November Tenth

the animation is pretty good, even tough the artwork, soundtrack is amazing, there are some parts that out of touch, and one of the sound effect is out of place but the story is good, Musa, who is only a thirteen-year-old shoe shiner, undergoes destiny through his adventure of waging war during the war time. fighting the dutch, england, ex japan samurai/ninja? and have a crush on his childhood friend? Does he manage to bring peace among the troops keeping on fighting for nothing?

Battle of Surabaya is a film very much amaze me. Ten or fifteen years ago i never think that Indonesia can make a film like this. The audiences like it, especially the children, and in some place (like in Jogjakarta) the movie is sold out, so i think there are really proud people that support this film

i really surprised that Indonesia can make a good animation film, hopefully this film will be the first step to the rise of Indonesian film

Battle of Surabaya is a heroic movie that is heart felling, wonderful, and beautifully messaged at a same time. The storyline is enough, the animation is standard- sometimes going to be so artistic, but the morale and the coda inside the movie is one of the best aspects inside this movie.

With no propaganda- this is a clean animated movie, with a lot of heroic statements and also heroic character building, which made us feel this movie is a natural sensation of movie-making.

The background is beautiful, with "rough" animation in a lot of scenes; a huge minus for the movie. But it still heart felling, and also wonderful. The dialogue is quite raw, but its still beautifully messaged, with a great storyline, and of course the ending, will be a memorable message for every single audience who watched it.

So, I just watched this movie with my friend who is avid anime fan. It wasn't something we expected. But it goes well in some parts of movie.

The Story:

For almost half of the movie, we see main characters interacting in sort of romance, not in war except the day of war happened. We were expecting to see high-pace action movie from start till end though. And BoS apparently revolved around the main characters with supporting characters who have different purpose.

The Cast

The odd thing we felt that the main cast talk like Jakartan not Suroboyoan (the setting where the event happened) except for some additional cast that gives some comical relief for the movie. It takes time to listen Indonesian language in animation movie but it supposed to be more depicting local accent. I am sure the English version is going to be fit than Indonesian dub. Its like listening sinetron (tv opera soap ) dialog line in anime. It supposed to be better, but yeah.. I know this is the first step of Indonesia animation development.

The Audio:

The musical score and effect was convincing and can be plus for this movie. Dialog line aren't fit but some cast could play very well. It takes time to get used with Indonesian dialogue where we get used with Anime. And background music and soundtrack, I expected some old songs in the era were remade and not only typical modern pop song where I thought isn't really fit.

The Graphic:

Superb drawing with 3d background, its eye porn for us. But, we take a closer that main characters animation movement looked stiff when they talk or in action.

The Fun:

Kid may love this and so adults. Even though in war, you cant see any blood. The message is great. No glory in war. And yet the ending... people would love it. Its good to bring kids to watch this movie and see their reaction.

The Rating: 7/10

As an Indonesian, I was really excited when this movie came out, me and my friends were planning to watch the movie together as the trailer was really amazing, oh, did I say that the movie wins the "Golden Trailer Award"?. However it is definitely not worth spending 20 quids on this H̶o̶r̶r̶i̶b̶l̶e̶ ahem, 'movie'. So ladies and gentlemen I present my review on this movie.

-STORY/PLOT (OR WHATEVER): I love Indonesia's history, ask me anything regarding Indonesia, and I will answer it in a matter of seconds. However this was my first time hearing about the "Peristiwa 10 November" or is known as "Battle of Surabaya" internationally. So I thought I could learn a thing or two about the war that took place in Surabaya on November, but no, basically first quarter of the movie, we were introduced to a person called Musa, which was a young lad who works as an ordinary mailman and cleans people's shoes as side job. And then we had Yumna, Musa's crush, and Danu whom I forgot what role he had (but he was definitely one of the main characters). Instead of focusing on telling what really happened in detail, the producers of the movie decided to focus more on romance, and this turned out to be really annoying as literally, almost 70% of this movie was romance (they should rename the title to "Romance of Surabaya" hahaha, no I am serious), oh and the romance was not even good. Story was not explained clearly, I was having difficulty coping up with the storyline. What a disaster.

-ART/ANIMATION: Okay, the animation or art is actually really good! I really have to give credit to Indonesia for this. Characters designs were really well done. the Environment design was breathtaking, every single sky, bird, tree was absolutely stunning. However, the animation isn't really that amazing if you compared it to let say, Japan animations, Nevertheless, GOOD JOB INDONESIA!.

-Audio/Sound: With Maudy Ayunda casting as one of the main characters, what can go wrong?. Moreover, the opening and ending songs were the creations of Maudy, if you don't know who Maudy is, google her, you will thank me later.

-Characters: All three main casts had horrendous characters, plain, boring, dull, and inconsistent.

-Enjoyment: Except for the art, and sound, this movie is not enjoyable at all. the target audience for this movie was all ages, but as a 19 years old teenager, I certainly did not enjoy the movie at all.

-Conclusion: In conclusion, Battle of Surabaya is not anywhere close to perfect, the plot was not clear, the characters are not well thought, they were inconsistent, plain, and dull. Additionally This movie focuses on romance instead of educating people about what really happened at Surabaya, and the romance was not anywhere near good. On the other hand, the art and animation are superbs, furthermore, the audio and sound are also good. But honestly, what a let down.

If you seek to learn about what really happened at Surabaya on 1945, do not even bother to check this movie out. I did not learn anything from the movie, even online wikis do better job explaining than this movie (and its FREE!!!). And do not be fooled by the high ratings. I honestly do not understand how this movie managed to get rating above 5.

I watched this movie for 3 reason. first: the trailer was good. Second: as Indonesian, I really excited when finally somebody make animation movie about Indonesia's History. Third: My friend bought me a ticket, so why not. it's free movie. nothing to lose right? but i was wrong.. I just lost 2 hours of my life for bad movie. I don't know where to start to explained how they ruined this great chance for make great Indonesia's animation movie. it's like they put their 60% budget for animation, 30% for the cast, 9% for Sound, and just 1% for directing. storyline is awful. plot hole? don't even talk about plot hole, i only watched a hole without the plot. I wish they took different route, especially for storyline, to explained for audience that is "theres's no glory in war" with more subtle way. or they can just change the title as "Before battle of Surabaya, and After" or "Organisasi Kipas Hitam" or "Musa and Yuna" or "10 minutes of battle of Surabaya with another 1 hour and 45 minutes of 25 other random story". *and people.. please honest with your review.. 10/10 honestly? how much for classic animation like Spirited Away? 200/10?