"I Love You Too Much" from "The Book of Life"

Rounding out this weekend of sad love songs and Mexican culture, I decided to watch "Book of Life" with my son, because it's a cute movie and there are so few movies that feature the light side of Dia de Muertos. Whenever you see Dia de Muertos in adult movies, it's all about Santa Muerte and skulls and darkness, which sublimates the true meaning of the celebration. It's supposed to be happy - death is just the next phase of our journey and our loved ones are never really gone if they live on in our hearts. It's odd but Samhain and Dia de los Muertos - they're all about love, they just happen to focus on the dark parts we don't really like to deal with the rest of the year. The grief, the heartbreak when someone has passed away. And it's also about the hope - hope that we'll see them again, that they're in a good place, that they're watching us and proud of what we've become.

Moving on - this is probably one of my most favorite animated films. It's colorful - lots of bright greens and pinks and yellows, like you would see during a Dia de Muertos celebration. Of course it's going to be visually gorgeous - Guillermo del Toro is the director and, regardless of what you think of his work, he has a clear aesthetic vision that carries through all his movies. He's very similar to Wes Anderson and Christopher Nolan, in that way. Additionally, he cast a strong ensemble - Diego Luna (Manolo) and Channing Tatum (Joaquin) play two best friends in love with the same girl (Maria), played by Zoe Saldana. Hector Elizondo as Manolo's bullfighting father. Ron Perlman as Xibalba and Kate del Castillo as La Muerte. All fairly brilliant actors on their own but together, they brought the story to life. I also really liked that the characters were designed to resemble wooden dolls - if you see the beginning of the movie, you'd understand. Essentially, it's a story being told within a story and the narrator is using the dolls to re-enact events.

Finally, the film incorporates contemporary and original songs and, like many children's movies, music plays an integral part of telling the story. In "Book of Life," Manolo (the main protagonist) is a matador who wants to be a musician. He also thinks killing the bull after the fight is wrong (I agree), which is one of the many reasons why Maria loves him and not Joaquin. After the big bull fight in Maria's honor - where Manolo refuses to kill the bull and disgraces the Sanchez family - Manolo serenades Maria with "I Love You Too Much." It's a beautiful song and Diego Luna's voice makes me kind of want to die. Maybe it's the accent.

I love you too much

To live without you loving me back

I love you too much

Heaven's my witness and this is a fact

I know I belong

When I sing this song

There's love above love and it's ours

Cause I love you too much

After the song, Maria giggles and refuses to kiss Manolo, asking "You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" But you know he had her heart before even began singing. Manolo makes a lot of grand gestures during the film but none of them are necessary. All a girl wants to know is that you're thinking of her, that you notice when she's gone, that you care about her opinion. And if she loves you, she accepts you for who you are and wants you to be you. This is the great lesson that Manolo has learn to escape the Land of the Forgotten and get his life back. That he's worthy of love - not just Maria's but his father's and his family's love as well - just the way he is, regardless of whether he is a bullfighter or a musician.

I'm telling you, I've got this love story formula all figured out now. I should start writing goddamn romance novels - I hear that business is pretty lucrative.

"I Love You Too Much" Clip