Film: ‘Geng – The Adventure Begins’ (3D); Director: Nizam Razak; Rating:**1/2
There isn’t much to rave about in this 3D animation film except that it is a vehicle for the Malaysian animation industry to show off its skills.
Two children on a vacation in their grandfather’s rural home gang up with a group of village kids and discover the conspiracy behind the stealing of fruits from their grandfather’s orchard.
‘Geng’ works for kids of up to 10-years-old, who only require some decent animation to please. For an audience older than that, the animation flick sadly misses the mark and becomes a loud, garish one. In Malaysia however, it was a different story, with the film becoming one of the biggest hits.
Malaysia’s proximity to India is evident in a couple of characters in the film. There’s a hefty but a slightly dumb character called Singh. And one of the kids Raju – a little Dr. Dolittle of sorts – is a Tamil kid.
Besides some decent animation, there isn’t much that ‘Geng’ has to say. Unlike even the stories of animation films in Hollywood, where the intention is to teach kids some basic emotions of life like love, friendship and camaraderie, there seems to be no such intention with ‘Geng’.
Thus, with such a loose and largely pointless script, ‘Geng’ misses the opportunity to be a much better film that it could easily have been and that would have matched the decent animation work.
Yet, it is a triumph of animation filmmaking for the small country and the film industry of Malaysia.
Hopefully, Indian filmmakers will take the lead and up their ante in the animation department. With a large number of kids to cater to, the nation desperately needs it.
