Review of The Book of Life (2014) by Kristina C — 05 Nov 2014

The Book of Life suffers from a disappointing juxtaposition of beautiful animation but terrible execution of everything else.

The plot itself had potential but writers seem completely unsure which story they want to tell and what overarching theme they want to impart. The result is a confusing mix of messages from "Always Play from the Heart" to Love Conquers All among other ideas.

The characters also suffer from the confusion in direction; Our lead characters go from wanting one thing to wanting another and are played unconvincingly to either extreme.

Manolo wants to make his father proud as a Bullfighter on one hand, but really dreams of being a guitarist on the other, and then he also wants to win over Maria. Although we are supposed to be convinced that he is brave and hardworking while struggling with being himself, we are never shown that he struggles with the latter, as he is consistently shown playing the guitar when when bullfighting. We are also supposed to be convinced that he is merciful towards animals when he says that killing the bull is wrong, however he never seems to feel that way himself: he only begins to voice this opinion when Maria is around.

Joaquin wants to live up to his his dead father's reputation, but while he's heroic one moment he is self-absorbed the next and we are supposed to be convinced that this selfishness makes him less "Worthy" of Maria's hand despite Manolo not being much better or any less selfish.

Then there is Maria who is absolutely cringe-worthy. She is advertised as being an independent and free-spirited female lead but she never really does anything. Within the first arch of the movie she is put on a bus (or train for the matter) then comes back and... serves as Manolo's heel-turn in motivation. Directors should note that a character saying "Did I mention I'm a master in Fencing and Martial Arts" for a few seconds and then standing around and looking pretty for most of the movie does not make her a well-rounded character. She is also shown to dislike being treated like a trophy for her childhood friends, but she still goes along with it in the end, making all of her "Women are equal" shades just talk.

Some of the background characters make it better however: the entire Sanchez family is a welcome addition to the story, not to mention Xibalba and La Muerta who's interactions would easily the main character's if they were not equally biploar.

The downside however would be the Children to whom the story is being told, the Candlemaker, and the Mariachi Band who are supposed to be comedy relief but instead become annoying extras.

After the characters and the story, the other lack-luster piece of the movie is the music. Music in film is meant to add to the mood of the story, but instead we are given a few pop-favorites in the middle of the film that completely obscures from the the rest of the movie, instead giving the audience mood-whiplash.

And that is the biggest problem with the movie. While the animation is drop-dead-gorgeous, the execution is terrible. While the plight of the characters is dramatic we get comedy right in the middle of the action. While a given scene is to be passionate or serious we are given pop-music.

The movie is all over the place, and not only confuses the audience but disappoints them as well.