Alfonso Arau’s Typical Vibe
Signature vibe

Highest-ranked title
Highest-ranked title
Alfonso Arau has 5 titles in the CriticCrunch catalog across a career spanning the 1980s through the 2010s. 1 sits in the Top 1% of all titles we track — including Coco.
Recurring themes

The Jewel of the Nile
1985
Adventure · Action

Barely Lethal
2015
Action · Comedy

The Young Master
1980
Action · Comedy

The Big Brawl
1980
Action · Comedy

Dragon Lord
1982
Action · Comedy

Return to the 36th Chamber
1980
Action · Comedy

Date Night
2010
Comedy · Action

The Do-Over
2016
Action · Adventure

Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector, and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history.
Dir. Lee Unkrich · With Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt

World War II vet Paul Sutton falls for a pregnant and unwed woman who persuades him -- during their first encounter -- to pose as her husband so she can face her family.
Dir. Alfonso Arau · With Keanu Reeves, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Anthony Quinn

Tita is passionately in love with Pedro, but her controlling mother forbids her from marrying him. When Pedro marries her sister, Tita throws herself into her cooking and discovers she can transfer her emotions through the food she prepares, infecting all who eat it with her intense heartbreak.
Dir. Alfonso Arau · With Lumi Cavazos, Marco Leonardi, Regina Torné

Though she can spin wild tales of passionate romance, novelist Joan Wilder has no life of her own. Then one day adventure comes her way in the form of a mysterious package. It turns out that the parcel is the ransom she'll need to free her abducted sister, so Joan flies to South America to hand it over. But she gets on the wrong bus and winds up hopelessly stranded in the jungle.
Dir. Robert Zemeckis · With Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito

A trio of unemployed silent film actors are mistaken for real heroes by a small Mexican village in search of someone to stop a malevolent bandit.
Dir. John Landis · With Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Martin Short