ericadawn16 | The Book of Life

The Book of Life had stunning visuals, fun characters and an engaging plot that was so much better than The Corpse Bride that I find myself asking myself, Why didn't I like it better?

My brother asked me a week or two later if I wanted to see it again and I said I'd only see it again if it was a 3D showing so it'd a bit different that way.

I think it comes down to two things and I was torn about both:

1. Female representation

On one hand, Maria was strong and independent and could use weapons and was everything I wanted in a main character...
except she wasn't the main character.
Manolo and Joaquin and their struggles with family, honor and who will end up with Maria are the main characters.

I felt like we are almost there because she did get a lot of awesome lines and got to complain about everything we're thinking when we see this kind of film, but I wanted her to be a part of more of the action and be pro-active. Actually, it makes me think of the quote by Joss Whedon, “The thing about Buffy for me is–on a show-by-show basis–are there female characters who are being empowered, who are driving the narrative? The Twilight thing and a lot of these franchise attempts coming out, everything rests on what this girl will do, but she’s completely passive, or not really knowing what the hell is going on. And that’s incredibly frustrating to me because a lot of what’s taking on the oeuvre of Buffy, is actually a reaction against it. Everything is there — except for the Buffy. A lot of things aimed at the younger kids is just Choosing Boyfriends: The Movie.”

Yes, Maria was too passive for my liking and she only drove the narrative by existing or things done to her, not by her own actions. I wanted her to be more Luthien who wouldn't allow even death to stop her from being with the guy she wanted but not in a stupid "Romeo & Juliet" suicide kind of way.

2. Song Use

Again, I was torn because remixing the traditional Mexican songs into the new pop songs could introduce them to a new audience which is good but for me, it was a distraction from the film because I was forever trying to recognize what song the melody was taken from.

Again, the animation was incredible and the character designs were amazing. Those things were everything I could possibly want in a film and I'd expect nothing less from an animated film being promoted by producer Guillermo del Toro.

In writing this, I also can't help thinking of a co-worker who still has family in Mexico. She was surprised at a store announcement where we said, Happy Halloween! She explained that for her family, Halloween and the Day of the Dead are RELIGIOUS! Obviously, this can't be explored in a mainstream movie but I wish it could to reflect all the aspects of culture.