By Robert Milarvie

Both Early Man and Coco illustrate yet again that we are living in a Golden Age of animation. Following 2017 delights such as: My Life as a Courgette, Red Turtle and The Breadwinner – 2018 begins with two tender tales of self-belief and discovery.

Early Man is the recent instalment from Nick Park and Aardman Animations who brought the wonderful Wallace and Gromit to the hearts of many. Their unique animated style of stop motion clay techniques breathed new life onto the cinematic landscape. Their films provided a vibrancy of tactility and depth of form that highlighted the man hours and dedication to their craft of storytelling.

In the prehistoric Stone Age, Early Man tells the story of a young tribesman called Dug (Eddie Redmayne) who hopes to becoming something more than a simple rabbit-hunter. After the unexpected intervention of Lord Nooth and his Bronze Age citadel, Dug and his trusty sidekick Hognob must band their tribe together to save their home.

This new iteration to the Aardman catalogue is a truly wonderful experience. Something both Nick Park and his team have accomplished over the years is being able to balance the heavier themes of family and self-belief with their savvy execution of slapstick comedy.

The pure absurdity of the film’s premise, mixing the gentleness of Wallace and Gromit with Buster Keaton slapstick and Escape to Victory unfolds so naturally that it is simply ninety minutes of smiling and laughing.

With an array of British talent on show (Tom Hiddleston, Rob Brydon, Maisie Williams, Richard Ayoade, the list goes on), the voice cast are the cherry on top of what is a delightful prehistoric cake.

Next, Coco is the new addition to the extraordinary Pixar canon. The film looks at a young boy, Miguel, who is an aspiring musician but is confronted by his family’s ancestral ban on music. He accidentally enters the Land of the Dead on the national holiday ‘Dia de Muertos’ and must find his great-great-grandfather a legendary Mexican singer to get back home.

I had a strong suspicion that after the heart-wrenching wonder that was Inside Out (2015), it was something of a peak for Pixar. With Inside Out able to realise such a unique exploration of a young child’s emotional growth, they could never achieve that again.

And it’s safe to say I was wrong. While not being as streamlined in story and thematically complex as Inside Out, Coco harnesses that emotional core all the best Pixar films have contained – films such as Up, Toy Story and Finding Nemo to name a few. Focusing on such a delicate topic such as death and being able to effectively talk about that so movingly in a children’s film no less, really does make Coco such a triumph.

The film has a grounded charm even in this fantastical realm of the Afterlife. The imperfections of certain characters face’s, the vibrancy of the spirit guides and the central thematic struggle for Miguel blend brilliantly in what is another Pixar landmark.

Coco’s script should be met with rapturous applause also. Even as it mergers the acoustic rhythm of the understated fantasy gem Kubo and the Two Strings and the metropolis of Big Hero 6, the film never disengages from its central character and we see all the action unfold almost entirely through his eyes. It twists and turns in all manner of directions but never loses focus on the central thematic tussle.

Fundamentally Coco supplants the common theme that has been interwoven through many of Pixar’s classics. That internal struggle between reaching to the stars and constraints of family tradition, whether it be Ratatouille, A Bug’s Life and The Incredibles, that internal struggle for our main character is prevalent and palpable. Yet, Coco grapples with that emotional discord the most effectively out of any other Pixar feature.

It is an example of animated poetry that teaches children about the delicate issue of death. It has brought Pixar back from the dead after the lacklustre Good Dinosaur.