The Book of Life

My granddaughter and I love this movie and soundtrack so much

Love this movie. It is the cutest. I watch it with or with out my kids hehehe. They colors in the movie are amazing it's funny.

THE BOOK OF LIFE is produced by Guillermo del Toro, directed by Jorge Gutierrez, and features an outstanding voice cast to tell its story of true love (along with a generous helping of Mexican culture). The basic plot is about two boys, Joaquin (Diego Luna) and Manolo (Channing Tatum), who vie for the affections of a girl, Maria (Zoe Saldana). As people they're fairly opposite, with Manolo being a musician at heart (his family's profession is bullfighter) and Joaquin being a soldier who does great deeds of derring-do. Unbeknownst to them, however, Lady Muerte and Xibalba (Ron Perlman) have entered into a wager about which of them can win the heart of Maria and it sets Manolo on a journey that will take him to both realms of the dead. First, I should say that the character design, animation and overall look of the film was extremely creative and visually unique, befitting a Guillermo del Toro production. The colors popped and everything in the world of the film was brought to vibrant life. The voice cast was equally impressive, although there were a couple of people who took me out of it for a little bit before getting sucked back into the story. The biggest offender was probably Ice Cube, who voices the Candlemaker, although they did stick in a couple of good jokes and references for him. I also got taken a little bit out of the story by realizing that Danny Trejo and Cheech Marin also voiced characters in the film, but again, they still did great work here. Another high point was the music. The score was pretty good, but what really stood out was the use of modern pop songs in what is (mostly) a period piece set at an indeterminate time in the past. Of course, I didn't mind that one bit at all. I also thought that the first half to two-thirds of the story were excellent. It succeeded telling an emotionally moving story with plenty of interesting characters, but at a certain point it resorted to the standard climax and resolution that wrapped up everything with a nice little bow. And despite much of the humor working, at times I felt it was a little too silly for its own good. Still, at the end I was completely won over. Had I seen this last year, I'm fairly certain it would have made my top ten. As it stands, this was an incredibly charming and visually rich film that should appeal to kids and adults alike, and also serves as a valuable cultural lesson.

Blu-ray movie was crystal clear visually and good sound qualityGood family and holiday themed movieGreat price and speedy shipping

Very cute

Originally, with my first order, I was having issues, but the seller was quick to replace it before I can make a return of the original DVD. I really appreciate them putting in the effort, as most people are just quick to give a refund instead.I’ve seen this movie before buying the DVD and it is amazing. I highly recommend watching it and buying from this seller.

This is my favorite childhood movie and constantly watch it and never get bored of watching it, I love the music so much too it makes me wanna buy a guitar and start learning how to play the songs. One of the best movies out there.

Jorge Gutierrez (and his wife Sandra) are two of my favorite artists, so my review may be a bit biased. In any case, this is a beautiful movie that is worth seeing. Some people say it is boring or morbid, but it's really neither of these things. Perhaps for someone who can't sit still it would take some work to really catch everything that's going on, but this movie is certainly far from boring. As for morbid, this story handles the theme of the underworld just like The Corpse Bride or an array of childern's Halloween movies and it isn't gory, gross, or really morbid at all. In fact, the underworld is shown as a colorful, happy place. This is a good story to expose your child (and yourself) to how death and the underworld are viewed in different cultures and to learn about the customs. I can't say there are any negatives to the story other than it moves a bit fast, so if you aren't paying attention to it, you can miss a lot of important information, and there is a sort of mash-up mix happening between Spanish(the bull fighting theme) and Mexican cultures. If you aren't familiar with Jorge Gutierrez's art style (like his previous show El Tigre) the art can be a bit confusing, but once you become used to this created world then you can appreciate the beauty in design. This is a wonderful, colorful, beautiful story which also includes some of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard in an animated feature. Definitely worth watching, multiple times even.