The Book of Life Trailer Animation Is Astounding

harpere

New member
May 20, 2014
192
0
0
The Book of Life Trailer Animation Is Astounding

We've tried throwing money at the monitor to make the trailer last longer, but apparently we'll have to wait until October to see the finished product.


What can we say? This trailer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBw5YScs8iQ] for the upcoming Guillermo del Toro-produced The Book of Life is absolutely gorgeous. Though the story seems like a hum-drum tale of two men in love with the same woman, by the time Manolo passes in to the Land of the Remembered, the vibrant artwork has developed a life of its own... and even if Manolo's standard fairy tale quest to be reunited with his true love turns out to be a bore, it's clear the animation is going to be worth watching.

Directed by relative newcomer Jorge R. Gutierrez, The Book of Life is meant to capture the feel of movie art books. "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 told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/first-look-book-life-concept-683635]. And we've got to say, this brightly colored trailer matches the initial preview art pretty well.

The Book of Life will be in theaters on October 17th, just in time for Halloween - or the Day of the Dead, if you'd rather - and stars Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, and Diego Luna.

Permalink
 

Story

Note to self: Prooof reed posts
Sep 4, 2013
905
0
0
Is this poster already a Jorge R. Gutierrez fan? :p
He's the guy who co-created El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera as well as Mucha Lucha along with his wife.
I plan on seeing this opening day if only because I want to support Gutierrez, I really enjoy his style.
 

Hagi

New member
Apr 10, 2011
2,741
0
0
I think they may have accidentally misfiled the most cliche story as the greatest story in that great book of life of theirs.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,839
4,606
118
The style really seems to be all it has going for it. The actual plot and characters appear to be the usual dimwitted Dreamworks fare.

God, I'm so tired of these types of animated movies.
 

Nazulu

They will not take our Fluids
Jun 5, 2008
6,242
0
0
Does anyone think they reveal too much in these trailers? And that the ending pop music sucks any magic it could have had? Or that it just sucks?

I refuse to see any of these animated movies because of their fucking terrible jokes. When I don't like the characters I don't care any more.

The Congress trailer King brought up did a shit ton better job.
 

Story

Note to self: Prooof reed posts
Sep 4, 2013
905
0
0
King Whurdler said:
Eh, doesn't really look that captivating to be honest. Aside from the great looking animation, there doesn't seem to be that much to look at.
Hagi said:
I think they may have accidentally misfiled the most cliche story as the greatest story in that great book of life of theirs.
Casual Shinji said:
The style really seems to be all it has going for it. The actual plot and characters appear to be the usual dimwitted Dreamworks fare.
Nazulu said:
Does anyone think they reveal too much in these trailers? And that the ending pop music sucks any magic it could have had? Or that it just sucks?
You know, my fan-girlism aside, I can't really disagree with any of those comments. To be honest, I don't expect much from this movie aside from Gutierrez eye candy. This movie is from Reel FX studio who thus far, aside from various straight to video animated flicks, has only made the ho-hum Free Birds from last year. At least this looks a bit better than that film, so...baby steps.

I've gone out of my way to see pretty mediocre movies to support the directorial debts of popular animators before. I went to see the mixed bag Hotel Transylvania for example...twice...because of Genndy tartakovsky. I plan to do it again with the Popeye movie when that comes out.

An interesting thing about the Book of Life is although Tartakovsky had limited freedom with Hotel Transylvania, Gutierrez has a bit more freedom here since he co-wrote the script so I wonder if he knows Guillermo del Toro (the big name producer) personally.

And if it sucks? Eh. Pixar has a Day of the Dead movie coming out a few years down the line appearantly. That might be quite good.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,839
4,606
118
Story said:
I've gone out of my way to see pretty mediocre movies to support the directorial debts of popular animators before.
I commend your dedication.

But for me The Croods was the final straw. Unless the trailer says otherwise, I'm not taking a change with any of the CG cartoons anymore.
 

Story

Note to self: Prooof reed posts
Sep 4, 2013
905
0
0
Casual Shinji said:
Story said:
I've gone out of my way to see pretty mediocre movies to support the directorial debts of popular animators before.
I commend your dedication.

But for me The Croods was the final straw. Unless the trailer says otherwise, I'm not taking a change with any of the CG cartoons anymore.
Ah, I did not see the Croods. I assume you mean Chris Sanders as the creative force behind that one. interesting enough I was the only person I knew that didn't like How to Train Your Dragon. That was enough to keep me way. I did like Lilo and Stitch however.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,839
4,606
118
Story said:
Ah, I did not see the Croods. I assume you mean Chris Sanders as the creative force behind that one. interesting enough I was the only person I knew that didn't like How to Train Your Dragon. That was enough to keep me way. I did like Lilo and Stitch however.
Oh, I didn't know it was the same guy. The guy has a fun art style in 2D, but in 3D it just looks a bit generic for some reason.

I wasn't the biggest fan of How to Train Your Dragon either. It was a fun enough underdog story with some sincerity, but it never really took off for me. A lot of the character designs also looked really strange in 3D. And the fact that all the parental characters spoke in a thick Scotish accent, but all the kids sounded like like white-bread Americans was also a head scratcher.
 

Reynaert

New member
Jan 30, 2011
134
0
0
Looks like they stole the plot and setting from Guacamelee.

Also,
King Whurdler said:
Eh, doesn't really look that captivating to be honest. Aside from the great looking animation, there doesn't seem to be that much to look at.

I'd still say the animated film I'm most looking forward to coming out (even though it was technically released last year I've already seen it) is The Congress.
It played at high profile film festivals last year, but it's getting a theatrical release in August.
Thank you for putting this post on here. Now I know what to look forward to. The trailer is a cinephile's dream.
 

Izanagi009_v1legacy

Anime Nerds Unite
Apr 25, 2013
1,460
0
0
Casual Shinji said:
Story said:
Ah, I did not see the Croods. I assume you mean Chris Sanders as the creative force behind that one. interesting enough I was the only person I knew that didn't like How to Train Your Dragon. That was enough to keep me way. I did like Lilo and Stitch however.
Oh, I didn't know it was the same guy. The guy has a fun art style in 2D, but in 3D it just looks a bit generic for some reason.

I wasn't the biggest fan of How to Train Your Dragon either. It was a fun enough underdog story with some sincerity, but it never really took off for me. A lot of the character designs also looked really strange in 3D. And the fact that all the parental characters spoke in a thick Scotish accent, but all the kids sounded like like white-bread Americans was also a head scratcher.
I would say this about "How to Train Your Dragon", it had a bit of humor and genuine moments and it didn't constantly make us depressed during the important parts by having a bit of levity in the characters. The animation is generic but given how horrible RWBY failed at 3D animation (yes, I'm still on that) I will take Dragon's animation style any day. The voices don't bother me since I've seen way too much anime and characters from American and Britain don't sound like their supposed to so I kind of ignore it unless it really gets bad.

On Topic: I guess I can see why del Toro would support this: it's a movie about a holiday with roots in Mexico that is not really put to film (as far as I know, if there are films set during the Day of the Dead, tell me). I will definably admit that seeing it for the first time made me think abut El Tigre which had a style that fit it's characters and settings. It works as well here. The story may be generic but I will hold reservation on whether it is good or not since even the oldest of stories can have life breathed into them
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
8,687
0
0
Hagi said:
I think they may have accidentally misfiled the most cliche story as the greatest story in that great book of life of theirs.
That's immediately what I thought:

Narrator: "But the greatest story begins on the day of the dead!"
Me: "Citation needed..."

=P

While I do admit that the animation does indeed look lovely, the story seems pretty unenthralling.
 

CelestDaer

New member
Mar 25, 2013
245
0
0
This looks like Grim Fandango mixed with Corpse Bride, but it looks pretty, so I'm getting excited for it.
 

bartholen_v1legacy

A dyslexic man walks into a bra.
Jan 24, 2009
3,056
0
0
Honestly I don't see anything special about the animation. The visual look certainly looks unique, but I didn't see anything showcasing spectacular animation in the trailer.

And honestly, I really don't like headlines or articles that are trying to tell me how I should react to something. I certainly wasn't throwing money at the screen. I'm interested, since anything new by del Toro is always worth paying attention to (even if he's just a producer), but not exactly blown away.
 

Marik2

Phone Poster
Nov 10, 2009
5,462
0
0
Gonna wait for a Spanish dub since it would fit much better with the setting and aesthetic of Day of the Dead.