Directed by Jorge R Gutierrez
Written by Douglas Langdale and
Jorge R Gutierrez
It can be
incredibly difficult for animated movies not made by a major studio
to get a foothold. Never mind not being Disney, Pixar, or
Dreamworks, even Sony Animation and Blue Sky at least have some push.
Book of Life is done by a first-time feature length director (he's
done TV work before), and his vision shines through clearly, even if
it gets a little muddled along the way.
Manolo (Diego
Luna) and Joaquin (Channing Tatum) are best friends who have also
been in love with the same girl, Maria (Zoe Saldana), since they were
kids. What none of them know is that the love triangle is also being
watched by the death gods La Muerte (Kate del Castillo) and Xibalba
(Ron Perlman), who've put a bet that whoever wins will get to rule
the vibrant Land of the Remembered, while the loser rules the
desolate Land of the Forgotten. And Xibalba is not above cheating...
Book of Life's
greatest strength is its visuals. The movie takes place as if it's
being told with wooden figures, and it shows with the character
designs. They exaggerate features, giving war heroes chests full of
medals, making round mariachis who can just roll around, and having
characters who look like 2D paintings given life. The wooden
features give the characters visible joints, older characters will
have more visible wood grain, stubble is just a different layer of
wood. It's truly remarkable from start to finish, and gives the
movie plenty of visual gags to work off of. And once it hits the
Land of the Remembered, it's easy for your jaw to drop completely.
Sadly, for its
dazzling visuals, the writing has issues. The story and themes are
so standard as to be cliché, with no real surprises along the way.
This doesn't mean it's not enjoyable to watch, it's just not going to
throw any twists your way. The pacing is also off. Trailers made it
seem like a majority of the movie would take place in the Land of the
Remembered. Instead, about 10 minutes are spent there. Considering
how awesome the skeletal character designs look, you'd think they'd
give that part of the movie the majority. But the biggest problem
comes from the movie's framing device: a story being told to a group
of kids in a museum. It means the movie constantly stops to narrate
what's going on or give exposition. Or just cut away to the group of
white kids. It reeks of executive meddling, the studio getting
terrified that a movie full of Mexican characters won't be watched,
so they tacked on some white characters at the last minute.
Regardless of
faults, Gutierrez gives a solid effort here, and if he can follow the
movie's moral and get out of the studio's shadow, he can do something
truly incredible. As it is, Book of Life is enjoyable, but its
visuals don't match up to its story problems.
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