Urduja (2008)
Friday, February 20, 2015
Urduja (2008) Poster
Isang Alamat ng Pag-ibig
(A Tale of Love)
"The animation quality is, by Hollywood standards, a few years and quite a few bank accounts behind." - Celestial Spare.
"If only the characters didn't speak in the trailer, I would actually thought it was another Disney flick." - Jeremy.
"Urduja was…disappointing. It epitomizes everything that I hate about Filipino cinema." - Ryan Sumo, Geek of All Trades.
"Urduja is technically apt, well voice-acted, and sometimes interesting (but) a mishmash of many unsavory things: borrowed aesthetics, misplaced adaptations, and misaligned virtues." - Oggs Cruz, Lessons From the School of Inattention.
"Has decent art, music and voice actors but it has been unabashedly claimed and promoted as the first ever Filipino animated feature–the first in the nation is actually Adarna (1997) by Gerry Garcia!" - Rosalyn Lim.
Genre/Tags
Urduja (2008) Trailer
Urduja (2008) at a glance
Urduja (2008) is the second animated feature originated from Philippines. Directed by Reggie Entienza, it has been unabashedly claimed and promoted as the first ever Filipino animated feature–the first in the nation is actually Adarna (1997) by Gerry Garcia, the pioneer of Filipino's animation industry!
Urduja (2008) Synopsis
Set in the 13th century, this epic film tells the story of a legendary warrior princess named Urduja. As the sole heir to the throne of Tawilisi tribe, Urduja was raised by her father Lakanpati to protect their people from their rival tribe, the Batyaws. However, as tradition calls for a man to rule over the tribe, Urduja's dying father decides betroth her to Simakwel–the arrogant leader of the Tawilisi warriors.
Meanwhile, fate washes Limhang, a Chinese pirate ashore at Tawilisi. Urduja immediately falls in love with the stranger Limhang. The thought of losing both Urduja and the crown leads Simakwel to treacherous plans. Nevertheless, Limhang and Urduja's love prevails.
Movie Review: Urduja (2008)
A screenshot from Urduja (2008) trailer.
Urduja (2008) has decent art, music and voice actors. Some of the characters are quite beautiful and all of the characters are differently colored; noticeable as it is obvious that each characters have different levels of sun burns and skin pigment which is great. The music and performances have a hint of traditional Filipino culture with some foreign elements such as the Chinese and Japanese as well, though the whole animated feature is just a fictional depiction of the Pangasinan warrior princess, Urduja.
Urduja and Lim Hang.
Then, although I do not understand Tagalog, the Filipino language; the plot seems to be average. I could tell that the main characters fall in love with each other pretty fast even though there are not much between them. I could be wrong though since I do not understand most words expressed by them but as Urduja (2008) progresses, I came to realise that it is a super fast moving animated feature. I thought less than a week has passed but in actuality, it might be a year or two seeing how fast things changes and moved on. There are also plenty of scenes which made me ask a lot of whys but overall, I guess it is okay as a family film as it can be fun sometimes although there are some frightening action and violence going on.
Lim Hang's pet rat and Urduja's pet tarsier.
Another note, I do understand that English is the other official language in Philippines today but the characters especially the talking animals occasionally used some English words in some of the scenes which is not so great. I guess they used modern Tagalog but I find it quite annoying because the whole thing feels not so classic anymore after they mix some English in.
Lim Hang, a Chinese pirate... Pirata!
My verdict? Maybe some of you will enjoy watching this. As for me, despite it is fun being able to watch a Filipino production, Urduja (2008) is quite disappointing and frustrating to me. I started off quite excited to watch this one–I love people, culture and history stories in general–but there are just too many turn offs to me. I am also quite frustrated that I do not understand Tagalog since there are no English version of this animated feature out there but the worst turn off is probably the moment I found out that it has been unabashedly claimed and promoted as the first ever Filipino animated feature–the first in the nation is actually Adarna (1997) by Gerry Garcia...Not Urduja (2008)!
PS. Still, I am happy that pinoys are quite good at animation!
Movie Ratings
Will write a page regarding this and add this to all animated feature entries in the future.
Those who are interested with Filipino or Pinoy culture may like this!
Details of the movie
Director: Reggie Entienza
Producer: Antonio P. Tuviera
Story: Reggie Entienza, Michael Tuviera
Screenplay: Reggie Entienza
Cinematography: Not sure.
Music: Mon Faustino, Noel Zarate
Studio: Not sure.
Starring: Regine Velasquez, Cesar Montano, Eddie Garcia, Johnny Delgado, Jay Manalo, Ruby Rodriguez, Epy Quizon, Michael V., Allan K.
Full Credit: [IMDb]
Distributor: APT Entertainment
Country: Philippines
Language: Filipino, Tagalog
Genre: Action Comedy Musical Romance War
Running time: 100 mins
Budget: Not sure.
Box office: Not sure.
Official website(s)
http://www.apt-ent.com/
Related
Various Filipino Animation Studios
Rosalyn's Animated Movie Marathon
Urduja (2008) Behind the Scenes
N/A
Favorite Movie Character
Mayumi.
I find the warrior princess Urduja and her best friend Mayumi lovely. They can be a little feminist but warrior princess is kind, smart and a great fighter while the latter is straightforward and comical!
Urduja (2008) Movie Quotes
Sorry, not available... :<