The story of a Mexican family is recounted, spanning decades. This is an interesting fable that manages to turn cooking into a sensual experience. It is helped by beautiful cinematography and a fine score. The acting is generally good, with Cavazos giving a standout performance as a young woman who is controlled by a domineering mother. Unfortunately, the latter is portrayed as so one-dimensionally evil that she makes Cinderalla's stepmother seem like a candidate for Mother of the Year. The story moves in fits and starts, lingering too long on some scenes but then abruptly skipping ahead by a decade. Director Arau is known mainly as an actor, but he does a fine job of creating an evocative atmosphere.

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.

While the movie was not a complete let down, it was also not quite as satisfying as the book. The book had so much more emotion to it that the movie had trouble capturing. I found that in the movie, the magical realism was a bit too much. Magical realism works really well in one's mine but is much harder to put on screen. I also felt that the magical realism in the film took away from the importance of the food. While the food played such a vital role in the book, it took more of a backseat role in the film. I also think that the movie was not what I was hoping for because of the way I originally pictured the characters as I read the book. The book had such great imagery that I was able to create a sort of movie in my mind; when the film did not match the one I had imagined, I was left with a sort of disappointment. It may be one of those films that is much more wonderful if the viewer has not previously read the book. While the film was not as good as the book, I do still think the film did a good job of highlighting the key points of the book. For example, the rocky relationship between Mama Elena and Tita was portrayed very well. Overall it was not a terrible movie and it was a fresh new way to look at the events of the book the way someone else pictured them.

Although this movie is entertaining, it lacks the same in depth emotions evicted by Tita's cooking. The majority of the food is filmed before each scene and then forgotten about until some characters emotions tie into the dish. The music of the Mexican revolution is stereotypical to say the least. John and Pedro are both excellently cast with John portraying the awkward academic very well even down to his last sullen moment as a lonely man. Pedro ignites the "Latin passion" on the screen with every lustful encounter with Tita. Mama Elena is scripted perfectly however her character never makes you hate her as much as any viewer/reader should. In conclusion Like Water for Chocolate is an entertaining film (if you enjoy reading your movies) even without reading the book.