Like Water for Chocolate (1993)

The movie is well filmed with great backdrops. For anyone who has lived in Mexico, it is historically accurate in its portrayal of life in northern Mexico during Revolutionary times. It comes close to following the book, which has a recipe for all of the movie meals, and more - one for each month. My wife cooked the quail in rose petals and..... Parts of the film are erotic without being graphic. All of the actors are wonderfully cast in their roles. If you want the DVD, the uncut 113 minute version has interesting scenes omitted in the American version 105 minute one.

Yes this is a romance movie, but it is a fantastic fantasy fairy tale quality love story. Pedro and Tita fall in love but Tita's mother objects. Tita is the youngest in the family and she must stay home and take care of her mother until she dies. Her mother even arranges a marriage between Pedro and Tita's older sister Rosaura so Tita and Pedro can never become as one.As I said this is a fantasy, and once you get past all of the initial story buildup for all of the characters the fun begins.Tita was born in the kitchen and befriended by Nacha the hired cook. Nacha raises Tita as her own teaching her how to cook and enjoy life. Once Tita's mother sets down the law of how things will be, Tita changes. Tita's cooking becomes magic. Whatever Tita is feeling when she cooks, it comes to truth in the final product. If Tita is sad and lonely, anyone who eats her cooking feels those emotions.I have watched this film several times since it was made in 1992, and it always leaves me feeling full of loves emotions. You have to watch this movie to understand the fullness of these emotions. I have gotten use to the subtitles over the years and prefer them to the English dubbed version of the movie. I love it.

The movie did live up to the book and did not capture the powerful emotions expressed by Tita and Pedro. The plot seemed rushed compared to the book's and not much time was spent on key scenes. During scenes pertaining to the Mexican Revolution, comical music was played which significantly took away from the seriousness of the time period. Though the scenes of magical realism were shot well, they did not seem as powerful as in the book. The director did do a particularly good job with Tita's mental breakdown. Overall I thought that it was decent and would recommend this movie to anyone who found interest in the book despite some of its flaws.

This movie would certainly receive it. After reading the novel, I was really anticipating seeing the movie. The book has excellent imagery, and the plot is extremely captivating. As I was watching the movie, however, I noticed that some things did not make sense. First of all, the novel is just as much about food as it is about forbidden love. So much so that even the title involves food, and every single chapter is based around a certain recipe that is important to the De la Garza's family history. Then why is it that there are so few scenes involving food in the movie? When Tita makes the cake for Rosaura's wedding that makes everyone vomit, there is no visual depiction of her tears flowing into the frosting which is essential to the guests reaction to the cake. What happened to the wonderful description of this scene that is in the novel? Didn't the director find that at all necessary to the plot? I guess not. Another complaint I have is the awful use(and sometimes lack there-of) of magical realism that is described in the novel. Tita's birth is badly filmed and obviously fake. And what about the flood of tears Tita cries after Chencha gives her the ox-tail soup? That appears to also have been unimportant to the director to add into the film, even though it makes for such a touching scene in the novel. Finally, I find the depiction of the Mexican Revolution in the film completely offensive and uncalled for. The director made it seem like the Revolution was so fine and dandy, with the soldiers happily dancing and making cream- fritters. The horribly stereotypical Mariachi music played whenever the soldiers come on camera also makes the film seem quite ridiculous. You can really tell that Esquivel and the director of the film were catering to the Hollywood crowd and not to people who actually understand the seriousness of revolution and how important it was to Mexico. Overall,the bad acting, the telenovela-esque music, and the straying from the original plot made this movie in my opinion, a complete and utter disappointment.