All of a sudden we’re hit with the news that it’s the Day of the Dead again. That is, until our recently killed hero, Manolo, passes a test of purity. They establish the existence of the celebration at the beginning, but then it recedes to inconsequence. It is really little more than a deus ex machina plot device by the end of the story. Story Coincidental Rushed PlotĬonceptually, The Book of Life uses the Mexican cultural holiday of The Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) to both kill and revive a character. Moreover, I’ll also discuss the way the culture is used in both films, from my point of view, as well as their many strange similarities, however questionable they may seem.
Coco is the clear winner when it comes to the quality of the visuals from the lighting to the textures to the rendering. If compared them directly, there’s really no contest. So instead, I’ll eschew technical comparisons for ones considering the writing, the music, the visuals, and the characters. It’s not fair for me to compare these films directly considering the studios, the budgets, and the 3 year time difference. The Book of Life had a budget of around $50 million, while Coco has one upwards of $200 million. If compared directly, there’s really no contest. Before we begin… Coco’s $200 million budget helped make it the clear winner from a technical perspective, especially when it comes to the quality of the rendering. Well, I happen to own a copy and decided to watch it and compare for myself.
And those critics clearly haven’t watched The Book of Life recently. These reviews chastise Pixar, suggesting they had no business producing a similarly-themed film 3 years later. However, the majority of the negative reviews draw parallels to The Book of Life.
THE BOOK OF LIFE NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE MOVIE
If you look online for movie reviews for Pixar’s Coco, they are overwhelmingly positive. So much so that when Pixar announced they were making a “Day of the Dead” movie, everyone instantly started to make comparisons. In the end, it became more of a home video hit. In fact, it’s theatrical gross just barely covered the cost to make it in the US. It became an underground hit, even though it wasn’t a box office slam. Plus: it was great to see an animated film with an Hispanic director and producer get a big budget and a major studio behind it. The Book of Life was a good and quirky film. But the similarities have made a lot of people wonder. Ok, so not really, these aren’t actually the same movie. However, as an avid fan of all things animated, I was very happy with this movie when it came out in 2014 as The Book of Life, produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Jorge Gutierrez. It’s Oscar season, and as an animator, Pixar’s Coco is almost a shoe-in to be the Best Animated Film (although the looming shadow of Boss Baby might just steal…lololol).
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