Review of The Book of Life (2014) by Akshay H — 15 Jan 2015

A stunning visually impressive tale which could have been a lot better.

The Book Life has really impressive visuals and animation coming from ReelFX studios whose last venture Free Birds was really terrible. Filled with romance and drama at the same time having bits of humor here and there it was an adventure I enjoyed. Also the touch of Mexican culture and beautiful songs really add the sparks to it. There are few twist in the tale, still it follows the routine hero saves the day sequence by the end. The thing is The Book of Life had great potential, it builds up nicely in the first half which was breath of fresh air, but the story is a let down in the second half.

The hero here is Manolo, a man in city of San Angel in Mexico who falls in love of Maria. Also his best friend Joaquin falls for her, leading to a love triangle story. Seems like a story very common, but there their stories have bigger things at stake. Romance wise the film generates really nice atmosphere with its songs. The voice cast impressive, watch out for Ice Cube as Candle Maker which was quite a surprise. While the tone and story seems suitable for kids but there are elements like animal-cruelty, being selfless, etc. which might be learning thing for all in general. The characters are nicely written, I only wished they did something and surprising for the finale which felt too cliché. Also the plot involving bandit 'Chakal' as bad guy was quite lame and was used only for setting up an action packed finale. Still, The Book life doesn't feel like your day to day animation movies because of its interesting premise. The animation is probably one of the best of the year, very vibrant and colorful. Definitely worth a watch.

RATING: [3/5].