Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
... View MoreThe performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
... View MoreThe acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
... View MoreGreat story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
... View MoreI've been postponing my plan to watch this and finally when my curiosity is about to go berserk, I head for the most convenient cinema. And boy was I amazed! I even watched it twice! Never mind that I have work tomorrow morning. And twice I heard the audience clap at the end of the movie! Now there are a lot of exclamation points here. :) The story evolves around a young kid, Nico, spending his summer vacation playing MMORPG with his neighbourhood friends. He sucked at outdoor activities that he ultimately learned to love through their new friend, May. When a virus that was affecting the gamers was discovered in Metanoia, their MMORPG of choice, the group decided to investigate and to solve the issue.The best part of this movie is not only the graphics but the script itself. It creates a relation to the common society here in Philippines and it conveys our natural reaction to certain scenarios. The friends' bond is very well portrayed and the characters are well thought of. Of course there are cheesy parts, make no mistake, but the puns are well executed and even the soundtracks are note worthy! But take note of the graphics - the shape of Nico's CPU, the disinfectant alcohol's container, the cupboard, the tricycle, and others; it bleeds creativity. A part made me laugh when they ate ice cream; they placed it in a mug not in a bowl. This is so likely. Haha! I am thinking of buying its DVD as soon as it comes out; and if I did, this will be the only Filipino film in my collection, not to mention animated.
... View MoreWhen I first saw the trailer of this movie in TV, I thought it's going to fail because of the freezy animation, and the story doesn't interest me a lot (I honestly don't play online games and I'm 15). The reason why I watched this film is because it's the first CGI movie in the Philippines. Fortunately the movie is solid. Decent animation (you saw the trailer the animation looks slow but only the action scenes but the rest it's normal speed). The story is clever and original. It's perfect for the people who are addicted to online games. The voice acting was done well. Zaijan Jaranilla did a good job for his role. But the best voice acting goes to Aga Muhlach and Eugene Domingo. The movie is in 3D but it's better if you watch it in 2D because the 3D is converted and converted 3D doesn't look like 3D at all and it only darkens all the great visuals. Overall the movie is great. It could be a classic. For the people who haven't see it and think it'll suck then try watching it. It has a heart, some comedy, clever storyline, and thrilling action.
... View MoreA montage sequence in RPG: Metanoia reminds one of the days when the erstwhile hi-tech Nintendo Entertainment System (aka the family computer) fell victim to frequent blackouts and kids of those days had nothing else to do but go outside and play patintero and other such games. Kids playing real games is a strange scenario in a movie that's supposed to embrace and capitalize on the popularity of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). But it's a good thing, right? It may actually inspire the revival of Doctor Kwak-Kwak. Or maybe not.It's actually this clever dichotomy done well that partly helps in making Metanoia become more than just the Philippines' first 3D-animated movie, moving sprightly between humorous scenes that involve an unnamed local barrio and a virtual world with pleasing visual styles. (Of course, if you're expecting something on par with Hollywood, screw you.) It also features adorable characters brought to life by vocal performances from Zaijan Jaranilla, Eugene Domingo, Aga Muhlach, and a few former Going' Bulilit tykes. Jaranilla voices Nico, an online-gaming geek who's never good in any real-life activity and chooses to dwell in the titular virtual world with his friends. As he puts it, it's the only thing he knows how to do well, so why not take it seriously? Things change when a malevolent program takes over the minds of virtual users, and render them in a zombie-like trance. It's up to Nico — Zero in Metanoia — and his gang of ragtag tweens to destroy the virus and save the world.Metanoia engages with its inventive display of the local pop culture and surprisingly heart-tugging moments while not losing sight of its narrative. While it drowns in a wee bit too much mauling on believing in oneself (okay, we get it already) and the climax gets a bit preposterous, especially when it tries to explain the origin and mechanism of the virus, director Luis Suarez guides the film with a sure hand. It's an endearingly winning, creative piece of effort in a time when those qualities don't even seem to matter.
... View MoreThe story of "RPG Metanoia" is very current and relevant. It tells about Nico and his friends who are computer-game addicts to an RPG called Metanoia. When an evil force that was destroying the world of Metanoia also threatens the real world, they need to forget their personal differences and band together in order to beat the common foe. I liked the very real Filipino characters. I liked how the relationship of Nico (voiced by Santino himself, Zaijan Jaranilla) and his parents (funny to imagine Aga Muhlach and Eugene Domingo voicing them) was portrayed. The gang of Nico was also very realistically scripted, like how I remember playing with my neighbors back then, with the misunderstandings and getting back together as playmates. I liked how they had a Chinoy (Filipino-Chinese) guy in Nico's gang. I liked how they had a girl character May teach Nico and friends about outdoor activities, as well as play an important role in the RPG also. I liked the characteristically Filipino imagery like Vigan houses used in the virtual world, the Moriones mask as the evil guy's avatar, the Filipino street games like Patintero, Tumbang Preso and Shato, etc. I liked the underlying message of warning to kids about addiction to computer games. (My 7-year old got that lesson!) The Filipino musical score by Ria Osorio and Gerald Salonga is also outstanding.I also liked the international scope of the story, as we see the involvement of several foreign Metanoia characters in the virtual battles. There appear to be plans to distribute this to foreign countries, as the subtitles for the Korean and Japanese dialog were in English, instead of Filipino (even my 7-year old did find it odd though). I think we can be proud to have this film represent our country in festivals abroad.OK, first of all, there is no point comparing this film to a Pixar, or even to a Dreamworks film. After all, this only the first full-length 3D computer-animated film from the Philippines, so we have to cut it slack for its pioneering efforts. The animation quality is certainly more than passable, the best of local animation I have seen. This is an action film that requires a high level of sophistication in order to pass muster, and "RPG Metanoia" does so with flying colors.
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