The Book of Life

And that, boys and girls, is why you never, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVER start a project like this with sequels in mind. If you have them, take a page out of George Lucas' handbook, put 'em on the back burner for things that'd be neat to do some day, but probably won't. Otherwise you look as silly and Gutierrez does now.

At least the movie works well enough as a stand-alone project if you ignore outside comments about people saying what they'd like to do in future movies.

I think they'll get their money back. It's just a shame the international markets are just slowly getting distribution.

Just look at Pacific Rim.

Thank you, only other person on this board who is being optimistic about this subject.

I'm sorry, this is nothing like Pacific Rim. Pacific Rim at least managed to make back a much bigger budget. This just barely made back 50 million, and only made money because Day of the Dead was coming up.

In this day and age, where the Internet can bend even the mightiest company to its will when it wants to, it's not outside of the realm of possibility for a sequel to become a thing, even if it ends up going through Kickstarter or something. It's made 80 million at the box office compared to its 50 million budget, so at the very least, it isn't a disaster. It has been very well received by the critics and has quickly developed a cult following.

A second movie is entirely possible, and depending on the pace of things, probable. A third however may be pushing your luck.

Also, I watched the movie yesterday. Frankly one of my favorites animated movies of this decade. Specially liked the Adelita Twins and the sheer character depth everyone had (Joaquin, in particularl, surprised me. I expected him to just be an arrogant douche).

It pleases me that the sequel idea would be about him and his father.

I think you're overestimating the power of the internet just a tad.

A second movie would need to be unbelievably, cosmically better than the first film in order for a 3rd to even be possible.

I saw the movie last weekend, and had no idea there were sequel plans until reading this thread. It stands on its own quite well.

It was a hyperbole, but the point stands that the Internet employs a large power over studios.

You mean profit better, right? Reviews for the first were pretty positive and there's a growing fanbase.

edited 16th Nov '14 12:23:40 PM by Gaon

Well yeah, profitable.

Turns out the film has won back its profit.

Also, my father said that the film might get more profits once the dvd comes out. There's also upset Australians with the film going to be released out in April.

All excellent points. TBH, this movie could end up going the Cult Classic route and I'd still be happy because at least people would be watching it.

Also, I've decided that this movie and Big Hero 6 ought to be Friendly Fandoms. They're gonna make an amazing double feature when I get them on DVD.

edited 16th Nov '14 5:01:01 PM by Mort08

Bought a copy of this earlier since I didn't get to see it while it was in theaters. I would have preferred if Maria had more agency of her own but other than that I enjoyed it. Definitely worth the buy and I'll be watching the commentary as soon as possible.

I'm listening to the audio commentary.

All the clever symbolism Guiterrez is explaining about every moment in the film is very interesting to listen to.

OH MY GOD THIS IS THE GREATEST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!

Edit: I find it despicable that the Spaniards got their own dub instead of using the Mexican one. That's... I'm already sick of hearing the same damned voices over and over, but this is wrong. A film set in mexico should sound mexican! Why do they hate American accents so much?!

Xibalba's character design is eerily similar to that of Discord from My Littlepony Friendship Is Magic, to the point i kept expecting John de Lancie's voice every time he opened his mouth... Oh, I see that I wasn't alone... He does also work as a shinigami, sure.

La Muerte is indeed beautiful. Like most of the film, she should look gaudy and ridiculous, but is awesome instead.

Guillermo del Toro and his crew aren't exploring foreign culture, they're showcasing their own.

edited 3rd Apr '15 3:54:35 AM by TheHandle

Glad you like the film but what's that about hating American accents?

Accents of the New World, the West Indies, you know, América. I am using the Hispanic convention. I know in English semantic drift resulted in a False Friend, but I insist for political reasons.

edited 3rd Apr '15 4:58:21 PM by TheHandle

Jorge Gutierrez actually has another movie coming out: A riff on Wizard of Oz being produced in Mexico.

This looks utterly terrible. It completely lacks the charm of BOL.

The one redeeming feature: the killer rabbit. "IT HAS A MEAN STREAK A MILE LONG!"

Xibalba's presentation is fantastic.

The plot surrounding him, less so, given the implied existence of this offscreen moment:

• XIBALBA: So, you remember that bet we made about which boy would marry the girl?
• LA MUERTE: Yeah, what about it?
• XIBALBA: Well, your boy dropped dead under mysterious circumstances five minutes ago. Mine hasn't married her yet, and the possibility still exists that she may choose not to marry either boy thus rendering our entire wager a draw, but I'm going to claim premature victory in this arrangement anyway.
• LA MUERTE: Seems legit. I'll pack my bags. Congratulations on your inevitable and entirely fairly earned victory that will probably happen at some point in the near future maybe.

He also invokes Exact Words during the deal with Manolo where he kills him, despite the fact that even by Exact Words, the arrangement is a bold-faced lie - implying there's no reason he couldn't have just killed him on the spot.

And then he had the army of deadly undead bulls fuse into one giant undead bull even though one giant monster is far less formidable than a swarm of hundreds, maybe thousands of moderate-sized monsters. It was intimidating, sure, but it turned the challenge from Hopeless to Manageable.

He's visually fantastic, his voice is amazing, and that moment where he stares down Manolo to find his deepest fear is every bit as chilling and awesome as it should be. Every part of his execution is perfect. But he's terribly written.

edited 13th Apr '15 10:42:50 AM by TobiasDrake

He didn't write it. His wife and him only did character designs.

I feel like the whole Accent thing should be explained further. See, Latin America and Spain, while sharing a commmon language, always make separate dubs. This is the first time I've heard of Spain not liking American accents, Im ashamed to say the opposite is true most of the time. While I do prefer Latin American dubbing, since Im Latin American, there REALLY seems to be a lot of bad blod between both regions dubbing fans. I think Spanish dubbing can be terrific and Latin American dubbing can suck, and vice versa. I really dont like the elitism and ethnocentrism excibited by both sides.

Asumo que vos (Ese vos no es vosotros, es una expresion suramericana basada en esa palabra) sabes espanol.Me conmueve mucho que quieras escuchar nuestro doblaje! Yo siempre me enojaba cuando oia doblajes que son unicamente para ocultar el "Accento" como el de Tadeo El Explorador Perdido o la serie argentina Mi Familia Es Un Dibujo. Esta vez no creo que haya sido por eso, pero igual me alegra ver que quieras ver la peli en latino!

Cuando era niño veía las películas Disney con doblaje... argentino, creo que eran? El Sebástian de la Sirenita es un eterno favorito mío.

Latin accents are looked down upon in Spain because they are the accents of the poor listless ignorant immigrants.

Also, I must confess that I don't like all accents equally, and that Mexico's are among my least favorites; I find them a tad too sugar-sweet. But I think it's sacrilegious and absurd to dub this film into any other Spanish accent than Mexican.

edited 14th Apr '15 2:45:48 AM by TheHandle

I've heard something along those lines, I've heard Spanish dubbing fans say pretty racist things about Lat AM dubbing, but Lat AM fans give as much as they take. Fans in general are crazy, lol. I do find weird that you can detect an accent in a Mexican dubbed film. They pride themselves in making dubbing in Espanol Neutro (Neutral Spanish for those who may want a translation) as in lacking any accent. I guess that's why you can stomach The Little Mermaid 's (BTW it was dubbed in Mexico, Disney only dubbed their very first batch of movies there(Argentina) and then moved to Mexico) dub. I did use to hate Mexican accents but then I grew to love them, to the point that its one of my kinks. Rawr.