The Book of Life

Plot

Mary Beth, a museum tour guide, takes a group of students serving detention on a secret tour, telling them the story of San Angel, a Mexican town, from the Book of Life, which holds all stories in the world.

Ages ago, on the Day of the Dead, La Muerte, ruler of the Land of the Remembered, and Xibalba, ruler of the Land of the Forgotten, see young Manolo Sánchez and Joaquín Mondragon Jr. competing for María Posada's love. The gods agree that if María marries Manolo, Xibalba will no longer interfere in mortal affairs, but if Maria marries Joaquín, La Muerte and Xibalba will swap realms. Xibalba cheats by giving Joaquín his Medal of Everlasting Life, which grants the wearer invincibility.

A rebellious María frees the butcher's pigs, causing a stampede from which Manolo and Joaquín save the town. To correct her behavior, her father, General Ramiro Posada, sends her to Spain. Before parting ways, Manolo gives María a baby pig that he names Chuy, and she gives him a new guitar as a replacement for his old one. Years later, María returns to San Angel, where Joaquín has become a military hero with the Medal's power, and Manolo has been trained by his father Carlos in their family tradition of bullfighting, but is firmly opposed to killing the bull, and dreams of being a musician.

At his first bullfight, Manolo refuses to kill the bull, angering Carlos and the crowd but impressing María. Posada pressures María to marry Joaquín, desperate to keep him in San Angel and protect the town from the Bandit King Chakal. Instead, María and Manolo profess their love for each other, but Xibalba sends his dual-headed snake to intervene. Believing María has been fatally bitten, a devastated Manolo allows himself to be bitten as well, hoping they will be reunited in death.

In the Land of the Remembered, Manolo is met by his deceased mother Carmen and their ancestors. Having won the bet, Xibalba now rules La Muerte's realm, and explains that María was only bitten once, putting her in a trance, while Manolo was killed by being bitten twice. Determined to expose Xibalba's cheating, Manolo, Carmen, and his grandfather Luis travel to the Cave of Souls and meet the Candle Maker, overseer of mortal lives and keeper of the Book of Life.

Realizing that Manolo is still writing his own story, the Candle Maker takes them to the Land of the Forgotten to inform La Muerte of Xibalba's treachery. She confronts Xibalba, who agrees to resurrect Manolo if he completes a challenge of Xibalba's choosing; if he fails, his spirit will be forgotten and Xibalba will keep both realms. Believing Manolo's biggest fear is bullfighting, Xibalba sets him against a giant skeletal bull made from all bulls killed by the Sánchez family.

Voice cast

Diego Luna as Manolo Sánchez, a torero with a guitar and two swords, and the youngest in a family of skilled bullfighters.

Emil-Bastien Bouffard as a young Manolo.

Joe Matthews as young Manolo's singing voice.

Zoe Saldaña as María Posada, Manolo and Joaquín's best friend and mutual love interest. She is also General Ramiro Posada's daughter.

Genesis Ochoa as a young María.

Channing Tatum as Joaquín Mondragon Jr., a young man who is Manolo's closest friend and the town hero of San Angel.

Elias Garza as a young Joaquín.

Ice Cube as the Candle Maker, a being who oversees the lives and stories of the living through candles and the Book of Life, which he also oversees

Ron Perlman as Xibalba, the ruler of the Land of the Forgotten and La Muerte's husband.

Kate del Castillo as La Muerte, the ruler of the Land of the Remembered and Xibalba's wife.

Christina Applegate as Mary Beth, a museum tour guide, the story's narrator and one of La Muerte's disguises.

Tonita Castro as La Muerte disguised as an old woman.

Héctor Elizondo as Carlos Sánchez, Manolo's well-meaning yet extremely harsh father.

Ana de la Reguera as Carmen Sánchez, Manolo's deceased mother. She was credited as "Skeleton Carmen".

Production

Jorge R. Gutierrez first began developing The Book of Life fourteen years before its release. Several of the film's story ideas originated in Gutierrez's 2000 student film Carmelo. The opportunity to have The Book of Life produced as a feature film arrived after Gutierrez and his wife, Sandra Equihua, created the Nickelodeon animated series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera.

The Book of Life was originally optioned by DreamWorks Animation in 2007, but never went beyond development because of "creative differences". DreamWorks demanded that the film can't take place in Mexico, the characters can't be portrayed as wooden dolls, the film can not feature bullfighting, and the main character cannot die. Also, in order for the movie to move forward, it would have to be set in present-day urban New York, in Washington Heights. From there the film went to Reel FX, with 20th Century Fox handling distribution rights. Guillermo del Toro joined as a producer. The film was initially given a release date of October 10, 2014; however, this was eventually moved back by a week. On October 16, 2013, it was announced that Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldaña, Diego Luna and Christina Applegate would star as voice actors in the film.

Gutierrez wanted to make the final animation look like the concept artwork, saying: "I saw every single one that comes out and my biggest heartbreak is that I see all this glorious art, and then the movie doesn't look like that! The mandate of this movie was: Our 'Art of' book is going to look exactly like the movie. And every artist poured their heart and soul into that idea." Gutierrez did not permit his animation team to go on any research trips to Mexico, feeling that such trips often only covered very touristy aspects of the culture. Instead, he had the team address any questions they had about the region to him. He also stated that research trips would not be necessary to portray the film's "magic version of Mexico". Explaining that the tone of the film as initially conceived was going to be much darker, Gutierrez said, "I always felt, much like the design, I need to push the envelope so that when I pull back, I end up with something I love."

Release

The posters painted the characters' doll joints to look more human since they were scared audiences would not be able to feel empathy for wooden folk art dolls.

The Book of Life made its world premiere in Los Angeles on October 12, 2014. It was released on October 17, 2014, in North America.

Home media

The Book of Life was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on January 27, 2015, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The special features included a three-minute short animated film, titled The Adventures of Chuy. The film currently streams on Disney+ as of March 2026.

Music

In April 2013, it was announced Gustavo Santaolalla and Paul Williams would be adapting pop songs for the film. The soundtrack was released on September 26, 2014, while the score was released on October 24, 2014.

Reception

Box office

The Book of Life grossed $50.2 million in North America and $49.8 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $100 million, against a production budget of $50 million.

The Book of Life was released in the United States and Canada on October 17, 2014. The film earned $300,000 from Thursday late night showings from 2,150 theatres and $4.9 million on its opening day. The film debuted at number three in its opening weekend, earning $17 million at an average of $5,537 per theatre behind Fury ($23.5 million) and Gone Girl ($17.8 million). The film played 57% female and 54% under the age of 25 years. It played 59% under 10 years old while 31% of tickets sold were in 3D.

In other territories, The Book of Life earned $8.58 million from 3,654 screens in 19 markets. The highest-earning debuts came from Mexico ($3.84 million) and Brazil ($1.98 million). In Mexico, the film was number two behind the local film Perfect Dictatorship.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 125 reviews and an average rating of 6.90/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "The Book of Life's gorgeous animation is a treat, but it's a pity that its story lacks the same level of craft and detail that its thrilling visuals provide." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Geoff Berkshire of Variety wrote, "Repping a major step forward for Dallas-based Reel FX Animation Studios (after their anemic feature bow on last year's Free Birds), the beautifully rendered CG animation brings an unusually warm and heartfelt quality to the high-tech medium and emerges as the film's true calling card." Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "The Book of Life is a visually stunning effort that makes up for its formulaic storyline with an enchanting atmosphere that sweeps you into its fantastical world, or in this case, three worlds." Simon Abrams of The Village Voice wrote that the film's "hackneyed stock plot preaches tolerance while lamely reinforcing the status quo". Marc Snetiker of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A−, saying "Overflowing with hyperactive charm and a spectacular sea of colors, it showcases some of the most breathtaking animation we've seen this decade." Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, saying "The dizzying, intricate imagery is so beautiful, and the Latin-inspired songs catchy enough that the overall effect is often enchanting." Sara Stewart of The New York Post gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Just in time for Mexico's Day of the Dead holiday comes this gloriously colorful animated musical, which almost (but not quite) makes up in visuals what it lacks in snappy dialogue." Katie Rife of The A.V. Club gave the film a B−, saying "Ultimately, what drags The Book Of Life down is its insistence on trying to update an (original) folkloric story for a contemporary audience. In practice, this means adding some pop-cultural touches that only serve to take the viewer out of the fantastic setting."

Michael Ordoña of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film three out of five stars, saying "The vibrant animated feature The Book of Life is a cheeky celebration of Mexican folklore with a solid cast, an irreverent sensibility and gorgeous visuals." Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film three out of five stars, saying "The Book of Life may use state-of-the-art animation, but it derives its strength from the wisdom of antiquity. It only looks new, but it's as old as life (and death) itself. Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic gave the film four out of five stars, saying "A visually stunning, funny movie that trusts children to deal with subject matter that many films don't: specifically, death." Frank Lovece of Newsday gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Funny without being frantic, seamlessly switching from dry humor to slapstick, it shows death as a part of life—and, judging from a preview audience of very young tykes, does so in a gentle, delightful way." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times gave the film a negative review, saying "This often beautiful and too-often moribund, if exhaustingly frenetic, feature tends to be less energetic than the dead people waltzing through it." Conversely, Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The Book of Life juxtaposes overwrought visual imagery with an undernourished, familiar story—regrettable flaws in one of the few animated films to focus on Latino characters and the rich heritage of Mexican folk culture." Marjorie Baumgarten of The Austin Chronicle gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of five, saying "Visually arresting but dramatically rote, The Book of Life at least introduces American kids to the Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos and should score points with families looking for kid-friendly movies that reflect aspects of their Mexican cultural heritage."

Future

Director Jorge Gutierrez revealed in an interview that one of the ideas for the next chapter in the story involves Joaquin and his relationship with his father. "I had always imagined the first movie to be about Manolo, the second to be about Joaquín and the third one to be about Maria...I've always conceived it as a trilogy." In June 2017, Gutierrez and Reel FX Animation announced that development on the sequel had begun; however, as of June 2019, Gutierrez clarified on Twitter that there are currently no plans for a sequel.