The Book of Life (2014)
The journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears.
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Pretty Good
Did you people see the same film I saw?
Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
This film came out in the same year as The LEGO Movie and It become a Overrated classic and It didn't get nominated for an Oscar and the Internet went Insane of It.They say It's the film everyone will love and love forever, being their favorite and being very popular, well..... I liked It, BUT, this film (The Book of Life) I think should of been what the LEGO Movie is apart from the LEGO Movie being a big selling product with LEGOs, but this movie was unbelievable!, everything about this is just...FANNNTASTIC!.The story is sweet and well executed, the animation is oh my god.. JUST AMAZING, it's bright, colorful, creative and very well done, the characters are funny and likable, the Environment defiantly has that Mexican/Day of the Dead feeling to it, the soundtrack Is a lot of fun to listen to!.Only problems is the story is kind of predicable and the characters are kind of bland, but besides that this film is A LOT of fun.You are your family will have a blast with this, buy this on DVD/Blu-Ray when you can.This get a 9/10.
This is one of the greatest animated films I have ever seen and with 5 kids, I see a lot of them! Our whole family enjoys it - there's a little something for everyone. It's visually captivating and very funny. The music is another winning aspect. There are some old favorites, Mexican style, and some very touching love ballads as well. It's just an all around great story. Do yourself a favor and watch it!
Produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez, THE BOOK OF LIFE is a flashy animated tale that blends a Romeo-and-Juliet style story, but actually a romance triangle using Mexican customs surrounding the Day of the Dead as a backdrop. The color is splashy and the story line is simple and serves as a charming homage to Mexican culture.The story involves three childhood friends; Manolo(Diego Luna), Maria(Zoe Saldana) and Joaquin(Channing Tatum); whose romantic twisted triangle becomes the subject of a wager between two Mexican deities...La Muerte(Kate del Castillo), the overseer of the Land of the Remembered and Xibalba(Ron Perlman), the lord of the Land of the Forgotten. Manolo comes from a heritage of bullfighters and is disappointing his father by wanting to be a singer, and declines to ever slay a bull in the ring. Joaquin is a pompous protector of the town trying to live in the shadow of his father, a fallen military hero. Maria is a beautiful young woman that desires a husband, but is sent off to a convent for grooming.The Book of Life is narrated by a lovely tour guide(Christina Applegate)as she relates the story to a bus load of students visiting a museum. The color is visually stunning and the characters are actually handcrafted wooden-like. There is a nice mix of peppy and romantic music holding the action together. The better of the songs are sung by the Manolo character voiced by Luna: "The Creep", "I Love You Too Much", "The Apology Song" and the Elvis classic, "I Can't Help Falling In Love".Other voices in this family feature: Cheech Marin, Ice Cube, Hector Elizonda, Danny Trejo, Placido Domingo, Eugenio Derbez and Dan Navarro.
Two best friends fight for the hand of beautiful Maria, but their love battle is more than that, as the gods of the dead had bet on who will win her in the end. Okay, okay, I shouldn't be too hard on this one. The colours were really beautiful and some parts of the story really good. However, some times the story felt rushed and the characters under developed, not to mention that it didn't make much sense. Of course you could easily guess which one Maria will pick from the beginning, so the suspense from there was gone. Well, the twist was nice, and the action was satisfying, but other than that, the book of life won't be a movie that I will remember, so 3 out of 10.