Trailers for “The Book
of Life” promised a gloriously animated supernatural vibe from King of the
Weird and producer/writer Guillermo del Toro. The film delivers. Maybe not to
the heights of “Pan’s Labyrinth” or animated siblings “Up” or “Coraline,” but enough
that I left the cinema awed. Heavy on the wood and stone art of Mayan and
Spanish cultures, “Book” has a literal bookend story of ragtag school kids
visiting a museum and through a hip tour guide (Christina Applegate) learn of the feisty Mexican beauty Maria (Zoe Saldana) who becomes a coin in a
bet between gods Xibalba and La Muerte, the after-life rulers of the Land of
the Forgotten and the Land of the Remembered. Maria, see, is chased after two
men, a reluctant bullfighter (Diego Luna) and a seemingly invincible soldier
(Channing Tatum). The story is deep and wondrously dark and riffs on Radiohead’s “Creep.” Huge sticking points: Our gal still is made to
choose her hubs to be. Ice
Cube as God is so very Special
Appearance By Ice Cube, the film’s magic bear breaks. B+
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