Review of The Book of Life (2014) by Dee R — 09 Feb 2015

It was interesting, but I don't think it deserves a score higher than 70%.

The movie starts off with this group of detention kids going to a museum, who all end up getting way too involved in the Mexican concept of the afterlife and the hardly educational romantic fairy tale the tour guide tells them.

In short, the tale is about two afterlife rulers placing a bet on two friends; who is going to be the one to marry the girl they both like. One boy is kindness itself, the other one is..also a pretty nice guy, except when the movie suddenly decides he should be a douche.

It didn't make much sense.

It tries to be this ultimate love story, but it felt like the love interest in this story was stuck sitting between two good childhood friends she didn't have the guts to friendzone when she still had the chance, so instead, she juggles them around with the false hope they're getting any. The two boys/men are obviously in love with her, but I didn't see the same amount of interest from her in them. At all. The entire movie long. She treats both men as just good friends.

Also, it's rather rude to try to get into an old friend's pants the first thing she returns from boot camp after many years.

She took it well enough, though.

I found it amazing how these two men were still in love with her after all that time. People go through huge changes from childhood to adulthood; Maria should not be the same person they once knew, and they should've moved on from their childhood crush. But fine, devotion is not a bad thing, even though it looks like annoying stalking when it involves a girl who shows so little sexual interest in return.

There are some nice songs and covers in this movie, and the general idea is appealing, but some scenes lacked emotion and proper pacing, like Maria's supposed death scene.

This movie could've been better in so many ways.