RPG Metanoia: Really, a Philippine Game-changer

RPG Metanoia: Film Review

          Everytime the Christmas season would come here in the Philippines we would always look forward to an event called the Metro Manila Film Festival,here they would showcase films made by Filipinos for Filipinos, ranging from different genres like horror and action comedy. Now in the 36th Metro Manila Film Festival way back in 2010 a film was released, a film that initially didn't capture the attention of viewers but marked a significant history in the history of Philippine Cinema.

          That film is RPG Metanoia, the first Philippine full length CG-Animated feature film and today I will be giving my review on this movie.

          RPG Metanoia revolves around an avid MMORPG (Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game) player named Nico (voiced by Zaijan Jaranilla),  who lives a normal life as an eleven-year old boy but as soon as he plays the MMORPG Metanoia, he becomes an unpredictable fighter armed with a magical yoyo and uncanny speed and agility in his skill set.

          The plot starts to unfold after Nico lost a bet wherein he wasn't allowed to enter the computer shop anymore, forcing him to resort to traditional Filipino games played outside for entertainment and joy. This became an advantage as playing outside actively with his five male friends (who also have different characters when playing Metanoia) made their friendship stronger, they also made friends with a girl named May (played by Mika Dela Cruz) whom Nico started having feelings for later in the movie.

 

           During the course of the movie, Nico is guided by his parents (voiced by Aga Mulach and Eugene Domingo respectively) his mommy supports him in everything he does while his daddy understands him more as he is also a player of Metanoia.

          The main antagonist of the movie is Cel (voiced by Vhong Navarro) , the owner of the aforementioned computer shop who is also a very mysterious guy. Cel is also a player of Metanoia but his intentions are devious, he seeks to control it's world.

          I won't give out the full details of the plot, that is for you to find out but I will still give my 2 cents about the movie.


          Personally I appreciated the movie, for both it's technical at creative achievements. Being the Philippines' first full-length 3D-Animated film, it looks fantastic, the film was in production for almost 4 years which gave the creators enough time to meticulously render and animate the detailed world of RPG Metanoia in 3D.

          The film was able to incorporate the Philippine  cultures and traditions while at the same time creating it's own world. This blending of Filipino culture with the science fiction adventure theme of the film resulted in a great movie.

          But of course no movie is without flaw and RPG Metanoia has a lot in terms of it's technical aspects. Particularly the sound design. Even though the film won Best Sound Recording and Best Original Theme Song at the 36th Metro Manila Film Festival I felt that the sound was lacking.

          There were times when I was looking for some sound effects that would have elevated the story but unfortunately they weren't there. Some dialogue sounds were not in-sync with their characters on-screen. Sound is one of the most integral parts of a movie and this film could have paid more attention to it.          

The different characters of RPG Metanoia.

           To conclude, I give the film a rating of 7.5/10. Instead of focusing on its technical flaws, I will be commending its achievements. This film is a milestone in the history of Philippine Cinema where it proved that Filipinos can create detailed and interesting animated films on par with those made abroad. The films also explored the possibility that we can create animated films about our culture that won't be "corny" and that we can be proud about them.