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Now before I start, I want to say that these two are amazing movies. The Book of Life is one of my all time favorites ever, and Coco is as well. These two movies have a lot in common, but that’s not what we’re going to talk about today. We’re talking about which one is better. Not just better overall; better in terms of characters, storyline, and overall message/ meaning. I’m not just going to go off of which has a better soundtrack.
Now, let’s get into it.
Now, let’s get into it.
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The Book of Life First off we’re going to talk about The Book of Life. The Book of Life is about 3 childhood friends and them growing up together. Maria (the girl), Manolo (let’s call him guitar guy), and Joaquin (the warrior). In the beginning of the movie, two gods bet on these three children. One good and one bad. They bet on who will marry Maria first. Manolo and Joaquin both love her the same and are best friends with each other. Manolo comes from a line of bull fighters while Joaquin’s dad died fighting their biggest enemy, Chakal. The good god bets |
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on Manolo, playing fair. The other, bets on Joaquin. However, the evil god gave Joaquin an everlasting medal, which makes him incredibly brave and incapable of being hurt. Some time passes and Maria gets sent off to boarding school, so the boys grow up without her. She comes back in adulthood and her dad desperately wants her to marry. Her dad loves Joaquin because of his bravery and strength (aka the medal). Her dad sets her up with Joaquin but she picks Manolo instead. The evil god didn’t like that, so he tricked Manolo by putting Maria in a coma. Manolo didn’t want a world without her so he asked the evil god to kill him. What great irony. A lot of songs and revenge later, Manolo is brought back to life right as Joaquin and Maria were about to get married. They fight Chakal and Manolo marries Maria, as he should. Now, onto Coco.
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Coco Coco follows a boy named Miguel who is in love with music. His family despises music so he must play in secret. He ends up stealing a very famous musician, Ernesto de la Cruz’s, guitar on the Day of the Dead. He gets sent to the after-life and finds his family. He wants to get back but he needs someone other than his direct family's blessings. Before he got sent there he figured out, or guessed, that Ernesto was his great-great grandfather. |
So, naturally, he goes to him so he can go back to the land of the living. Along the way he finds Hector, who helps him get to Ernesto. All Hector wants is to get his photo up so he can see his daughter again. A few songs and a lot of backstories later, Miguel figures out that he's not related to Ernesto at all; he's actually related to Hector. Oh, and Ernesto killed Hector when they were alive. Cool, right? Such a great friend. Miguel reveals Ernesto being a fraud to the whole Land of the Remembered. Miguel needs to go back before he dies for good, but he doesn't want to leave Hector. If he leaves Hector he may be forgotten forever. So Miguel rushes back to the living and begs Hector's daughter, Coco, to remember him. Luckily, it worked. She also remembers everything else that she had forgotten, or at least most of it. A year later Miguel's family loves music, Hector is famous, Ernesto is a fraud, and everything is great in the end. Such a beautiful movie.
Comparison
Once again, I love both movies. I love the irony of both, the foreshadowing, the plot twists, the music, basically everything. Honestly, these two movies are very similar. Two boys who had their lives set out for them but didn't want to follow their already written destiny. Both Miguel and Manolo wanted to pursue music more than anything else and their family hated that. They were both willing to die for it and honestly, they kind of did.
The Book of Life has way more romance and sadness to it, while Coco has way more very sad things that happen. Maybe because of the fact that Miguel was only a child when he went through all of this. Manolo was at least 18 before he died for Maria and was brought back to life. As I was saying earlier, these two movies watered down to their core elements are exactly the same. If you were to take Joaquin and Maria out of the Book of Life, it would be identical to Coco. Sure they had different destinies but nonetheless they didn't want to do them. They both chose music and changed their families minds about music.
Once again, I love both movies. I love the irony of both, the foreshadowing, the plot twists, the music, basically everything. Honestly, these two movies are very similar. Two boys who had their lives set out for them but didn't want to follow their already written destiny. Both Miguel and Manolo wanted to pursue music more than anything else and their family hated that. They were both willing to die for it and honestly, they kind of did.
The Book of Life has way more romance and sadness to it, while Coco has way more very sad things that happen. Maybe because of the fact that Miguel was only a child when he went through all of this. Manolo was at least 18 before he died for Maria and was brought back to life. As I was saying earlier, these two movies watered down to their core elements are exactly the same. If you were to take Joaquin and Maria out of the Book of Life, it would be identical to Coco. Sure they had different destinies but nonetheless they didn't want to do them. They both chose music and changed their families minds about music.
Conclusion
All and all, it depends on what you like. I, personally, like Coco better. This is because I love sad movies and children with troubled families. It hits home a tiny bit. However, if I’m not in the mood for crying, then I’d watch the Book of Life. Both have amazing storylines and just as amazing soundtracks. So all and all, it depends on your mood. In the mood for a semi-sad movie? Watch Coco. If you're in the mood for revenge, love, and childhood friends to lovers then watch the Book of Life. But, if you're indecisive like me then you watch the back to back :)
All and all, it depends on what you like. I, personally, like Coco better. This is because I love sad movies and children with troubled families. It hits home a tiny bit. However, if I’m not in the mood for crying, then I’d watch the Book of Life. Both have amazing storylines and just as amazing soundtracks. So all and all, it depends on your mood. In the mood for a semi-sad movie? Watch Coco. If you're in the mood for revenge, love, and childhood friends to lovers then watch the Book of Life. But, if you're indecisive like me then you watch the back to back :)
Allyse Walker
