Urduja (2008)

So okay, how come am I reviewing a full-length animated movie here? This time I will discuss some of the details about this animation film. I admit I never watch this film before even inside the cinemas but I find them very interesting in the world of animation. Thanks to the Wikipedia entry for Urduja (film), I could get rush on this.

Urduja is a 2008 animated film adapted based on one of the legendary heroine named Urduja who lived in Pangasinan in ancient time. Urduja was a young and beautiful princess who was also a warrior too in their tribe. This film was created by all of the Filipino group animators (without the help of foreigners actually) and voiced by some of the Filipino actors we see on TV today.

If you notice about this movie poster, it's really great for seeing that the characters wear a cultural clothes that were based on ancient Philippine history. You can notice also the scenes including war and love that makes a remarkable entry for the animated film. Last few months ago before the release of this film, I saw on a Youtube how the producers planned and made this film. It's really great to see how did they do the animation and voice casting behind the scenes.
The film uses traditional and digital style in producing this animated film for better look. Mostly animators are experienced because some of them worked in United States. According to the interview, the animators really helped producing the film and they even made some of the old cartoon and animated movie series in the past such as X-Men. With their skills and experiences being animators, the planned animated film did very well. The producers of Urduja uses famous actors that provided the voice of all characters in Urduja. One of the actors, Regine Velasquez made a voice role as Urduja. Based on the interview, she was handpicked by Antonio Tuviera because the producers think Regine would be a perfect role for the warrior princess and has a good voice too, despite she is "Song Bird". Then, Regine said in an interview that her role was "the weirdest yet incredible role" in her all years in career aside from singing. Aside from Regine, Cesar Montano another famous actor played a role as Lim Hang, Eddie Garcia as Lakampati, Jay Manalo as Simakwel, Ruby Rodriguez as Mayumi (notice that her character seemed to be the cartoon version of Ruby), Johnny Delgado as Wang, Michael V. as Kutkut (the rat), Allan K. as Tarsir (tarsier) and other characters as well.

This is the short summary in Wikipedia. Man, I wish I could watch the film alone before. I only watched the film's trailer and I'd say it's really good.

Set in the 13th century, the film is a fictionalized tale of Princess Urduja, legendary warrior princess of Pangasinan.

As the only daughter of Lakanpati, chieftain of the Tawilisi tribe of Central Luzon, Urduja grew up a warrior, able and willing to defend her people from their rival tribe, the Badjaos. Lakanpati's age and failing health give rise to the urgency of finding a man, for the princess to marry, who will lead the tribe as new chieftain.

The man Lakanpati considers most eligible to become Urduja's husband is Simakwel, a Taliwisi warrior whom the princess dislikes. Oblivious of Simakwel's ambitious and scheming ways, Lakanpati tries his best to convince Urduja to marry him. However, Urduja meets Limhang, who lands on the Taliwisi shore as he flees the wrath of the ruthlessly greedy Wang. Urduja immediately falls in love with the stranger Limhang. This worries Lakanpati and drives Simakwel into madness. Afraid of losing both the crown and Urduja, Simakwel does everything to drive Limhang away from his dream. Eventually, Limhang's good deeds and genuine kindness win the respect and trust of the Taliwisi tribe.

Wang soon finds Limhang, who surrenders voluntarily to Wang in assurance that he will not attack Tawilisi. In the end, Wang still orders his men to attack the tribe. Urduja and her people bravely defend the tribe from the forces of Wang. Limhang escapes from his captors and with the aid of the Batyaws sends the invaders running.

Like I said before, I never watched this full-animated series in cinemas nor in the DVD's. This film was released in June 18 this year in SM Mall of Asia, a lot of audience entered the cinemas just to see this Filipino-made animation. Even the famous artists in entertainment TV entered the red carpet premiere of Urduja as well as the voice actors to support the movie. After the release of the film, it became a sucess than it's previous animation series, "Ang Ibong Adarna" (which was an old Filipino-made anmated series in 1997). Urduja got a lot of scenes that fits to young viewers to adults minds . The story got some moral values to about peace and love so does it makes you laugh as well. It was also retold the legendary story of the film based on the film that even some of the teachers assigned his/her students about the moral lesson of the film and making a short summary. With the big effort made by Filipino producers and animators, they deserved their big reward to the Pinoys who want to watch a Pinoy-made animation that they can be proud of.If you wanna know what this animated movie look like, a trailer of Urduja is available in Youtube.You can also see it's music video and song theme performed by Urduja's voice actor Regine Velasquez.

I hope the Animation industry in the Philippines should really continue. Let's think that the Filipino creators did made a lot of effort and time in order to make Pinoys be amazed that they got talents in animation. With the big mark of success of this year's animated film Urduja, a step in the world of Philippine animation remarks including the previous animated films made in the Philippines.