The Book of Life

This is a great movie for so many reasons. First of all, it’s visually stunning in a way that most animated movies rarely attempt. Secondly, it’s just wacky and twisted enough to rise above the typical animated movie, something Pixar knows well, but in this case, the audience is decidedly older (hence the PG rating and the descriptive warning within the rating). Yes, there are adult themes of death, albeit in the fanciful sugar-skull-centric fashion of the glorious holiday Día de los Muertos. Nonetheless, this is not a movie for very young children but, I do think that tweens and up will find it captivating, and it’s good to see that the people who put this surreal dream together were up for making an animated movie that wasn’t so predictable and hackneyed. Lastly, it walks a delicate line between reverence and satire, dark comedy and enchanting romance, Guillermo de Toro and Walt Disney. Not bad for a “cartoon.” Part Rango, part Ren and Stimpy, and part folklore, The Book of Life is a sly, eye-popping, tongue-in-cheek, whimsical tale of love, friendship, and tradition that is a treat for the mind, the heart, and the imagination. While I’d like to see some improvements made in tightening things up, a more involved storyline, and a better sense of music, The Book of Life is still a gorgeous movie that joyfully shatters the Disney/Pixar bubble.

Jorge Gutierrez (and his wife Sandra) are two of my favorite artists, so my review may be a bit biased. In any case, this is a beautiful movie that is worth seeing. Some people say it is boring or morbid, but it's really neither of these things. Perhaps for someone who can't sit still it would take some work to really catch everything that's going on, but this movie is certainly far from boring. As for morbid, this story handles the theme of the underworld just like The Corpse Bride or an array of childern's Halloween movies and it isn't gory, gross, or really morbid at all. In fact, the underworld is shown as a colorful, happy place. This is a good story to expose your child (and yourself) to how death and the underworld are viewed in different cultures and to learn about the customs. I can't say there are any negatives to the story other than it moves a bit fast, so if you aren't paying attention to it, you can miss a lot of important information, and there is a sort of mash-up mix happening between Spanish(the bull fighting theme) and Mexican cultures. If you aren't familiar with Jorge Gutierrez's art style (like his previous show El Tigre) the art can be a bit confusing, but once you become used to this created world then you can appreciate the beauty in design. This is a wonderful, colorful, beautiful story which also includes some of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard in an animated feature. Definitely worth watching, multiple times even.

One of my favorite movies!!! Could watch is over and over again.

This movie is honestly one of those animated films that looks just as good the tenth time you watch it as it does the first. The colors are incredibly vibrant, the animation style is unique, and the story pulls you in with a mix of humor, heart, and emotional depth. On Blu ray, the visuals really stand out, making all the detail and design feel even more immersive. What makes it memorable is how it balances fun storytelling with a deeper message about love, family, and choices. It is entertaining for kids but still has moments that hit differently as an adult, which makes it easy to revisit over and over. Girl, this is one of those movies that you think you are just putting on for background noise and suddenly you are fully invested again like it is your first time watching it.

Beautifully animated and a great story. My kid loved it and we've watched it multiple times. Great for a family movie night.

Very good and great music

THE BOOK OF LIFE is produced by Guillermo del Toro, directed by Jorge Gutierrez, and features an outstanding voice cast to tell its story of true love (along with a generous helping of Mexican culture). The basic plot is about two boys, Joaquin (Diego Luna) and Manolo (Channing Tatum), who vie for the affections of a girl, Maria (Zoe Saldana). As people they're fairly opposite, with Manolo being a musician at heart (his family's profession is bullfighter) and Joaquin being a soldier who does great deeds of derring-do. Unbeknownst to them, however, Lady Muerte and Xibalba (Ron Perlman) have entered into a wager about which of them can win the heart of Maria and it sets Manolo on a journey that will take him to both realms of the dead. First, I should say that the character design, animation and overall look of the film was extremely creative and visually unique, befitting a Guillermo del Toro production. The colors popped and everything in the world of the film was brought to vibrant life. The voice cast was equally impressive, although there were a couple of people who took me out of it for a little bit before getting sucked back into the story. The biggest offender was probably Ice Cube, who voices the Candlemaker, although they did stick in a couple of good jokes and references for him. I also got taken a little bit out of the story by realizing that Danny Trejo and Cheech Marin also voiced characters in the film, but again, they still did great work here. Another high point was the music. The score was pretty good, but what really stood out was the use of modern pop songs in what is (mostly) a period piece set at an indeterminate time in the past. Of course, I didn't mind that one bit at all. I also thought that the first half to two-thirds of the story were excellent. It succeeded telling an emotionally moving story with plenty of interesting characters, but at a certain point it resorted to the standard climax and resolution that wrapped up everything with a nice little bow. And despite much of the humor working, at times I felt it was a little too silly for its own good. Still, at the end I was completely won over. Had I seen this last year, I'm fairly certain it would have made my top ten. As it stands, this was an incredibly charming and visually rich film that should appeal to kids and adults alike, and also serves as a valuable cultural lesson.

I thought this movie might scare my son, with the references to death and the Day of the Dead, etc, so I screened it before deciding to let him watch it, because I didn't really know what to expect. He had seen the previews for it on TV and kept asking for it. He is autistic and doesn't really understand the concept of death, at least as far as I know from what he's indicated. He's probably watched this film a million times already. He likes the animation and the songs (he loves music) and the colors. I don't think this film would upset neuro-typical children, either, even if they do understand the concept of death. Parents can always find age-appropriate, gentle ways to explain things to our kids, yes? The animation is unique and bit strange. It's actually a story within a story, so there are two different types of animation for the characters. The first is the typical Pixar-type animation where people look like animated versions of people. The story within a story people look like they are constructed from toy blocks and other various odd parts. Everything is very colorful. The story itself is one of loyalty, love, morals, trust, keeping promises, and faith. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I do believe that parents of small children who might find some things scary should screen this movie before allowing their kiddos to watch.

Very nice

Just took my kids to this movie yesterday; it is so visually stunning that I will go back all by myself to enjoy it again, and I've preordered this disc as well as the The Art Of to accompany it. What a treat; the amount of detail that went into the visual crafting is just astonishing. What a fun torment this must have been to work on, for the animation studio. Wow! For parents who are dead bored of the Disney and Pixar machines...this is a nice new surprise. And, nice music: the Toro Apology song is very beautiful; now there's a love song! PS: we've now had the movie for almost a couple weeks now and my kids watch the Toro Muerto scene at least once a day! More in love with the "special something" of this film that makes it greater than the sum of its parts. Sure, there are areas that could be improved--for example, I don't think they needed to quote popular songs as much as they do; it's funny here, but cliched now in animation. There is a beautiful message of love and forgiveness that is expressed not only in the dialog but also visually, with expressive, spiraling color...it's just magnificent and striking.

A good way to spend time away from the world.

Lo compre y como es importación tenía la duda si tendría en audio latino, pero viene incluido en el Blu Ray, el DVD no lo e checado llegó antes de lo esperado y está mucho más barato que en muchos establecimientos, buena calidad de imagen sonido, el pedido llegó integro sin abolladuras o rayones nada de nada (no me gustó la portada de María me gusta más la Catrina) el contenido es lo que importa una película del grandioso Guillermo del Toro y una buena oportunidad para adquirir la es una gran compra.

皆さんが感想を述べているように、この作品はブルーレイで見ると、より素晴らしく感じると思います。 3Dも良かったですよ。何故、日本ではDVDのみの発売なのか?