The Book of Life

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

A museum chaperone named Mary Beth takes a group of children on a tour of Mexican folk myths and legends. She tells them the story of the Mexican town of San Angel from the Book of Life, which holds every story in the world.

The spirits La Muerte, ruler of the Land of the Remembered, and Xibalba, ruler of the Land of the Forgotten, set a wager at San Angel’s Day of the Dead festival after seeing two boys, Manolo and Joaquín, competing over a girl named María. La Muerte bets that Manolo will marry María, while Xibalba bets on Joaquín. If La Muerte wins, Xibalba can no longer interfere in mortal affairs, but if Xibalba wins, he and La Muerte switch realms. However, Xibalba cheats by giving Joaquin his Medal of Everlasting Life, which grants the wearer invincibility. María frees a herd of pigs from being slaughtered, angering her father, who sends her away to a boarding school in Spain. While saying their goodbyes, Manolo gives her a baby pig from earlier and she gives him a guitar which is engraved with “Always play from the heart”.[6]

Years pass and Manolo’s musician dreams are suppressed by his father Carlos, who trains him to become a bullfighter like the rest of their family, while Joaquín becomes the revered town hero with the Medal’s aid. On the day of María’s return, a celebration is held culminating in Manolo’s first bullfight. Manolo defeats the bull but refuses to kill it, disappointing Carlos and the crowd but impressing María. That night, María is pressured by her father to marry Joaquín so that he will stay and protect San Angel from the bandit Chakal, though she is conflicted by her feelings for Manolo. María and Manolo meet that night to profess their love for each other, but they are interrupted when a snake, sent by Xibalba, bites María once and seemingly kills her. Despondent, banished from the town by Maria’s father and blamed for her death, Manolo is conned by Xibalba into being sent to the afterlife: the snake bites him twice, killing him.

Manolo arrives in the Land of the Remembered where he reunites with his mother Carmen and his illustrious deceased family members. They travel to La Muerte’s castle to seek María, but only find Xibalba, who explains the bet to an outraged Manolo and that the snake put María in a coma, but killed him. When María awakens, she learns of Manolo’s death and solemnly accepts Joaquín’s proposal. Manolo, Carmen, and Luis, Manolo’s grandfather, travel to the Cave of Souls to reach La Muerte. They meet the amiable Candle Maker, who oversees the lives of everybody in the living world. After seeing that Manolo’s story in the Book of Life is blank (due to Xibalba’s meddling) and can be rewritten by Manolo’s own actions, the Candle Maker takes them to the Land of the Forgotten. Manolo exposes the cheating to La Muerte, who furiously summons Xibalba. Another deal is negotiated; Manolo’s life will be returned if he completes a challenge Xibalba sets him, but if he fails, Xibalba will rule both lands and Manolo will be forgotten. Xibalba, believing Manolo’s fear is bulls, manifests every bull the Sanchez family ever fought which combine to become one giant one for Manolo to defeat.

In the living world, Chakal, who previously owned the Medal, leads his army to San Angel to find it. Chakal kills Carlos, who joins the deceased to watch Manolo fight. Manolo, realizing his fear is actually being himself, again refuses to deliver the finishing blow, instead singing an apology to the grudge-filled spirit asking it to forgive his family’s transgressions, which it does by peacefully dissolving away. Impressed, the deities grant Manolo his life back and send him and his family’s spirits to the living world to defeat Chakal. Manolo is almost killed again when Chakal blows them both up but is saved by the Medal, which Joaquín gives him at the last second. Joaquín returns it to Xibalba and resolves to be a hero of his own accord, while Manolo and María wed happily as La Muerte and Xibalba reconcile.

The story ends, and as the children leave the museum, Mary Beth and a security guard from earlier reveal themselves as La Muerte and Xibalba.

REVIEW:

As we inch closer and closer to what is surely to be called “Indecision 2016”, a small fact keeps being brought up. The population of the United States is becoming more and more ethnic, in particular the Hispanic demographic. So, while China may be slowly taking over every blockbuster, isn’t it time to at least acknowledge the Hispanic viewers. I believe this is what Guillermo del Toro had in mind with The Book of Life. Does this experiment work, though?

What is this about?

Zoe Saldana, Danny Trejo and Cheech Marin lend their voices to this splashy animated fable that weaves a Romeo-and-Juliet story against the backdrop of the Mexican customs surrounding the Day of the Dead.

What did I like?

Colors. Animated films are known for being fairly colorful and, depending on the subject matter, some can have more colors than others. Anyone that has seen a Guillermo del Toro film knows he has a vivid and wild imagination. His live action movies haven’t really lent themselves to wondrous baths of color, though. I argue that some of them *COUGH* Pacific Rim *COUGH* could have done with a little more, just so the audience could decipher who’s who. This world del Toro has created, though is full of vibrant colors. The colors at first seem a bit much, but it is the Land of the Remembered. A place that is a non-stop fiesta, of sorts.

Style. No one has created an alternative to CG yet and traditional hand drawn animation hasn’t made a resurgence just yet, so someone had to do something new with this medium, rather than the traditional character designs that have become so cookie cutter these days. The Boxtrolls did a good job with changing “the norm” (even if it was stop-motion), but that was nothing compared the wooden, marionette type style given to these characters. It was almost as if this was meant to be a stop motion film, but rather than take the millions of hours to create and animate, they kept the look and design and just entered it into the computer. The end result is something never seen before, giving this film a uniqueness all on its own.

Old is new again. How many times have we seen Romeo & Juliet in some fashion or another on film? More than we all care to count, I’m sure. A few tweaks here and there, such as not having two feuding families, and this becomes a fresh take. Speaking of fresh takes, the music selections in this, all given a slightly Mexican/Spanish flair, also become new and fresh. After listening to the version of “Creep” by Radiohead, I had to go download it and listen to the original again.

What didn’t I like?

Charming potato. Like most kids, I grew up watching Sesame Street. One of the segments that still resonates with me, or at least the song does, is where they would have a group of things and something just wouldn’t fit. For example, there would be a lion, tiger, jaguar, and then a toucan. Obviously, the toucan is not like the others, because it isn’t a jungle cat. That same principle applies here. The majority of the cast is Hispanic, so it is strange that in a lead role Channing Tatum is cast. Nothing against the guy, it just seemed odd to me as he’s not exactly known as a voice actor. My theory is that he was cast to be a big name draw because his voice doesn’t really fit with his character and those around him, but at least he didn’t try to force an accent.

You bet your life. Basically, this film boils down to these two guys fighting over this girl for the fate of the world, more or less. Gotta love how immortal deities take human lives and use them as part of their entertainment. I guess on the plus side, they didn’t know the fate of their world rested in their little love triangle. Imagine how that would’ve shaken things up, for better or worse!

Good day, to you, sir. There was a time when Ice Cube was one of the living embodiments of the “angry black male”. Now he does family friendly movies and comedies. That’s what has made him such a bankable star and empire, though. His ability to do such a big 180, so I’m no jumping on his case about that. What I do have to take issue with is that like Channing Tatum, I don’t feel his voice fit his character. That candle guy sounded a bit goofier in my head like King Candy from Wreck-It Ralph or perhaps more of a booming voice like Zeus in Hercules. Also, can we please get Cube to stop shoe horning in “It was a good day” into what is becoming every film he’s in. Yes, it was a big hit for him back in the day, but know he’s sullying the legacy of it for a quick buck! It has to stop!!!

A brilliant, creative mind was at work making The Book of Life come to, um….life. Memorable characters, a great story, some nice action…it has it all. The villainy is a bit weak, though, but I won’t discuss that as it spoils the film. These are the kind of films Hollywood needs to be making, not remakes and reboots of beloved properties. Go out and find some original source material or, and I know this is asking too much, have an original idea! Sorry, I went off on a tangent there. Do I recommend this film? Yes, very much so! Fun for the whole family!

4 1/2 out of 5 stars