well as 20 minutes afterwards. I loved the film so much, but I think I might not go back to see it again in theaters just because of all of the ugly crying I did!

My DH and I hated the Frozen short (and I am a Frozen fan!). We thought it was way too long for such an uninspired story. It would have been better suited as a made-for-TV holiday special. I thought it was interesting that the theater was telling EVERY guest that purchased Coco tickets about the Frozen short to warn them. Pixar should stick to quick, heartwarming shorts before their movies. I just felt annoyed by the time it was over!

 

[L&Lfan]

Off topic, but I remember (I'm old) when EVERY Disney theatrical release played with an animated short and a featurette (usually about animals). This was standard practice except when the feature was really long like Mary Poppins or The Happiest Millionaire. But a standard Disney feature was about 90 minutes and the short and featurette totaled about 30 minutes, making it around a 2 hour experience. There were also less trailers...2 or 3 at most. People today I guess, can't commit that much time at the movies, especially at one aimed at children. (Yes, I know Disney/Pixar films are for all ages, but they tend to have A LOT more children than the average feature.)

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Off topic, but I remember (I'm old) when EVERY Disney theatrical release played with an animated short and a featurette (usually about animals). This was standard practice except when the feature was really long like Mary Poppins or The Happiest Millionaire. But a standard Disney feature was about 90 minutes and the short and featurette totaled about 30 minutes, making it around a 2 hour experience. There were also less trailers...2 or 3 at most. People today I guess, can't commit that much time at the movies, especially at one aimed at children. (Yes, I know Disney/Pixar films are for all ages, but they tend to have A LOT more children than the average feature.)

Heck, I remember the days when a double feature was the standard when going to the movies.

 

[Dan Murphy]

That Frozen short was painful. They should have retitled it "Olaf's Xmas Cash Grab!"

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/12/frozen-short-coco-removal

 

[L&Lfan]

They overdid Olaf as they did Mater and it bit them.

 

[lucas]

The trailer did not interest me. But, we saw an extended preview at Hollywood Studios, and I now think the movie looks great and I can't wait to see it.

(I had not heard the latest about John Lasseter before reading this thread.)