I'll admit I was also caught up in this tug-of-war on supporting or boycotting the film. While I dearly love animated shows and always want to support locally made films, I am never in the mood to watch something about infidelity. Nevertheless, I decided to set my biases aside and add the film to my Netflix watch list and give this film a try. Was it worth it?
Summary: Perfume sales kitty Nimfa Dimaano must choose between her macho mongrel boyfriend, Roger, a janitor, and high-society charmer Iñigo Villanueva, a bourgeoisie business dog. (from IMDB)
THE GOOD
The animation
The crowning glory of this film was definitely the animation. I was simply blown away by the stellar level of visuals showcased in this film. I may be releasing some fighting words here, but I think this may be the Filipino film with the best animation I've seen to date. The colors were rich and bright, the character designs were dynamic and original, and there were no awkward animation transitions. I especially love the way they juxtaposed the two separate "worlds" that Nimfa traverses, such as the bright exteriors of the mall with the grim employee bay, and the glitzy world of Manila's upper echelon with the slums of Sampaloc.
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| The contrast between Mall of Aso and the employee entrance |
The Filipino flair
This film is undeniably Filipino. I'm sure the studio made it a point to showcase the nitty-gritty of the daily Filipino experience. They could have chosen to set the film in a fantasy world where the landscape is bright and happy, but the film didn't shy away from showcasing places that are familiar to everyday Filipinos (the pares stand, jeepneys, the province scene). There are also a lot of call-outs to local brands, shows, and celebrities in the background of each scene. You might find yourself occasionally pausing as you watch just to take a closer look at a poster behind the characters.
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| Hotel Bisugo made me laugh |
THE BAD
The story
Sigh. I really tried to keep an open mind while watching this film, but I really can't find much to say about the storyline. The moment I read the plot, I had already predicted the ending (at least the film didn't let me down there!). You can set the characters as cats and dogs, but the conflict and resolution don't stray far from the usual formula of Pinoy teledramas. I was hoping for a twist somewhere down the line, and while the ending did try to give more substance to the story by involving current issues on governance, it felt like a sudden afterthought to a dull main narrative.
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| Honestly I wasn't very invested in Nimfa's first-world problem. |
The casting
I understand that the film was banking on the star power of the cast to garner interest for this film. However, I believe that voice acting is a different art from actual acting, and the film makes that painfully obvious. A lot of the voice acting work takes away from the weight of the scenes with the tendency of the voices to sound disjointed from the visual on-goings. Seriously, I felt like I was watching a bad dub at points. Robin Padilla was the most obvious miscast. His persona is too distinct that I didn't feel him voicing Roger; he just sounded like Robin Padilla reading Roger's lines. One day, I hope Filipino studios take voice acting more seriously and realize that it's a different art form that not just anyone can do.
VERDICT
So, should you watch this film? If you're up for an hour and a half of beautiful visuals and a story with no substance, why not? I personally did not like this film, but I'm glad to see Filipino animation has improved by leaps and bounds as of late. I'm looking forward to the next Rocket Sheep production -- hopefully this time they work on the story as well as they did on the animation.
Other minor quips (that are neither good nor bad)
→ I would have appreciated more attempts to showcase animals endemic to the Philippines. Why is Mang Ding a pelican when he could have very well been a Philippine owl?
→ There were quite a lot of pop culture references to Western media. It would have been nicer if they had shown more posters of local films and personalities.
→ I think the one thing lacking in the animation department is the dynamism of expressions and action scenes. It's disappointing to see some scenes fall flat. It's animation -- go wild!
→ Jerry is best boy. Enough said. Honestly, I'd rather watch a movie all about Jerry.
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Best Boy |