Psycho's Movie Reviews #225: The Book Of Life (2014)

The Book of Life is a 2014 American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and Reel FX Animation Studios, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Co-written and directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez, it was produced by Aaron Berger, Brad Booker, Guillermo del Toro, and Carina Schulze. It features the voices of Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, and Channing Tatum with supporting roles by Christina Applegate, Ice Cube, Ron Perlman, and Kate del Castillo. Based on an original idea by Gutierrez, the story follows a bullfighter who, on the Day of the Dead, embarks on an afterlife adventure to fulfil the expectations of his family and friends.

The film premiered in Los Angeles on October 12, 2014, and was released theatrically in the United States on October 17, 2014. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. The film grossed $99 million on a $50 million budget.

Plot

Mary Beth, a museum tour guide, takes a group of school detention students on a secret museum tour, telling them, with wooden figures, the story of a Mexican town called San Angel from the Book of Life, holding every story in the world.

On the Day of the Dead, La Muerte, ruler of the Land of the Remembered, and Xibalba, ruler of the Land of the Forgotten, see Manolo Sánchez and Joaquín Mondragon competing for the love of María Posada. They strike a wager: if María marries Manolo, Xibalba will no longer interfere in mortal affairs, but if she marries Joaquín, La Muerte and Xibalba will swap realms. However, Xibalba cheats by giving Joaquín his Medal of Everlasting Life, which grants the wearer invincibility.

The story begins with scenes of young Maria, Manolo, and Joaquin playing together as childhood friends. María is sent to Spain to become a "lady" after freeing animals destined for slaughter. Years later, the day María returns to San Angel, Joaquín has become a military hero with the Medal's aid, but Manolo's musical aspirations are suppressed by his father Carlos, who trains him to be a bullfighter in their family tradition.

At Manolo's first bullfight he defeats the bull but refuses to kill it, angering Carlos and the crowd but impressing María. That night, María is pressured by her father and San Angel's mayor, General Ramiro Posada, to marry Joaquín for his protection from the Bandit King Chakal. María and Manolo profess their mutual love before dawn but are interrupted when Xibalba sends his dual-headed snake staff, which bites her and sends her into a coma. When Manolo brought Maria's body to the town, Joaquín and Ramiro angrily blamed him for her "death", Manolo even blamed himself for Maria. Devastated by María's apparent death, Manolo allows Xibalba to kill him, believing he will be reunited with María in death.

In the Land of the Remembered, Manolo reunites with his mother and his ancestral family. They travel to La Muerte's castle, discovering Xibalba, now the ruler of the realm, who explains the bet and smugly reveals that María didn't die because she was only bitten once and therefore survived. However, Manolo was bitten twice and died. Furious but determined to return to María, Manolo travels to the Cave of Souls to reach La Muerte.

Inside, he meets the Candle Maker, the overseer of mortal lives and keeper of the Book of Life. The Candle Maker sees that Manolo's story in the Book of Life is blank and can be rewritten by himself, so he takes them to the Land of the Forgotten. They find La Muerte at Xibalba's castle and expose his cheating. Furious, La Muerte lectures Xibalba before offering a new wager at Manolo's request: Manolo's life will be returned if he completes a challenge of Xibalba's choosing, but if he fails, he will be forgotten and Xibalba will keep both realms. Xibalba sets Manolo against a giant bull skeleton made from the skeletons of every bull slain by the Sanchez family, believing that to be his greatest fear.

Meanwhile, María has been awakened from her coma, learns of Manolo's death, and reluctantly accepts Joaquín's proposal. Their wedding is interrupted by Chakal, who leads his army to San Angel to find the Medal, which had once been in his possession. Chakal kills Carlos, who arrives in the Land of the Remembered in time to see Manolo's fight. Manolo, realizing his fear is actually of being himself, refuses to fight and instead sings an apology to the bull, appeasing it and touching the hearts of everyone present (including Xibalba and Carlos).

Impressed, the deities resurrect Manolo and send him and his family to San Angel to protect the town. Manolo is knocked unconscious when Chakal destructs himself, but he is protected by the Medal, which Joaquín had slipped him earlier. Joaquín returns it to Xibalba and resolves to be a true hero, while Manolo and María are happily married as Xibalba and La Muerte reconcile.

In the present, Mary Beth finishes the story, and the amazed children leave the museum. Mary Beth and a security guard reveal themselves to be La Muerte and Xibalba in disguise. The Candle Maker appears and encourages the audience to write their own story.

Production

The Book of Life was originally optioned by DreamWorks Animation in 2007, but never went beyond development because of "creative differences". From there the film went to 20th Century Fox Animation and Reel FX, with 20th Century Fox handling distribution rights. The film was initially given a release date of October 10, 2014; however, this was eventually moved back by a week. On October 16, 2013, it was announced that Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, Diego Luna and Christina Applegate would star as voice actors in the film.

Jorge Gutierrez, co-creator of Nickelodeon's El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, wanted to make the final animation look like the concept artwork saying: "I saw every single one that comes out and my biggest heartbreak is that I see all this glorious art, and then the movie doesn't look like that! The mandate of this movie was: Our 'Art of' book is going to look exactly like the movie. And every artist poured their heart and soul into that idea." Gutierrez did not permit his animation team to go on any research trips to Mexico, feeling that such trips often only covered very touristy aspects of the culture. Instead he had the team address any questions they had about the region to him.

Music

In April 2013, it was announced Gustavo Santaolalla and Paul Williams would be adapting pop songs for the film. The soundtrack was released on September 29, 2014, on iTunes, and was released on CD on October 27, 2014, by Sony Masterworks.

Release/Reception/Box Office

The Book of Life made its world premiere in Los Angeles on October 12, 2014. It was released on October 17, 2014 in North America.

The Book of Life was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on January 27, 2015 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The special features included a 3-minute short animated film, titled The Adventures of Chuy. The film currently streams on Disney+ as of February 2021.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 126 reviews and an average rating of 6.90/10. The site's critical consensus reads "The Book of Life's gorgeous animation is a treat, but it's a pity that its story lacks the same level of craft and detail that its thrilling visuals provide." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

Geoff Berkshire of Variety wrote, "Repping a major step forward for Dallas-based Reel FX Animation Studios (after their anaemic feature bow on last year's Free Birds), the beautifully rendered CG animation brings an unusually warm and heartfelt quality to the high-tech medium and emerges as the film's true calling card." Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "The Book of Life is a visually stunning effort that makes up for its formulaic storyline with an enchanting atmosphere that sweeps you into its fantastical world, or in this case, three worlds." Simon Abrams of The Village Voice wrote that the film's "hackneyed stock plot preaches tolerance while lamely reinforcing the status quo". Marc Snetiker of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A-, saying "Overflowing with hyperactive charm and a spectacular sea of colours, it showcases some of the most breath-taking animation we've seen this decade." Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "The dizzying, intricate imagery is so beautiful, and the Latin-inspired songs catchy enough that the overall effect is often enchanting." Sara Stewart of The New York Post gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Just in time for Mexico's Day of the Dead holiday comes this gloriously colourful animated musical, which almost (but not quite) makes up in visuals what it lacks in snappy dialogue." Katie Rife of The A.V. Club gave the film a B-, saying "Ultimately, what drags The Book Of Life down is its insistence on trying to update an (original) folkloric story for a contemporary audience. In practice, this means adding some pop-cultural touches that only serve to take the viewer out of the fantastic setting."

Michael Ordoña of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film three out of five stars, saying "The vibrant animated feature The Book of Life is a cheeky celebration of Mexican folklore with a solid cast, an irreverent sensibility and gorgeous visuals." Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film three out of five stars, saying "The Book of Life may use state-of-the-art animation, but it derives its strength from the wisdom of antiquity. It only looks new, but it's as old as life (and death) itself. Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic gave the film four out of five stars, saying "A visually stunning, funny movie that trusts children to deal with subject matter that many films don't: specifically, death." Frank Lovece of Newsday gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Funny without being frantic, seamlessly switching from dry humour to slapstick, it shows death as a part of life -- and, judging from a preview audience of very young tykes, does so in a gentle, delightful way." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times gave the film a negative review, saying "This often beautiful and too-often moribund, if exhaustingly frenetic, feature tends to be less energetic than the dead people waltzing through it." Conversely, Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times gave wrote, "The Book of Life juxtaposes overwrought visual imagery with an undernourished, familiar story - regrettable flaws in one of the few animated films to focus on Latino characters and the rich heritage of Mexican folk culture." Marjorie Baumgarten of The Austin Chronicle gave the film two and a half stars out of five, saying "Visually arresting but dramatically rote, The Book of Life at least introduces American kids to the Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos and should score points with families looking for kid-friendly movies that reflect aspects of their Mexican cultural heritage."

Calvin Wilson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave the film two and a half stars out of five, saying "The Book of Life is a flawed but intriguing new chapter in animation." James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film three out of four stars, saying "The Book of Life moves breezily from one scene to the next, keeping the pace brisk and rarely skipping a beat." Laura Emerick of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Whether en Ingles o en Espanol, The Book of Life is a delight. In an animated universe cluttered with kung-fu pandas, ice princesses and video-game heroes, Gutierrez and del Toro have conjured up an original vision." Tasha Robinson of The Dissolve gave the film three and a half stars out of five, saying "It's all flawed, and distracted, and conceptually messy, prioritizing colour over common sense and energy over consistency. But as an afternoon's diversion for a handful of misbehaving kids—both within the movie, and within the movie theatre—it's authentically winning." Michael Ordona of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "There are no great surprises, no shocking reveals (except to the characters themselves). But there's so much to appreciate along the way that it's a real page-turner." Kenji Fujishima of Slant Magazine gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Jorge R. Gutierrez subsumes the film's darker themes in a relentlessly busy farrago of predictable kids'-movie tropes and annoying attempts at hipness." Ben Sachs of the Chicago Reader called it ""more imaginative than most" but said it is "undone by a surfeit of glib one-liners and pop culture references".

The Book of Life grossed $50.2 million in North America and $49.6 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $99.8 million, against a production budget of $50 million.

The Book of Life was released in the United States and Canada on October 17, 2014. The film earned $300,000 from Thursday late night showings from 2,150 theatres and $4.9 million on its opening day. The film debuted at number three in its opening weekend earning $17 million at an average of $5,537 per theatre behind Fury ($23.5 million) and Gone Girl ($17.8 million). The film played 57% female and 54% under the age of 25 years. It played 59% under 10-years old while 31% of tickets sold were in 3D.

In other territories, The Book of Life earned $8.58 million from 3,654 screens in 19 markets. The highest debuts came from Mexico ($3.84 million) and Brazil ($1.98 million). In Mexico, the film was number two behind the local film Perfect Dictatorship.

Budget $50 million

Box office $99.8 million

My Review

The Book of Life is a refreshing new animated tale about Mexican folk beliefs, especially the Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos), a day where families and friends gather to pray for and remember their loved ones who have died. Aside from its basic themes about love, family and friendship, The Book of Life features some mature, darker ones such as life and death, pursue your dreams, never forget those who have passed on and never stop looking forward to the future at the same time, always be yourself and never lose sight of who you are. The plot is done with enough wit, charm, humour and sincerity that makes it an enjoyable ride.

The story is mainly about three childhood friends, Manolo, Joaquin and Maria who got caught in a wager going on between the Mexican lords of the underworld, La Muerte (ruler of The Land of the Remembered) and Xibalba (ruler of The Land of the Forgotten). These deities each pick a champion between these two boys and bet on who can win Maria's heart and marry her. So best friends become bitter love rivals for a woman's heart. Aside from that, Manolo is torn between following his heart to become a musician or satisfy his dad's expectation to continue the family's legacy.

The film is beautiful, stylish and visually stunning. Despite its darker tone, the film doesn't feel terrifying at all. It shows us a world filled with wonder and spectacle, especially The Land of the Remembered, which is full of vibrant, lively colours despite the fact that it's actually the land of the undead. It provides us unique, captivating character designs and set pieces with close attention to detail about Mexican culture and traditions. The characters are strong, charming and lovable. The film did a fine job addressing the importance of remembering our loved ones who have died. The love triangle between Manolo, Maria and Joaquin is well developed as well.

The songs chosen for the film were great, breathes life into the scenes and provide the necessary emotional impact to keep the audience engaged throughout the film. I do admit there are a few plot contrivances here and there, but remember, this is still a kids/family film, so just cut it some slack and give it a chance. Some of the voice actors did a good job imitating the Mexican accent to make it feel like an authentic Mexican animation. Overall, it's a charming, sweet romantic film with surprising depth and plenty of heart that's good enough for both kids and adults to enjoy at the same time. A recommended watch. 8.4/10

{Just saying though, the soundtrack to this - despite mainly consisting of covers - is surprisingly good, especially the two original songs; 'I Love You Too Much' - Diego Luna and 'The Apology Song' - Diego Luna}