Why so much hype?

One of my all time favorites.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

I don't expect much after looking at IMDB rating of just above 7 for this movie. But, this is much worse than that.

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.

A good movie to watch this time of year! A bullfighter, who wants to be a singer, tries to win the hand of his true love, Maria! And he must go through the Land of the Remembered on the Day of the Dead to do so! The animation is really cool, and original! I especially liked the vibrant colors of the Land of the Remembered and the beautiful look of La Muerte! The music in here is also cool, with guitarista "covers" of Biz Markie, Elvis Presley, Rod Stewart, Mumford and Sons, and an awesome version of "Creep" by Radiohead! The movie was a hit with my 9 1/2 year old daughter too!

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. The Book of Life was one of the few films that i saw back in 2014 that was not just beautiful in the outside but on the inside as well for example the characters were fantastic especially Manolo and Maria, there was a bit of singing here and there and gave the film more depth and also more drama. But i also loved how much they respected the Mexican Culture and that was one of the reasons why i loved this film because it was so down to earth and so beautiful i mean every single character in this film was so down to earth and lovable even the villains at one point. Overall i'm gonna give The Book of Life an A+