The Book of Life (2014)

This movie is one of the most colourful I have seen. It's presented in a story-within-a-story style.

A bunch of kids visited a museum on the Day of The Dead. They were not in mood until they knew that their guide was a sexy young lady. In there they saw 'The Book of Life'. "All the world is made of stories and all of those stories are right here." Then the guide began her story.

The little town of San Angel

Below the little town of San Angel, which was the center of the universe, laid the Land of the Remembered - for those who lived on in the memories of their loved ones - and below that was the Land of the Forgotten. The Land of the Remembered was ruled by a beautiful lady called La Muerte; while the Land of the Forgotten was ruled by an old man named Xibalba.

In San Angel, La Muerte and Xibalba saw two little boys, Manolo and Joaqin, who were trying to win the heart of a beautiful little girl named Maria. They made a bet on who would win the girl. La Muerte said it would be Manolo, and Xibalba said it would be Joaqin. Xibalba cheated by giving Joaqin a medal that would kept him from injury and death. Meanwhile, Maria's father sent her to Spain to study in a convent.

Years passed. Manolo became a musician and bullfighter, while Joaqin became a soldier. After Maria had returned, her father wanted her to accept Joaqin's marriage proposal so Joaqin would stay and protect the town from a group of bandits. However, Maria seemed to tend to choose the romantic Manolo. Before Manolo could tell Maria about his feeling, she was bitten by a snake. Manolo thought she had been dead, and committed suicide by letting the snake bite him. He went into the Land of the Remembered, but could not find Maria there, because she was still alive.

Manolo arrives in The Land of the Remembered

Manolo tried to persuade Xibalba, who had become the ruler of the Land of the Remembered,  to let him return to San Angel, but Xibalba challenged Manolo to defeat his worst fear first.

Manolo, Joaqin, and Maria: best friends.
The characters are made from wood.

The music in this movie was enjoyable although the voice of singing Manolo was too pop for me. I prefer stronger voice.