ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Irishchatter When I first seen this recently on television, I really really wanted to see this because of the beauitful animation and the fact its talking about Mexican culture, which I find very interesting. However, it was such a dissapointment with the music the movie covered and the characters personality development including the voice acting was all over the place. The singing was absolutely brutal, the guy who voiced the character Manolo sounded like a baddie henchmen rather then playing the hero of the story. I really wish Channing Tatum got the role instead of Diego Luna to be honest here. Im not gonna say anymore but this film is terrible and awful, I would regret showing my future kids in seeing this film if they really wanna see it.....

Animated Antic If there is something I love in an animated movie, it's a story that takes us to other worlds and lets audiences dive into the cultures of foreign countries. It's always nice to see audiences learning about peoples traditions around the world. So, I'll be happy to say that you might enjoy "The Book of Life". However, I'll just say that this movie has flaws. A lot of them. Some of them actually did annoy me to the point where I began to think that I would hate the film overall. Luckily, that was not the case. I'll get to why this movie has some problems in a little bit, but first let me tell you the story of the film.As a bunch of students from a school are given a secret museum tour, the tour lady begins to tell them the tale revolving around the Book of Life. It revolves around two boys named Manolo (Diego Luna) and Joaquín (Channing Tatum) trying to win the hand of the lovely girl María (Zoe Saldana) unaware that the boys are actually part of a bet made by the spirits who rule the Land of the Remembered and Forgotten respectively, La Muerte (Kate del Castillo) and Xibalba (Ron Perlman). Though both tries to get her hand, neither seems to succeed due to the problems of their families. However, when an incident involving María seems to get her killed, Manolo decides that he wants to see her with all his heart, unaware that he will be accidentally sent to the Land of the Remembered by Xibalba. After discovering the wager and realizes that Xibalba cheated, Manolo swears to try to get back to the Land of the Living in order to protect the village from an incoming danger which I won't spoil.At first when the film started, I will admit that I wasn't exactly getting into the film. Though its story had started with promise, some annoying moments which will be brought up in a bit really were getting on my nerves. However, when our lead gets to the Land of the Remembered, the film really picked up its pace and became both exciting and funny. I loved how much creativity was put into the movie and the cultural elements that were put into the movie though I feel that some elements could have been treated with more respect which is strange considering this is from a Mexican director with help from famed director Guilllelmo del Toro. As for it's animation, this was definitely the highlight of the movie. It's absolutely beautiful. There was so much color and life put into it leading to some very eye-popping moments. As for the characters, they have some charm to them. I think my favorite character in the movie was Maria. I loved how she actually had some toughness put into her and Zoe Saldana really put a lot of edge to her making her very relatable. Now let's get to my problems. One was the music choice. Considering this film is set in Mexico, there were some weird moments were music like Ode to Joy and Carmen were played and just left me scratching my head. Some of the humor at the beginning was also a little immature and did annoy me though it heavily improved when we got to the Land of the Remembered. I also feel that the film won't be timeless. For example, Maira states while she was in Europe she took fencing lessons which made sense, though later during the climax, she also says she learned kung fu. Wait, hold on a second. Kung fu? Where did that come from? Elements like that made no sense. However, what really annoyed me about the film were the song choices. Throughout the movie they put in some mariachi covers of songs like "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons and even "Creep" by Radiohead. I mean seriously? Who in the world wants to hear a mariachi cover of Creep? I really don't know who and in all honestly don't want to know. That's really all the flaws I had."The Book of Life" does have a lot of problems, but luckily the film did improve and allowed me to give this film a recommendation. Though the story does have a slow start, it does improve and it's animation is definitely what makes it worth watching. When you watch it though, just be prepared to sit through a few less than stellar moments.

Michael O'Keefe Produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez, THE BOOK OF LIFE is a flashy animated tale that blends a Romeo-and-Juliet style story, but actually a romance triangle using Mexican customs surrounding the Day of the Dead as a backdrop. The color is splashy and the story line is simple and serves as a charming homage to Mexican culture.The story involves three childhood friends; Manolo(Diego Luna), Maria(Zoe Saldana) and Joaquin(Channing Tatum); whose romantic twisted triangle becomes the subject of a wager between two Mexican deities...La Muerte(Kate del Castillo), the overseer of the Land of the Remembered and Xibalba(Ron Perlman), the lord of the Land of the Forgotten. Manolo comes from a heritage of bullfighters and is disappointing his father by wanting to be a singer, and declines to ever slay a bull in the ring. Joaquin is a pompous protector of the town trying to live in the shadow of his father, a fallen military hero. Maria is a beautiful young woman that desires a husband, but is sent off to a convent for grooming.The Book of Life is narrated by a lovely tour guide(Christina Applegate)as she relates the story to a bus load of students visiting a museum. The color is visually stunning and the characters are actually handcrafted wooden-like. There is a nice mix of peppy and romantic music holding the action together. The better of the songs are sung by the Manolo character voiced by Luna: "The Creep", "I Love You Too Much", "The Apology Song" and the Elvis classic, "I Can't Help Falling In Love".Other voices in this family feature: Cheech Marin, Ice Cube, Hector Elizonda, Danny Trejo, Placido Domingo, Eugenio Derbez and Dan Navarro.

Python Hyena The Book of Life (2014): Dir: Jorge Gutierrez / Voices: Diego Luna, Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, Ron Perlman, Christina Applegate: A diverse animation about one's true potential. It regards two competing males for the love of one female in the back drop of the Mexican Day of the Dead festival. Manolo Sanchez grew up in a family history of bull fighters. His father urges him to continue the tradition but he really desires being a musician. Joaquin is touted as the town hero and applauded by everyone. Maria is the romantic interest whom they both compete for since childhood. A bet is waged between the spirits of two worlds that seem to represent Heaven and Hell. A female spirit of the Land of the Remembered bets that Manolo will marry Maria. The spirit of the Land of the Forgotten bets that Joaquin will marry her and he cheats by equipping him with a magic medal as well as have Manolo bitten by a snake thus spiralling him into the Land of the Remembered. He must get back to the surface to life so to stop Maria from marrying Joaquin. The screenplay is creative until its pathetically corny action climax. The animation is terrible with horribly distorted faces and necks. The themes throughout with the festival may be too intense for young children. The three principal characters are appealing with voices by Diego Luna, Channing Tatum and Zoe Saldana. Other characters are not very broad, or are too overly corny to even identify with. The theme seems to be hitting one's highest potential but unfortunately this film doesn't hit its highest potential in terms of its target audience. Score: 6 ½ / 10