"Dayo," an entry to the 34th Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) hailed as the first all-digital Filipino animated film, has an unenviable job of having to grace the theaters with box-office shoo-ins "Iskul Bukol" and "Ang Tanging Ina Ninyong Lahat" especially since it's going for the profitable market that the two mentioned films have cornered: the family. And while the well-intentioned animated film merits cheers for its willingness to defy expectations in an otherwise predictable film fest, "Dayo" ends up unmemorable and mostly generic, a merely passable viewing fare hobbled by irritatingly obvious product placements, and whose only claim to being more than such is its being slightly better than "Urduja," another Filipino animated film released earlier this year.
Bubuy (voiced by Nash Aguas), an orphaned 11-year old is tormented by bullies at school, who goads him one night into burning a balete tree in the middle of the forest. Incurring the wrath of spirits living in the tree, Bubuy's grandparents (Noel Trinidad and Nova Villa) are kidnapped and it's up to Bubuy and his newly found friend Anna (a vegetarian "manananggal" voiced by Katrina "Hopia" Legaspi) to venture in the fairy-tale world of Elementalia to rescue his grandparents before it's too late.
Directed by Robert Quilao, "Dayo" hasn't what it takes to truly mesmerize its intended audiences. It is possible for the younger ones and their adult companions to be mildly entertained but neither group will be blown away by what is on offer here. The story, while not lacking in potentially exciting adventure scenes, is carried out in an uninspired manner with a script containing not one notable dialog, while the characters are purely forgettable. As the voices of Bubuy and Anna, Aguas and Legaspi enliven their respective roles, clearly having fun with the parts, and strike just the right note of innocence and helplessness. With the possible exception of Michael V as Narsi the "tikbalang", the same can't be said of their seemingly sleepwalking adult counterparts which includes an otherwise impressive voice cast of Peque Gallaga, Johnny Delgado, Laurice Guillen, and Pokwang.
The other strong suit "Dayo" lays claim to is its supposedly groundbreaking animated style, using computer-generated motions and backgrounds. This especially works during the establishing shot of Elementalia which zooms out to reveal a lavishly decorated landscape and introduces its characters and the audiences to a trip through a perilous world. It's not to say it's technically perfect, but at least the vision and effort are evident.
All told, within the animation and competent voice performances of its leads is a film lacking in substance. The writing, credited to Artemio Abad and Eric Cabahug, is lifeless, and the protagonists are perfunctory creations that fail to distinguish themselves from other young animated heroes. "Dayo" is far from terrible, truth be told (in fact, I'll go out of my way here and say it may be better than most of what the MMFF churns out), but it is plastered with such mediocrity that, given the now astronomic standards of animated films, kids and their parents deserve better than. It doesn't stand out and the holiday movie-going public have their sights another way. Indeed, it's an unfortunate task.
