Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula

Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula (Gang/Friends: The Adventure Begins) is Malaysia's 1st locally made full length 3D animation by Les’ Copaque Production Sdn Bhd of Upin & Ipin fame.

It was about 2 friends, city slicker Badrol and Lim visiting the former's hometown- Kampung Durian Runtuh. They met new friends, though reluctantly, the village kids- mischievous twins Upin and Ipin, animal talking Rajoo, and hot-tempered beauty Ros. And also a mysterious critter. Together, they got involved in the recent mising durian mystery and had the biggest adventure of their lifetime. Unless of course, they come back in a bigger sequal *LOL*

For a debut local 3D animation movie, Les’ Copaque' sure have no qualms throwing everthing but the kitchen sink. We have stereotype characters, udder jokes, car chases (of sorts), Disney-like song dance sequence (more Bollywood, me thinks), big fireball explosion, teary moments and monsters fight ala King Kong, all packed into its 90 minutes time frame. While more is good, but it doesnt help if they compromised on the story which was rather straight forward and a bit far fetched. What I really like about the movie was the comedic elements which we Malaysian can truly related to. Not to mention the cute twins which got one of the best laughs out scenes in the movie.

Of course, it's hard not to compare it visually with the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks but hey, this is by the way, Malaysian's 1st and frankly, I think it was a really good start for them :) Saying that, there still a lot to improve in term of animation and some of the characters design especially the cuddly main one ;)

It a shame if most of us shun this feature just because of its "locally made" tag. Sure, Geng is in Bahasa Malaysia (with a nice post production English sub), but it is made by Malaysian for Malaysian and it can be pretty enjoyable for all of us. Do watch it and be proud :)

Bleach: Memories Of Nobody

After waiting for almost 1/2 a year for a subbed version, I finally got my eyes on the 1st full-length Bleach movie- The Memories of Nobody. After much hoohaa in the fandom, is this movie worth the wait? Well, I 'll get on to that soon. Before that a little intro 'bout the movie.

The movie took place after the Soul Society arc of the main storyline, maybe in the middle of the filler story of the anime series ( Those whom are new to the series, better watch or read it to better understand the movie). It was the autumn holiday ( i think it was), Ichigo and Rukia were busy doing the best thing they do- slaying Hollows and giving soul burial. Suddenly they encounter a large group of strange red-headed souls- the Blanks. With communication to the Soul Society strangely cut off, Ichigo and Rukia were at wits in what to do when a female Shinigami suddenly appeared and destroy all the Blanks there. Baffled at the event, Rukia went back to Soul Society to check things out while Ichigo was ordered to look after the playfully childish shinigami, Senna. Soon things turned more grim as a dimension- The Valley of Scream, was manipulated by a group of rogue shinigami oucasts, threaten to destroy both the real world and Soul Society. And what is the connection between the event, Senna and something called the Memory Rosary?

Ok, The movie was not as great as i thought it would be. Seriously, the plot was simple and kinda predictable. It would be better if they just focus on either the storyline or the fight scene rather than crammed a lot of things into it. Some characters were pretty irrelevant to the storyline. Guess they were showed up just to please their respective fans... And as for the fight scene, well- those in the anime series are much better. Though some of the sinkais seems pretty cool to watch here.

As usual, with bigger budget brings better animation. Karakura Town was never been so populated and alive before. The beautiful background cityscape really suit the romantic like atmosphere which were aplenty in this movie (hint hint). Sword fights are more flashy but as I mentioned,unmemorable which was a real pity considering its big screen status and its target audiences. Next time hire a good martial art choreographer. As for the new characters, I really like Seena, a frail, confused girl hidden by her happy face and playfulness. Too bad she got too little fight scene. The mention of her so called lost legendary sword seems pointless. And the head villian hardly makes the impact. Pretty generic too.

Well, this movie has it all- action, comedy, friendship, sacrifice etc but it could be better. It had its touching moments though. I really like its ending song- Sen no Yoru wo Koete from Aqua Timez. And do watch till the credit ends for a little epilogue.

Speed Painting For The Otaku

I found this video when i was browsing Japunit. It is a rare cool digital speed painting of a japanese anime character (not sure who is she though). Hopefully one day i may be as good as the artist of this work.
Anyway, enjoy the video along with its cute background music.

Rebuild of Evangelion

As a long time fan of the original anime series, I was equally exciting about the up coming movies retelling or altered the storyline of the series. Pretty soon, i caught hold of some details regarding the cult classic anime.
A series of 4 movie will be released in year and the following year. The 1st three movies will retelling an alternate story of anime series while the fourth one is an entirely differrent new ending to the original story. Hopefully this will provide a much more satisfying ending.

And due to be release in Japanese theaters this september, the 1st movie remake titled "Evangelion Shin Gekijou Ban EVA 0.1: YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE".
The second one will be screened in January 2008 and the third and fourth movies will be released back to back in the summer. Cool~ hope they are released in Singapore too*grin*

And looking at the 1st movie's trailer, seems all the characters, evas and angels are given the visual upgrade. Uses of CGIs are noticeable throughout the trailer.
Seeing how things turn out, i cant wait for the movies. Now, if only i know the progress of the much anticipated live-action version. :D

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

The 1st time i saw the movie poster in a local (Singapore) newspaper, i notice somewhat particular about the picture. At 1st i thought it resembles to Hayao Miyazaki's style. But further research on the net, the character was designed by the same guy who create Rei Ayanami and Evagelion mechas, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Wow~ Then i found out this movie won the hearts of critics and some awards in film fest from France to Germany. Ok, a must watch anime of 2006/7.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo) was directed by Mamoru Hosoda and produced by Madhouse Studio, famous for anime flicks like Death Note and NANA. It was based on a manga of a same name and apparently there's a life-action movie version had been made in 1980s. LOL

The story is about a tomboyish high school girl, Makoto Konno accidentally discover that she have the ability to time leap which, she used extravagantly to avoid being late in school and score a prefect mark in exam. Able to go back in time to redo the stuff she like and fixing past mistakes, little does she realise that in doing so may hurt the others around her. And the more she undid the time, the worst it gets.

The animation was top notch as expected from a big shot studio. The town and backdrop city was rendered beautifully with great detail and nice feel to it. Some scene really capture the impact as the main character fall and roll around. Really like the scene between time and space, and also when time freeze up in the movie.

The storyline was fantastic and may be on par with the movies from Studio Ghibli. The plot, while some scene was a bit slow, was really engaging with all the time travel around. It may sound complicated but the storyline was pretty easy to follow. Watching Mokoto's antics while she undid past was really enjoyable. There was twist and turn and heartaching moments that keep the story more interesting than other time-travel inspired animes.

Still, some of the dialogue was rather strange to accept like the Mokoto's aunt told her that, "time leap was normal among teenager her age but rare", with a nonchalant tone. Go figure. Anyway, the movie is one of the best anime i watch in recent years and worth going out and get the DVD. And do prepare urself emotionly. The scene when Mokoto cries loudly really can make you wanna reach out to console her. I did.