The Book of Life
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: October 17, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyMarc SnetikerOct 15, 2014
Overflowing with hyperactive charm and a spectacular sea of colors, it showcases some of the most breathtaking animation we've seen this decade. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaOct 17, 2014
The Book of Life bedazzles your eyes and buoys your spirits as it treads upon themes most commonly associated with the macabre universe of Tim Burton. Read full review
88
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreOct 15, 2014
A Mexican-accented kids’ cartoon so colorful and unconventionally dazzling it almost reinvents the art form. As pretty as a just-punctured pinata, endlessly inventive, warm and traditional, it serves up Mexican culture in a riot of Mexican colors and mariachi-flavored music. Read full review
88
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeOct 14, 2014
The Book of Life manages to be genuinely surprising and engrossing. Read full review
83
HitfixDrew McWeenyOct 16, 2014
The Book Of Life may play by the rules when it comes to story, but it plays its own game when it comes to how it looks, and in the world of animated family films, that's what really counts. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallOct 16, 2014
With everything it's doing all over again, The Book of Life often finds fresh ways to do it. That's all it takes. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonTrevor JohnstonOct 21, 2014
It’s hugely entertaining. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriOct 17, 2014
It’s a potentially grisly setup, but the actual movie makes death look downright fun. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 16, 2014
The film, directed and co-written by Jorge R. Gutierrez, is a visually stunning, funny movie that trusts children to deal with subject matter that many films don't: specifically, death. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanOct 16, 2014
For a kiddie flick, The Book of Life pushes boundaries, as the topic of death is undeniably front and center. But like Mexico’s Day of the Dead, the movie enjoyably, and successfully, mixes the macabre with the celebratory. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 17, 2014
The Book of Life represents Guillermo del Toro's most hands-on foray (to date) into the realm of family friendly entertainment; this is closer in tone and sensibility to one of Tim Burton's offbeat animated films than one of Pixar's more "vanilla" productions. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesLaura EmerickOct 16, 2014
The Book of Life is a delight. In an animated universe cluttered with kung-fu pandas, ice princesses and video-game heroes, Gutierrez and del Toro have conjured up an original vision. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMichael OrdonaOct 16, 2014
There are no great surprises, no shocking reveals (except to the characters themselves). But there’s so much to appreciate along the way that it’s a real page-turner. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanOct 16, 2014
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. Read full review
70
The DissolveTasha RobinsonOct 16, 2014
It’s all flawed, and distracted, and conceptually messy, prioritizing color over common sense and energy over consistency. But as an afternoon’s diversion for a handful of misbehaving kids—both within the movie, and within the movie theater—it’s authentically winning. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckOct 14, 2014
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. Read full review
70
VarietyGeoff BerkshireOct 14, 2014
The Book of Life is undoubtedly stuffed with more business than its fleet, kid-friendly running time can properly handle. Yet Gutierrez’s confident delivery of the material remains so buoyant and passionately felt throughout that he almost gets away with it. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeOct 15, 2014
The characters move around in a thoroughly realized universe full of imaginative and beautifully rendered detail. Too bad the rest of it isn’t more interesting. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigOct 16, 2014
While the story is not as mythic or fanciful as it seeks to be, its predictability is trumped by the film's beauty. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonOct 16, 2014
A flawed but intriguing new chapter in animation. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly RichardsOct 20, 2014
The gleefully Gothic fingerprints of Guillermo del Toro are all over this zippy excursion into Mexico's myths and legends, although the gag-count falls quite a lot short of Pixar greatness. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 16, 2014
This often beautiful and too-often moribund, if exhaustingly frenetic, feature tends to be less energetic than the dead people waltzing through it. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenOct 15, 2014
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. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartOct 15, 2014
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. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaOct 14, 2014
Jorge R. Gutierrez subsumes the film's darker themes in a relentlessly busy farrago of predictable kids'-movie tropes and annoying attempts at hipness. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesCharles SolomonOct 16, 2014
The Book of Life juxtaposes overwrought visual imagery with an undernourished, familiar story. Read full review
30
Village VoiceSimon AbramsOct 14, 2014
The film's rote right-makes-might fantasy wouldn't be so obnoxious if pandering to the lowest common denominator wasn't its default mode. Read full review
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