The Book of Life

For his first animated feature, co-writer and director Jorge Gutierrez seems to have pulled out all the stops with The Book of Life.  He grabs our attention in a lot of ways.  First of all, this is essentially a family film centered around death and the afterlife.  He builds his story around the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos ("Day of the Dead"), where people honor the spirits of family and loved ones who have passed on.  Not only does the film work as a fascinating lesson on Mexican spiritual culture for both kids and adults, but it's vibrant and frantic, without being overwhelming.

The film's opening moments are devoted more or less to explaining the afterlife, and how it is connected to the Day of the Dead holiday.  We learn that there are actually two different realms that make up the afterlife.  One is known as the Land of the Remembered, where the deceased go when they die.  This realm is depicted as a kingdom of eternal joy, where our loved ones wait for us to arrive under the watchful eye of this world's spirit ruler, La Muerte (voice by Kate del Castillo).  We also learn that there is another side to the afterlife, and that is the Land of the Forgotten, a gray and desolate world where souls go when there is no one left on Earth to remember them.  This kingdom is ruled by a grinning beast covered in candles and skulls named Xibalba (Ron Perlman).  The lonely Xibalba (who is more than a little lovesick over the beautiful La Muerte) is tired of ruling over forgotten souls, and wishes to try his hand at ruling the Land of the Remembered.  Of course, she's not just going to hand over her kingdom to him, so a wager between the two spirits is made.  They will place a bet built around a love triangle that is starting to form in the "heart of Mexico".  Each spirit will get behind one of the two young men vying for the beautiful woman.  Whoever wins will have control of the Land of the Remembered.

The love triangle at the center of the wager takes place within the city of San Angel.  The young men in question are Manolo (Diego Luna) and Joaquin (Channing Tatum).  The two have been best friends since childhood, and have always competed against one another for the attention and the heart of the lovely Mayor's daughter, Maria (Zoe Saldana).  Manolo comes from a proud family of bull fighters, and while he is a skilled matador himself, he refuses to kill the bull when the fight is finished, which is a source of constant frustration for his father.  Manolo actually longs to play music instead of fulfilling the family tradition, and always sings from his heart.  As for Joaquin, he is the son of a fallen war hero, and seems destined to follow in his father's footsteps and become the hero of San Angel.  The lovely Maria cares for both men, but she does not like the idea of being seen as a prize that they compete for, and wants to fall in love completely.

With La Muerte backing Manolo and Xibalba supporting Joaquin, both spirits try to manipulate things in their favor from behind the scenes.  And when it looks like that Manolo is getting close to winning Maria's heart, Xibalba decides to take control of things personally, and tricks Manolo intro crossing over into the Land of the Remembered.  With Manolo trapped in the afterlife, there will be nothing to stop Joaquin from wooing Maria, and Xibalba will get the prize.  In order to get back to the woman he loves, Manolo will have to take a journey across the various lands of the dead, teaming up with his departed family and ancestors who will help him in his quest to track down the gentle deity known as the Candlestick Maker (Ice Cube), who holds the Book of Life and may be the only way for Manolo to return to the land of the living.

The Book of Life is a very busy movie for one that only runs 95 minutes.  The movie's plot involves a love triangle, a journey across the afterlife, some evil bandits that are threatening the people of San Angel, and a mystical medal that can grant the wearer immortality.  It sounds like all this plot and exposition should crush a movie intended for kids and family, but this is an incredibly spry film.  It's fast-paced, with a lot of jokes and visual gags flying in from just about every frame of the film.  But more than that, the screenplay knows how to juggle all of these elements successfully, so that we never feel bombarded with information or plot.  The pacing is light and frantic, without being overbearing, and the story is definitely helped out by a very game voice cast.  Even actors that you wouldn't expect to find in a movie like this, like Channing Tatum or Ice Cube, don't seem out of place and seem to be greatly enjoying themselves.

But it's the film's visual design that stands out the most, as it's something we haven't seen before in a CG feature.  The human characters resemble wooden puppets, while the skeletons and creatures that inhabit the afterlife resemble ornate dolls.  This actually fits into the wraparound sequence that bookends the film, where a museum tour guide (Christina Applegate) teaches some unruly children about Mexico, and uses wooden puppets and dolls to act out the story she is telling.  And when we first experience the Land of the Remembered, the movie makes excellent use out of the 3D technology by making the Land resemble a massive theme park, with roller coaster roads, floating castles and skull-shaped hot air balloons drifting about in the sky.  This visual style seems constantly on the brink of becoming sensory overload, but director Gutierrez knows just when to go crazy with his visuals, and just when to hold back and let the story and characters speak for themselves.

This really is a winning combination of conventional storytelling and imaginative visuals.  It seems to constantly be walking a fine line between both, but it manages to find the right balance.  Even though this is Jorge Gutierrez's first feature, he is an experienced animator, best known for creating the Nickelodeon cartoon series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera.  His background in TV animation explains the film's fast pace and quick humor, since TV animation is usually faster paced than theatrical, as they have less than a half hour to tell a story.  But Gutierrez also shows a talent for being able to create likable characters to go with the gags.  My hope is that this film will be successful enough for him to go to even better projects.  The fact that he has the backing of veteran filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (who produced the film) means that he's already taking steps in the right direction.

From the animation, to the tuneful pop songs that make up the soundtrack, The Book of Life is probably the most joyful animated production we've had since The Lego Movie.  It doesn't quite stand out as strong as that earlier movie did, thanks to some plotting issues, but it definitely showcases the talent of the filmmakers, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.

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