“The Book of Life” is a stunning visual story deeply immersed in the Mexican holiday of El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) and is directed by Jorge Gutierrez and produced by Guillermo del Toro. “The Book of Life” delves into the heavy themes of death and the afterlife, but this film does not try to terrify the viewer and is a great film for children. The film does fit a “traditional” Mexican view, but its characters and scenes are anything but a run-of-the mill Halloween movie. Before the movie settles down into its main storyline, a mythological overview of El Dia de los Muertos is given to the viewer. It explains why families remember their ancestors and talks about the two realms beyond the Land of the Living: The Land of the Remember a glorious land of family gatherings and fiestas ruled by La Muerte, and The Land of the Forgotten, a cold and vile place ruled by Xibalba where those who are forgotten in the world of living perish. From there, the storyline shifts to the three main characters during their childhood. Manolo voiced by Diego Luna, Joaquin voiced by Channing Tatum and Maria voiced by Zoe Saldana are three friends living in the pueblo of San Angel. Both of the boys have a deep affection for Maria that causes a romantic rivalry that stems throughout the story. La Muerte and Xibalba make a wager on who will win Maria’s heart, with La Muerte choosing Manolo and Xibalba Joaquin. Although the movie’s story does not stray too far from a traditional love triangle plot filled with self-realization and personal development, the amount of detail into the characters, the sets and the music make the movie flow in such a pleasing way that it’s almost hard to find flaws in it outside of the plot. Tatum’s voice is horribly cast in this film and sticks out like a sore thumb. There is an over abundance of characters to grasp in one viewing. Graphically, this movie is incredible. The animators’ attention toward detail is so jaw dropping I had to watch the film twice to take it all in. The symbolic manner in which the characters are designed like wooden puppets, the amount of detail placed into the Land of the Remembered and the small ingenuous details into plot items like Manolo’s guitar or Joaquin’s military outfit are just a few of things that are created so well. The music in “The Book of Life” is unique in the sense that it doesn’t fit the norm of a children’s movie even for a Mexican culture based film. The musical score of mariachi, modern pop and traditional folk music with cultural covers of Radiohead’s “Creep” and Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” mixed into the fray make this movie appealing to almost every musical palate. If you are a child or a child at heart who loves Halloween movies, this is a must see. Graphically this movie is stunning and has great characters, although the plot leaves something to be desired. Sure, the “Nightmare before Christmas” may be the undisputed king of Oct. 31, Halloween, but “The Book of Life” will rule Nov. 2, El Dia de los Muertos.