I have to say that La Muerte was my favorite character out of the whole cast. She was especially appealing compared to Maria. Maria was the "strong" female character archetype, and strong is in quotes because she wasn't actually. The art of "show, don't tell" is a very important part of storytelling, but when it came to Maria's "strength," the movie told us and didn't do much showing of it. They told us she was strong and independent and didn't need no man *Z snap* but when it came time to actually show that she could be strong, she went and crumpled into some man's arms. She was the daughter of the mayor, and if she knew kung fu and fencing (which she only demonstrates and mentions when convenient to make us go "ooooo look at how cooool she is"), she could have protected the town herself. In fact, she almost did toward the end by rallying the people together, but only after she spent some time moping and nearly marrying Jaoquin, and at that point, it was nearly too late, and they only really survived because Manolo came back to life and brought the rest of his family with him at the last second.
On the other hand, the movie doesn't tell us that La Muerte is strong. They actually show it--and quite nicely. First of all, she doesn't suddenly gain new abilities when convenient. ("Oh, by the way, did I mention I studied fencing??? No????? Weird. Well, I did, and I'm, like, totally super perfect at it now.") Secondly, she doesn't claim to be independent only to go running to the other dead Lord when things go wrong. In fact, he causes a lot of her problems!! But when she has problems unrelated to him, like dealing with dead people's requests or something, she handles it herself and is extremely reliable, as is demonstrated via many people's recommendations of "You should go see La Muerte! She can help you out!" And in the end, she really does, even almost giving up both the Land of the Remembered and the Land of the Forgotten, doing so without even batting an eye. She is calm under pressure and kind to the children who are supposedly "the detention kids," and Xibalba seems to need her more than she needs him.
In conclusion, why wasn't La Muerte the main character? She was the best and most likable one.
I agree, La Muerte was way more likeable and admirable than Maria. Frankly, Maria's character has been way over used in movies, to the point that seeing that sort of character again is just boring.
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