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