You’ve probably seen Ice Age, Monsters Inc., Shrek and all the other high-grossing 3D animated films and wondered when will Malaysia ever come up with films of that kind. This year, we can look forward to an all-Malaysian production, Geng: The Adventure Begins (although Shrek 3 is also in my must-watch list… hehe), which will write history by being Malaysia’s first-ever full-length 3D animated feature film.

Note: You may also watch its Youtube equivalent here.

The film is well-positioned as the first-of-its-kind in Malaysia with its animation milestone coupled with its showcase of the Malaysian culture in a rural setting. Its main characters are mostly in the younger age group, so it’s not that difficult to portray a muhibbah sort of diversity among them. It’s also a safe approach because I think the main breakthrough here is none other than the 3D animation in the film. The storyline may not be like one of Yasmin Ahmad’s works, but its good entertainment nonetheless with occasional funny bits throughout (as far as one can tell from the trailer), which should appeal to a wide range of audience.

The people behind the film are mostly graduates from the Faculty of Creative Multimedia (FCM) in my university, but none of them are known to me. I was told about this film by a friend, who is from One Academy and an animator for the film. Check out its website http://www.gengthemovie.com/ for more information and background. You may also download a high-resolution trailer of the film there. Geng is definitely a cause for cheer for our local film animation industry, and I hope it only paves way for even more locally-produced 3D animated films in the future. Are you excited yet?

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