The Book of Life

as an Pacific Rim Fan, since Del Toro produced this movie, I watch this movie and RESPECT!

Good movie!

1080P?? Pls

Coco

On October 17th Twentieth Century Fox brings a new Halloween movie to the big screen. This is sure to become a must-see for everyone at Halloween time! This animated feature is set in South America. It is colorful and festive and I enjoyed learning about all the different cultural beliefs of Latin America. On the day that we celebrate Halloween, they celebrate Mexican Day of the Dead. This movie is funny, cute and the story keeps your attention from beginning to the end. Many of the movies we see today seem like the same story or theme told in different ways. This movie is truly an original. There are many hints of movies you have seen before but overall, it is truly a different movie. The animators' attention to detail is mind boggling. The characters are made of wood but, after the first five minutes you see them as real people. The intercut details are astonishing. The unique personalities and different characters will keep you entertained. Animals, people, spirits - this movie has it all. Maria is my favorite because she is a little girl with cute pig tails. She is fun, bubbly, tough and adventurous. Her independence gets her in trouble but at the same time it is her greatest asset. We watch her grow from a child to a young lady. She keeps the same spirit and kind heart. She must choose who to marry between her two best friends. Zoe Saldana voices the character and really brings her to life. The candlestick maker, voiced by Ice Cube, is laugh-out-loud funny. Even though he is not in the movie for very much time, you will leave with a smile on your face just thinking about him. Gabriel Iglesias, Cheech Marin, Hector Elizondo are three amigos who try to help one of our heroes win Maria's hand in marriage. The singing group is hilarious. The song choices are great and made me giggle. There are many messages in this film. The two heroes follow in their father footsteps. We see how it is important to remember your ancestors but also know that you are your own person and should follow your own path. Although it has been a long-standing tradition, bull fighting is beginning to be thought of as wrong. The bulls should be allowed to live. We see how it takes a whole village of people to protect and look out for each other and how everyone needs to be on the same team helping everyone else. I recommend this movie ages 7 to 18. It is about Halloween and the Mexican Day of the Dead. Although it is entertaining it is still about death and there is violence. I give this movie 5 out of 5 twinkling stars. Reviewed by KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Morgan B.

Much of what people hear about Mexico is negative. When the country appears on CNN, they tell of a drug lord who is trying to make his way into the States with his product or that the children need donations of water and clothes. They treat this as if Mexico was a third world country, even though I see nothing more then a country that's more disorganized than dangerous. What most people seem to forget is that Mexico is land where it's history and culture is filled with riches of artistic merit that has become more present in our American culture. The Mexican day of the dead is one of their most important holidays as its traditions encourage celebration rather then fear. The scary masks and skeletons wish that we need to remember the people that we've lost as our memories of them are their fuel to live in the afterlife. Treating death as a party sounds like an offensive idea, but I find it rather southing, not to mention feeling a bit cultured as I've been taught something unique about the customs from the south of the border. Producer Guillermo Del Toro bring us the day of the dead in the animated format of The Book of Life. In the real world, a bunch of delinquent children are brought to a museum where a tour guide Mary Beth (played by Christina Applegate) takes them to a special room where the title book of life is and proceeds to tell a story from it, using wooden figures that come to life within the tale. In the Mexican town of San Angel, two gods, La Muerte (played by Kate del Castillo) the ruler of the land of the remembered and Xibala (played by Ron Perlman) the ruler of the land of the forgotten, wager upon two boys that have fallen in love with the same girl is set to determine whether good triumphs evil. Over the years, Manolo (played by Diego Luna) has been training to be a bullfighter even though he would rather be a musician. His friend Joaquín (played by Channing Tatum) has become a courageous solider that the town loves (though he's cheated by wearing a magical medal that protects him from death). They both have their hearts set on the adult María (played by Zoe Saldana). Sensing that Manolo has a better chance of winning, Xibala tricks him into getting bitten by a two headed snake. This sends Manolo into the land of the remembered where his ancestors help him find a way back into living. The Book of Life has an amazing design. I went to a 3D screening of this and was blown away by how beautiful and imaginative this was. It was a great idea to have wooden figurines as the focus as the regular human designs are the only thing bland and fake looking. Human skin seems to be the most difficult thing to computer animate and Book of Life was smart to take another route. The art is to die for, but how's the content? Substance was clearly not the focus as I got a bland love story along with a bland hero, bland charmer, bland girl, bland gods, and even bland animal sidekicks. You would think that having a passionate creative mind like Guillermo Del Toro would warrant something with a lot more texture. Oh well, for what it is, the winner here is the animation and look. The day of the dead stuff is even educational and I wouldn't object a child watching this. I'll give this six dead mariachi groups out of ten. It'll probably make for a nice time killer and I might pick up an art of The Book of Life book for my coffee table.

I'm Del Toro's biggest fan...BUT, this was nothing even close to what we are used to see of this director/producer...beautiful graphics...but that's it. I went with my two daughters and we found it extremely boring. It's one cliché after another, and, is really predictable what your are going to see. We left before the end of the movie... I suppose that for other countries maybe its refreshing to see new mortuary customs, but for us, Latin Americans, its nothing new. I had big expectations based from previous movies like "El Laberinto del Fauno" or "Pacific Rim". This movie did not met my expectations.

Many things could have gone wrong with The Book Of Life. This boisterous, big-hearted animated film is bursting with ideas and colour, stuffed to the brim with - one suspects - pretty much every idea that struck writer-director Jorge Gutierrez's fancy. Indeed, the final film plays very much like the charming but unpolished debut of a filmmaker who can't quite believe he was lucky enough to get the attention of producer Guillermo del Toro, and has no intention of wasting the opportunity in case it never comes around again. As a result, The Book Of Life practically trembles with too many ideas and influences, but remains so earnest and inventive that it's easy to forgive its predictable, overstuffed plot. In a small Mexican town on the Day Of The Dead, we meet the protagonists of the story: steadfast, earnest Manolo (voiced by Diego Luna), who would rather strum a guitar than fight a bull in the tradition of his forefathers; brash, adventurous Joaquin (Channing Tatum), who becomes the town hero in trying to avenge the murder of his father by bandits; and spunky, intelligent Maria (Zoe Saldana), daughter of the mayor who inevitably wins the hearts of both young men. The stakes, however, are higher than they could ever imagine: the two godly rulers of the underworld, La Muerte (Kate del Castillo) and Xibalba (Ron Perlman), have gambled dominion over each other's lands on the outcome of the love triangle. It would be an understatement to say that there's a lot going on in The Book Of Life. The film covers everything from a mystical medal that lends invulnerability to anyone who wears it, to a tantalising love-hate relationship between the two gods, while spiced up with musical interludes galore. (It's not often that the film's hero will pause to belt out a soul-searching rendition of Radiohead's Creep, but that kind of thing happens all the time in The Book Of Life.) Mix it all up with retellings of Mexican folklore, including visits to the joyously colourful Land of the Remembered and the ghostly grey Land of the Forgotten, and the film can be a somewhat frenetic viewing experience, to say the least. But, for all that Gutierrez packs his film full of ideas and details, he also manages to make most of it work very well. The love triangle may be trite, but there's nevertheless enough heart and humour holding Manolo, Maria and Joaquin together. Manolo's relationships with his dad Carlos (Hector Elizondo) and his departed mom Carmen (Ana de la Reguera) are coloured in with surprising depth as well. It's also wonderful to see a love triangle centred around a girl who knows her own mind - and rest assured that Maria speaks it often enough to make a real impact. The Book Of Life also doubles as a very welcome riot of imagination and tradition. Every frame of the film is beautifully and thoughtfully designed, down to the fact that Manolo seems to have been intricately crafted out of wood. Moreover, instead of shying away from its Mexican roots to increase its global marketability, the film firmly embraces them. This gives Gutierrez room to craft some delicately dark moments in a graveyard or two, reminding everyone that those who have died can still live as long as they're remembered by the ones who loved them. And yet, the film never descends into darkness, instead tapping into the giddying energy of a fiesta - most memorably in a journey through the Land of the Remembered - complete with heady bursts of colour and music. There's no denying that Gutierrez's film can occasionally be too much to handle. It's loud and almost cheerfully silly, tossing pop songs and Mexican folklore into a mix that sometimes doesn't work. But, at its best, The Book Of Life is like a rambunctious puppy: messy, loud and insistent, but radiating so much life and charm that it becomes quite impossible to resist.

Good movie!

Good movie!