Want to ensure that I will see your movie? Want to ensure universal praise from critics? Just slap the word “Pixar” on the title card and your job is pretty much done.

The Disney subsidiary has done a really good job of creating its own unique voice while still operating in that same family-friendly-buddy-comedy realm as its corporate overlords. This week though, Coco is in theaters. I thoroughly enjoyed Coco.

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In fact, if I were Gene Shalit, I would say, “Go go to see Coco”. (Pause for adoration from the 18-30 year old crowd that totally gets that reference).

But Coco is the first time that Pixar feels like it is playing in Disney’s ballpark. The company has told a lot of stories about outsiders trying to find their place in a world that constantly reminds them they are different. This time, though, Pixar has added a Disney staple to the formula -- musical numbers! They’re used in a very Pixar way, but they’re there.

Coco is about a young boy named Miguel who dreams of being a musician. He comes from a family of shoemakers who swear off all music because the family matriarch’s grandfather walked out on the family to pursue his dreams of fame as a mariachi.

Miguel believes that grandfather is the famous singer Ernesto de la Cruz. He is an Elvis-like star in Mexico. One of my favorite attentions to detail that you only get with Pixar is the way de la Cruz is drawn in scenes where Miguel is supposed to be watching old movies or TV clips. The animators made sure to include stage makeup on the character so that he always has this sort of unnatural color to his face. It is a really clever addition that wouldn’t make the movie any worse if it weren’t included, but that it is included makes Coco so much better.

So anyway, Miguel wants to enter this open mic contest in the village square on Dia de los Muertos, but his grandmother forbids it. She insists that he attend the annual family vigil to honor their late ancestors.

Miguel sneaks out and heads for the mausoleum where de la Cruz is buried. His plan is to take the late-crooner’s famous guitar and enter the contest. When he touches the guitar, though, Miguel completely disappears from the land of the living. He is somewhere and is able to communicate with the dead and even enter their technicolored world.

So we’ll stop with recap there. Let’s real quick talk about two things that didn’t work.

First, and this is the big one -- Coco is so eerily similar to the 2014 Dreamworks movie Book of Life, which was also set in the Land of the Dead on Dia de los Muertos. The musician storyline is there. The family disapproval is there. Even individual aspects of the script like The Land of the Dead having a sub-level for the dead that no one in the Land of the Living remembers are present in both movies. So, Coco may be a great movie, but it ain’t exactly original.

The other thing that is a letdown is the missed opportunity for some great nods to the Disney Parks, particularly in the cemetery when Miguel first realizes he can see the dead. It would have been an ideal place to slip in a Haunted Mansion reference. This is why I should be in charge of every Pixar movie - better yet, maybe the company could just create a job for me where I point out golden opportunities to reference the Disney Parks in its films.

Speaking of the Disney Parks, I could see this movie taking over if it turns into a huge hit. Everything about Coco is loud and colorful and amusement park friendly. There has been a rumor circulating Disney blogs for a while that the ride inside the Mexico pavilion at Epcot will receive a Coco-inspired makeover. It makes too much damn sense not to happen. Coco’s take on the Land of the Dead would make a welcomed addition to any family vacation!

Now, I’m sure you want to know about the music. Disney brought back the EGOT winning husband and wife duo behind the Frozen soundtrack for Coco, but you won’t find standing ovation-worthy anthems like "Let it Go" or show stopping duets like “Love is an Open Door.” The music in Coco is used as part of the plot rather than a story telling device. The musical performances are actual musical performances in the movie as opposed to a moment of exposition where a character is suddenly inspired to break into song.

All of the music is insanely catchy though. I do wish at least a couple of the songs were longer so that I could have appropriate sing-a-long length tracks for play in the car when I’m with my kids/all by myself.

On the more adult side, Coco serves as a very interesting conversation starter. Much in the same way that 50 Shades of Gray is actually a primer in contract law, Coco is an Alzheimer’s allegory. I don’t want to give too much away, but the secondary plot about Miguel’s great grandmother losing her memories is both beautiful and heartbreaking.

So, in short, go see Coco. Again, I’ll bring back my inner Gene Shalit. “You’ll go loco for Coco!”

Look at me and my hip references!

Demetri Ravanos is a member of the North Carolina Film Critics Association and has reviewed movies for Raleigh and Company, Military1.com and The Alan Kabel Radio Network.