The Book of Life

@Mort: I don't see why not. She looks amazing.

Not that I'm complaining.

So, something I've been wondering: since this is gonna be a Jukebox Musical, any guesses/hopes about what songs they'll use?

The movie looks the most visually breathtaking of any film I have seen in the last few years.

It's just so unique! So vibrant! So colorful!

The fact that it's made by the people behind El Tigre (which is one of the most underrated cartoon series ever and a personal favorite of mine) is a bonus. I'm also really fond of this being a franchise adapting aspects of different cultures (Book of the Dead for Egypt Lore and with a story similar to Cain and Abel or Hamlet, Book of Epics for Persian/Mesopotamian Lore with shades of Gilgamesh, Book of Heroes for something a little Hellenistic/Roman, Book of Reincarnations tackling Hindu/Indian lore probably taking a few cues from the epic of Krishna etc.)

I still want to see what Pixar brings to the table with their own day of the dead film. More exploration of foreign culture from Hollywood is always good.

edited 2nd Jun '14 12:56:53 AM by PippingFool

Hopefully we can keep the number of Biz Markie songs to just the one.

I'm not really into this whole Jukebox Musical idea, but the movie looks so well-made that nothing could possibly stop my hype.

Also, I'd love the idea of this becoming a franchise with different movies, each exploring a different mythology (assuming that this one will be successful of course).

And btw, yes, Muerte is already very popular, but Xibalba is also getting a lot of attention and fanarts too (on Tumblr at least).

Do we conformation it's a jukebox musical officially?

An article linked on this thread's 1st page states it.

Gotcha. Thanks.

Speaking of which, I think I'd pay double the normal admission price just to see Ron Perlman sing something like this.

Some of the lyrics don't quite fit, but you get the idea.

Oh boy, if this is successful along with Pinnochio, does this mean Mountains of Madness and Hellboy 3 will be a possibility?

... what? Pinnochio?

Are they planning a movie on that too?

Ta-da! Probably won't show up for a while, though.

Double posting because I found this.

The audio isn't very good, but it talks more about the inspiration for the style and two of the original songs are played. That and we now know what two of the covers will be. I don't if that first song is a Tear Jerker, Nightmare Fuel, a Crowning Moment Of Awesome or some unholy combination of the three. I haven't listened to all of the second one yet, but it's cute.

edited 6th Jun '14 10:16:01 PM by Mort08

Oh yes! I absolutely adore la Dia de los Muertos, so I'm really looking forward to this! Such a lovely and unique style!

Think Ron Perlman will sing a song? eue

He totally should. I can definitely picture him rocking out to something "Friends on the Other Side"-esque. I saw Pacific Rim last night, and now I'm even more excited to see what he does with Xibalba.

I'm surprised no one has remarked on the irony of a movie titled The Book of Life being about the Day of the Dead.

And Mexico is "The Center of the Universe?" (still, Earth with a mustache is hilarious!)

As for my thoughts on the movie: the animation certainly is fun. And the use of Mexican mythology is original. But what really appeals to me is that this is a traditional romance story (with a male lead.) Those seem to have fallen out of style of late (both animated and live action.) Even more, judging from their descriptions, no one seems to be a true villain here; even Joaquin and Xibalba -who would usually get typical villain roles- sound like they are less shallow than that. Could everyone get a happy ending?

And I think using the Book as a frame to tell stories of various cultures is a great idea!

Killing a dude to avoid losing a bet isn't a villainous thing to do?

In many mythologies, there really aren't any true villains. They are all just Gray-and-Gray Morality, but it's today's culture and way of storytelling that pegged certain characters as such.

Kind of makes me wonder what how high the stakes of the bet even are, that Xibalba resorts to killing poor Manolo.

edited 7th Jun '14 3:18:04 PM by Dezmo

I'm guessing Blue-and-Orange Morality. That or Xibalba's just a petty little bitch, which wouldn't surprise me.

Also, I don't think I've felt this sorry for a protagonist in quite a while. If getting murdered is the first bad thing that happens to Manolo, imagine how depressing the Darkest Hour is going to be.

As much as I'd enjoy seeing Xibalba get his comeuppance, a happy ending for everyone seems like it'd be in-character for this film. That's what I'm guessing too.

edited 7th Jun '14 4:21:04 PM by Mort08

Xibalba's description says that he just wants to get back together with his ex-wife, La Muerte. So I suspect that the bet somehow plays into that. As for killing Manolo, well, when you're a Death God (especially one who can apparently revive the dead) killing people might not be such a big deal.

Of course this is all extrapolation, we'll have to see the actual movie to judge all the characters.

edited 7th Jun '14 6:00:10 PM by Sijo

The fact Doug Langdale is a co-writer has made me realized that writers for television animation are not usually involved with feature animation unless it is a big screen adaptation of a show they were already involved in.

I hope we get a second trailer soon.

It'll probably be with either Planes 2 or The BoxTrolls. Or if we're lucky, we could get a second trailer with the former and a third trailer with the latter. How many trailers did Free Birds have?

...You know, that's something I never thought I'd have to look up. It only got two.

Heck, they might even stick something in front of Guardians Of The Galaxy, considering that Zoe Saldana is in both films.

edited 7th Jun '14 7:43:04 PM by Mort08