Geng: The Adventure Begins

Geng: The Adventure Begins (Malay: Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula, originally Geng: Misteri Hantu Durian) is a 2009 Malaysian 3D computer animated film. The film is produced by Les' Copaque and released in Malaysian cinemas beginning 12 February 2009. Geng was launched in a ceremony held on 11 September 2007 together with short animated series Upin & Ipin that have connections with the film. Planning for the film began in late-2005 as Les Copaque commenced operations. It received financial support from ICT-related agencies such as Multimedia Development Corporation and MIMOS.

Geng: The Adventure Begins
Malaysian theatrical release poster
Directed byNizam Razak
Produced byH.J. Burhanuddin
Written byMuhammad Anas Abdul Aziz
StarringNur Fathiah Diaz
Amir Izwan
Balqis Fadhullah Lim
Kannan Rajan
Kee Yong Pin
Music byMohamed Azfaren Aznam
Yuri Wong
CinematographyNazrul Hadi
Edited byYong Pin
Production
company
Distributed byGrand Brilliance
Release date
  • 12 February 2009 (2009-02-12)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryMalaysia
LanguageMalay
BudgetRM 4 Million
Box officeRM 6,314,526[1]

Plot

Bored with nothing to do for their school holidays, Badrol invites his best friend Lim to go on a camping trip at his old Kampung where he grew up, with intentions to experience some long-forgotten true Malaysian life in his grandfather's durian orchard. However, their simple holiday trip is cut short by the discovery of a clue that leads them closer to the rumours of the mystery house deep in the forest. Together with their newly found friends, Rajoo, the animal-whispering boy, Ros, the village beauty, and her two cute twin brothers, Upin and Ipin, they work together to unravel the secrets surrounding the small Kampung.

The movie begins with Badrol who is watching the news who is covering news about the sudden disappearance of the durians, a news castor interviews Badrol's grandfather Tok Dalang about the previous night (a durian fell but something managed to eat it and leave the durians shell completely clean) Tok Dalang and the locals dubs the "something" as a durian ghost since its unknown of who or what is eating the durians late at night. Badrol who is skeptical and wanted to learn if the rumors of the durian ghost is true at the same time visits his grandfather so he decided to invite his city-raised boy friend Lim to go to the village with him the next day.

After riding on a bus which along the way got its tire punctured forcing the duo to walk to the village which is 5 km away. After a few complains from Lim, a truck driver named Singh noticed the two and decided to give them a ride much to his friend and boss Pak Mail's chagrin. Badrol then tells them about their journey including the story told by Pak Mail about the abandoned house.

In the village Upin and Ipin are playing in, Uncle Muthu's outdoor restaurant while Sally is impatiently waiting for her pastries, Mak Uda called Opah by Upin and Ipin's as she is their grandmother arrives the twins greet Opah who tells them to come home with their older sister Kak Ros, Opah then ask Sally to see if she has finish making her clothing and ushers to fix it as Sally tells Opah that she couldn't finish sewing the clothes simply because the buttons keep popping out and is ruining her nails. After Sally complains about Opah, Opah then asks Ah Tong about the news of the durian ghost, but Ah Tong claims the durian ghost to be unreal, Opah claims Ah Tong that he 'never believes in anything'. Sally leaves as she lost her appetite as Singh and Pak Mail drops Badrol and Lim on the shop the two then decided to ask Uncle Muthu for directions to Tok Dalang's house since Badrol hasn't been in the village for a while and he doesn't remember the way to his house but due to Uncle Muthu's poor directions.

Uncle Muthu decided to ask Upin and Ipin to lead Badrol and Lim instead while Kak Ros drops by to deliver the pastries but decided to follow her brothers as she is forced by Uncle Muthu. Upon arriving at Tok Dalang's (called by Atok) house and having a reunion, Badrol and Lim took Atok's suggestions which is to explore the village, Badrol and Lim then proceeded to have a motorcycle race, knocking out a child named Rajoo who forces the two to replace his radio (when Rajoo sees the two heading towards him he jumped into the water with the radio) and his one-brokened horned cow Sapy into the water. Badrol and Lim are telling him that they going home to Tok Dalang's house.

At night, Tok Dalang tells about the Durian Ghost, Badrol and Lim are sleeping but Lim want to go to the bathroom. Tomorrow, they're going to the orchard with Rajoo's wagon. Upin, Ipin and Rajoo are riding a leaf. And they found a fox named Oopet. Kak Ros, Badrol and Lim found them and at night, they go to the camp base. A monster is chasing them and they go to the cave. Tok Dalang, Opah, Uncle Muthu and Uncle Ah Tong is going to the orchard for finding them. The reveal was Oopet is been eating the durians. Oopet tells Rajoo to find his mother. Badrol and Lim are kidnapped by Uncle Singh (disguised as a monster) to the cabin. Rajoo is sneaking to the cabin that Uncle Singh and Pak Mail have some plans for haunting the orchard. They saved Badrol and Lim and they exited the cabin. However, Oopet is helping his mother but Pak Mail catches him, but his mother is attacking Pak Mail and Uncle Singh for wanting to kidnap Oopet. They escaped, but his mother is chasing them. They go to the cave again and Oopet tells them to run while Oopet's mother is fighting the monster.

They say to Oopet goodbye, before finding Upin, Ipin, Badrol, Lim and Rajoo and they discuss that Abang Salleh is inside the cabin to follow Uncle Singh's and Pak Mail's plan.[2]

Cast
  • Nur Fathiah Diaz as Upin and Ipin
  • Ida Rahayu Yusoff as Oopet
  • Amir Izwan Abdul Rahim as Badrol
  • Kee Yong Pin as Lim
  • Kannan a/l Rajan as Rajoo
  • Mohd Shafiq Mohd Isa as Muthu and Singh
  • Abu Shafian Abdul Hamid as Tok Dalang
  • Hjh. Ainon Ariff as Opah
  • Balqis Fadhullah Lim as Ros
  • Raja Mazrul Raja Abdul Malik as Ah Tong
  • Hj. Alias Mohamad Lazan as Pak Mail
  • Ros Hasrol Ahmad as Salleh

Production

It took two years, RM 4.7 million[3] and 40 local animators to complete Geng, which director Mohd Nizam Abdul Razak compares as cheap against Western animation budgets worth "around RM15 million to RM40 million" and "about 130 to 150 animators".[4] Les'Copaque Production's managing director, Burhanuddin Md Radzi, told that planning the film began when Mohd Nizam, Muhammad Usamah Zaid and Mohd Safwan Ab Karim[3] met him to read out their plan. In terms of cost-saving, he said that the computers were bought from Low Yat Plaza with modifications of their own, besides financial and logistic support from MDeC, MIMOS Bhd and MOSTI".[4] Maya and MentalRay were employed as the main 3D animation software. Nizam added that supply from Mimos worth millions of ringgit allowed Les' Copaque to perform rendering in only six to eight months compared to the usual over-one-year period, as well as saving costs.[5] Geng was completed in August 2008 at 108 minutes, and was previewed to invited guests from MDeC, Finas, Mimos, RTM, Media Prima, Astro and the press. It had been shortened to 90 minutes on the advice of Finas to please the cinema operators. Les' Copaque was also busy completing the Upin & Ipin shorts for television which somewhat disrupted post-production of Geng.[6] Les' Copaque prepared five original Geng reels, three of which were sent to Kantana Group in Bangkok, Thailand for audio mixing.[7] In November 2008, Les' Copaque announced the Censorship Board's approval of their film without cuts and permission to screen by Finas.[8] The music for Geng is mainly composed by Yuri Wong, who also composed music for the related animated series Upin & Ipin, along with Mohamed Azfaren Aznam, who contributed music as a second composer.

Reception

Les' Copaque has been reported to place targets ranging from RM5 million[4] to RM10 million, and even RM100 million after considering international distribution plans.[9] Geng opened on 12 August 2011 to incredible public response and rave reviews. On its first week in Malaysian cinemas, it gained RM2.3 million at the box office.[10] As of 1 April, it was confirmed that Geng had amassed RM 6,314,526 of ticket sales throughout its seven weeks on Malaysian silver screens,[11] in a rare event in which a Malaysian film has single-handedly defeated an array of major foreign releases, which at that time included Oscar nominees Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Box office chronology
Days of screening Cumulative sales
4 days (15 February) RM 1.75 million(US$485,000)[12][13]
7 days (18 August ) RM2.3 million(US$630,000)[10]
11 days (22 February) RM3.7 million(US$1 million)[14]
14 days (25 February) RM 4.09 million(US$1.12 million)[15]
18 days (1 March) RM4.8 million(US$1.3 million)[16]
26 days (9 March) RM 5.72 million(US$1.55 million)[17]
35 days (18 March) RM 6.011 million(US$1.632 million)[18]
39 days (22 March) RM 6.24 million(US$1.65million)[19]
43 days (26 March) RM 6.28 million(US$1.67 million)[20]
49 days (1 April) RM 6.31 million(US$1.73 million)[11]

Awards
2009
  • International Film Festival for Children, Indonesia[21]
    • Anugerah Pilihan Penonton (People's Choice Awards)
  • 22nd Malaysian Film Festival[22]
    • 2 Jury's Choice Awards (box office, animated feature film with distinctive characters)
  • MSC Malaysia Kre8tif! Industry Awards[23]
    • Best Editor (Mohd Faiz Hanafiah)
    • Best Music/Score (Yuri Wong)

References
  1. http://gengmovie.blogspot.com/2009/04/geng-jelajah-malaysia-habis.html
  2. http://www.sinemamalaysia.com.my/main/index.php?mod=film&p=info&id=445 Sinema Malaysia Archived 31 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Phui Yee, Yam (18 February 2009). "Daring adventures". R.AGE (the Star). Archived from the original on 19 February 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
  4. Zainal, Ramlah (2 February 2009). "Filem animasi Geng sasar RM5 juta". Harian Metro. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  5. Hanif, Afiq (14 January 2009). "Animasi 3D pertama telan RM4j". Harian Metro. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
  6. ""Geng: The Adventure Begins" Status Quo". Les' Copaque Production. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
  7. "Geng in Film Reel". Les' Copaque Production. 14 November 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
  8. ""Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula" Is Coming To Town". Les' Copaque Production. 26 November 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
  9. Abdul Latiff, Nurulhisham (25 August 2008). "Geng sasar kutipan RM100 juta". Utusan Malaysia. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  10. "Kutipan cecah RM2.3 juta". Harian Metro. Archived from the original on 24 February 2009.
  11. "Geng: Jelajah Malaysia ....Habis". Les' Copaque. 6 October 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  12. Husni Abdul Hamid, Zul (19 February 2009). "Sambutan Geng luar biasa". Berita Harian. Archived from the original on 22 February 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
  13. Lee Zhiang Yang, Ezekiel (18 August 2011). ""Geng" takes RM1.75mil". Cinema Online. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  14. Azira Abdul Aziz, Siti (25 February 2009). "Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula bakal kutip RM4 juta selepas dua minggu". mSTAR. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  15. "Oh Negara Ku". Les' Copaque. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
  16. "Gengmania". Les' Copaque. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  17. "Ye!...Ye!...dah lebih RM5 juta". Les' Copaque. 10 March 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
  18. "Kutipan cecah RM2.3 juta". Cinema Malaysia. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013.
  19. "Tolong!!! Sikit Lagi!!!!". Les' Copaque. 23 March 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
  20. "Geng: RM6.28 juta dan masih lagi mengira". Tupai. 26 March 2009. Archived from the original on 28 March 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
  21. Mazalan, Rozdan (11 August 2009). "Upin & Ipin dapat pengiktirafan lagi". Berita Harian.
  22. Festival Filem Malaysia ke-22 – Pencalonan Archived 9 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  23. "MSC Malaysia Kre-8tif! Industry Awards Winners". The Malay Mail. 28 December 2009. Archived from the original on 23 January 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
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