The Book of Life

As I continue on with movie reviews I decided to just make it a complete week with family friendly movies. This week I did The Book of Life, which was a very visually striking movie but that is about it. It takes place as a story told in a Mexican town where to young men are fighting over one women who is supposed to be the love of their life. The movie, to me, had some things that didn't make much sense. For instance, since the movie took place in Mexico, you would think that the two men who are fighting over their love would have a Spanish speaking accent. Nope, only one did. One of the characters were voiced by Diego Luna and the other was Channing Tatum! So we had one character who fit properly into the story while the other just talked with a normal American accent. The story style was very conventional and predictable with a couple jokes tossed in. If you love movies that are fun to watch in terms of the colors and setting this movie may be for you. For me, the visual element only lasted long, the story gets dragged on and is fairly simplistic.

 

The one thing I will say about the past two movies I have reviewed. (Lego Movie and Book of Life), both hold a common theme of having the main characters think for themselves. Which is something Lego Movie really hits home with making that almost the whole theme while Book of Life hints at it for about one minute of the movie. Many things get built up in the film that end up never really coming full circle. Book of Life stars Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, and Diego Luna. It is directed by Jorge Gutierrez and produced by Guillermo Del Toro. I give this movie a 5 out of 10.

 

 

Poster for The Book of Life

 







The Lego Movie

Picture Courtesy of Shadow binders.

For starters, I just want to say that it doesnt matter what age you are, you will enjoy this movie. I figured, "Oh, Lego Movie, this is probably meant for 7-10 year olds but I will give it a shot anyway." I ended up loving this movie. Mostly for the creativity because there is something happening the whole time the film is on screen. It is fast paced film with the right

amount of wit in it so you can actually still see what is going on. It is kind of relentless when it comes to things moving, but more importantly it is relentless when it comes to the jokes. I thought this movie was actually really funny. Real funny, not the actual type of funny where it is so stupid you begin to laugh but it has jokes in the dialogue that could actually be used in a stand up comedy set. For all the amount of moving parts and the creativeness of each character, this movie seemed like it should take twenty years to make.

Lego Movie is more than just a silly movie as well. It actually had a deeper meaning to it that could actually be adult like. The movie follow the character Emmit (Voiced by Chis Pratt), who just goes along with society like a sheep. He never really has an original thought of his own, and is basically the exact opposite of a unique human being. The movie is almost a metaphor for how to be unique and think for yourself. It kind of makes fun of society and how people just go with the flow instead of having there own point of views. Emmit finally meets Lucy (Voiced by Elizabeth Banks) who tells Emmit his the special one who can stop evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) from basically destroying the city.

It is your typical adventure movie when it comes storytelling of a movie, but the graphics, dialogue and wit make this a great movie. It even has a twist at the ending that is definitely a surprise to most viewers. After all the jokes and silliness it actually has a heart warming ending thast gives the movie a great conclusions that sticks with you even after you walk out of the movie theater. Lego Movie stars, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson and Will Arnett as Batman. I give Lego Movie an 8 out of 10