Dazzling cinematic piñata just explodes with vivid visuals
The Book of Life ★★★ (out of five) Starring: Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum Directed by: Jorge R. Gutierrez Running time: 95 minutes
Don’t let the kids know, but in Mexico, the celebration that we play out over a single All Hallows’ Evening (plus six months of candy supplies afterward) stretches a full three days. The Book of Life, arriving just in time for Halloween, is actually set on Nov. 2, The Day of the Dead. If you or your young’uns didn’t know that, or if you need a primer on Xibalba, La Muerte, the Land of the Remembered and the Land of the Forgotten, then don’t miss the opening minutes of this computer-animated film, in which a perky museum guide (Christina Applegate) explains how the holiday works.
It’s only then that we get to the meat of the story, in which two little boys grow up to vie for the heart of Maria, the town beauty. She’s voiced by Zoe Saldana. Her chief suitor is Manolo (Diego Luna), whose destiny as a bullfighter is cramped by the fact that he’d rather play guitar. Also, he doesn’t like killing animals.
Channing Tatum plays his rival, Joaquin. Inside his boast to be the town’s greatest soldier lies a secret — he carries with him a magic medal (on, it must be said, a needlessly flimsy clasp) that renders him impervious to injury or death. He’s not exactly evil, but neither is he Manolo’s moral equal; kids will have no trouble picking their hero.
There are many more layers in this busy tale, which doesn’t necessarily translate into greater complexity, just — well, more layers. Ruling the underworld are the aforementioned Xibalba (Ron Perlman) and La Muerte (Kate del Castillo), who have a bet on which suitor will marry Maria. Providing comic relief in the here-andnow is a mariachi trio that includes Cheech Marin.
The cast is filled out by a host of Latino voices — Hector Elizondo, Danny Trejo, Dan Navarro, Placido Domingo; even producer Guillermo del Toro gets a cameo. But to keep things racially interesting, the supreme being, a.k.a. the Candle Maker, is voiced by Ice Cube.
The film’s plot may border on the simplistic, but the animation alone is probably worth the price of admission. Characters are designed to resemble marionettes, yet as blocks of wood go they’re pretty expressive. The settings, meanwhile, are a riot of colour. The town is festive enough, but when we hit the underworld (characters die, though not forever) it’s as though a truck full of confetti had just crashed into a piñata store.
The Book of Life is the work of writer/director Jorge R. Gutierrez, and co-written by Douglas Langdale, whose TV credits include Darkwing Duck and Scooby-Doo.
There was a time when kids looking for Halloweenthemed animation were limited to It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. If you’re looking for something with a more international flavour, it wouldn’t kill you to add this to the list.