Isko: Adventures in Animasia (1995)

Black and white movie poster from http://video48.blogspot.com

Here's another animated film that was Filipino-made. Honestly, I can't find images of the movies sources nor full information (it's like forgotten in the Internet) . I knew that I watched this one a long time ago in few local networks. I'll try to remember or recap with this one.

"Isko: Adventures in Animasia" may be the one of the early Filipino-made cartoons that appeared in the Philippine movie industry. The movie contains light-hearted adventures of the hero and the coconut-dealer named Isko; portrayed by Ogie Alcasid in Animasia. His mission is to save the princess and the land of Animasia from the evil monsters roaming around the another dimension called Animasia . Little know that he would win the love from Annaly (portrayed by Michelle Van Eimeren). There were also several supporting characters in the movie including Isko's friend (portrayed by Michael V.) and the anthropomorphic bee who is the one sending Isko to Animasia. The other side of the world, Animasia (pun of the words "animation" and "fantasia") is a place where both good and evil creatures live in the fantasy world. A lot of scenes like comedy, adventure and romance takes place both in Animasia and Earth. There are also few musical scores for viewer's delight.

Back in 1995, it was aired in the cinemas and became the part of FAMAS awards. Gerry A. Garcia was the director of the movie and Elmaurie Galvez was one of the staff had responsible for visual effects. Computers were not much familiarized to Filipinos during early 90's so the staff made the traditional cel-animation about few months up to 2 years including the filming for live-action.

Although Isko: Adventures in Animasia had a mix both animated and live-action series, few critics can't be considered it as a full-length animation but it received positive reviews. The movie won two awards for FAMAS in 1997 - Best Visual Effects and Best Special Effects. Of course, Isko: Adventures in Animasia is one of the cartoons that Filipinos strive to become animators. The next entry, Ibong Adarna was created in 1997 and became the first full-length Pinoy animation (not the "Urduja" that talks about these days).

The last time this movie appeared in TV was in GMA last December 2007. It would be better if any local TV stations to re-air this one or remaster the movie in DVD. I sure don't remember it's opening sequence nor the songs introduced.

The Nutshack

I'm used to watch few episodes of cartoons which have physical and mature humor like The Simpsons and Family Guy, but what about this one? If you didn't know, The Nutshack is right in front of you. The show is much different because it contains some Filipino themes. Back in 2007, Monster MYX (aka MYX channel from United States) had decided to make an animated series made by Filipinos and made stories that has stuff influenced from their beloved country. Then at the same year, the pilot episode was sucessfully aired on MYX and for those people who wanted to see the show, in Youtube.

It's really amazing to see much of it's characters that are Filipino and of course life being from urban U.S. The show tells about two cousin teenagers who met in United States and share their similar wackiest scrapes in a city of San Francisco - the Tenderloin. Jack, a fat yet humble boy was raised in Manila, while Jack the tough punk raised in the streets in San Francisco. When the two cousins met together, they meet other characters and make craziest doings as the Nutshacks.

The flash animation of the Nutshack series really would feel a cool to watch especially when you hear the dubbings by Filipinos. One of the voice actors I recognized was Rex Navarette, who made the voice of Tito Dick ( Jack and Phil's cool uncle from San Francisco). I seen kuya Rex on his TV performances like MTV's Rex in the City and he's really a good comedian. The storyline seems to be fine but there are some themes that are purely mature. The most memorable storyline they got was the skit cameo appearance of some popular stars in the Philippines like Willie Revillame and Manny Pacquiao. The show also got box-sets of DVD's which are uncut and uncnesored in 2008 and featured in a ComicCon in US as promotion. But since the Nutshack was aired in United States, there is no chance for Filipinos to watch them locally even getting a MYX Philippines cable. I think it's because of MTRCB that some people talking about. Like any other shows in Adult Swim, Nutshack airs weekly at 10:00 PM and only adults can watch. If you're in the Philippines and want to watch the show like I did, there are few episodes (including "behind the scenes") were uploaded to Youtube. Just search the words "the nutshack" and you'll get them. Just make sure you're not below 16 to watch The Nutshack.

For more info, merchandises and updates visit The Nutshack's official website here.