The Book of Life (2014)

FAQ



I gonna be honest, this one when I saw the trailer I wasn't interesting at all, for various reasons.....1 looks predictable and boring, 2 Channing Tatum (ok he is getting fine recently...but still counts), and 3....The movie was done by Reel FX Creative Studios, in case don't ring any bells....is the people behind FREE BIRDS...yeah not promising right, so I was planning to skip this one for home video.......BUT I saw some good reviews and I was boring so I go and give it a chance.


MY GOD DID SECOND CHANCES EXISTS ...............not only this movie looks SPECTACULAR, not only is incredibly FUNNY film, not only the story is very well handle and the characters are AMAZING... this is my second favorite animated movie of this year, it's just as creative as THE LEGO MOVIE......this quite surprise me on many levels, and it's not surprise now that I think the guy who was behind producing this....Guillermo del Toro and you can see his hand work ALL OVER THIS.

But still it have a weak point I need to address.

THE BAD:

The Final act: not the entire Final act, but the final battle you could say, it wasn't bad, but I would like they took some more chances with it, they almost did but they go to the safe for children end, and for a Movie that risk so much and success in almost all, I think they could afford one more chance.

I trying to avoid the spoilers so I will not go full detail about that, so that's pretty much it...let's go to the good parts and boy this have a ton.

THE GOOD:

-The Story: The plot is focus on a little Mexican town, San Angel, 2 gods, La muerte (Kate del Castillo) rules of the land of the Remembered and Xibalba (Voice by the always awesome RON PERLMAN.....oh yeah another collaboration with Del Toro XD), rules of the land of the Forgotten, they make a bet to determine who will rule each land....you see the land of the Remembered is the land were all spirits go in the afterlife when someone who love them still remember them, but if you don't have anyone who remember you, your soul is place in the Forgotten land, Xibalba tired and boring of his land make a bet to La Muerte to change their land if he win, and if he lose La Muerte force him to stop messing around with the land of the living, the bet is done around 3 young child, who have a love triangle between them, Manolo and Joaquin who are in love of  the free spirited girl Maria, Xibalda bets that Joaquin will be the one who conquer Maria's heart and marry her, while la Muerte Bet than Manolo will be the one who wins Maria's affection, and so the bet was ON to see who will be the one who some day marries Maria and who win and take the others land, all fates on the heads of these 3 mortals.

Not only the Story is handle very cleaver but is rich on details about the folklore and culture of "El dia de los Muertos" (The day of the Dead) a popular celebration of Mexico (and also my country and so many others in Latino America) that gather the people to go and pass a day with the love one that have pass away on the their tomb, the Mexican folklore is the one who explore this celebration the most and the one who have a more richer mythology about this day, and this film go and explore that in full bloom. Not only that, this take several chances and turns that may even surprise you a lot, for a family film.  

-The Characters: This category is the one I think they took more chances, they add a hell ton of characters, something that any writer will tell you is a HUGE MISTAKE that easily can make you not developed any one in the story....but surprising.....they actually pulled off flawlessness this, not only give all characters cool personalities and distinctive looks to you easy tell them apart, but they make them very likable and give all plenty screen time to you enjoy all of them.

 -The Animation and Character Designs: I said now.....IF this film not get nominated at LEAST to 1 Oscar....the academy is really BLIND.....this film animation not only is BEAUTIFUL, but is so incredibly detailed and very imaginative with their world and characters that they have created....the 5 realms you will see on the film (The real world, San Angel, The Remembered, The Forgotten and the Cave) are incredibly amazing and so creative, each world have an incredible unique look, is just impossible to not go and say....



After see any of the incredible places they go.

-The Comedy: Not the least, the Comedy hit you and hit you harder, I laugh a lot in this film and a lot is for the situations and the incredible fiscal humor the animators put on this characters.

In resume, Book of Life is the perfect example of "Not judge a Book for it's cover", an amazing film that every animation lover should go see and take your family for the ride, I totally recommended.

Ratting: 9 our of 10