SALADIN THE MOVIE

I followed this animated series with lot of interest once it was released. But the high quality English version ended up hanging just like that? I must say, I’m very proud with this animation series which proved there are still few creative minds in Malaysia. But I wonder when Saladin The Movie will be out? The official trailer has been shown since 2006 but we still haven’t heard any progression about it?

The animated series now has been translated into Malay, which is absolutely become emotionless and crappy. I just hope they can get more talented people to handle all the characters in Saladin just like the English version. From what I understand, most of them are non-moslem, but did an amazing jobs in 13 part series.

I have read some stupid complains about this series like, why Salahuddin looks Nordic? Why Anisa didn’t wear hijab? Why the crusader become his sidekick? Why they didn’t follow exactly like his biography? Why he doesn’t have beard?

Well, I don’t have to answer all these crap. But from my point of view, first of all this is animated 3D series that inspired by the life of Salah Al-Din Yusuf Ibnu Ayyub, and it is an action/adventure series targeted for television audiences from 10 – 12 years old. Well, kids like handsome hero. So why not? Saladdin also looks handsome in old paintings. About Anisa, I still don’t know either she is muslimah or not? And if she is muslimah, she is a naughty sexy girl in this story. She is a sexy thief indeed. Maybe she will realize her wrong-doing soon? Let the character develop please! And about his crusader friend, well haven’t you heard Salahuddin also had a Christian battalion fought for him to repay his honesty. About his beard, hey this is the series of an adventure when he was young… You people should understand that this is also part of dakwah. Dakwah is also an art…

Here some of interesting info about this project;

SALADIN is a 3D animation for television series. The story is based on the real-life stories of a Muslim Sultan, warrior, ulama named Salahuddin Al Ayubi or in the West, it is also popularly known as Saladin. The events happened during the Holy War in the 12th Century. His mission is to conquer Jerusalem and also to unite the Muslims world. The production started in 2004. The producer of this animation is MDeC which stands for Multimedia Development Corporation which is part of the Malaysian Government unit. Government gives their trust to MDeC to fulfill this national project and make it a slam-dunk in the animation world. The budget for the whole TV series is expected to be around RM10 million. The series was recently nominated for an International Emmy award for 2011 under the Children & Young People category!

14 people in the Visual Development Team in MDec did the pre-production work and continued by Silver Ant company (located in Damansara) which concentrate on the animation part and Imaginex Studios (located in Bangsar) which concentrate on the audio and sound effects. Both are local companies. The man behind the scene who is Kamil Othman, the vice-president for MDeC's Creative Department. His idea of this animation is to show to the world that Malaysian talents can do any animation products even if it is not originated from Malaysia. Its major achievement is when it's six-minutes trailer has won the Best Technology category at SICAF (Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival) Promotions Plan competition among a group of 10 finalists.Check Saladdin in facebook.

Directed by Nazih Hatem & Chi-Ren Choong,

Animation by Young Jump, http://www.young-jump.com

Character Design by Sandra S.K. Khoo,

Music by Luka Kuncevic,

Voice Direction by Gavin Yap,

Sound Design by Raja Ahmad Shaidaley (Boon) & Jason Lee

All audio, music and voice casting by Imaginex Studios Kuala Lumpur, http://www.imaginexstudios.com Co-Produced By MDEC & Al Jazeera Children's Channel