When it comes to movies for kids I have my faves; when it comes to kids movies, my kids have THEIR OWN, and as you'd guess it, we coincide occasionally and some times we just can't agree at all.
Día de muertos is a movie I do not think has the best quality in several production aspects. Reviewers mostly complain about a bad script, to me it wasn't horrible, just not top quality. Kids on the other hand can careless about a 'top quality' script, as long as they feel entertained and drawn into the story, and so it is that in this aspect, the movie succeeded. My kids were rooting for the main characters, cared for them and had good laughs, sometimes sadness. And you can really gauge how much they like a movie by how many times they ask to rewatch it. This movie is not The Book of Life or Coco when it comes to budget (though similar subjects) or production value but it has enough originality to stand on its own. Comedy in it does seem forced but again, my kids actually laugh through the funny moments and even days later would comment or reenact some funny parts of the movie. There are so many reviews I've seen here on on movies by less prominent studios, independent films or foreign kids movies that get absolutely trashed! When, some of them my kids and I have actually enjoyed quite a bit, many times I've liked those films better that those of the big studios that are so formulaic and extremely predictable. Is like they punish a good story's originality if the production value is not up to par. Día de muertos is one of those cases. It is said they 'spent a lot of many' making it but I doubt it would be significant enough to be compared to that of Coco's budget. In summary, let your kids watch it and let them decide, in this case, I recommend to skip the reviews and make your own mind. Sure, a lot of times when kids watch we watch with them and have our own expectations and disappointments. But if we're going to review we should take their opinion into account. So this movie deserves a combined rating of 8 stars!
Review of The Big Wish
