“Visually beautiful, with a heart of solid gold.”
SPOILER FREE Directed by Jorge Gutierrez and produced by one of the greatest fantasy directors of our time: Guillermo del Toro. ‘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.’
Rather instantly, we are thrown into a bunch of characters that are on a school trip being taught about ‘The Day of the Dead’ and ‘The Book of Life’. Of course the film isn’t really about the school kids, it is about the stories being told, that without a shadow of a doubt; shine beautifully onto what we are about to experience in the rest of the film. With the likes of ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ and the Twilight saga I think it’s going to be very difficult to win audiences over with a love triangle, but The Book of Life really does this very well. It took me back to all the films I used to watch when I was younger that involved love triangles or just some kind of ‘love-trio’ and most of them did seem to work. I think the concept is rather cliched, overused and mostly boring, but maybe it can be played to an advantage. Of course, within love triangles; there is often the one male character that you would like to see with the female character more than the other; The Book of Life is no exception to that. Right at the start of the film, we witness a protagonist and the antagonist wagering about who will win over Maria (in fact this is what the film is really all about). The film has this wonderful balance between a love triangle and the relationship between the lead protagonist (Manolo) and Maria.
It’s also a musical with a real heart of gold, portraying a character that is willing to do anything to win the affections of Maria. From the get-go we know exactly who we are rooting for (in terms of characters) and who we don’t like. I do think the lead vocals could have been stronger for the main character but all-in-all I think it worked terrifically in the film. I can’t imagine ever wanting to listen to the songs again on the soundtrack but it made my heart swoon nonetheless. On one hand you’ve got the musician who just wants to win over Maria with his beautiful songs and strong guitar playing, and then you’ve also got the best friend of Manolo who wants to win Maria over with a moustache and promising biceps – a typical love triangle fighting between strength and love. As much as I think the film really works as an animated piece, it does fall into the trap of predictability where the lead protagonist; who all of the audience wants to win over Maria’s heart is the dorky yet kind one, but the other character is loved by everyone in the film and will likely succeed to win over Maria if Manolo does nothing about it.
It is a shame when stories fall into being predictable but it doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy the ride nonetheless. The film is full of gorgeously animated visual pieces that are nothing short of jaw-dropping, and really add to the feel of the story. I’ve often had this attitude where if an animation isn’t produced by either Disney or Pixar, I’m ready to be quite sniffy about it. I was completely proved wrong with The Book of Life. I’ve appreciated some occasional projects done by DreamWorks and ‘Coraline’ stands out in my mind of being one of the greatest animations not done by either Disney or Pixar – but we all love the films that they seem to produce. I’ve grown up with both and feel very strongly towards both companies and long for their next film to be released.
The Book of Life is wonderful – visually gorgeous, beautiful songs and heart of solid gold. It’s not the most original thing I’ve seen and it certainly has some ideas that will feel familiar to any film fan, but that’s not to say that it isn’t worth checking out, because it is! With ‘Frozen’ and ‘Monsters University’ being released in 2013 we didn’t really have a lot to look forward to this year in terms of animation (apart from Big Hero 6 [Disney] being released in November 2014 in the USA and 2015 in the UK). Like me, I think a lot of people are going to be ready to be quite sniffy about it, but give it a watch and I guarantee you’ll love it as much as I did. It may scare the youngest of children (0-5) but this is definitely one of the best family films of 2014 – flawed but wonderful.
★★★★
Hudson-Cook 