Reel FX’s “The Book of Life” and Pixar’s “Coco” have an incredibly similar premise: the main character wishes to pursue music, but their family holds them back and wants them to pursue the family business (bullfighting and cobbling respectively). It gets even weirder when you realize that both movies feature themes such as the Día de los Muertos celebration, the afterlife, and remembrance of those who have passed. Stranger yet is realizing that “The Book of Life” came out three years before “Coco” did and flew under the radar for most people when it came out about a decade ago. “The Book of Life” played a very prominent role in my childhood and I heard that “Coco” had very similar themes when it came out a few years later. Although I didn’t get a chance to see it when it came out, I had operated on the assumption that “Coco” was just a rip-off of “The Book of Life”. I don’t think I could have been more wrong though. While I still enjoy “The Book of Life” more, I do think that the story of “Coco” comes at the same premise from a very different angle. Although let’s be real, if “The Book of Life” had come after “Coco”, it would not have surprised me to see Disney drop a big lawsuit on “The Book of Life’s” head. After finally watching both, back-to-back, I’d like to make a comparison between the two.
Let’s start with “The Book of Life”. It focuses on two boys, Manolo and Joaquin, and their competition for the hand of the same woman, Maria. Two different manifestations of Death make a wager on them, to see which one of the boys will marry Maria, with the different realms that they rule on the line. I love a lot of things about “The Book of Life”. It has very unique animation, cool choreography during skirmishes, and some really interesting themes of a family pressuring their child to go into the family tradition of bullfighting. There are some things about “The Book of Life” though that I think aren’t done as well. Some of the dialogue is a little blocky and doesn’t seem natural at times, and there was a bunch of pop song covers that seemingly didn’t fit as well (looking at you “Creep” by Radiohead). But I will say that I think the majority of the songs fit rather well and hit emotionally where they were supposed to. Most of the songs not being original probably did hurt rather than help, but I still think that this movie deserves a lot more credit than it gets.
“Coco” on the other hand introduces Miguel, a young boy who loves to play music but is stopped by his family, who still holds a grudge against a musician who abandoned the family many years ago. There are a lot of things that “Coco” does very well, for example, the plot is simple and likely easier to follow than “The Book of Life” for most people. The visuals of “Coco” are spectacular and beautifully rendered, the ending is a real tear-jerker, and there are a couple of cool twists along the way. There are a couple of things in “Coco” that I don’t think are done as well though, and I think the main thing that stood out to me was the main family’s dislike of music. Their only reason for completely ostracizing all music from their immediate vicinity is that the main character’s Great-Great-Grandfather left the family, and he was a musician. That seemed weird to me, maybe if just the musician’s wife had disliked music, that would have been better, but this dislike of music gets passed down an entire five generations just to have a reason why the family didn’t like music. Giving up music entirely just seems weird as a response to that, what if the musician who left was a cook? Would they have given up eating? It seems like a weird plot device that ends up driving the whole movie. At least “The Book of Life” had a slightly better reason for driving the main character away from music. Manolo’s entire family had always been bullfighters, and while Miguel’s entire family had been cobblers, this isn’t focused on nearly as much.
In conclusion, I think both “The Book of Life” and “Coco” have their pros and cons, but overall, I think “The Book of Life” does a better job with general storytelling and character decisions within the plot, while “Coco” does better with the visuals and music that accompany its story (It is worth noting that “Coco’s” budget was four times higher than “The Book Of Life”). As a sucker for a well-told story, I think I’d have to say that “The Book of Life” still edges out on top for me, and since I watched “The Book of Life” when it came out, I think I still prefer it since “Coco” is such a similar premise. While they do take it from very different angles, they have a large amount of details in common. Is the inspiration for “Coco” taken from “The Book of Life”? Who’s to say, something like that is very difficult to prove, but I don’t think so personally. They take the same premise in a very different way, and I do like that about “Coco”. These movies are both very good, I’d give them both four out of five stars, with “The Book of Life” coming out ever so slightly on top.
