book of life movie review

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“The Book of Life” bedazzles your eyes and buoys your spirits as it treads upon themes most commonly associated with the macabre universe of Tim Burton . But instead of being gaga for ghoulishness, this Mexican fiesta of animated splendor is packed with visual delights far more sunny than sinister as they burst forth as if flung from an over-packed piñata.

A collaboration between fledgling Reel FX Creative Studios and 20th Century Fox, “The Book of Life” is a rare cartoon feature that doesn’t just deserve to be seen in 3-D, but practically demands it. Complementing the eye candy is a quirkily eclectic soundtrack, including catchy new songs by award-winning score writer Gustavo Santaolalla and Paul Williams of “The Rainbow Connection” fame, and a wide-ranging voice cast. If you always wanted to hear opera great Placido Domingo sing “Cielto Lindo” and its “ay-yai-yai-yai” refrain as if it were Verdi, here is your chance.

That said, the basics of this fantastical fable, whose ingenious puppet-like character designs draw upon the familiar wooden folk-art figures associated with the annual celebration of The Day of the Dead, are somewhat overly familiar despite all the rich cultural references that spice up the proceedings.

There is the ever-popular love triangle in the form of three childhood amigos. Our main hero, the tender-hearted Manola ( Diego Luna , whose boyish vocals are a constant source of plaintive pleasure), comes from a long line of legendary bullfighters and is skilled in the ring himself. But his true calling is that of a guitar-strumming troubadour. The boastful Joaquin ( Channing Tatum , who taps into his abundant reserve of amusing swagger) is a man of action, a mucho-macho mustachioed bandit-rustler with a broad chest crammed with medals.

They both pursue Maria, the smart and headstrong daughter of the general who runs their village of San Angel. She has all the usual attributes of the typical empowered animated female lead – a bookworm with martial-arts fighting skills and all that -- but is lucky enough to be blessed with the vivacious vocal spark of Avatar’s Zoe Saladana.

The Book of Life’s multi-tiered plot also involves dueling married deities who reign over separate domains in the afterlife and decide to make a wager. La Muerte (well-known telenovela star Kate del Castillo ), who oversees the cheery Land of the Remembered and believes in the decency of mortals, bets that sensitive soul Manolo will win Maria’s hand. Xiabalba ( Ron Perlman , a pet actor of the film’s producer, Guillermo del Toro), a devious sort who rules the dour Land of the Forgotten, backs the vain Joaquin.

Xiabalba fools Manolo into entering The Land of the Remembered to seek Maria, when it turns out she has only fallen into a “Sleeping Beauty”-style slumber. In order to return to The Land of the Living himself, Manolo must undergo a series of challenges involving his colorful ancestors. Meanwhile, San Angel is being threatened by the fearsome bandit Chakal (whose metallic monster form feels like a del Toro invention) and his gang of nasty thieves.

A three-way romance, multiple worlds, numerous feats, combative gods, a monstrous foe – all these layers make for a rather dense confection. But first-time feature director and co-writer Jorge R. Gutierrez (co-creator of Nickelodeon’s “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera”) smartly tames his somewhat unwieldy story by cleverly having a modern-day museum guide ( Christina Applegate ) transfix a group of rowdy school kids by relating the tale we are watching as if it were a fable of old.

Where this device comes in handiest is when the subject of death is broached and the children think Maria has really passed away. As one dismayed boy exclaims, “Maria died? What kind of story is this? We’re just kids.” Gutierrez thoughtfully deflects any parental concern about dealing with a potentially morbid subject with a refreshing directness that goes beyond such iconic animated tragedies as the deaths of Bambi’s mother and Simba’s father in “ The Lion King .”

There is genius to be mined in the smaller details, something that Gutierrez excels at as he playfully mixes mythology both real and invented with pop-art touchstones. From a chorus of angelic singing nuns and hirsute town elders whose protruding snouts recall the hippie era’s Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers to pigs-gone-wild mayhem and a tipsy mariachi trio who slur their way through Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” and Biz Markie’s “I’m Just a Friend,” “The Book of Life” isn’t afraid to catch us off guard. When a forlorn Manolo, abandoned by the townsfolk after refusing to kill a bull in the ring, starts to wail Radiohead’s “Creep,” you could hear teen girls at my screening yelp in joyful recognition.

But Guiterrez even goes a step beyond, as “The Book of Life” personifies the philosophy that drives The Day of the Dead and encourages a healthy way to celebrate those who are gone. As he puts it, “As long as you remember those who came before you, and as long as you tell their stories, cook their dishes, and sing their songs … they’re with you. They live inside your heart.”

And this filmmaker’s heart definitely beats inside this impressive debut.

Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna spent much of her nearly thirty years at USA TODAY as a senior entertainment reporter. Now unchained from the grind of daily journalism, she is ready to view the world of movies with fresh eyes.

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The Book of Life (2014)

Rated PG mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images

Diego Luna as Manolo (voice)

Channing Tatum as Joaquin (voice)

Zoe Saldana as Maria (voice)

Christina Applegate as Mary Beth (voice)

Eugenio Derbez

Cheech Marin as Pancho Rodriguez (voice)

Gabriel Iglesias as Pepe Rodriguez (voice)

Ron Perlman as Xibalba (voice)

Guillermo Del Toro
Jorge R. Gutierrez

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The book of life, common sense media reviewers.

Beautifully animated film has some scary imagery.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Kids will learn the cultural traditions of the Day

There's an ongoing message that doing what'

Manolo is pressured to be as great a bullfighter a

Potentially scary imagery/pervasive death referenc

Manolo and Joaquin are both in love with Maria. Th

Words like "kick his butt" and insults l

There's no consumerism in the film, which is s

There's drinking, but it's not clear what&

Educational Value

Kids will learn the cultural traditions of the Day of the Dead and what it was like to live in an old Mexican town without technology.

Positive Messages

There's an ongoing message that doing what's right is more important than other people's expectations of you. When Manolo goes to the underworld, he learns that he's part of a bigger world. On the Day of the Dead, family members that have died are honored and remembered in a big celebration.

Positive Role Models

Manolo is pressured to be as great a bullfighter as his father and other ancestors were, but he defies them by not killing the bull in the ring because it’s wrong. His kindness and integrity end up saving him in the end. Maria is strong and self-sufficient; at first, she won't be pressured into marrying Joaquin just because her father wants her to and everyone in town admires him. Joaquin is egotistical and keeps a great secret about how he came to be the town's invincible hero. Xibalba is a classic villain who will stop at nothing to trade places with La Muerte.

Violence & Scariness

Potentially scary imagery/pervasive death references (skeletons, beheaded figures, etc.) throughout the movie. Manolo fights real-life bulls, and, near the end, he also fights a scary demon bull the size of a building. Xiabalba, the king of the underworld, is scary and makes loud frightening movements that could scare some children. Manolo dies and becomes a skeleton figure and reunites with his dead ancestors, including his mother. His grandfather has his head chopped off, and Manolo's mother carries it around. Maria and Manolo are bitten by a snake that transforms from a cane. There's a battle scene at the end with punching and sword fighting. Joaquin, the town hero, fights throughout the movie. Manolo and Joaquin get in a slap fight over Maria. Throughout the movie, there are little scares where characters jump out or react loudly. At the beginning of the movie, children visiting a museum are taken through a magical door to a secret room.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Manolo and Joaquin are both in love with Maria. They try to kiss her several times, and Manolo eventually does. Manolo's mariachi friends sing "If You Think I'm Sexy" and "Just a Friend" to help Manolo court Maria.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Words like "kick his butt" and insults like "lazy bum." Some kids are called "detention kids."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

There's no consumerism in the film, which is set in the past, but there are tie-in marketing deals for clothing, jewelry, toys, etc.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

There's drinking, but it's not clear what's being consumed.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Book of Life is a refreshingly original animated film that takes viewers to the underworld and back. Smaller children might find the scenes in the Land of the Remembered scary, especially those featuring the king of the underworld, Xibalba (who's named after the Mayan name for the realm of the dead). The characters in the Land of the Remembered are traditional Day of the Dead figures, which are skeletons in brightly colored clothing. One dead character's head is separate from his body. There are some bullfighting scenes and battle sequences that are a little violent, and things get somewhat darker when the action shifts to the underworld (there's a demonic bull surrounded by fire). Expect a little bit of kissing and a few insults ("kick his butt," "lazy bum"), too. But the fun definitely outweighs the scary/iffy parts, and ultimately this is a vibrant, colorful movie about doing the right thing and the importance of family -- messages that can be appreciated by both kids and parents. It's also an invitation to explore and learn more about Mexican culture, from the details of the Day of the Dead celebrations to legendary creatures like Chupacabras. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (29)
Kids say (41)

Based on 29 parent reviews

Violence, sexism, just junk

Enthralling story that highlights mexican culture, what's the story.

In THE BOOK OF LIFE, Manolo (voiced by Diego Luna ) and Joaquin ( Channing Tatum ) have loved Maria ( Zoe Saldana ) all their lives. What they don't know is that the kind La Muerte ( Kate del Castillo ) and the evil Xibalba ( Ron Perlman ) -- the rulers of the underworld -- made a bet over which boy Maria would marry. She's sent away to school and comes back more confident and more beautiful. Meanwhile, Manolo grows up into a sensitive guitar player whose family wants him to be a ruthless bullfighter, while Joaquin becomes the town hero -- with a big secret and huge ego. Xibalba will go to any lengths to win the bet, so he sets his snake on Manolo. So Manolo must travel through the underworld on the Day of the Dead, the biggest party of the year, to return to his true love.

Is It Any Good?

This is a beautifully animated film about Dia de los Muertos that combines essential Mexican folklore, ancient mythology, and pop culture. Luna is charming as Manolo, the guitar playing bullfighter who's too kind to kill the bull. Tatum has just the right amount of bravado to play Joaquin, who shouts his own name as he rushes into battle, and Saldana is sassy and adorable as the smart, independent Maria.

Most impressive is the visually stunning underworld that director Jorge Gutierrez has created. The Book of Life immerses viewers into the environment, traditions, colors, and sounds of Day of the Dead celebration; La Muerte is the most gorgeous animated queen since Maleficent in the original Sleeping Beauty , and Xibalba is perfect as her scary king. The characters and the music (excellent reworkings of classic and alternative pop songs) are absorbing and memorable, and you'll be thinking about the world full of color and fun that Gutierrez has created long after you've seen the movie.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the pressure to live up to expectations. Can you relate to Manolo and Joaquin's feeling that they can't fill the shoes of the family that came before them in The Book of Life ? What's the best way to handle that type of situation? Manolo, Maria, and Joaquin all ultimately realize that they must follow their own paths. Kids: Is it ever OK to defy your parents' wishes?

How scary is The Book of Life ? Is it ever fun to be scared? Why or why not?

How do the characters in The Book of Life demonstrate integrity ? Why is this an important character strength ?

Are you familiar with Day of the Dead? Does your culture celebrate loved ones after they've died? How could you learn more about this holiday? What other Latino traditions and values does the movie include?

Especially considering the movie's time setting (likely the early 1900s), Maria is a very progressive young woman, with a strong, determined personality. How does that make her a role model? How are her goals and dreams out of the ordinary for the world she's part of?

Movie Details

In theaters : October 17, 2014
On DVD or streaming : January 27, 2015
Cast : Diego Luna , Zoe Saldana , Channing Tatum
Director : Jorge R. Gutierrez
Inclusion Information : Latino actors, Female actors, Black actors
Studio : Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Genre : Family and Kids
Topics : Magic and Fantasy , Adventures , Fairy Tales , Great Boy Role Models , Great Girl Role Models
Character Strengths : Integrity
Run time : 95 minutes
MPAA rating : PG
MPAA explanation : mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images
Award : Common Sense Selection
Last updated : January 20, 2024

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Screen Rant

'the book of life' review, the book of life works as a visually dazzling celebration of mexican culture, though its conventional kids' movie elements leave something to be desired..

The Book of Life takes place a long time ago in Mexico, where a trio of childhood friends are separated and each instructed on how to fulfill the expectations of their respective families. Years later, the three reunite as young adults: sensitive bull-fighter Manolo (Diego Luna), whose true passion is music; macho, but good-natured, soldier Joaquin (Channing Tatum), who's regarded as a hero by his hometown; and intelligent, forward-thinking, Maria (Zoe Saldana), who is pursued romantically by both Manolo and Joaquin.

However, unbeknownst to the three mortals, the rulers of the two underworlds - the angelic, if hot-tempered, La Muerte (Kate de Castillo) and her lover, the charming scoundrel Xibalba (Ron Perlman) - have a bet running, about which of Maria's longtime friends will win her heart. When it appears that he might lose that wager, Xibalba takes steps to permanently separate Maria and Manolo - forcing the latter to go on a grand journey across the three worlds, in the hope of being reunited with his love.

Book of Life is the feature directorial debut for animated filmmaker Jorge R. Gutierrez, though the film's marketing has banked heavily on Guillermo del Toro's involvement as producer. The spectacularly colorful animated worlds and character designs featured in Book of Life , as crafted by Reel FX Creative Studios ( Free Birds ), are very much the film's strongest elements; the narrative and thematic through line, however, ultimately prove to be less impressive.

Thanks to a modern-day story framing device, the main characters in Book of Life are, quite literally, meant to resemble stylishly-designed Mexican wooden figurines. Indeed, as a whole, the film is informed by the traditional aesthetics of the Day of the Dead holiday, resulting in a 3D computer-animated feature that looks unlike any other wide film release in recent memory. Gutierrez and his animators combine these evocative and fantastical visuals with appropriately cartoony mechanics and larger than life vocal performances, allowing the movie to maintain a frantic and frequently dizzying feel throughout its swiftly-paced 90-minute(ish) runtime.

In short: you might not be sure what you just watched once Book of Life is over, but you'll be certain that it looked great... whatever it was. That holds true regardless of the viewing format, so 3D isn't a necessity here (though it only enhances the overall experience).

Most Hollywood studio animated features nowadays blend impressionism with photo-realism, but Book of Life instead delivers stylized caricatures of everything (people, animals, buildings, and so on), which helps to make up the difference when the film's relatively moderate animation budget ($50 million) begins to show. Similarly, the movie generally makes effective use of cinematic storytelling techniques (montage, for example) to keep things moving along smoothly, even when its script work (like the musical sequences that attempt to re-spin hit pop songs and other forced attempts at being "hip") and the dialogue comes up short.

Book of Life is best when offering a simple and fun introduction to certain traditional Mexican cultural/spiritual beliefs (for filmgoers of all ages), as well as when it explores certain relevant issues - such as how traditional practices and gender roles can evolve without being completely abandoned. However, much of that material is restricted to the movie's first act; by its half-way point, Book of Life has become a more traditional hero's journey - one that wraps up with a standard, yet hollow "big showdown" during its third act. The screenplay by Gutierrez and Douglas Langdale also falls short when it comes to providing suitable arcs for certain key players (Maria, in particular).

A number of the character archetypes and tropes in Book of Life resemble those that were commonly found in Disney animated films in the 1990s - something that makes sense as Langdale got his start as a writer on movies like The Return of Jafar and the Darkwing Duck cartoon series - and, as such, feel a bit outdated for an animated feature releasing in 2014. However, despite the occasional overt similarities to famous characters from Disney's animation catalogue, the main players in Book of Life are given enough depth to come off as more than just cheap knockoffs.

Diego Luna as Manolo offers a nice mix of innocence, heart, and naivety with his vocal performance, while Zoe Saldana brings the right mix of sweetness and attitude as she voices Maria... though neither role is a real stretch for the respective actors. Similarly, Joaquin lies very much in Channing Tatum's wheelhouse (read: the good-natured, but oblivious hunk played often for comedic effect), though having Tatum use his regular voice - in a film where other cast members either have an authentic Mexican accent or makes a passable attempt at one - makes things feel a little off, whenever Joaquin speaks. (There's a 22 Jump Street joke in there somewhere, but moving on...)

The supporting cast in Book of Life all do fine work handling their characters' larger than life personalities, be it Ron Perlman and Kate de Castillo as the sparring immortal lovers and lords of the underworlds, or Ice Cube as another key mystical figure, known as The Candle Maker (he's to this movie what Robin Williams' Genie is to Disney's Aladdin , in some ways).

Other voices you may recognize (though you might have trouble remembering exactly which character they brought to life after the movie is done) include Héctor Elizondo, Cheech Marin, Gabriel Iglesias, and Danny Trejo; all do a solid job handling what tend to be very cartoonish personalities. Lastly, Christina Applegate provides the voice for a chipper museum tour guide in Book of Life 's present-day scenes; it's ultimately a bit of a throwaway role, but Applegate makes the most of what she's given to work with.

The Book of Life works as a visually dazzling celebration of Mexican culture, though its conventional kids' movie elements leave something to be desired. It's worth seeing on a big screen for the eye candy alone, but its narrative shortcomings ultimately result in a movie that's just "good" - and thus, something that you can also just wait to watch at home (where you'll still be able to appreciate the film's eye-popping colors on Blu-ray or a similar format).

The Book of Life is now playing in U.S. theaters. It is 95 minutes long and is Rated PG for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images.

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The Book of Life Makes Death Look Downright Fun

Producer Guillermo del Toro’s name is all over The Book of Life , even though it was conceived, co-written, and directed by animator Jorge Gutierrez. It’s an understandable association, though. The film is just macabre enough to feel of a piece with del Toro’s other films, which often fuse a child’s-eye view of the world with the grim and the uncanny. Gutierrez’s animated film is a family-friendly story that celebrates Mexico and Mexican culture, in particular, el Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), the holiday reserved for communing with one’s ancestors who have passed from this world. It’s a potentially grisly setup, but the actual movie makes death look downright fun.

Before settling on a fairly conventional love triangle, the film gives some context to the Day of the Dead. Beyond our own world, there is the Land of the Remembered, where our beloved forebears go when they die, and where they live in festive, communal immortality, presided over by La Muerte (voiced by Kate del Castillo). Beyond (or beneath) that, however, lies the Land of the Forgotten, a joyless place where a whisper can turn you into dust; this is where you go if nobody in the Land of the Living remembers you, and it’s all presided over by the creepy Xibalba (Ron Perlman), a green, glowing, grinning beast covered in candles and chains. (There’s also a godlike entity called the Candlestick Maker, voiced by a rather unexpectedly joyful Ice Cube.) Less a devil and more a lovesick trickster, Xibalba makes a bet with his beloved Muerte. They find three best friends — two young boys and a girl — and each stakes their kingdom on which boy will marry the girl. Winner gets to rule the Land of the Remembered.

The film then follows the three kids as they grow up in the touristically quaint town of San Angel, which is right in the middle of Mexico (which itself is, of course, “the center of the universe,” as the film reminds us). Manolo (voiced as an adult by Diego Luna) comes from a legendary bullfighting family and is himself a talented matador , save for the fact that he hates the idea of killing bulls; he wants to play the guitar instead. Joaquin (voiced by a very game Channing Tatum) is the son of a late military hero and has been pegged for glory as the one to save San Angel from the fierce bandit Chacal. Their object of desire, Maria (Zoe Saldana), the Mayor’s daughter, is a firecracker of a beauty, well educated and independent; she’s the one who teaches Manolo the wrongness of mistreating animals when she frees some adorable pigs early on in the film, wreaking havoc in her father’s town.

The playful rivalry of Manolo and Joaquin for Maria is egged on by Xibalba and La Muerte in somewhat schematic though visually inventive ways. I’m sure I’m not revealing any big surprises when I say that a journey through the Lands of the Remembered and the Forgotten is in the cards for some of our heroes. If the human characters are designed to look like carved wooden puppets, the dead simply look like carved wooden skeletons, just a degree more ornate and unreal. And the Land of the Remembered feels at times like a roller-coaster ride crossed with a carnival, a landscape cluttered with luminous pyramids and castles and plazas and skull-shaped hot-air balloons as far as the eye can see, in keeping with the film’s festive take on the afterlife. There’s no color scheme, there’s just color , everywhere — which makes sense, because we miss it all when we enter the Realm of the Forgotten.

Such a crowded, colorful, more-is-not-nearly-enough aesthetic could easily have felt garish and confusing. But for some reason, it doesn’t. Maybe it’s just the fact that, as the story becomes more and more predictable, the imagery gets more delirious. And that eye-popping sense of wonder actually helps mitigate the film’s more conventional elements. The too-cute-by-half contemporary pop songs played by street musicians, for example, feel somehow more surreal when done against such a crazed colorful backdrop; and the hero’s predictable journey through a visually florid underworld becomes something we anticipate, rather than just jadedly accept. The Book of Life may be all surface … but wow, what a surface.

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DVD & Streaming

The Book of Life

Animation , Comedy , Kids , Romance , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

October 17, 2014
Voices of Diego Luna as Manolo; Zoe Saldana as Maria; Channing Tatum as Joaquin; Ron Perlman as Xibalba; Kate del Castillo as La Muerte; Christina Applegate as Mary Beth; Ice Cube as Candle Maker

Home Release Date

January 27, 2015
Jorge R. Gutierrez

Distributor

20th Century Fox

Movie Review

There aren’t many cheerful children’s tales about death. But Mary Beth, a museum tour guide, has one to tell.

You see, she’s regaling a bunch of rowdy kids with a story about the Día de los Muertos , the Day of the Dead. It’s a Mexican holiday, she tells them, a magical occasion when the spirits of the departed return to earth to receive gifts and remembrances from their still-living family members. And if the living fondly recall those ancestors and celebrate their lives, then the dead get to keep spending their afterlife in the Land of the Remembered—a colorful place of joy and revelry. But if those who’ve passed on are remembered no more, then they’re relegated to the not-so-pleasant, dark and crumbling Land of the Forgotten.

And that’s what Mary Beth’s story is all about.

Well, kinda .

It’s also about three beloved friends—Maria, Manolo and Joaquin—who have known one another since childhood. Of course, as they grow older, it’s no surprise when both of the boys fall in love with pretty Maria. And on the Day of the Dead celebration, those handsome gents—one square-jawed and courageous, the other sensitive and true—vie for the hand of the one they love most.

And that’s what Mary Beth’s story is about … almost .

It’s also the tale of La Muerte and Xibalba, two powerful deities who oversee the Lands of the Remembered and the Forgotten. On the Day of the Dead these gods place bets on who Maria will choose as her beloved. But, of course, the devilishly deceitful Xibalba can’t help but cheat a bit to tilt the odds in his favor.

How so, you ask?

Well, it involves a special medal of everlasting life, and Maria’s very existence is threatened, and one of our brave heroes is killed, which necessitates impassioned treks of love through both the Land of the Remembered and the Land of the Forgotten, and then there are ghostly ancestors and attacking banditos and …

That’s still not all Mary Beth’s story is about!

Positive Elements

Maria, Manolo and Joaquin are true-blue friends. Even when Manolo and Joaquin are contending with each other to win Maria’s hand, they rarely lose sight of their undergirding friendship. They also fight for what is right and save those around them. In fact, in a final battle with banditos attacking a town, each man puts his life on the line to save the other’s.

Manolo is also willing to speak up about the things he believes to be wrong. In the face of his father’s demands that he carry on the family’s bullfighting tradition, Manolo makes it clear that he won’t kill a bull in the ring. He’s no wimp here and is actually quite talented with that red cape, but he’d rather sing a song than take a sword to the animal, and twice he does just that.

As the movie unfolds, we learn more about Manolo’s difficult relationship with his father, all of which is related to the family’s legacy as champion bullfighters. When Manolo refuses to take up the full mantle of that legacy, his father essentially disowns him. As Manolo proves his courage and worthiness, however, he earns back his father’s respect. His dad eventually tells him, “I should have been a better father. I am very sorry.”

Maria, meanwhile, is a self-sacrificial sort, too. Not only does she step up to fight for the townspeople, she pushes one person out of the way and takes a snake bite in his stead. She’s also willing to put “duty before her heart” when her father asks her to marry someone for the sake of protecting the town.

From start to finish, The Book of Life emphasizes having a good, pure heart. Manolo is told, “May your heart always be pure and courageous.” The movie ends with La Muerta saying, “Love, true love, the really, really good kind of love, never dies.”

Spiritual Elements

“What’s with Mexicans and death?” asks one of the school kids as he hears about the Day of the Dead and the many people who die in the tour guide’s story. It’s a good question. And another one might be, “What’s with the theology of this film?”

More so than many (if not most) animated movies, The Book of Life presents an elaborate set of ancient ideas with regard to life, death and the afterlife, a worldview that in Mexican culture is largely descended from Aztec roots. A person’s experience of the afterlife isn’t linked so much to what he did or believed while he was alive. Instead, it’s closely connected to whether or not his descendants still remember and revere him. The playing out of that critical concern goes a long way toward determining which of two very different afterlife fates someone experiences—and keeps experiencing. In the Land of the Remembered, a constant colorful fiesta takes place. As for the Land of the Forgotten, it’s a dark and bleak destination where dead souls blow away like ashes in a breeze.

One of our heroes gets bitten by a poisonous, two-headed snake (one on each end), after which he ends up traveling through these two very different underworld realms. There he meets up with many of his skeletal ancestors. He also meets the Candle Maker, a godlike being who’s said to be the balancing deity between the two realms of the dead. In his Cave of Souls, the Candle Maker points to millions of glowing candles he’s created—each one representing a living soul. He says he doesn’t have the power to interfere in the workings of the Land of the Remembered and the Land of the Forgotten, but becuase it’s the Day of the Dead, he can “bend the rules” a bit.

La Muerte and Xibalba, meanwhile, are two mini-gods, married deities who rule over their respective underworld kingdoms. They can also magically manipulate things in the real world (Xibalba turns his staff into a snake and both disguise themselves as humans, for instance). We hear (as La Muerte and Xibalba make their wager) that these gods have quite different takes on humanity. La Muerte believes humankind is good and noble and pure, while Xibalba believes people are corruptible and susceptible to temptation when it comes to getting what they want. To some extent, they’re both shown to be right, though good triumphs over evil in the end.

When the Candle Maker shows Manolo his page in the Book of Life, it’s blank. That prompts the godlike being to tell Manolo, “You didn’t live the life that was written for you. You’re living your own story,” a message that hints at the age-old tension between predestination and free will. The result? Manolo must do battle with a monstrous amalgamation of all the bulls his ancestors ever killed. Instead of fighting the creature, however, he sings a song, calms the raging beast and asks for its forgiveness. Similarly, Xibalba eventually asks his wife for forgiveness for centuries of devious behavior.

One scene involves townspeople gathering around altars and gravesites, praying for lost relatives as the ghostly forms of their ancestors hover nearby. A number of people from the Land of the Remembered are given flesh once again in the real world. Eventually, the story suggests that no one is ever truly dead and gone unless they move into the Land of the Forgotten.

A Catholic priest and a trio of nuns are prominent members of the town. Characters cross themselves. As a young girl, Maria is said to have been sent away to the Convent of the Perpetual Flame of Purity.

Sexual Content

Though all of this fable’s characters are represented as wooden marionette-like figures, some of them—including Maria and La Muerte—still show their curves. Maria and Manolo kiss, as do La Muerte and Xibalba (behind the cover of her oversized hat). A mariachi band member suggests Manolo woo Maria with the Rod Stewart song “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” He croons, “If you want my body/And you think I’m sexy/Come on, sugar, let me know” as he wiggles his wooden backside. Another song includes the lyric, “I live for your touch.”

Violent Content

When Mary Beth tells of both Maria and Manolo being bitten by poisonous snakes, a young listener cries out, “What kind of story is this? We’re just kids!” And it is of special concern, actually, that Manolo so willingly gives up his life for the sole purpose of pursuing the love of his life into the afterlife.

In all of the many melees in this tale—between humans and large animals and townspeople and large banditos—the violence is bloodless. (These folks are made of wood, after all.) But there is quite a lot of violence (and death) here, and at times various battles can get intense. Joaquin is given a magical medal that keeps him from dying. So even when he is pummeled and beaten—which happens several times—he’s not harmed. Later, the medal changes hands repeatedly, always protecting its wearer. In one case, an individual is caught in a deadly explosion with a bomb-wielding bandito, only to find that he was secretly given the medal and is unscathed.

Confrontations with rampaging bulls are kinda scary at times; threatening flames leap from the body of one massive bull in the underworld. The banditos, and especially their oversized leader, Chakal, are threatening-looking fellows who bellow and smash their opponents with mighty blows. One of Manolo’s skeletal ancestors runs into a large wall and breaks into pieces. For a while he is just a talking skull, until he gets his body back.

Crude or Profane Language

Someone meanly labels another person a “misbegotten son of a leper’s donkey.” We hear the exclamation “kick his butt!” Speaking about a huge bull, somebody says, “Man, this is a whole lotta bull.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Drinking from goblets is a normal thing at the colorful parties that are thrown. A member of Manolo’s mariachi band staggers a bit while admitting that he and his friends have visited four different bars … twice.

Other Negative Elements

Xibalba’s somewhat menancing appearance (part bat, part cat) might make for nighmare fodder. The same could be said of those menancing bulls we’ve been talking about.

A boy hawking churros is surprised when a passing bird poops on the food, but in a blink he shifts from calling out “Churros!” to “Frosted churros!” A goat defecates.

There is, as mentioned, wagering and cheating going on. We hear a snippet of Radiohead’s song “Creep,” which boasts the line, “I’m a creep/I’m a weirdo/I don’t belong here.”

From a movie-loving perspective, this is a pic chock-full of fun stuff for a young audience. There’s cartoony bullfighting, bandito besting, and beloved balladeering. The animated characters are cute and colorful. And the vibrant Mexican folk-art world in which they live is visually stunning.

On top of all that, the romantic triangle at the story’s center is bursting with nobility, with both suitors being friendly good guys and their love interest being a spunky, self-assured heroine herself. And through all of the heroes’ derring-do, this rollicking story gives a big thumbs-up to sincerity and self-sacrificial love. It’s the kind of solid cinematic sojourn that kept me as involved as the kids around me. At one point, in fact, a youngster near me in the theater couldn’t contain himself and piped up, “Yes! The bad guys lose!”

But looking at things from a more contemplative angle brings the film’s central spiritual issues into focus—most notably the tradition of the Day of the Dead and its accompanying theological wanderings.

The film sets up this ghostly reunion day—featuring altars and prayers for the dead, multiple afterlife worlds, wagering overlords and a godlike Candle Maker—as something light, cheery and playful. But in the real world, it’s a pagan pageant (occasionally fused with bits of Catholicism) that’s still earnestly practiced, and not just in Mexico. It’s a celebration that promotes communion with (and in some cases even worship of) the dead—practices repeatedly and roundly condemned in the Bible.

That’s obviously a lot less cheery and playful.

Should such a conundrum be avoided altogether by families, or can the ideas (the very good ones right along with the misleading ones) in a movie like this be navigated with conversation and engagement? The answer in this case (due in some measure to the absence of any sort of extreme content) can actually be yes to both sides of that question. But families that choose to go for it will certainly need to tread carefully and with intentional attention given to discussing the core issues of death and salvation, heaven and hell, and how the Bible’s truth about them differs in so many radical ways with this vibrantly animated adventure’s take.

Adam R. Holz

After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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The Book of Life (2014) Review

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Numbers animated feature.

The “Day of the Dead” or translated in Spanish as “ Dia de Muertos ” is a Mexican holiday where family and friends gather together and pay tribute and remembrance to those loved ones who have passed on. Taking place on November 1 st – November 2 nd , this celebration is a spiritual one, honoring the dead with personal altars ( ofrendas ) with photos, candles, flowers, and food. 20 th Century Fox studios and Reel FX Animation Studios takes an animated spin on this premise with the film The Book of Life . Does the film deserve a glance or should it be banished to Land of the Forgotten?

Told by a museum tour guide named Mary Beth (Christina Applegate) to a group of detention kids, The Book of Life explores the story of childhood friends Manolo (Diego Luna), a bully fighter, and Joaquin (Channing Tatum), a decorated military officer, and their competition to win over the beautiful Maria (Zoe Saldana). Unbeknownst to the trio, Xibalba (Ron Perlman), King of the Land of the Forgotten, makes a wager with La Muerte (Kate del Castillo), Queen of the Land of the Remembered, on which childhood friend would win Maria’s heart. La Muerte chooses Manolo as Xibabla chooses Joaquin. With Manolo gaining more favor with Maria’s affection than Joaquin, Xibabla, fearing losing to La Muerte, begins to meddle, forcing Manolo to face perilous trials in the underworld as he builds up courage to return home and pledge his love to Maria, while stopping a band of marauders led by the evil Chakal (Dan Navarro) from desolating their town.

THE GOOD / THE BAD

Jorge R. Gutierrez makes his directorial debut with The Book of Life , though attaching filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro’s name to the movie as a producer does boost the appeal of viewing the movie. Reel FX Animation Studios, the animation house behind the flop animated movie Free Birds, brings Gutierrez vision to life with incredible detail. While most animated features, especially those that come from DreamWorks and Pixar, go for a more impressionable “matted” look of photo-realism, The Book of Life carries a different swagger; presenting its characters and its world with stylized caricatures that look similar to Mexican wooden figurines. The result is impressive. Fantastic and distinctive visuals with vibrant colors are everywhere, delivering an animated film (That only had a budget of roughly 50 million) that surely does look different from other animated competitions.

Interestingly, the film explores Mexican heritage with the “Day of the Dead” holiday. It touches on the sensitive subject of death and the remembrance of loves ones who are gone, but in a cartoonish and kid friendly approach (Which is great for addressing these points to youngsters). The film’s major downfall is in its narrative and plot elements. It presents a clever first act, setting up events and explaining the world and its characters, but becomes a traditional (Or perhaps a conventional) animated “Hero Journey” feature film. A love triangle relationship where one of the two guys is the obviously the right one, while the other isn’t quite. It’s a scenario that’s been played out before and unfortunately The Book of Life doesn’t change it. The characters are endearing enough, but so much so not to overlook the formulaic “paint by numbers” plot the movie plays out.

Lending their voices to this animated feature is a cast of several well-known actors and actresses. Diego Luna as Manolo is perfect, offering a charm, and innocence to the character, while Zoe Saldana as Maria has a right mixture of attitude and feminine sweetness. Channing Tatum as Joaquin, however, is a little jarring and a little off, using his more natural voice in a movie where most of the other cast members use a Mexican accent (Whether authentic or emulating one). The same can be said with Ice Cube’s performance of The Candle Maker, a large-than-life spiritual deity. It just doesn’t seem to completely mesh well with the rest of the cast.

That being said, the two other spiritual deities fare much better. Both Kate de Castillo as La Muerte and Ron Perlman as Xibabla seem to be having fun doing their respective roles (A godly romance of love and hate) and honestly seems a little intriguing more so than the film’s love triangle. Other notable voice talents, in minor and supporting roles, include Hector Elizondo as Manolo father’s Carlos Sanchez, Cheech Martin as Pancho Rodriguez, Gabriel Iglesias as Pepe Rodriguez, Danny Trejo as Skeleton Luis, and Christina Applegate as Mary Beth, bookending the beginning and ending of the film.

Lastly, the film has a unique approach of incorporating songs with a mariachi / Latin flavor to them, interjecting songs from modern artist like Radiohead and Mumford & Sons to older artist like Rod Stewart and Elvis Presley. It’s also worth mentioning that both Diego Luna Zoe Saldana also provide their own singing for the film. (Both are pretty good for not being professionally singers).

FINAL THOUGHTS

Mexican folklore and animation collided in The Book of Life . Jorge R. Gutierrez’s cartoon feature is a dazzling and visual colorful that carries an intriguing premise of celebrating the Mexican “Day of the Dead” heritage in a safe and kid friendly atmosphere. Unfortunately, it’s conventional plot and narrative elements weigh the feature down, finding its place just out of reach from other giants of animation (DreamWorks and Pixar). Still, despite its shortcomings, The Book of Life was entertaining and enjoyable to watch, offering heart, charm, and a feast for the eyes to filmgoers everywhere.

3.8 out of 5 (Recommend / Rent It)

Released on: october 17th, 2014, reviewed on: october 29th, 2014.

The Book of Life is 95 minutes long and is rated PG for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images

The Book Of Life Review

24 Oct 2014

Book Of Life, The

Though he serves only as producer, Guillermo del Toro’s fingerprints seem to be all over this animated romantic-comedy woven around the Mexican Day Of The Dead. Childhood friends Manolo (Diego Luna) and Joaquin (Channing Tatum) both love Maria (Zoe Saldana), and their romantic rivalry has caught the eyes of Xibalba (Ron Perlman) and La Muerte (Kate del Castillo), rulers of the two kingdoms of the dead, who take bets on the victor. The lively story is animated in an appealing wooden-puppet style, and while the script doesn’t zing as much as the colourful visuals, it’s cute and likable.

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The Book of Life Deals More in Death and Questionable Truth

Susan Ellingburg Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
Updated Jan 30, 2015

<i>The Book of Life</i> Deals More in Death and Questionable Truth

DVD Release Date: January 27, 2015 Theatrical Release Date: October 17, 2014 Rating: PG for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy Run Time: 95 minutes Director: Jorge R. Gutierrez Cast: Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum, Christina Applegate, Ice Cube, Kate del Castillo, Ron Perlman, Cheech Marin, Hector Elizondo, Danny Trejo, Placido Domingo

"What is it with Mexicans and death?" This question posed by one of the characters in The Book of Life may resonate with audiences wondering the same thing. This brightly-colored, festive film is full of humor, charming characters, and some interesting life lessons... but quite a lot of it is about death and what happens after death (which does not resemble anything you’ll find in the Bible).

It’s The Day of the Dead when group of young students has their museum field trip hijacked by a tour guide for a "special" tour. In Mexico, she says, this is the day families visit cemeteries to leave offerings on the altars of the graves of their dearly departed. Or as director Jorge R. Gutierrez puts it, “The core belief behind The Day of the Dead is that as long as you remember those who came before you... they're with you. They live inside your heart."

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This takes us to Maria ( Zoe Saldana , Avatar ) and her two best buds Manolo ( Diego Luna , The Terminal ) and Joaquin ( Channing Tatum , 22 Jump Street ). Maria's a high-spirited chica who's more apt to lead the charge than wait to be rescued. Her antics force her exasperated father to send her off to school in Europe. While Maria's away learning to be a lady (with her pet pig in tow) her erstwhile suitors have their own educations to see to. Manolo comes from a long line of famous bullfighters and has the natural ability to be the best of them... if he can just bring himself to finish off a bull. Manolo would rather make music than be a matador, but his proud father ( Hector Elizondo , Music Within ) is having none of that. Meanwhile, his buddy Joaquin follows his own father's footsteps to become the town champion, with a mighty mustache and a chest full of medals to prove it. What the town doesn’t know is that Joaquin's success is due in part to the "medal of everlasting life" given to him by Xibalba, who is backing Joaquin to win his bet and is not above cheating to guarantee success.

Back at the museum the tour guide brings out wooden dolls to act out the story, so when they come to life onscreen the characters are appropriately wooden in looks. It's a nice twist on the usual smooth-faced animated characters. There are some nice effects including swords put to good use as mirrors in pivotal moments. It certainly sounds like the entire cast is having a marvelous time; Tatum was particularly delightful as the heroic Joaquin (with a heroic mustache!) who eventually learns true heroism does not require supernatural assistance.

The plot tends to wander into tangents and even at 95 minutes the film felt too long. But the overall impression is a lively, funny, sweet tale about being true to yourself and your calling. Unfortunately, the theology/mythology surrounding the story will make it problematic for parents trying to instill biblical truth in their young children.

CAUTIONS (may contain spoilers):

Drugs/Alcohol: Several characters are shown drinking and drunk; one admits "we've been to four bars."
Language/Profanity: None noted
Sex/Nudity: La Muerte uses some mildly seductive moves to get Xibalba to do what she wants; a few kisses
Violent/Frightening/Intense: There are skulls and ghosts; a boy walks into a crypt; in bullfighting scenes both man and beast are in peril;at least half the characters are dead; the town is in danger from bandits; multiple fights; a magical, poisonous snake bites people.
Spiritual Themes: "All the world is made of stories and all the stories are in here," "Here" being The Book of Life which is said to contain "truth" even though some of the stories may not be true. In this world the afterlife is ruled over by ancient gods who place wagers on the activities of humans (and cheat to try and win the bet) and one's eternal destination is determined by how memorable you are. There's nothing much that resembles a biblical point of view, at least from a Protestant-evangelical frame of reference.

Publication date: October 17, 2014

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The Book of Life—Movie Review

The Book of Life is one of the most unusual animated films I’ve ever seen; its characters and settings inspired by Mexican folk art and its story drawn from the mythology surrounding The Day of the Dead. Merging that concept with the rapid-punchline humor we’re accustomed to seeing in Hollywood cartoon features is unsettling at times, but kids probably won’t mind the mashup. What won me over was the striking look of the picture, especially the way its characters are depicted as hand-carved wooden figures. My hat’s off to director/co-writer/character designer Jorge R. Gutierrez (of the popular animation series El Tigre) for realizing his vision—with more than a little help (I suspect) from producer Guillermo del Toro. (Gutierrez’s wife, Sandra Equihua, shares credit for character design.)

Courtesy of 20th Century Fox Aimation

Stripped of its unusual trappings, the story outline is comfortably familiar: two boys and a girl grow up as the closest of friends. As young adults, they must follow their destiny. Manolo (Diego Luna) will continue his family tradition as a bullfighter, even though he is opposed to killing and much prefers to play his guitar. Joaquin (Channing Tatum) is destined to be the hero of his village and protect the community from a deadly bandit. Maria (Zoë Saldana) loves them both, but is no damsel in distress: she’s a modern woman in every respect.

Unbeknownst to this trio, their lives are being watched over by two powerful spirits. From the Land of the Remembered, La Muerte (Kate del Castillo) roots for the good-hearted Manolo, while her unscrupulous husband Xibalba (Ron Perlman), who presides over the Land of the Forgotten, contrives ways for the macho Joaquin to triumph. What they can’t anticipate is that the would-be heroes are willing to die for their principles, and for the woman they love.

Courtesy of 20th Century Fox Animation

Death plays a huge role in The Book of Life, and while Mexican beliefs and traditions are well explained, the accumulation is a bit daunting. The film becomes dense and convoluted at times. I wouldn’t want to have to explain each step of the story to a youngster, nor would I want to test a non-Latino child’s ability to accept the ideas of death and redemption.

Aware of this, the director and his co-writer (Doug Langdale) pepper the script with jokes—lots and lots of jokes—and provide a highly relatable framework for the entire story, as a savvy tour guide (Christina Applegate) takes a group of smart-alecky school kids on a museum tour that introduces them to the Day of the Dead. A lively music score by Gustavo Santaolalla features some new songs and humorous interpolations of vintage pop hits.

I can’t predict how audiences will respond to The Book of Life, but I doubt if anyone will be bored. It’s a distinctive film and a notable achievement, even if its disparate elements don’t always blend in the smoothest way. I’ll be eager to see what Gutierrez and his colleagues at Dallas’ ReelFX Animation Studios cook up next—especially if they continue their association with del Toro.

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Movie Review: ‘The Book of Life’

“Where am I?” asks Manolo (voiced by Diego Luna). “Welcome to the land of the remembered. Don’t try to take it all in at once,” replies a ‘remembered soul’. The afterlife is nothing but parties and fiestas, and Manolo has just arrived after being tricked by Xibalba (voiced by Ron Perlman), the ruler of the land of the forgotten in the animated comedy/adventure The Book of Life .

Ever since they were young children Manolo and his best friend Joaquin (voiced by Channing Tatum) have both been in love with Maria (voiced by Zoe Saldana). Growing up, Joaquin followed in his deceased father’s footsteps and became a military leader and hero of his village. Manolo also followed in his own father’s footsteps and became a bullfighter, even though his true passion is playing guitar and being a musician. Unbeknownst to the two young men, two spirits – La Muerte (voiced by Kate del Castillo) and Xibalba – who are in charge of the afterlife worlds (The Land of the Remembered and The Land of the Forgotten) have made a bet on who will marry Maria for their own amusement.

Competing for her attention and her heart, both Joaquin and Manolo put their best foot forward and try to win her love. It soon becomes clear that even though she cares for both of them Maria is falling for Manolo. This upsets Xibalba who bet on Joaquin winning Maria’s heart, so breaking the rules of the wager Xibalba interferes and tricks Manolo into believing Maria is dead. Heartbroken and lost, Manolo wishes to do anything to be with his true love and once again Xibalba intervenes and causes Manolo to die, thus sending him to The Land of the Forgotten.

Once there, Manolo quickly learns that Maria is still alive and heartbroken over his death and is being comforted by Joaquin who’s sure to marry her now. Realizing he was tricked and Xibalba is to blame, Manolo heads out on a quest to find La Muerte and ask for her help to give him life again and reunite him with his lady love.

Visually breathtaking, the humorous The Book of Life is a dazzling, colorful, and fun adventure which will entertain the entire family. It has an effective voice cast with Diego Luna as the lovesick musician Manolo who can’t make it as a bull fighter because he’s unwilling to kill the bull. Channing Tatum does a great job bringing to life Joaquin, the brave hero of the little village who’s more in love with himself than Maria but still has real feelings of friendship towards Manolo.

Ron Perlman brings just the right amount of charm and menace in his vocal portrayal of the dark spirit Xibalba who keeps forgetting the only real reason he keeps making wagers with the beautiful La Muerte is to have an excuse to be near her and interact with her. Ice Cube is hilarious as the voice and personality of the spirit called Candle Maker who bridges the two spirit worlds and aids Manolo on his quest to regain his life again.

The film also has just the right mix of action, silly humor, and clever one-liners to entertain both children and adults. There are also some great themes and lessons for kids about love, friendship, family, self-sacrifice, and believing in yourself without ever getting preachy or trite.

The Book of Life looks gorgeous with its bright, lush colors, wooden-looking characters and stunning animation. The only flaw is the underuse of the 3D effects, making it unnecessary to pay extra to see the movie in that format.

A true visual delight and very funny, The Book of Life is an adventure sure to be fun for children ages 7-70.

The Book of Life is rated PG for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images.

– Reviewed by Kevin Finnerty

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The Book of Life Parent Guide

If depictions of the dead aren't an issue for you, "the book of life" may be a refreshing celebration of family as well as a fun look at mexican traditions..

In this colorful animation, a contest for the hand of the lovely Maria (voice of Zoe Saldana) goes awry when those in the world of the dead interfere with her two suitors, Joaquin and Manolo (voices of Channing Tatum and Diego Luna).

Release date October 17, 2014

Run Time: 97 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by rod gustafson.

Manolo (voice of Diego Luna) is a young man torn between a desire to please his father and a burning need to chart his own course. He is a Sanchez, and in his small Mexican town the family is known for their bull fighting skills. Manolo is no slouch in the bullring, as he dances and maneuvers deftly around the animal. However when the moment arrives when he should kill the bovine, he refuses, feeling there is no need to take its life. His father and the rest of the townsfolk view his lack of aggression as a weakness. Making matters worse, Manolo’s “big dream” isn’t to be a bullfighter, but to be a musician. He’d much rather be making music on his guitar—a precious gift from his childhood sweetheart Maria (voice of Zoe Saldana).

Maria has been away in Spain for the past few years. Her return to the village has reignited the passions within both Manolo and another of her grade school chums, Joaquin (voice of Channing Tatum). The latter is a decorated war hero. Unfortunately their affections have left the señorita tired of the increasing jealously that taints their friendship. Even more troubling is Maria’s father. He wants his daughter to accept Joaquin’s hand in marriage because the commitment will ensure the local golden boy will stay and protect the community from a band of marauders.

Considering the number of characters and plotlines this production juggles within its hour-and-a-half of runtime, it manages to keep audiences engaged and chuckling. The tone of this animation is far more focused on the positive attributes of honoring those who have passed, than on ghoulish imagery—although we do have one ancestor who loses his head for a scene or two. There is also some mild violence, with most hits and punches taking place off-screen, although we do see one punch to the head. Other moments of peril including characters bitten by a snake.

Obviously, if you feel uncomfortable with depictions of the dead (many of whom are played here as ghost-like beings in the afterlife), then this title might be one to avoid. If that isn’t an issue, The Book of Life’s colorful imagery and marionette-style animation may be a refreshing celebration of family, as well as a fun look at Mexican traditions. It imparts messages about selflessness as the greatest attribute of a hero, and offers a great example of forgiveness that allows two enemies to work together. It will also likely leave you craving some churros by the time you leave the theater.

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Rod Gustafson

The book of life rating & content info.

Why is The Book of Life rated PG? The Book of Life is rated PG by the MPAA for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images.

Violence: References are made to death in a fantasy context. Frequent mild peril and threat to main characters, with some frightening detail. Infrequent portrayals of hand-to-hand and weapons violence in a slapstick context. One direct punch to the head is seen on screen. Bullfights are portrayed, but we do not see the bull being stabbed or killed. School-aged kids make derogatory age-related comments toward an elderly man.

Sexual Content: A woman uses her femininity to manipulate a man. Two boys are obviously fond of the same girl.

Language: Some name-calling and a vague scatological reference are included.

Alcohol / Drug Use: A group of secondary characters appear inebriated and one makes a joke about visiting four bars.

Page last updated July 17, 2017

The Book of Life Parents' Guide

According to the website www.celebrate-day-of-the-dead.com , the Day of the Dead “serves as a positive affirmation of the cycle of life and death, allowing people to reconnect with the spirits of their loved ones on the Other Side”. How do you honor your ancestors? Why is it important to remember those who have passed on before us?

Can you think of other movies that represent Mexico? Is the depiction similar or different from this one? How might our views of other countries be distorted by popular culture? How can we learn about life in other parts of the world, aside from travelling there?

Learn more about the holiday, The Day of the Dead .

The most recent home video release of The Book of Life movie is January 27, 2015. Here are some details…

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Anything touched by PJ Harvey is bound to be worth the trouble; even better, Hartley has made one of his better, least grating films.

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Hartley always underplays things, even when the world's about to end.

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The Book of Life (2014)

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The Book of Life M ovie Review

The Book of Life is a 2014 animated musical fantasy film directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez and starring Diego Luna . It is an undeniably messy, but authentic and dazzling feature.

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“ What’s with Mexicans and death! “

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In a bid to save the love of his life, Manolo sacrifices himself and is transported to the Land of the Remembered , where he reunites with his dead ancestors and strives to get his life back. This movie came out three years before ‘Coco’ , and although it’s not quite similar in terms of quality to that movie, it came close enough. And it was released first, so we have to admire it for its originality.

The film celebrates Mexican culture wonderfully. It is a great homage to their traditions and especially the Day of the Dead . The movie honors the diseased as well as the living while pinpointing that those who passed away never quite leave us. It’s a moving story in that regard, though it rarely reached the depth and the sophistication that this difficult subject matter requires.

My main issue with this flick is the screenplay. It’s very pedestrian. Where it does succeed is in the ancient storytelling tropes and techniques that make it timeless and a great way to honor the Mexican stories of old, but where it doesn’t succeed is in updating the source material to modern times with the pop-culture references being particularly annoying and unnecessary. The overall story is predictable in its turns and most of the beats and it’s a frustratingly straightforward take on a unique world that deserved more authenticity in the script.

Diego Luna is very good as Manolo , who is the protagonist of the picture. He is a standard hero of these stories as he doesn’t want to bullfight, but to make music. Maria is the love interest, but at least she is a more proactive and feminist take on that tired trope. Joaquin is the closest friend to Manolo and the two share a great dynamic, but the love triangle was tiresome. Xibalba and La Muerte are the only really interesting personalities here and it’s a shame that the movie did not deal more with these supernatural and mythological entities as they stole the show from the heroes themselves.

The Book of Life’s highlight is obviously the animation. It is so meticulously detailed and so refreshing for a CGI feature to have such odd and unique character designs in particular. The designs are so authentic, in fact, that they perfectly complemented its setting and its time period. The backgrounds are colorful and gorgeous while the effects made the movie really pop throughout. Yes, one can certainly argue that these angular, slender figures would have fit better within the realm of stop-motion and they would be right, but it was still great that we got a computer animated flick that looks different than any other American CGI film out there.

This film is a musical and its soundtrack is a fittingly lively tribute to Mexican music. Although too many numbers here are your standard American -sounding pop tunes, the ones that are more culturally authentic are I Will Wait and The Ecstasy of Gold , both featuring sounds and tones that are different and more traditional. It’s a shame that these audio-visuals weren’t accompanied by stronger dialogue as it’s rather simplistic. The pacing is also too frenetic with too much action. But still, the authenticity of this picture made it triumph over its many flaws.

While the storytelling is anything but original, the subject matter and audio-visuals made The Book of Life quite unique. This is a film about Mexican culture that honors that culture wonderfully thanks to incredibly unique CGI animation and a fittingly traditional, lively soundtrack. The characters are only okay and the story is mostly too rote, but the moving themes and colorful aesthetic made it a treat to watch.

My rating – 4.

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The Book of Life

Annie awards.

Ron Perlman, Christina Applegate, Ice Cube, Hector Elizondo, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Plácido Domingo, Kathy Griffin, Scott Adsit, Carlos Alazraqui, Kristen Alderson, Kristen Ariza, Kate del Castillo, Grey Griffin, Eugenio Derbez, Walt Dohrn, Ana de la Reguera, Gabriel Iglesias, Diego Luna, Danny Mann, Angélica María, Mike Mitchell, Zoe Saldana, Miguel Sandoval, Peter Sohn, Aron Warner, Eric Bauza, Ben Gleib, Sandra Equihua, Channing Tatum, Jorge R. Gutiérrez, Dan Navarro, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Ryan Potter, Emil-Bastien Bouffard, Gunnar Sizemore, Genesis Ochoa, Trey Bumpass, Ricardo El Mandril Sanchez, Ishan Sharma, Elijah Rodriguez, Kristen Phaneuf, Kennedy Peil, and Callahan Clark in The Book of Life (2014)

Best Animated Feature

Outstanding Achievement in Animated Effects in an Animated Production
Augusto Schillaci
Erich Turner
Bill Konersman
Chris Rasch
N. Joseph Burnette

Outstanding Achievement in Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
Paul Sullivan
Sandra Equihua
Jorge R. Gutiérrez
Outstanding Achievement in Directing in an Animated Feature Production
Outstanding Achievement in Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Simon Valdimir Varela

Critics Choice Awards

Casting society of america, usa.

Outstanding Achievement in Casting - Animation Feature
Christian Kaplan

Golden Globes, USA

Best Animated Feature Film

Satellite Awards

Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media

Image Awards (NAACP)

Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
Zoe Saldana

Imagen Foundation Awards

Best Supporting Actress - Feature Film
Kate del Castillo
Best Picture

Best Actor - Feature Film
Best Actress - Feature Film

Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA

Best Sound Editing - Animated Feature
Scott Martin Gershin (supervising sound editor, sound designer)
Stephen P. Robinson (sound designer)
Margit Pfeiffer (supervising dialogue editor, supervising adr editor)
Dan O'Connell (foley artist)
John T. Cucci (foley artist)
Tim Walston (sound effects editor)
Scott Wolf (sound effects editor)
Masanobu 'Tomi' Tomita (sound effects editor)
Peter Zinda (sound effects editor)
Charlie Campagna (sound effects editor)
Christopher T. Welch (dialogue editor, adr editor)
Julie Feiner (dialogue editor, adr editor)
Jessie Pariseau (sound effects editor, dialogue editor)
Charles Martin Inouye (supervising music editor)

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures
Brad Booker
Guillermo del Toro

World Soundtrack Awards

Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film
Gustavo Santaolalla (music by)
Paul Williams (lyrics by)
Diego Luna (performed by)

Visual Effects Society Awards

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Sean Ryan McEwan
Jeff Masters

Black Reel Awards

Outstanding Voice Performance

Central Ohio Film Critics Association

Best Animated Film

Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards

St. louis film critics association, us, georgia film critics association (gafca), houston film critics society awards, hollywood music in media awards (hmma).

Best Original Score - Animated Film
Gustavo Santaolalla
Outstanding Music Supervision - Film
John Houlihan

Golden Schmoes Awards

Best Animated Movie of the Year

Behind the Voice Actors Awards

Best Female Lead Vocal Performance in a Feature Film

Best Male Vocal Performance in a Feature Film in a Supporting Role
Ron Perlman
Best Female Vocal Performance in a Feature Film in a Supporting Role

International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society's Creative Arts Awards

3D Feature - Animated

Guild of Music Supervisors Awards

Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Over 25 Million Dollars

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Eleanor Catton Wants Plot to Matter Again

By B. D. McClay

Toward the end of “Birnam Wood” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), the latest novel from the New Zealand writer Eleanor Catton, Rosie Demarney, an otherwise minor character, gets a moment in the spotlight. She has been presented with a series of facts that seem to add up to a humiliating conclusion: the guy she likes has blown her off to pursue an old flame. Her fears are only confirmed by the embarrassed gaze of her crush’s sister. At home, clinging to her self-respect by a thread, Rosie firmly tells herself that she “was not going to play the role that he had cast her in; she was not going to spend the evening in her sweatpants, getting drunk and stalking him pathetically online.” A beat, a line break, and then the inevitable: “But hell. Nobody was watching.”

By now, if readers of “Birnam Wood” have learned one thing, it’s that someone is always watching. Whether people are being spied on by the modern technologies of surveillance (Google, G.P.S., cell phones, drones, social media) or by the more ancient techniques of intimacy (marriage, friendship, family, gossip), they are never afforded the luxury of a purely private action, or of avoiding the roles that others have written for them.

“Birnam Wood” opens with a seemingly impersonal catastrophe: a landslide in New Zealand kills five people. From this disaster a complex and often shocking sequence of events unfolds. The Darvishes, the owners of a large farm near the accident, withdraw it from sale; this withdrawal comes to the attention of Mira Bunting, “aged twenty-nine, a horticulturalist by training, and the founder of an activist collective known among its members as Birnam Wood.” Mira had previously inquired about the listing under a false identity, and she decides to visit: Birnam Wood illegally plants gardens on unused land, and the farm seems an ideal target for expansion. While trespassing on the grounds, she meets a curt American stranger who knows too much about her, including her name. He is Robert Lemoine, the billionaire co-founder of Autonomo, a drone manufacturer.

He is also, as we quickly learn, though Mira does not, responsible for the landslide. It doesn’t trouble him much. “Five dead, in the scheme of things, was basically no dead at all,” he thinks. Lemoine is in New Zealand pretending to build a covert apocalypse bunker; to this end, he is purchasing the Darvish farm under conditions of total secrecy, so secret that the estate must seem not to be for sale at all. But his actual aims are much darker: Korowai, the national park that sits beside the farm, possesses rare-earth minerals, which if extracted will make Lemoine “the richest person who had ever lived.” In Mira, Lemoine sees a kindred spirit, but also a dupe. He can use Birnam Wood as another smoke screen, a way to launder his presence through a local, eco-friendly organization. He offers Mira access to the farm and a hundred thousand dollars, suspecting, correctly, that she’ll find both the financial security and his shadowy mystique irresistible.

Discover notable new fiction and nonfiction.

Much like the moment in pool when the cue ball breaks up the carefully assembled triangle, this encounter between Mira and Lemoine ends up affecting every other character in the book, even those who have no reason to know one another. The choices they make, to use and to be used, reverberate in ways you might expect only if the image of the five crushed landslide victims lingers as you read. All of the book’s major players get a chance to turn the tide of events in their favor. Shelley Noakes, Mira’s best friend and roommate, is stealthily seeking a way out of the collective, tired of playing the steady foil to her more volatile friend. The Darvishes—Sir Owen and his wife, Lady Darvish—view Lemoine’s incredible wealth with a mixture of disgust, awe, and desire, even as they conduct business with him. And, finally, there’s Tony Gallo, Rosie’s love interest, Mira’s ex- something , and a former member of Birnam Wood, who, in a paroxysm of barely sublimated sexual jealousy, has decided to write an exposé of Lemoine, and in so doing stumbles upon Lemoine’s mining operation.

All of these people think that, with a little luck, they can manipulate another party to their advantage—even when they know that the others think the same of them, even when they are plotting betrayals on the fly, even when some of their plans are immediate and abject failures. (When Shelley first encounters Tony, she thinks that he presents an easy way to end her friendship with Mira: she will simply seduce him. She does not succeed.) Like Rosie, they have no intention of merely playing a role that somebody else wrote for them. And, like Rosie, they end up doing it anyway.

We do not live in the golden age of plot, at least where literary fiction is concerned. Outside of what we might call high-genre books—the thrillers of Ruth Rendell, say, or the crime novels of Tana French—it’s rare for a literary novel to take its plot seriously. Instead, contemporary literary fiction largely concerns itself with other things: moods, problems, situations. Few people would dream of writing a novel without characters, but a novel without a plot is practically normal. When you speak of what a novel is about, you speak thematically—it’s about surveillance, or displacement, or heterosexuality, or something along these lines.

In a recent interview, Catton commented, somewhat blandly, that “the moral development of people in plotted novels where people make choices is fascinating and important. I’d like to see more books like that.” Her interest in plot as something that arises from human choice, and not just from the context in which those choices take place, means that her own plots take a sideways approach. Just as we are constantly summing up books as types, the characters in “Birnam Wood” are constantly summing up one another, often incorrectly. When Shelley tries to seduce Tony—who, after a sojourn in Mexico, had completely forgotten that she existed—he is overwhelmed by their similarities, “astonished that he could ever have forgotten someone so thoroughly simpatico as Shelley Noakes.” Catton adds, in a rare direct address to the audience:

It never crossed his mind that since she had not forgotten him , the personality that she revealed to him might very easily have been customised, the opinions tailored, the résumé adapted, to suit what she remembered of his interests and his taste; never dreaming that she might be flirting with him, he reflected only that there was something appealingly familiar in her candid warmth and air of frank and ready capability.

One of Catton’s favorite moves is to conclude a scene from one character’s perspective only to start the next scene from the perspective of an adjacent character—someone whom the first character got slightly wrong. Shelley’s frantic musing about how to confess to Mira her desire to leave Birnam Wood is undercut by our realization that Mira has divined this desire weeks earlier. Mira’s perception of their relationship is undercut when, worried that Shelley has already left, she gets out her phone to check a “location tracker app that they had both installed . . . and never used.” But Shelley, we happen to know, uses the app to keep tabs on Mira all the time. They share an understanding of their friendship—that Mira is the top dog and Shelley is the sidekick, and that Shelley is “smothered” by this dynamic—that may not be true at all, or not true in the way they think.

Unlike Donna Tartt, who uses plot as straightforwardly as Dickens, or Sally Rooney, who has remade the marriage plot for a post-marriage era, Catton lets her plots and their attendant stakes emerge from a general situation. Like her characters, we begin without a sense of what matters, and are often pointed in the wrong direction. Initially, “Birnam Wood” seems to have no aspirations beyond an exploration of young, white, left-wing radicalism and its accompanying guilt—the kind of book that is “about” the anxiety of being a good person under capitalism and/or climate change. Mira fantasizes about brutal deaths in order to punish herself for feeling insufficiently bad about them. (“She compelled herself to imagine being crushed and suffocated, holding the thought in her mind’s eye for several seconds.”) Tony wants to argue about identity politics. When Mira allies herself with Lemoine, agreeing, over Tony’s protests, to let him finance Birnam Wood, we think we know how this will go: some hand-wringing, followed by some form of sexual congress, followed by a shrug over the problems of selling out.

We are wrong. “Birnam Wood” ’s biggest twist is not so much a particular event as the realization that this is a book in which everything that people choose to do matters, albeit not in ways they may have anticipated. Catton has a profound command of how perceptions lead to choice, and of how choice, for most of us, is an act of self-definition. Take Mira, whose determination not to be typecast lends her a stubbornness that’s easily mistaken for strength of character. Like some of her friends, Mira assumes that Lemoine’s interest in her is sexual: indeed, she spends time first imagining a scenario in which she’s propositioned and, ice-cold, turns him down, then an alternative, deflationary scenario in which she sleeps with him to prove that she’s not a prude. Her need to be unpredictable makes her easy to manipulate—it wouldn’t be unfair to say that she takes Lemoine’s money to show that she’s more than an idealist. But this choice is not, ultimately, about her. It invites violence, both symbolically—Birnam Wood now runs on “blood money,” as Tony puts it—and, as the book goes on, quite literally. The idea that her choices could affect something other than her internal narrative doesn’t occur to Mira, because it doesn’t often occur to anybody.

Meanwhile, “Birnam Wood” ’s true turns are all carefully set up, as long as you’re focussing on the right details. But none of the characters pay attention to the right things; they all think their snap impressions tell them what they need to know. Even Lemoine’s canny manipulation of others relies on the kind of lie that looks like the truth: a bunker is what people will expect him to be hiding, so that’s what he must be hiding. Discovering that they live in a world of consequence, with stakes bigger than self-image or self-respect, is as much of a shock to the characters as it is to us. Congratulations, Catton seems to say, on being just smart enough to play yourself.

Catton’s own choices are not without their critics. In a review of her second novel, the Booker Prize-winning “The Luminaries,” a critic for the Guardian wrote that the book was “a massive shaggy dog story; a great empty bag; an enormous, wicked, gleeful cheat.” But “The Luminaries” does tell a real story—a story of fated lovers—that it reveals only by inches. This romance, which appears to transcend the limits of space, is so heartfelt as to be, when put in plain view, almost embarrassing. For most of the book, it’s obscured, and we spend the first five or six hundred pages meeting the many characters whose various, complex, and sometimes tragic lives are, in the end, merely secondary. We discover what all of this is about at the same time they do.

Although “The Luminaries” stretches this form of emergent storytelling to the breaking point—it might not be a cheat, but several hundred pages is a long time to spend on misdirection—it’s clear that Catton is trying both to revive plot as a literary mode and to consider what a story line looks like in our real, unplotted life, in which things reveal themselves to have a shape only in retrospect. This project appears in a more subdued form in “The Rehearsal,” Catton’s début novel, which begins with a scandal: a student and a teacher have been discovered in a sexual affair. Everything in “The Rehearsal” takes place in a realm of high artifice, characterized by people who are so exact in their speech that you’re terrified to contemplate what they might not be saying. “A film of soured breast milk clutches at your daughter like a shroud,” a saxophone teacher informs the mother of a student. “Do you hear me, with your mouth like a thin scarlet thread and your deflated bosom and your stale mustard blouse?”

No saxophone teacher, or human being, for that matter, has ever spoken anything even approaching these words, but the arch, direct tone re-creates the unsettling world of adolescence, and the murky nature of adult expectation, more precisely than realism could. We expect the “story” of “The Rehearsal” to be about the fallout from the student-teacher affair. But this is really the backdrop for the novel’s true story, which is how the saxophone teacher tries—and fails—to use her students to reënact the story of her own frustrated love for another woman, with a different, happier ending. She fails because she cannot control the students’ choices any more than she could those of her onetime friend.

This willingness to let characters be mistaken—really, lastingly mistaken—is another quality that emerges from Catton’s privileging of human choice. When Tony uncovers proof of Lemoine’s rare-earth mining, he draws reasonable but slightly incorrect conclusions, assuming that Lemoine must be conspiring with Sir Darvish instead of deceiving him. The only people who would be in a position to correct him don’t—and so he carries on with this not false, but not true, version of events to the end. When Rosie Demarney, alone in her apartment, succumbs to an evening of Internet-stalking Tony, she stumbles across evidence that he could be in danger. In a Dickens novel, a character like Rosie might turn out to be pivotal; she’d connect the dots and save the day. Instead, she leaves the story for good. Would you, after all, go on a wild chase for someone you’d just been drunkenly Googling in your sweatpants? Someone you didn’t really know? Would it even matter if you tried?

One of the tragedies that plot brings to light is the degree to which our inner lives and intentions can simply come to nothing—unrealized despite our best efforts, misunderstood and fruitless, as the story we played our part in generating goes on without us. It is only by elevating human choice that we can see how often our choices don’t matter, after all. Or maybe it would be better to say that our choices matter only unpredictably. There’s no way of knowing what will really count until later, and by then it’s too late. Better choose.

In the course of “Birnam Wood,” Lemoine hacks phones, infiltrates e-mail accounts, operates drones with spy cameras, and employs a team of covert operatives. In his relentless surveillance, he is half critic, half author, and, in his own estimation, a kind of god. Like Catton, he tricks people into seeing what they expect to see.

But surveillance isn’t reading, much less writing; it’s data captured without interpretation. Instead of characters, we get types; instead of principles, revealed preferences. “A marketing algorithm doesn’t see you as a human being,” Tony says at one point, having lost his temper with another member of Birnam Wood:

It sees you purely as a matrix of categories: a person who’s female, and heterosexual . . . and white, and university-educated, and employed, who has these kinds of friends and shares these kinds of articles and posts these kinds of pictures and makes these kinds of searches . . . . Identity politics, intersectionality, whatever you call it—it’s the exact same thing.

It must be true that people often are what, on the surface, they seem to be; if it weren’t, algorithms wouldn’t have much use at all. There’s a certain pleasure in being a known type. At one point, Lemoine notes how “being a cliché can be very useful,” as it makes other people “think they’ve seen all there is to see.” Lady Darvish, musing on her marriage, thinks that her husband “took a certain pride in being so predictable . . . for the simple reason that he loved to see her demonstrate how well she understood him.”

Here, though, the implication is that we can read people without reducing them to a type. Owen Darvish loves to watch his wife “take that caricature and refine it, improving the likeness, adding depth and subtlety, shading it in.” Although not an optimistic book, “Birnam Wood” suggests that the greatest spook technology of all remains human love, with all its presumptive qualities, and that no external approximation will ever beat it at its game. There are things you just won’t know about other people, even if you intercept every text and every e-mail, unless you have loved them for a long time. There are gambles you are willing to take, acts of heroism and trust you are willing to commit to, because you know that you know them.

As for whether those acts matter, “Birnam Wood,” like all good books, doesn’t supply an answer. Reading it, I was drawn to the question of who represents Macbeth, the king who would be defeated only when “Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him.” Macbeth is a character severed from choice. Prophecy, like a mystical surveillance system, keeps him blameless and safe: he is simply the man who is going to be king, and he does what he must do in order to preserve himself. In studying how much this or that person resembled him, I thought about ambition, deceit, paranoia, and unscrupulous ascension to power. I wondered who would be one of the witches, or, for that matter, Macduff. I wondered a lot of things—and yet it didn’t occur to me until the book’s final pages that the most significant attribute Macbeth possesses is something much more straightforward, at least where plot is concerned. Because Macbeth doesn’t understand what he’s told, because he lets prophecy make his choices for him, because he is at heart a cowardly man, when he’s faced with a certain human ingenuity, he loses. ♦

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‘The First Omen’ Review: The Days Before Damien

A prequel to the original franchise, this debut feature from Arkasha Stevenson is a thrilling mash-up of horror tropes that gives the story new life.

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An older nun rests her hand on a younger one's shoulder as they look with seriousness across a room.

By Brandon Yu

If the “Omen” franchise left us with memorable tropes — the boy Antichrist, lurking among us; those dreaded three repeated numbers — the content of the movies themselves did little else. The original horror trilogy, kicked off by “The Omen” in 1976 , never had the sticking power of other classics in popular consciousness, and a 2006 revamp came and went. What could another attempt, this time a prequel to a middling franchise, really offer?

In Arkasha Stevenson’s hands, it can take us on a pretty fun ride. “The First Omen” is about everything before Damien (a.k.a. the Antichrist incarnate), following Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), an American nun-to-be that is sent to an orphanage in 1971 Rome, where social mores are shifting and things quickly begin to get weird. It’s a period piece that Stevenson’s debut feature plumbs effectively, giving the story both scale and some nice compositional punches, while setting the stage for an often delightfully pulpy narrative (the Catholic Church is not so holy after all) to how the Antichrist came to be.

The film revels in mashing up familiar genres: the monster movie, body horror and the Gothic church thriller. But it injects a revitalizing juice into the franchise — smartly edited and well paced, with a good cinematic eye.

And most important, Free is a game partner to Stevenson’s vision. She naturally embodies the seemingly delicate innocence of young Margaret, a softness that, of course, must eventually harden against darker forces. Eventually she is taken over, her body jolting and writhing to something beyond her control in an arresting scene that gives the oft-discussed subway sequence from Andrzej Zulawski’s “Possession” a run for its money. It’s another familiar nod with just enough of its own delirium.

The First Omen Rated R for violent content, grisly images, and brief graphic nudity. Running time: 2 hours. In theaters.

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Back to Black, which follows singer’s life from early adulthood in Camden to her death in 2011, has been panned by some critics

After the controversy and a slew of negative reviews in the run-up to the release of the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black, Grace and her mum, Jetta, were apprehensive about coming to see the film.

“My daughter said to me: ‘Oh, I’ve heard really bad things about it.’ So I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like, but when it started, I thought she sounds like her, talks like her and she had the look,” Jetta says. “It wasn’t perfect but you can’t expect somebody to be Amy.”

While the pair, who described themselves as “Camden born and bred”, were pleasantly surprised, they thought the film glossed over bad parts of Winehouse’s life, particularly her relationships with ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil and her father, Mitch Winehouse.

“Her ex-husband had a light ride actually,” Jetta says.

Grace nods in agreement, before adding: “All other things I’ve watched about Amy, like the documentary , have sort of painted [Mitch] in a really negative light. I think they could have done more on his part in pushing her into fame but I mean, it’s hard to get from every side, I guess.

“To get that in depth into the behind the scenes of her whole story, some of those people will have had to have been a part of it and a part of writing the script,” she adds. “I think you have to take it with a pinch of salt.”

The film follows Winehouse’s life from early adulthood to her death from alcohol poisoning in 2011. Much of the film is set in Camden , where she lived out her 20s.

Gopi and Raakhee came to Camden to watch the film on the day of its release in homage to Amy.

“We were told the bad reviews before we watched it so when we were watching it, we were worried we might have to walk out,” Raakhee says, “but actually we thought it was quite a good depiction of her.”

Gopi says that Marisa Abela, who plays Amy, was a good likeness to her. “You look at that you have to double take because that’s her, that’s Amy there,” she says, pointing to a poster for the film.

“She can’t look exactly like Amy because she’s too unique … and doesn’t have Amy’s edge but she manages to portray her mannerisms and her accent, and the way that she talked was the way that Amy talked.”

Vala Magnadóttir, who has lived in Camden for the past 20 years, also says she thought the film accurately portrayed the borough at the time. “I really enjoyed it, I really did,” she says. “I really only knew the music at the time. I had some idea of what was going on, but seeing journalists, a bunch of men, that was quite shocking.

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“I live quite close and spotted the landmarks but you think ‘oh, wow, all that was going on just so close to my home’ and you weren’t aware, it was quite a shock.”

Magnadóttir says she was convinced by Abela’s performance as Winehouse and was surprised by how well she captured the singer’s voice. “The singing was beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.

“I knew there was some controversy, but I didn’t really follow it … I mean, she’s obviously not Amy because she’s an actress. Give people a break,” she says.

“I thought it was a really, really nice, beautiful film.”

Back to Black
Amy Winehouse

More on this story

Why star of Amy Winehouse biopic had to train ‘like an athlete’

Back to Black: first trailer for Amy Winehouse biopic from Sam Taylor-Johnson released

The diaries of Amy Winehouse: ‘I’m the nutter of the class – loud and mouthing off!’

Amy Winehouse: In Her Words review – poignant vignettes of a fledgling superstar

Amy Winehouse’s journal entries to be published in new book

The media exploited Amy Winehouse’s life. A new biopic looks set to do the same with her death

Amy winehouse biopic: first photo released of marisa abela as late singer.

Sam Taylor-Johnson to direct authorised Amy Winehouse biopic

Amy: Beyond the Stage review – a ghostly, gut-punchingly poignant exhibition

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The Book of Life movie review (2014)
The Book of Life. "The Book of Life" bedazzles your eyes and buoys your spirits as it treads upon themes most commonly associated with the macabre universe of Tim Burton. But instead of being gaga for ghoulishness, this Mexican fiesta of animated splendor is packed with visual delights far more sunny than sinister as they burst forth as if ...
The Book of Life Movie Review
March 20, 2021. age 12+. Violence, sexism, just junk. The Book of Life So much hate. Non-stop insults, tons and tons of unnecessary violence. Put sexist ideas into my kids' minds that weren't there before. Flow was awful- just non-stop heavy action. I can't believe this movie had an editor.
The Book of Life
Watch The Book of Life with a subscription on Disney+, rent on Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu, or buy on Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu. Rate And Review Submit review
'The Book of Life' Review
The Book of Life works as a visually dazzling celebration of Mexican culture, though its conventional kids' movie elements leave something to be desired.. The Book of Life takes place a long time ago in Mexico, where a trio of childhood friends are separated and each instructed on how to fulfill the expectations of their respective families. Years later, the three reunite as young adults ...
The Book of Life Makes Death Look Downright Fun
The Book of Life. Makes Death Look Downright Fun. By Bilge Ebiri, a film critic for New York and Vulture. Photo: Twentieth Century Fox. Producer Guillermo del Toro's name is all over The Book of ...
The Book of Life review
The Book of Life review - vibrantly alternative animation. Guillermo del Toro's creative fingerprints are everywhere in this refreshingly sparky and laugh-out-loud funny family film. Mark ...
The Book of Life
Imagen Foundation Awards. The Book of Life is the journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears.
The Book of Life (2014)
The Book of Life: Directed by Jorge R. Gutiérrez. With Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum, Ron Perlman. Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart, embarks on an adventure that spans three fantastic worlds where he must face his greatest fears.
The Book of Life
Visually striking and colourful, The Book of Life is an enchanting story about a romance being withered by a conniving and greedy man. Full Review | May 26, 2020. The film is beautifully animated ...
The Book of Life review
Here's our review. The first thing one notices about The Book of Life, the debut animated offering from director Jorge R. Gutierrez, is just how lovely and textured everything is. The movie is a ...
The Book of Life
Movie Review. There aren't many cheerful children's tales about death. But Mary Beth, a museum tour guide, has one to tell. You see, she's regaling a bunch of rowdy kids with a story about the Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.It's a Mexican holiday, she tells them, a magical occasion when the spirits of the departed return to earth to receive gifts and remembrances from their ...
The Book of Life (2014) Review
Told by a museum tour guide named Mary Beth (Christina Applegate) to a group of detention kids, The Book of Life explores the story of childhood friends Manolo (Diego Luna), a bully fighter, and Joaquin (Channing Tatum), a decorated military officer, and their competition to win over the beautiful Maria (Zoe Saldana). Unbeknownst to the trio, Xibalba (Ron Perlman), King of the Land of the ...
The Book of Life (2014 film)
The Book of Life is a 2014 American animated fantasy adventure comedy film directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez and written by Gutierrez and Doug Langdale.It was produced by 20th Century Fox Animation, Reel FX Animation Studios, and Chatrone, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Guillermo del Toro, Brad Booker, Aaron D. Berger, and Carina Schulze produced the film.
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The Book Of Life Review. Childhood pals Manolo (Luna) and Joaquin (Tatum) both falls for the same girl, Maria (Saldana), but when forces from the great beyond intervene, one of them must venture ...
The Book of Life (2014)
Permalink. 9/10. Aggressively charming and visually creative. brchthethird 27 January 2015. THE BOOK OF LIFE is produced by Guillermo del Toro, directed by Jorge Gutierrez, and features an outstanding voice cast to tell its story of true love (along with a generous helping of Mexican culture).
The Last Thing I See: 'The Book Of Life' Movie Review
'The Book Of Life' Movie Review As far as animated kid's movies go, Jorge R. Gutierrez' The Book of Life is simultaneously wildly inventive and totally familiar, which are the film's greatest strengths and weaknesses, respectively. Fortunately for the viewer, one totally supersedes the other, and the end result is a stunningly beautiful ...
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However, a riff on the Ave Maria by nuns when young Maria leaves for school seemed a bit crass. The plot tends to wander into tangents and even at 95 minutes the film felt too long. But the ...
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The Book of Life—Movie Review. Film In Theaters October 17, 2014. 1836 . The Book of Life is one of the most unusual animated films I've ever seen; its characters and settings inspired by Mexican folk art and its story drawn from the mythology surrounding The Day of the Dead. Merging that concept with the rapid-punchline humor we're ...
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Review of the gorgeous animated comedy/drama The Book of Life featuring the voices of Channing Tatum, Diego Luna, and Ron Perlman.
The Book of Life Movie Review for Parents
The Book of Life Rating & Content Info Why is The Book of Life rated PG? The Book of Life is rated PG by the MPAA for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images. Violence: References are made to death in a fantasy context. Frequent mild peril and threat to main characters, with some frightening detail.
The Book of Life
Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 5, 2005. Anything touched by PJ Harvey is bound to be worth the trouble; even better, Hartley has made one of his better, least grating films. Full Review ...
The Book of Life (2014)
The Book of Life M ovie Review. The Book of Life is a 2014 animated musical fantasy film directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez and starring Diego Luna. It is an undeniably messy, but authentic and dazzling feature. ... where he reunites with his dead ancestors and strives to get his life back. This movie came out three years before 'Coco ...
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Best Female Lead Vocal Performance in a Feature Film. Zoe Saldana. As the voice of "Maria". 2015 Nominee BTVA Feature Film Voice Acting Award. Best Male Vocal Performance in a Feature Film in a Supporting Role. Ron Perlman. As the voice of "Xibalba". 2015 Nominee BTVA Feature Film Voice Acting Award.
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In a review of her second novel, the Booker Prize-winning "The Luminaries," a critic for the Guardian wrote that the book was "a massive shaggy dog story; a great empty bag; an enormous ...
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A prequel to the original franchise, this debut feature from Arkasha Stevenson is a thrilling mash-up of horror tropes that gives the story new life. Share full article Sônia Braga, left, with ...
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The film follows Winehouse's life from early adulthood to her death from alcohol poisoning in 2011. Much of the film is set in Camden , where she lived out her 20s.
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