Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Musical Rating: PG
RT: 82% IMDB: 7.4
Overview:
The Book of Life directed by Jorge Gutierrez is an animated musical about a love triangle. The aforementioned love triangle is between three friends, Maria (Zoe Saldana), Joaquin (Channing Tatum) and Manolo (Diego Luna), where Joaquin and Manolo are both competing for Maria’s love. Unbeknownst to all three of them, La Muerte (Kate del Castillo) and her husband Xibalba (Ron Perlman) rulers of the lands of the afterlife have placed a wager on the outcome of the love triangle.
The Good:
The movie is very visually please and colourful, which makes it very easy to get lost in solely due to the animation. Additionally, the love triangle, while it may seem cheesy, really worked and for the most part was acting as a vehicle for the underlying theme of selflessness and sacrifice. The voice actors’ voices were also unrecognizable, which is always a positive when you cast big names such as Channing Tatum and Zoe Saldana as familiar voices often detract from the movie due to their recognition.
The Bad:
The pop music sometimes felt a bit forced. In most cases the music worked well, however at times I felt that they were playing it safe by adding familiar songs which overall hindered the movie rather than helped it. However, this was not as bad as some other movies so for that I give the movie some credit. The school kids on field trips also seemed rather useless, it was as if the writers felt that they had to tell the audience how to react because that is the only thing they did in between their entrance and exit.
The Ugly:
The clichéd theme of ‘love conquers all’ just felt very tired, particularly when it was associated with Manolo, his guitar and the bull fighting. Otherwise, there isn’t much to despise within the movie.
Outcome:
Overall, The Book of Life is a stunningly beautiful movie with a highly entertaining and unexpected story. There is little to fault within the movie and it manages to maintain one’s attention for the entire 95 minute duration.
My Score: 8.5/10
Bloovie 