The Book of Life

Premiered October 17, 2014.

In the small Mexican town of San Angel, three childhood best friends musically inclined Manolo, free spirited Maria and aspiring hero Joaquin have adventures and get into mischief on the Day of the Dead.  There are also the stirrings of a love triangle as Joaquin and Manolo compete for Maria's attention. 

They are observed by two gods La Muerte (Kate del Castillo), who rules the Land of the Remembered and Xibalba (Ron Perlman), ruler of the Land of the Forgotten.  

The two supernatural beings decide to make a wager over which of the two young men will eventually marry Maria.  La Muerte backs the kind-hearted Manolo, while Xibalba prefers the bold Joaquin.  If Manolo wins Maria's hand,  Xibalba agrees to stop interfering in the lives of mortals, but if she marries Joaquin, La Muerte will have to swap realms with Xibalba.    Xibalba decides to cheat a bit and secretly provides Joaquin the Medal of Everlasting Life which grants invincibility to its owner. 

After an incident where the children cause mayhem by freeing animals destined for slaughter,  Maria's father General Posada (Carlos Alazraqui) decides to send her to Spain to be educated.   

Several years pass and Joaquin (Channing Tatum) has grown up to become a military hero (with aid from Xibalba's gift).  

Meanwhile Manolo (Diego Luna) has trained to follow in his family tradition and become a bullfighter.  He would much rather follow his musical aspirations, but his father Carlos (Hector Elizondo) disapproves.  

Maria (Zoe Saldana) has returned from Spain a well educated and accomplished young woman. She arrives back in San Angel just in time to see Manolo's first bullfight.  Manolo defeats the bull, but refuses to kill it, infuriating his father and impressing Maria.    

However, Maria's father pressures her to marry Joaquin in order to ensure that San Angel is protected from the bandit Chakal (Dan Navarro).   

Both Manolo and Joaquin compete for Maria's affections, but it seems that she and Manolo are destined to be together.  

As the young couple profess their love (on the Day of the Dead),  Xibalba - not wanting to lose his bet - sends a  two headed snake to bite Maria, apparently killing her!  

Manolo is devastated by Maria's apparent death and allows Xibalba's snake to bite him twice, in the belief that he will be reunited with his love in death.   

Manolo finds himself in the Land of the Remembered where he is reunited with his deceased mother and many other relatives but Maria is nowhere to be found!    

They travel to La Muerte's palace, but encounter Xibalba - who smugly explains that he won the bet with La Muerte and reveals that Maria did NOT die from the snake bite (she was only bitten once, but Manolo was bitten twice).      

Manolo must journey through multiple realms where he encounters the Candle Maker (Ice Cube) and La Muerte.  In order to have a chance at being restored to life, he will have to face Xibalba's trickery as well as his greatest fears.  

Back in the mortal world, Maria and Joaquin are about to be married when the ceremony is interrupted by the Bandit Chakal and his thugs.  Chakal is seeking the Medal of Everlasting Life for himself and is willing to destroy the whole town to get it. 

Will Manolo succeed in his quest through the afterlife?  Will the citizens of San Angel save their town from destruction?   Will La Muerte learn of Xibalba's interference with their bet?   

RigbyMel says: 

Being a big fan of animation and of movies having to do with holidays,  I went to see The Book of Life in first run with my esteemed co-blogger.   We enjoyed it then and continue to enjoy it. 

The movie serves as a lovely way to teach children -- and adults -- about the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration.   

The idea of teaching and learning also manifests in the film's framing device which involves a museum docent (voiced by Christina Applegate) telling the story to some mildly delinquent kids who are on a field trip. 

The movie also happens to be quite visually stunning with a saturated color palate and nods to Mexican folk art and Dia de los Muertos imagery. 

The characters are stylized to look like wooden puppets and a few even bear a resemblance to Picasso's cubist paintings.  

I also quite like that the female characters are strong and capable and there to push the action along rather than just needing to be rescued all the time.   Maria is fiercely independent, an animal rights activist, and skilled at both word and sword play.   La Muerte is a badass anthropomorphic personification of death and her wager is most definitely an inciting incident. 

My only real complaint involves the interpolation of pop songs into the early 20th century setting of the main story, which I found a bit irritating.    That being said,  yay for Diego Luna doing his own singing in the film.   

Overall, The Book of Life tells an engaging story and works well as a gateway to learning more about the Day of the Dead as well as aspects of Mexican culture in general.   It's worth watching if you are a fan of holiday films and gorgeous animation. 

RigbyMel's rating: 

.5

3.5 sugar skulls