The Book of Life (2014)

Popularity:

Down 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Jorge R. Gutiérrez

Writers:

Jorge R. Gutiérrez (written by) &
Douglas Langdale (written by)

Release Date:

22 October 2014 (France)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Romance

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

3 Dimensional | Medallion | Museum | Bullfight | Bandit

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 27 nominations

Cast

Diego Luna	...	Manolo (voice)
Zoe Saldana	...	Maria (voice)
Channing Tatum	...	Joaquin (voice)
Ron Perlman	...	Xibalba (voice)
Christina Applegate	...	Mary Beth (voice)
Ice Cube	...	Candle Maker (voice)
Kate del Castillo	...	La Muerte (voice)
Hector Elizondo	...	Carlos Sanchez (voice)
Danny Trejo	...	Skeleton Luis (voice)
Carlos Alazraqui	...	General Posada / Dali / Chuy (voice)
Ana de la Reguera	...	Skeleton Carmen (voice)
Emil-Bastien Bouffard	...	Young Manolo (voice)
Elias Garza	...	Young Joaquin (voice)
Genesis Ochoa	...	Young Maria (voice)
Plácido Domingo	...	Skeleton Jorge (voice)
Jorge R. Gutiérrez	...	Skeleton Carmelo (voice) (as Jorge R. Gutierrez)
Eugenio Derbez	...	Chato (voice)
Gabriel Iglesias	...	Pepe Rodriguez (voice)
Trey Bumpass	...	Goth Kid / Orphan (voice)
Dan Navarro	...	Chakal (voice)
Kennedy Peil	...	Sasha (voice) (as Kennedy 'KK' Peil)
Miguel Sandoval	...	Land of the Remembered Captain (voice)
Grey Griffin	...	Grandma (voice) (as Grey DeLisle)
Ben Gleib	...	Goya / Dali (voice)
Ricardo El Mandril Sanchez	...	Pablo Rodriguez (voice) (as Ricardo Sanchez 'Mandril')
Cheech Marin	...	Pancho Rodriguez (voice)
Ishan Sharma	...	Sanjay (voice)
Anjelah Johnson-Reyes	...	Adelita / Nina (voice)
Sandra Equihua	...	Scardelita (voice)
Callahan Clark	...	Jane (voice)
Gunnar Sizemore	...	Ignacio (voice)
Angélica María	...	Sister Ana (voice)
Eric Bauza	...	Father Domingo / Cave Guardian (voice)
Aron Warner	...	Thomas (voice)
Sandra Echeverría	...	Claudia (voice)
Tonita Castro	...	La Muerte as Old Woman (voice)
Troy Evans	...	Old Man Hemingway (voice)
Guillermo del Toro	...	Land of the Remembered Captain's Wife (voice)
Brad Booker	...	Conductor (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rosemary Alexander	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Steve Alterman	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Eva Bella	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Madison Carlon	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Vicki Davis	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Moosie Drier	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Maximilian Ehrenreich	...	Manolo (voice: German version)
Cullen McCarthy	...	Additional Voices (voice)
David Michie	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Michelle Moores	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jonathan Nichols	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Juan Pacheco	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Al Rodrigo	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Marcelo Tubert	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Lynnanne Zager	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Ruth Zalduondo	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jose Alvarez	...	Additional Voices (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Jorge R. Gutiérrez		(as Jorge R. Gutierrez)

Writing credits
Jorge R. Gutiérrez		(written by) (as Jorge R. Gutierrez) &
Douglas Langdale		(written by) (as Doug Langdale)

Produced by
Aaron Berger	....	producer
Brad Booker	....	producer
Guillermo del Toro	....	producer
Chris DiGiovanni	....	associate producer
Heather M. Drummons	....	associate producer
Cary Granat	....	executive producer
Ryan Harris	....	development producer
Wes Lui	....	House of Cool Unit Producer
Greg Lyons	....	associate producer
Chuck Peil	....	executive producer
Carina Schulze	....	producer
Geoffrey Stott	....	co-producer
Matthew Teevan	....	co-producer
Aron Warner	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Gustavo Santaolalla

Film Editing by
Ahren Shaw

Casting by
Christian Kaplan

Production Design by
Paul Sullivan
Simon Valdimir Varela

Art Direction by
Paul Sullivan

Production Management
Tim Archer	....	studio post-production supervisor
Katie Hasleham	....	production manager
Jasmine Johnson	....	production manager
Ari Patrick	....	associate project manager
Cindy Rangel	....	front end associate production manager
Kasey Smith	....	associate production manager
Jonas Thaler	....	post-production supervisor
Steven Weigle	....	associate production manager
Steve Barnett	....	post-production executive (uncredited)

Art Department
Lubomir Arsov	....	additional story artist
Myke Bakich	....	storyboard artist
Alfonso Blaas	....	color artist
Ricardo Curtis	....	head of story
Dustin D'Arnault	....	visual development artist
Alison Donato	....	visual development artist
Rod Douglas	....	storyboard artist
Frederick J. Gardner III	....	visual development artist
Miguel Gonzalez	....	visual development artist
Elise Hatheway	....	visual development artist
Colin Jack	....	storyboard artist
Ran Jing	....	storyboard artist
Yashar Kassai	....	visual development artist
Tiffany Leigh Kieran	....	storyboard coordinator
Travis Koller	....	visual development artist
Daniel Lafrance	....	storyboard artist
Jordan Lamarre-Wan	....	visual development artist
Bryan Gregg LaShelle	....	visual development artist
Sarah Marino	....	visual development artist
Ken Mitchroney	....	story artist
David Mouser	....	Art Department Coordinator
Rodrigo Perez-Castro	....	story artist
Megan Petasky	....	additional designer
Tod Polson	....	concept art
Tod Polson	....	conceptual design
Shane Richardson	....	visual development artist
Clayton Stillwell	....	concept artist
James Yavorsky	....	model artist

Sound Department
James Ashwill	....	foley mixer
David Betancourt	....	adr mixer
Beau Borders	....	re-recording mixer
T.J. Callaway	....	temp sound editor
Charlie Campagna	....	sound effects recordist
Derek Casari	....	adr stage engineer
Blake Collins	....	foley mixer
John T. Cucci	....	foley artist (as John Cucci)
Julie Feiner	....	adr editor
Scott Martin Gershin	....	supervising sound editor
John Guentner	....	foley mixer
Andy King	....	re-recording mixer
Andy Koyama	....	re-recording mixer
Kyle D. Krajewski	....	original dialogue recordist
Roy Latham	....	original dialogue mixer
Mark A. Mangini	....	additional re-recording mixer
Jared Marshack	....	re-recording mix technician
Michael Miller	....	original dialogue mixer
Chris Navarro	....	adr mixer
Dan O'Connell	....	foley artist
Jessie Pariseau	....	first assistant sound editor
Margit Pfeiffer	....	supervising dialogue & ADR editor
Frank Pittenger	....	sound recordist
Charleen Richards	....	adr mixer
Stephen P. Robinson	....	sound designer
Brian Seagrave	....	audio conform
Carlos Sotolongo	....	original dialogue mixer
John Soukup	....	sound transfer recordist
Gordon Sproule	....	additional adr engineer
Masanobu 'Tomi' Tomita	....	sound effects editor
Tim Walston	....	sound designer
Christopher T. Welch	....	adr editor
Scott Wolf	....	sound effects editor
Peter Zinda	....	sound effects editor

Special Effects by
Erich Turner	....	special effects supervisor

Visual Effects by
Jake Albers	....	compositor
Jeffrey Alcantara	....	lighting and compositing supervisor
Andrew Anderson	....	cfx supervisor
Kilian Aulenbacher	....	matte painting technical director
Negin Bairami	....	senior surfacing artist
Jinyi Baird	....	lighter
Ryan Bowden	....	fx artist (Reel Fx)
Todd Boyce	....	technical lighter
Diane Bradley	....	surfacing artist
Garrett Broussard	....	technical lighter
Ronn Brown	....	matte painting supervisor
N. Joseph Burnette	....	visual effects artist
Billy Burson III	....	lighting and compositing artist
Michael Cacciamani	....	lighting and compositing artist
Connon Carey	....	visual effects artist
Joshua Carey	....	rigging artist
Alan Chan	....	look development lead
Jon Childress Farmer	....	sets/env supervisor
David Cole	....	lead digital colourist
David Cole	....	supervising digital colourist
Kelsey Craig	....	lighting/compositing artist (as Kelsey Randle)
Lino Cristofaro	....	modeler
Karen deJong	....	matte painter
Tyler DeLisle	....	lighting and compositing artist
Thomas DesJardins	....	lighting and compositing artist
Caine Dickinson	....	Senior Lighting/Compositing Artist: ReelFx
James Direen	....	rigging artist
Robyn Ducharme	....	lighting & compositing artist
Daniel Eaton	....	lighter
Barbara Ellison	....	character effects artist
Mike Fortner	....	cg supervisor
Denise Blakely Fuller	....	matte painter
Anthony Fung	....	visual effects artist
Tony Garza	....	lighting lead
Tad A. Gielow	....	pipeline technical director supervisor
Elias Glasch	....	modeler
Ellyn Klein Golub	....	visual effects coordinator (as Ellyn S. Klein)
Ashley Graham	....	lighting & compositing artist
Caroleen Green	....	senior matte painter
Daniel Guindi	....	lighting and compositing artist
Todd Harper	....	texture artist
Elizabeth Hauser Hemme	....	lighting and compositing supervisor
Meg Higginbotham	....	surfacing/texture artist
Doug Hogan	....	lead compositor/lighter
Jessica Hogan	....	lighting lead
Nick Hurm	....	production services supervisor
Nick Ilyin	....	visual effects artist
Michael Jefferies	....	senior technical director
Casey Johnson	....	animation technical director
Tom M. Jordan	....	modeler
Ken Kanipe	....	rigging artist
Matthew Kiefer	....	lighting / compositing artist
Joe Kiser	....	technical director
Bill Konersman	....	effects animator
Keaton Kramer	....	lighting and compositing artist
Marissa Krupen	....	matte painter
Soongu Kwon	....	cg modeler
Kendall Litaker	....	pipeline technical director
Shu Liu	....	visual effects artist
Bethany Lo	....	lighting and compositing
Stephen Huynh Lu	....	pipeline developer
Jeff Masters	....	lighting lead
Connor McCampbell	....	modeler
Peter McCord	....	lighting and compositing artist
Daniel McCrummen	....	rigging artist
Sean Ryan McEwan	....	set dressing artist
Quay Mims	....	lighting artist & digital compositor
Glo Minaya	....	cg supervisor
Garrett Moring	....	lighting and compositing artist
Nicholas Naugle	....	lighting artist
Chas Naylor	....	visual effects artist
Will Nicholson	....	visual effects artist: opening logos
Liz Paradis	....	modeler
Ehsan Parizi	....	visual effects artist
Esther Parobek	....	lighting & compositing artist
Christopher Penny	....	pipeline development
Tymon Pitts	....	pipeline developer
Ryan Prestridge	....	technical matte painter
Chris Rasch	....	visual effects artist
Meghann Robison	....	surfacing artist
Jake Rusch	....	visual effects artist
Monika Sawyer	....	additional character effects development artist
Augusto Schillaci	....	visual effects supervisor
Julie Schmalzried-Barrett	....	production services technician
Nick Shirsty	....	lighting and compositing artist
Sara Simon	....	Senior surfacing artist and look dev
Kevin Taylor	....	modeler
Julie Terrell	....	technical lighting lead
Aaron Thedford	....	lead surfacing artist
Jennifer K. Tidwell	....	production services technician
Paul-Jozef Macoy Torrevillas	....	character effects artist
Kathleen Tran	....	lighting & compositing artist
Matthew R. Tucker	....	rigger
Eric Urquhart	....	matte painter: Reel FX
Pepe Valencia	....	previsualization supervisor: Baraboom! Studios
Michael A. Wallace	....	layout lead
Ed Whetstone	....	lighting & compositing artist
Lori Williams	....	compositor
Junze Zhou	....	rigging artist
Daniel Zinck	....	surfacing/ texture artist
Nich Zuhoski	....	lighting and compositing

Animation Department
Manuel Almela	....	animator
David Apgar	....	senior animator
Monica Aston	....	animator
Eric Baker	....	rigging supervisor
Lorenzo Russell Bambino	....	layout
Douglas Bell	....	rigging lead
Andy Bialk	....	character designer
Ernesto Bottger	....	lead animator
Eric Burnett	....	lead animator
Angelo Sta. Catalina	....	animator
Tom Caulfield	....	character designer
Ray Chase	....	animator
Amy Chen	....	sets/environments artist (as Amy H. Chen)
Wing Ni Chung	....	animator
Steve Cunningham	....	senior animator
Dallas Alan Dietrich	....	layout artist
Nathan Dillow	....	background artist
Don Dixon	....	animator
Rod Douglas	....	layout artist
Eric Drobile	....	lead animator
Sandra Equihua	....	character designer
Sean Ermey	....	character animator
Derek Esparza	....	animator
Tony Fan	....	Simulated Crowd Lead
Brad Faucheux	....	animator
Cheri Fojtik	....	surfacing artist
Andrew Ford	....	animator
Robert Fox	....	animator
Shaun Freeman	....	animator
Marisol Gladding	....	layout artist
Keith Glass	....	character animator
Ellyn Klein Golub	....	animation co-ordinator (as Ellyn S. Klein)
Emilie Goulet	....	animator
Troy Griffin	....	previs artist
Jorge R. Gutiérrez	....	character designer (2D sequences)
Jorge R. Gutiérrez	....	character designer (as Jorge R. Gutierrez)
Gizem Gülen	....	animator: Turkish voice of Maria
Bill Haller	....	supervising animator
Allison Harbin	....	animation coordinator
Ryan Hartsell	....	Digital Animatics Artist
Andy Hass	....	character animator
Tim Hatcher	....	character animator
Greg Hulet	....	layout artist
Chris Hurtt	....	animation consultant
Joseph P. Johnston	....	layout supervisor
Louis Jones	....	supervising animator
Morgan Kelly	....	animator (as Morgan R. Kelly)
Lea Kocurek	....	animation production assistant
Alexandre F. Kümpel	....	animator
Kevin Lu	....	lighter and compositor
Carlos Luzzi	....	character designer
Wesley Mandell	....	head of animation
Luis Martinez	....	animator
Gerald McAleece III	....	layout artist
Alexiss Dawn Memmott	....	character animator
Jess Morris	....	Lead animator
Pete Paquette	....	animator
Jason Petrocelli	....	lead animator
Dixie Pizani	....	animator
Ryan Porter	....	character rigger
David Rodriguez	....	character animator
Vibeke Cleaverley Rodriguez	....	character animator
Mack Bo Ross	....	background artist
Travis Simon	....	animator
Byron Slaybaugh	....	lead animator: end title sequence
Dorian Soto	....	animator
Chris Street	....	animator
Naveen Syed	....	animator
Travis Tohill	....	lead animator
Ryan Trammell	....	modeler
Ryan Trammell	....	modeler and texture artist
Johnny Turco	....	senior animator
Vitor Vilela	....	lead animator
Shane L. Wapskineh	....	layout artist
Leslie Watters	....	character animator
Ryan Williams	....	layout artist
Paul Wood	....	senior character animator
Jimmy Wu	....	layout artist
Kathy Zielinski	....	animator

Casting Department
Micah Dahlberg	....	casting associate

Editorial Department
Noel Albornoz	....	digital intermediate assistant colorist
John Carnochan	....	addtional editor
Johnson Cheng	....	assistant editor
Carissa Clark	....	digital intermediate coordinator
Sim Evan-Jones	....	addtional editor
Amy Grieshaber	....	associate editor
Mason Haynes	....	second assistant editor
Steven Liu	....	additional editor
Jason Modica	....	lead quality assurance
Zara Park	....	digital intermediate producer
Lilly Sechrist	....	editorial coordinator
Joseph R. Thygesen	....	associate editor
Todd Zongker	....	first assistant editor
Avi Horn	....	post-production coordinator (uncredited)

Music Department
Jon Alexander	....	assistant score engineer
Laurence Anslow	....	music assistant engineer
David Arch	....	musician: piano
Jonathan Bartz	....	music preparation
Susie Bench	....	orchestrator
Mark Berrow	....	musician: violin
Rachel Bolt	....	viola
Thomas Bowes	....	orchestral leader
Jeff Carson	....	music editor
Fiona Cruickshank	....	score recordist
Tim Davies	....	conductor
Tim Davies	....	score arranger
Ann De Renais	....	vocals: soloist
Germaine Franco	....	composer: additional music
Mark Graham	....	head of music preparation
Isobel Griffiths	....	orchestral contractor
Jorge R. Gutiérrez	....	composer: additional music
Jorge R. Gutiérrez	....	music producer
Jorge R. Gutiérrez	....	playback singer
Ayana Haviv	....	singer: soloist
John Houlihan	....	music supervisor
Ryan Humphrey	....	orchestrator
Charles Martin Inouye	....	music editor
Gregory Jamrok	....	music preparation
Lewis Jones	....	assistant scoring engineer
Jeremy Levy	....	lead orchestrator
Steve Mair	....	musician: double bass
Sara Mann	....	Singing Nun: vocalist
James McWilliam	....	orchestrator
Andres Montero	....	assistant to orchestrator
George Oulton	....	studio assistant
William G. Parker	....	composer: additional music (as William J Parker)
Victor Pesavento	....	music preparation
Jasper Randall	....	vocal contractor
Devin Roth	....	orchestrator
Andrew Rowan	....	music preparation
Batu Sener	....	additional orchestrator (uncredited)
Casey Stone	....	music scoring mixer
Joe Zimmerman	....	music preparation
Patrick Houlihan	....	music executive (uncredited)

Other crew
Rodrigo Alvarez Flores	....	production assistant
Kathy Cavaiola	....	production manager
Kathy Cavaiola	....	production supervisor
Kathy Cavaiola	....	script supervisor
Kyle Clark	....	senior management
Jack Crivelli	....	additional voice
Dan Ferguson	....	director of interactive digital
Ian Gibson	....	assistant: Guillermo del Toro
Luisa Gomez de Silva	....	walla recording supervisor
Ray Gordon II	....	assistant: channing tatum
Lara Blasingame Hancock	....	production accountant (as Lara Blasingame)
Pete Herzog	....	executive producer: special projects
Shirley Doitch Horn	....	assistant to production executive
Bridget Kieffer	....	production coordinator
Kyle Lawson	....	production coordinator
Robin A. Linn	....	artist manager
Josep Llurba	....	translation for dubbing: castilian spanish
Marta Swingle Marks	....	senior artist manager and head recruiter
Michelle Moores	....	additional adr voice
Michelle Moores	....	adr loop group: voice
Paul Ohrt	....	production executive
Arthur Ortiz	....	additional voices: voice
David Parrish	....	Head of Production
Gates Roberg-Clark	....	sr tool developer
Mike Romero	....	render wrangler
Tiffany Renee Shreve	....	client service supervisor
Rob Thomson	....	production coordinator
Elizabeth Walsh	....	controller
Saxton Washburn	....	script & story editor
Mark Whiting	....	opening titles writer and director: opening titles writer, director and designer
Tiffany Wu	....	Assistant to Aron Warner
Gabriel Beristain	....	cinematography consultant (uncredited)
Daniel Yi	....	4D Editor (uncredited)

Thanks
Kevin Herron	....	ReelFX Commercial Group

Production Companies

• Reel FX Creative Studios (presents) (as Reel FX Animation Studios)
• Twentieth Century Fox (presents)
• Chatrone
• Mexopolis (United States)
• Twentieth Century Fox Animation

Distributors

• 20th Century Fox (2014) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2014) (France) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2014) (UK) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2014) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox de Argentina (2014) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox de Chile (2015) (Chile) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox of Germany (2015) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Big Picture 2 Films (2014) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox C.I.S. (2014) (Armenia) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox C.I.S. (2014) (Azerbaijan) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox C.I.S. (2014) (Belarus) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox C.I.S. (2014) (Kazakhstan) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox C.I.S. (2014) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (2014) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. F.E. (2014) (Philippines) (theatrical)
• Westec Media Limited (2014) (Cambodia) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Japan (2015) (Japan) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (Argentina) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (Argentina) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (Germany) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (Germany) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (UK) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (UK) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (USA) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• 20th Century Fox (2015) (Spain) (all media)
• Film1 (2015) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Odeon (2015) (Greece) (DVD) (3D blu-ray)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2015) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Special Effects

• Baraboom! Studios (previsualization)

Other Companies

• De Lane Lea  ADR recording
• House of Cool Studios  art department: story
• Intelligent Media  international monitoring agency
• Modern VideoFilm  post-production facilities (digital intermediate)
• Sony Classical  soundtrack
• Viacom International  copyright owner: "El Tigre" characters © 2014 (as Viacom International Inc.)
• Viacom Media Networks  trademarks owned by: Nickelodeon, all related titles, characters and logos (a division of Viacom International Inc.)

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Canada:G (British Columbia) | Chile:TE | France:Tous publics | Germany:6 | Ireland:G | Mexico:A | Netherlands:6 | Philippines:G | Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Spain:7/i | Switzerland:6 | UK:U | USA:PG (certificate #49146)

Company:

Reel FX Creative Studios

Trivia:

Diego Luna and Zoe Saldana appeared in The Terminal (2004) together in which Diego Luna's character falls in love with Zoe Saldana's character.

Goofs:

Continuity: Just before Manolo begins his first bullfight, his father, Carlos arms him with two swords on his back. However, when Manolo enters the ring and fights the bull, his swords disappear and his father later provides him another sword and prompting him to kill the bull.

Quotes:

Maria:[Revealing her skill with fencing] Did I mention I also studied fencing?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Midnight Screenings: The Best of Me/The Book of Life/Fury (#4.64)" (2014)

Soundtrack:

El Aparato

Proud Showcase of Mexican Culture

Musical Manolo, scrappy Joaquin and smart Maria are three close childhood pals. Maria gets sent to Europe to study. Joaquin gets seriously into training as a military officer. Manolo is discouraged by his father from his musical aspirations, forcing him instead to take up bullfighting, which is the traditional Sanchez family occupation. When Maria returns to town after several years, Joaquin and Manolo vie for her heart.

Meanwhile, the two lords of the underworld, La Muerta (mistress of the Land of the Remembered) and Xibalba (master of the Land of the Forgotten) take a bet as to who Maria will end up with. On the Day of the Dead, the deities interfere with the outcome, leading to an adventure which will bring the characters from the land of the living to the land of the dead and back.

The most striking feature of this film is the animation style. The human characters are made to look like wooden puppets. This artworks were so ingeniously crafted such that each character is distinct from each other. The three main human characters all look very good and noble. The supporting characters are rather on the ugly, distorted side in their rendition, and these may need getting used to.

The background artwork is no less spectacular. The highlight of the whole film are those scenes in the Land of the Remembered, showing it as a happy bustling and festive place. The colors were so vibrant and rich. The multi-layered designs were so intricate and meticulous in their endemically Mexican-inspired details.

Another wonderful feature of this film is the musical score, written by Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla. This musician has been awarded the Oscar two times before for films "Babel" and "Brokeback Mountain." The soundtrack also employs the most unexpected pop songs, sung Mexican style of course. Hearing a familiar song being sung makes me smile and even sing along. The sensitive singing voice of Diego Luna (as Manolo) makes songs as diverse as Radiohead's "Creep" to Elvis' "Can't Help Falling in Love" sound so good.

I believe this film had a lot of educational value in it for the young audience it targets. There are a lot of Latino values being tackled here about friendship and family, the status of women, the respect for the dead, etc., which are likewise universal as well, more often than not. It also introduces us, both kids and adults alike, to the vibrant Mexican culture, especially about their Day of the Dead.

The pace of the film was slow at first, but once you get into its groove, you will surely enjoy the eventful ride. My two sons with me, as well as the much younger kids in the theater with us, all seemed to enjoy the film very much as you hear a lot of gleeful laughter at the some of the shallower jokes. This was despite the rather macabre subject matter and several grotesque-looking (albeit in a comical way) characters. It also had humorous moments that only adults would chuckle at.

Aside from Diego Luna, the line-up of voice actors surprisingly included Zoe Saldana as Maria and Channing Tatum as Joaquin. I would not have guessed. Other familiar names such as Ron Perlman and Christina Applegate are also on board. The most unexpected name I saw on the list though was that of Ice Cube as the sunshiny fluffy underworld character named Candlemaker. Some well-known Latino actors like Hector Elizondo, Danny Trejo and Placido Domingo voice the more mature characters, like Manolo's dad and ancestors.

Overall, "The Book of Life" is a very unique animated feature film. The basic story is based on Mexican folklore and traditions, so the animation style had the colors, designs and style of Mexico. The different look and unfamiliar references may turn off some less adventurous viewers, but really it should not. This is one very educational and very entertaining film for all ages. Writer and Director Jorge R. Gutierrez was able to successfully expand on his experience on Nickelodeon's frenetic award-winning animated series "El Tigre:The Adventures of Manny Rivera" (which he also created) and here proudly showcased his beloved Mexican roots on a much bigger platform. 8/10.