I was a fan of the first Kimmy Dora film in 2009. It was refreshing and entertaining. It felt like the level of Pinoy slapstick had been upgraded. I was not able to see the second installment last year, which had been given a horror slant.
This third film was supposed to have been a prequel. Kimmy and Dora have just graduated from college. They start to work in their father's mega- corporation. Top executives Brigitte (Angel Aquino), Curtis (Joel Torre) and the HR Head Rodin (Sam Milby) implement a program for them to start working from the bottom as guards or car park cashiers.
However, there is a malevolent hooded figure named Bogart who wreaks havoc in the Go Dong Hae franchises from their fast food to their airline, threatening to totally destroy the company if they do not give him 1 Billion Euro. How can the sisters save their empire from totally collapsing around them?
Oddly though, this film felt furthest from being a prequel. Instead of looking like events happened in the past, this film ironically looks like it is set ahead of this time.
The sets, props and costumes looked outlandishly futuristic than the first film. The first film did not strike me to be set in the far future at all, to make this film to be set today, with tablets and Candy Crush. There will even be fantastic gadgetry of science-fiction quality here, from touch-screen conference room table to remote brain-control technology, that would seem anachronistic in the intended timeline of this trilogy.
Or could it be because Eugene Domingo looks older here? Her Kimmy did not look like a fresh Cambridge graduate, nor did her Dora look more childish. The make-up and visual effects departments were not able to create Benjamin Button-like miracles.
Or maybe because the characters were already getting too tired and repetitive for their respective shticks? Ms. Domingo was still very funny, but the joke may have already reached its expiration date. Maybe it is time to retire Kimmy and Dora while we still love them.
