The Book of Life

Sorry this post is very late and I have been very busy.  So the book of life is about two young boys Joaquin and Manolo who are fighting to win the heart of their childhood friend Maria.  Two gods see them and place a bet on them.  Xibalba picks Joaquin because he is less caring and sympathetic to other people.   La Muerte the goddess picks Manolo because he is more generous and selfless.  The bet is on who rules the land of the remembered which is currently ruled by La Muerte.  Due to a prank gone wrong Maria is sent away and the boys are sent down there own paths.  Manolo is forced into being a bullfighter but does not want to kill the bull but would rather play music.  Joaquin is now the village defender and has to hide a metal that makes him invincible in fear of being attacked by the previous owner.  When Maria comes back she appears to be what this generation needs for strong female characters but unfortunately falls a little flat as she is more of a plot convenience and caricature.  So when she arrives both Manolo and Joaquin fight to win her heart with Manolo getting somewhere on that front.  When Manolo and Maria are together Xibalba sends a snake to bite Maria to make Manolo think she is dead so he will die to be with her.  Later he finds out that he pulled a Romeo to soon for she was not dead by simply knocked out.  She he traverses the world of the dead to come back to life and be with Maria.  There is also a plot were he must come back to life to help the town be saved from the bandits that want the metal from Joaquin.  Also if everyone dies from the town everyone from there will go to the land of the forgotten which is sort of like a purgatory.
The animation in this film is amazing!! I can not stress this enough.  The aesthetic choice of making everything in the style of the day of the dead was a great one.  The colors are bright and fun and how I like it.
The complaint I have are with this film is that when Maria "dies" they keep pulling you out of that scene for the kids to comment and be goofy.  Let us feel the emotions of the scene.  Also the story was a little week with some cliches but it is redeemed for doing it in a unique way.  Another complaint is Maria.  I wish she was a stronger character.  She is so close to being something great and a strong female character but never truly lives it.  In the end you know she is just going to run off with Manolo.  Though overall the film is great and I hope to see things like it and improve it.  This film as of now in terms of box office has almost made back its budget of $50 million.   So that means studios might see we want these kinds of films and will make it.  So to the future of cool kid's films.

The Book of Life Review

The Book of Life absolutely surprised me. This animated film follows the classic tale of two friends who both compete for the love a beautiful women while dealing with moments of courage, failure, and trying to live up to life's expectations. The animation, the music, the colors, the characters…everything was Beautiful. The film's pace is incredibly fast, energetic, and really really fun. The film's atmosphere consistently changes reflecting the emotion of each and every scene from bright, beautiful, and bold colors during the happy moments to a cold, dark, and colorless atmosphere during the sad moments. The music adapts many familiar songs with a bit more of a Hispanic touch. The characters are very fun and very memorable, especially Diego Luna as the character Manolo, the man trying to win the heart of the lovely Maria, voiced by Zoe Saldana. Speaking of Maria, I appreciated that the film actually doesn't make her a stereotypical "damsel in distress" character but instead makes her a independent, skilled fighter, and strong-willed character. Channing Tatum plays the other lead as the courageous Joaquin, although (despite still providing a decently fun performance) I feel the main reason he was casted in this movie was to bring more people to theater seats. The character animations are very unique as they are digitally composed with a puppet-esque aesthetic and each and every one of the specific character designs are easily distinguishable from each other. While the movie consistently strives for humor as much as heart, I didn't find myself always laughing at the jokes. With that being said, I couldn't stop smiling through out the entire film. This is definitely the surprise movie of the year for me currently. Children will absolutely adore this film and will immediately be immersed in the wonderful character designs and fast-paced story that will keep kids with attention disabilities completely engaged in the film. The film also has multiple themes of finding the courage to be yourself, showing respect to the female figures in your life, and the importance of family and friendships. Personally, I believe The Book of Life gives The Lego Movie a run for it's money, though it likely won't make nearly as much, which is a shame. There need to be more children films like this coming to theaters. The Book of Life is a visually stunning film that will grab your attention from start to finish with it's incredibly fun story and uniquely wonderful characters.

La Muerte

So, we went to see The Book of Life instead of watching our usual Japanese films on Thursday.

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.