Growing up in the Mexican border town of Tijuana, animator Jorge
Gutierrez waited to see his people appear in Hollywood's animated fare.
"I never saw myself or my family or my friends up on the screen in
animation," Gutierrez said. "I kept waiting for the Latina princess to
show up, and she never did." Gutierrez embarked on a 14-year journey to
make The Book of Life, out in US theaters on Friday, drawing on
Mexican art and wooden puppets to animate a colorful love story rooted
in the Mexican Day of the Dead festivities.
The Book of Life, a co-production of Reel FX Creative
Studios and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc's Twentieth Century Fox
studios, follows childhood friends Manolo (Diego Luna), Joaquin
(Channing Tatum) and Maria (Zoe Saldana). The kids become the subjects
of a playful bet between the vivacious La Muerte and the conniving
Xibalba, rulers of the underworld realms, who each pick which boy will
win Maria's heart. La Muerte reigns over the Land of the Remembered, a
never-ending fiesta town painted in a burst of luminous colors, and
Xibalba oversees the bleak Land of the Forgotten, a world where souls
turn to dust as they are forgotten by the living. As the three children
grow up, Manolo follows his family tradition of bull fighting but
refuses to kill a bull or give up music, while Joaquin becomes an
indestructible warrior with help from Xibalba. Then there is Maria, the
strong-willed beauty who Gutierrez says is "no damsel in distress."
"There are more Marias out there than ever before," said Saldana. "Art is beginning to imitate life and have a much more accurate depiction of real life characters more frequently. Maria to me is my sisters, my friends, my colleagues, my neighbors, women that I read about, women that I admire."
Death has often been a used as a catalyst for a hero's origins in animated films for children, from Bambi to The Lion King and Finding Nemo. But it is rarely placed in the spotlight, and Gutierrez said he was "extra careful" in portraying the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos), when Mexican families gather at the graves of their families and celebrate their lives. "Mexicans have a very different relationship with the concept of death than everywhere else in the world," he said. "In the history of (animation), death is something that's always been there but no one wants to acknowledge it."
At its heart, Book of Life captures Mexican culture and traditions through Gutierrez's eyes, a "love letter" to the world he grew up in. "It's not a folkloric postcard, it's truly a modern Mexico that at the same time loves its roots," said the film's producer, Guillermo Del Toro. "I think people are going to be immersed into it through the music, the visuals, and extremely important, the most universal thing of all, emotions."
The Book of Life, a co-production of Reel FX Creative
Studios and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc's Twentieth Century Fox
studios, follows childhood friends Manolo (Diego Luna), Joaquin
(Channing Tatum) and Maria (Zoe Saldana). The kids become the subjects
of a playful bet between the vivacious La Muerte and the conniving
Xibalba, rulers of the underworld realms, who each pick which boy will
win Maria's heart. La Muerte reigns over the Land of the Remembered, a
never-ending fiesta town painted in a burst of luminous colors, and
Xibalba oversees the bleak Land of the Forgotten, a world where souls
turn to dust as they are forgotten by the living. As the three children
grow up, Manolo follows his family tradition of bull fighting but
refuses to kill a bull or give up music, while Joaquin becomes an
indestructible warrior with help from Xibalba. Then there is Maria, the
strong-willed beauty who Gutierrez says is "no damsel in distress.""There are more Marias out there than ever before," said Saldana. "Art is beginning to imitate life and have a much more accurate depiction of real life characters more frequently. Maria to me is my sisters, my friends, my colleagues, my neighbors, women that I read about, women that I admire."
Death has often been a used as a catalyst for a hero's origins in animated films for children, from Bambi to The Lion King and Finding Nemo. But it is rarely placed in the spotlight, and Gutierrez said he was "extra careful" in portraying the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos), when Mexican families gather at the graves of their families and celebrate their lives. "Mexicans have a very different relationship with the concept of death than everywhere else in the world," he said. "In the history of (animation), death is something that's always been there but no one wants to acknowledge it."
At its heart, Book of Life captures Mexican culture and traditions through Gutierrez's eyes, a "love letter" to the world he grew up in. "It's not a folkloric postcard, it's truly a modern Mexico that at the same time loves its roots," said the film's producer, Guillermo Del Toro. "I think people are going to be immersed into it through the music, the visuals, and extremely important, the most universal thing of all, emotions."
