When it comes to Hispanic culture, it always fascinates me in it's imagery and everything else about it. One of it's big holidays, “The Day of the Dead,” is an example of such, because it is a time to celebrate the memory of those who have passed on. So to give the holiday and culture a bit more recognition this year, we are given the Guillermo del Toro produced animated film, “The Book of Life.”
While a few kids are on a field trip
to the museum, the instructor tells them a tale from the Book of
Life. In this story, La Muerte (the ruler of the Land of the
Remembered) and Xibalba (ruler of the Land of the Forgotten), make a
wager to switch their ruling over their lands. The contest depends on
who is able to be with Maria, the General's daughter. Manolo, a
musician bullfighter, or Joaquin, a ready-for-anything soldier?
Things get out of hand however, when Xibalba tries to interfere with
the wager, resulting in Manolo's death, and trying to find his way
back home.
The film was directed by Jorge R.
Gutierrez, best known as the creator of the Nickelodeon show “El
Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera,” and much like Genndy
Tartakovsky, it's easy to pick out his style of animation.
Gutierrez's animation has a very unique style to it, and I like how he makes the
characters in the story look like puppets, since it is being told
through the book and the puppets in the museum. I also enjoyed how in
flashbacks, they cut to 2-D animation, letting us know that the
format is still around in some way or another. The film is very
colorful, even in it's dark moments when death comes towards the
characters, and you get some pretty good Looney Tunes style of humor.
The characters are also as colorful as
the film itself. Manolo, Maria, and Joaquin, the three main
characters, are fairly enjoyable and give off their own distinct
personalities. They all have flaws, but not to the point where it's
unbearable, and that's what makes them interesting. And the
performances by Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, and Channing Tatum are good,
when it comes to on-screen actors doing voice acting. Luckily, we do
get work from actual voice actors such as Carlos Alazraqui, Eric
Bauza, Grey DeLisle, and Ron Perlman as Xibalba.
What didn't work were the segments
with the kids at the museum, because it brought me out of the story.
They're the stereotypical troublemaker kids who are there just be
like the annoying kids in the audience who talk to the film. I would
have been fine if they were only in the beginning and end, as opposed
to cutting back to them from time to time. I also wasn't too big on
Ice Cube as the Candle Maker, the keeper of the Book of Life. He
wasn't bad in the film, but I felt like his screen time could have
been reduced a little bit.
Other than that, the film manages to
be pretty entertaining. It's no masterpiece or anything, but it's
still a fun film to show the kids during the Halloween season, and I
had a lot of fun with it. Check it out, and see for yourself.
Rating: 8/10
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