Visually stunning by any measure, the lone animated film in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival, ‘Saving Sally,’ is a breath of fresh air for local filmmaking.

The people behind it wanted to play it down, describing it as a “typical teen film about love, monsters, and gadgets,” but its place in this year’s MMFF roster, plus the attention it drew for having started shooting back in 2005 before halting over budget constraints, had people expecting a lot from it. Measured against that sense of ‘completeness and uniqueness,’ ‘Saving Sally’ falls a little short.

Its storytelling is superb — plain, simple, carried by Filipino humor in the background — and we genuinely felt the love for this film. The cast does an outstanding job too. We can’t picture anyone else playing Marty besides Enzo Marcos. And the film wouldn’t have landed nearly as well without the beautiful Rhian Ramos, the perfect replacement for Anna Larrucea, who was originally cast as Sally back in 2005.

Produced by French film producer Alain de la Mata and directed by Avid Liongoren, ‘Saving Sally’ brings a genuinely unique flavor to the MMFF. Even so, that difference isn’t quite as satisfying as it could be. For all its beauty — the awesome animation, the fresh ideas it hands its audience — the film somehow comes up a little short on substance.

The overall experience was good, just not quite enough. Watching the end credits roll feels a lot like its lead character Marty’s arc, minus the happy ending — a nice takeoff, a smooth ride, but a landing that never quite reaches greatness.

Will I watch it again? No. Would I recommend it to our readers? Absolutely.

Rating: 7.5/10

Note: ‘Saving Sally’ is one of the eight film entries in the Metro Manila Film Festival 2016. It’s the seventh film we’ve watched so far. We’ll do our best to finish our movie marathon tomorrow and review the rest on this blog shortly. Read the rest of our reviews by clicking this link.