The Philippines has a pretty long history in animation, though few people really care to notice. Filipino animators have worked on the likes of Scooby Doo, Captain Planet and The Incredibles, providing talent for foreign outfits. Urduja is the first major effort to create a local animated feature, and though it still isn’t a full showcase of what we can do, it’s a pretty great effort.

The film tells a tale of Urduja, the legendary warrior princess of Pangasinan. Her father, the chief of the tribe, has fallen ill. Simakwel, an ambitious young warrior, seeks to gain the chiefdom by marrying the headstrong princess. But his plan encounters a hurdle when the dashing pirate Lim Hang arrives on their shores and saves Urduja from a Badjao arrow. Lim Hang and Urduja begin to play out a forbidden love, while Simakwel schemes to take back what he saw as his rightful place.

The story is fascinating in its connection to real pre-colonial history. The plot is essentially an elaborate fan fiction where Princess Urduja, the Chinese pirate Limahong, and the great datu Sumakwel all met and dealt with each other. And it works. The narrative keeps things simple and holds together really well. The dialogue is pretty well written. It swings between old poetic Tagalog and colloquial terms rather deftly, changing the tone of every scene as necessary. There are some good laughs and some nice character bits as well.

But the animation is what everybody really wants to know about. It’s still a bit rough around the edges. There are a few compositing problems, some odd perspective hiccups, and issues with fluidity. But it’s hard to fault the movie for these small technical hiccups knowing the constraints of production nowadays. Fact is, while it isn’t as clean as foreign productions, there is no lack of technique and skill, and it gets the job done. The musical numbers, however, are the weak link. While there’s nothing wrong with the songs, these sequences kind of stick out as being comparatively poor in execution. It made the film feel a little dated.

The voice acting is pretty good. Regine Velasquez brings a lot of range to the lead role. She’s always had an expressive voice, and her emotions really come through her character. Cesar Montano takes a pretty good turn as Lim Hang. Johnny Delgado manages to impart his presence to his animated avatar, and Eddie Garcia’s measured tones bring a lot of humanity to the film.

Urduja is a good start. Technically, it doesn’t reach the levels that we’re really capable of, but artistically, it’s mostly sound. There are a few odd sequences here and there, but in general, the storytelling is remarkably clever, and the script is genuinely well written. Good voice performances only serve to make things better. It’s really a pretty solid effort all in all, one that ought to be supported by anybody who loves animation.

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