Book of Life Review Part 1
Cute, fun, and visually striking.
But at the end not a lot of sticking power. When I see a film and the next day have to strain to remember what I saw that speaks of a middlin’ movie. This film was not bad and the art style and animation were stunning. It does pass my Wreck It Ralph test, which is where at the end of the film I ask am I happier having seen this film then I would have been staying home watching WIR for the umpteenth billionth time and the answer is yes. However the next day after seeing Ralph I was aglow with memories and striking scenes where this one kind of got flushed out of my memory like a functional hands free toilet.
But like I said this film is really fun and has a strong cross cultural element that is missing in a lot of American media. If you want to expose your children to something other than white America and Hip Hop this would be a (very small) step in that direction. The story is good and all the characters memorable (as long as you are OK remembering either of the duel sword wielding heroes as one character). An artistic triumph really.
However veteran readers of my blog will know it is rare that I walk out of a film without at least one annoyance nibbling at my jock strap and in this case it’s the music. You see, in a story about Dios De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and set in the heart of Mexico you would imagine they might either pull some great Mexican cultural music or at least written some new music with some Latin flair and that is exactly what they did, as long as by “Latin flair” you really mean having the Mexican musician play Creep by Radiohead. 
Why not just have them do a cover of Bugz on my Nugz by Insane Clown Posse (Hatchetman image courtesy of the music t shirt category)? It’s effectively the same. I’m not looking for accordions here but the contrast was startling and really took me out of the theater. Maybe a little Spanish guitar?
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Book of Life Review Part 2
There were a couple other annoyances. The Candlemaker was another “let’s force the audience out of whimsical Mexico and into a movie theater that smells like feet” character and he did it every time he opened his mouth. 
He was as out of place as Megatron in a line up of kids picking teams for dodge ball and by the end of the film contributed nothing more than another set of fingernails scraping the blackboard in my head (image courtesy of the Transformers t shirt category). The entire film was much longer on comic relief then it needed to be up to and including the big bad bandito everyone was terrified of.
The story itself was kind of meh too. The whole thing played out as a lovers tiff between La Muerta, the queen of the Land of the Remembered, and Xibalba, the king of the Land of the Forgotten (played, BTW, by none other than Ron M-F-ing Perlman. That part was cool) and was about as interesting as watching a typical couple fight and purposefully leave the toilet seat up or down to annoy each other. Again as a kids movie I know I can’t expect Donny Darko level complexity or story quality but a little more motivation for anyone to do anything would have been appreciated.
For all that I can’t say it’s not worth watching. I’m sure your kids will love it and it’s pretty enough to keep you entertained as well. The visuals are truly stunning and I absolutely loved the animation. It has a couple of cool messages about loving and cherishing your relatives (although when you think about it there is also a pretty grim message about what will happen to us all once we are forgotten) and ancestors while being true to your own nature. There are a couple of good action scenes and the fight at the end bordered on excitement.
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Book of Life Review Part 3
I will say this film is a great date movie and in truth I wish I had taken the girl I am seeing to see it (4 dates! A new record!). It is good wholesome family fun and once you get it on DvD or streaming you can use it to park your rugrats comfortably for 95 minutes. I just don’t see it as a cherished childhood memory when your kids grow up (although these days what is?).
Story recap: La Muerta and Xibalba bet on which of two boys young Maria will marry. Xibabla choose Juaquin, a brash soldier he gives a medal of indestructibility to, and La Muerta chooses Manolo, a musician from a family of bull fighters. They each try to prove themselves to her in their own way. Xibabla cheats, killing Manalo and sending him to the Land of the Remembered where he meets all of his ancestors. They team up to make him alive again and win the day.
3.5 out of 5.
So worth seeing? I’ll say yes. Go see it. The part of your brain that likes pretty things will thank you. Take the kids. Load up the minivan full of all the kids in your neighborhood and that night feed them all burritos. There is a good chance you will feel like you aren’t raising your kids to be the next generation of white suburban drones by exposing them to something other than Christmas at least for a while. I’ll give this film 3.5 out of 5 Phasers. Pretty good but could have been better. Sorry for the short review but honestly there isn’t a lot I can do with kids films.
the Infamous Dave Inman
PS I was contacted by a guy doing a Kickstarter Campaign for a documentary on comic books called Comix: Beyond the Comic Book Pages. He seemed like a cool dude and has interview with a ton of great artists including Stan Lee. As a fan of classic comic book artists (Jack Kirby image from one of my favorite comic book t shirts) I say if you can help him go for it. His goal doesn’t sound ridiculous to me and he does have some cool swag to hand out. Mostly he needs funds to buy the rights to comic book panels for his documentary.
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