First Peek: “The Book Of Life”

From producer Guillermo del Toro and writer/director Jorge Gutierrez comes one of the most exciting animated releases of 2014 – an animated comedy with a unique visual style, based on Mexico’s “Day Of The Dead” holiday.  

The Book of Life is the journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart.  Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears. The Book Of Life encourages us to celebrate the past while looking forward to the future. 

The cast includes Diego Luna, Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, Ice Cube, Ron Perlman, Christina Applegate, Kate del Castillo, Cheech Marin, Placido Domingo, Hector Elizondo, Gabriel Iglesias, Ricardo “El Mandril” Sanchez, and Danny Trejo. The animation was produced at Reel FX, Twentieth Century Fox will release The Book Of Life on October 17th, 2014. 

At an art gallery reception this past Monday night in Beverly Hills, Reel FX and Fox showed off several production paintings for the cast and crew. Here are two pieces that reflect the sensibility of the art direction (click on image to enlarge, to see more of the image and view detail):