Who are the intended audience of the trailer of Urduja

Are rock music lyrics more poetic than rap music lyrics

Pumili ng isa sa mga Diyos at Diyosa at Ipaliwanag kung bakit ito Ang iyong napili at iugnay mo sa iyong sarali. Kung ikaw ay nagtataglay ng kapangyar … ihan na iyong napili pano mo matutulungan ang ating bansa sa kasalukuyan.​

what would you feel if you get lost?​

It is a hot, dense and infinitely tiny point that has undergone inflation.

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Compose a short creative nonfiction about your daily activity. Use appropriate discourse markers to indicate fluency in your composition. ​.

The fare rate for the jeepney ride is 7. 50 pesos for the first kilometer and 1. 50 pesos for every kilometer thereafter.

Leaning opportunity 3 Direction identify the type of relationship used in each pair of words or phrases then fill in the blank with another pair That … best completes the analogy the first one was done Type of analogy first pair. Second pair

what are the main characters of love and time?

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celestial_spare

(Because I can.  Yay.)

I watched Urduja the very day it officially started showing in local theaters: June 18.  I watched it for probably the same reason other people—Filipinos, certainly—would go to the movies to do likewise: out of sheer curiosity.

Did I have fun?

Why, yes, I did.

Urduja is touted by APT Productions as ‘the Philippines’ first full length traditional and digital animation film’, and I suppose it is, although I do recall an animated movie adaptation of ‘Adarna’ shown sometime in the mid-‘90s.  They should have added ‘musical’ to the billing as well, because there’s a small collection of song performances thrown smack-dab into it, which is very much welcome, though a bit overdone.  GMA-7 aired a very informative primer the Sunday before the film’s premiere, where we were given a walk-through on how the entire movie was made.  And thus, upon entering the theater come Wednesday afternoon, I was aware that over 50,000 pages of drawings were done to complete the film, that three animation teams from Palawan, Cavite and Manila had to work round the clock to bring the world of Urduja to life, that the movie boasted an all-Filipino cast and production crew—a veritable milestone by itself.

The animation quality is, by Hollywood standards, a few years and quite a few bank accounts behind.  Admittedly, it’s been a while since Disney or Dreamworks has done an animated movie in 2-D (that’s two-dimensional folks; think Pocahontas, Mulan, or The Prince of Egypt, as opposed to the more current 3-D, CG-fied trend a la The Bee Movie, Ratatouille, and the Shrek movie franchise), and traditional frame-by-frame, hand-drawn animation at that.  But given the limited budget and an abundance of home-grown talent, Urduja does its best—and acquits itself delightfully.

The production teams tasked to bring the story of the legendary warrior-princess of Tawilisi to the big screen made use of both hand-drawn and computer-generated animation.  The end result is a seamless, lushly rendered reproduction of what life in the archipelago may have been before it was named after a Spanish prince.  Character movement is well-executed (the fight scenes are certainly of note), but for some awkwardness with the facial expressions (which was easily made up for by the superb voice-acting of a star-studded and yes, talented cast).

If there's one thing that shines throughout this film, it is the voice cast.  Miss Regine Velasquez delivers a strong performance as Princess Urduja, the title character, and Cesar Montano outdoes himself yet again as the handsome, daring and quick-witted Chinese pirate captain, Lim Hang.  Likewise, Eddie Garcia is perfect for the role of Tawilisi leader Lakanpati.  Ruby Rodriguez as Urduja's wacky best friend, Mayumi, is a certifiable scene stealer, especially with Epi Quizon's Daisuke.  Johnny Delgado as the corrupt imperial general, Hwang, is utterly despicable.  And who’ll be able to forget the wily rat, Kukot, masterfully voiced by Michael V.?  His laugh-out-loud misadventures alone make the movie all the more enjoyable to watch.

And yes, the humor in Urduja—and there's enough to keep both kids and not-quite-kids giggling in their seats, thank you—is another case in point.  Leave it to the tandem of Kukot and Tarsir (Allan K) to defuse a particularly climactic series of events with good old comic relief.  Or to Mayumi to make one laugh out loud, right at a rather solemn occasion in the story.  Witty banter abounds and keeps the plot moving along at a most agreeable pace.

The manner the story is presented is pretty straightforward and easy to follow, which works for and against the film overall.  No overload of plot details and irrelevant bits of info that could be potentially confusing to the viewer here; something that is, sadly, a common pitfall of big-budget productions.  It’s easy to grasp what’s happening, and, more importantly, why it’s happening.  However, after watching the entire film, one is left with the impression that a few more plot and character details could have been added in.  I am particularly intrigued by the character Daisuke, Lim Hang’s co-pirate, and, presumably, Japanese.  What brought him to work with a mostly Chinese crew, and why does he wear his robe right side over left, the way corpses do (Note: Kimono or yukata are traditionally worn with the garment’s left side over the right.  It is only when a person dies, and is dressed for his or her funeral, that the robe is worn right side over left)?  Does he have an angsty back story?  Or is it safer (and yes, cattier) to assume that the character designers didn’t make too fine a point to rectify a potential cultural faux pas?  (Another aside: I personally vote for the ‘angsty back story’ explanation.  Because that means we could get a spin-off starring Daisuke and his self-proclaimed sea-faring-wife, Mayumi, and their pirate adventures in the South China Sea.  Whee.  Lusot.)

That said, what brought the male lead himself, Lim Hang—a noble, albeit roguish soul—to a life of swash-buckling and piracy?  And what exactly did the villainous Hwang mean when he addressed Lim Hang as ‘former captain’?  Also, whatever happened to the traitorous Simakwel (Jay Manalo) and the skinny imperial Chinese guy at the end of the story?

Just a few loose ends, for sure, but  certainly still worth pulling.

Enjoyment factor aside, the movie resounds with quite a few themes quite apart from how true love triumphs over all.  A happy ending is standard fare when it comes to films such as these, and on this note, Urduja does not disappoint.  Love and its many aspects abound.  There is love for one’s land and one’s people; there is love between father and child, husband and wife.  In this movie differences between different sets of people are overcome, and the greedy and evil are ultimately vanquished by the good.

On a socially relevant note, too, the movie does seem to tackle, although does not delve too deeply into, the role of women in society.  One scene in particular speaks volumes about spousal abuse, and rings all too truthfully about the plight of certain battered housewives in this and other countries.  In this scene, Urduja berates the lazy pig of a husband of Piraya, one of her attendants.  The lazy pig of a husband talks back to Urduja and attacks her.  Urduja fights back, and is about to kick the sorry husband’s ass, but Piraya, the martyr-wife, intervenes, saying he is still her spouse.  The message is subtle but there to pick up on: Walang mang-aapi kung walang nagpapa-api (There’s no abuse if nobody allows it).

All in all, Urduja is an enjoyable film.  Don’t be so quick to dismiss it as ‘nothing but a second-rate, trying-hard copy-cat’ of certain Disney movies; Hollywood has done much, much worse, and at vastly bigger budgets.  By itself, Urduja is an earnest, honest venture—and it shows.  Watch it.  You may be pleasantly surprised.

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