Gorgeous and wildly imaginative, The Book of Life brings much-welcomed Latino culture to wide-release family animation by virtue of a story attached to the Day of the Dead.
Directed and co-written by Jorge R. Gutierrez, along with Douglas Langdale, The Book of Life is the story of love won, lost, and reclaimed, of what makes a hero, of the value of friendship, and of the importance of being true to yourself.
Manolo Sanchez is the latest in a long run of famous Sanchez toreadors. Unfortunately for his father, Manolo would much rather sing than to slay a bull.
Manolo (Diego Luna) has been in love with Maria (Zoe Saldana) since they were children. So has his best friend Joaquin (Channing Tatum), the town’s legendary hero and protector.
And none of them knows that the friend who wins Maria’s heart will determine the fate of the underworld. This is by virtue of a bet over the winning suitor by the gracious and kind skeletal saint La Muerte (Kate del Castillo), who oversees the joyful land of the remembered, and the deceitful and villainous Xibalba (Ron Perlman), who rules over the dark land of the forgotten.
In the course of his adventures, Manolo will be killed, visit his relatives in the land of the remembered, and risk everything by journeying to the land of the forgotten to change the fate of the dead and the living — all while hoping to reunite with Maria and claim her affections.
His story has been written in the book of life, which is now kept hidden away as part of a special museum exhibit celebrating Mexico, and is shared by a sweet and attractive museum guide (Christina Applegate) to a group of troublesome school students on a field trip.
Directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez. Written by Gutierrez and Doug Langdale. A 20th Century Fox release, playing at Franklin Park, Fallen Timbers, and Levis Commons.
Rated PG for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements, and brief scary images.
Running time: 95 minutes.
Critic’s rating: ★★★½
Cast: The voices of Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum, Diego Luna, Ron Perlman, Kate del Castillo, Ice Cube, Placido Domingo.
To illustrate Manolo’s tale, the guide uses a box full of wooden figurines, and each computer-generated character in the film’s story world has the appropriate look of a figure that was whittled — and not programmed — into life.
It’s one of the many small but noticeable details that make the animation in The Book of Life so wondrous.
The Book of Life is an entrancing oil painting come to 3-D animation, with hypnotic and vivid colors, clever character designs — in life as wooden figures, and in death as wooden skeletal figures — and striking backgrounds and settings.
The film’s themes aren’t original, but its presentation is, including the welcomed absence of pop culture references. The Book of Life doesn’t need such rib-nudging asides about celebrities or obscure film references to keep parents awake; there’s plenty of eye candy on screen, and a story that never sags into tedium.
Reflecting its cultural identity, The Book of Life employs Mariachi versions of contemporary songs (Radiohead’s “Creep,” Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy,” Mumford & Sons’ “I Will Wait”) to match the mood of the moment, and voice work that features a cast heavy on Latino accents, with a few exceptions, most notably Ice Cube as the Candle Maker, the spirit of balance between the two worlds of the afterlife.
With the presence of a noteworthy animated film for the family remarkably and noticeably absent from theaters this summer, Hollywood has saved its best for the fall. First with the strange-yet-heartwarming and beautifully animated The Boxtrolls, and today with the arrival of the colorful and no-less original The Book of Life.
Contact Kirk Baird at kbaird@theblade.com or 419-724-6734.
First Published October 17, 2014, 4:00 a.m.
