Mechamato Movie Review – Malaysian Animation On A Whole New Level

Mechamato Movie is a Malaysian animated movie, a follow-up to the Mechamoto TV series and prequel to the BoBoiBoy series, produced by Animonsta. 

The movie has made quite the splash as it actually came in 4th place at the Tokyo Anime Awards Festival, a truly great achievement for the Malaysian animation industry. Does it live up to that award? I’d say yes. While Mechamato’s origin story might be a little cliched, it makes up for it with some genuinely fantastic CG animation that rockets through its high-octane action scenes with pristine fidelity and expression.

A boy and his alien robot ball

The Mechamato Movie is an origin story. It shows the first meeting of the TV series’ main protagonist Amato, and his partner Mechabot, a sentient Power Sphera robot who can ‘mechanize’ different objects or people and turn them into super-powered weapons. 

The two meet after Mechabot escapes from prison and crash lands on Earth while Amato is cycling back from a friend’s house. The two don’t get along at first but they’re soon hunted by the forces of the evil General Grakakus. If they want to survive, they’re going to have to learn to work together. 

We see the two leads go from bickering begrudging allies to trusted partners with a lot of comedy and a little drama in between. As someone who hasn’t seen the TV show, I do think Amato could be a little plain as a protagonist, being the usual smart-talking hero you’d expect from a post-marvel action movie. The characters in general are solid but don’t extend much past their various story archetypes: the best friend, the mysterious masked ally, the evil villain, and so forth, making them a little underwhelming.

That being said, some of the jokes between them did have me laughing. The back-and-forth between Amato and Mechabot in particular was legitimately funny and kept me pretty entertained throughout the runtime.

Mechanized Animation

The real highlight of the movie for me is the animation and the action scenes. You can definitely see the inspiration from Tokusatsu shows like Kamen Rider and Ultraman with all of the over-the-top dialogue and camera angles to really sell the power of the heroes. The character all have detailed anime-style eyes that show a range of emotions that sells each expression.

I also really like how Mechabot mechanizes different objects. Watching all the different nuts and bolts slot into place has a Transformer-like satisfaction that leaves you pumped for whatever he turns into. This extends to the fight scenes as well which are well choreographed and do well to take advantage of the fighter’s different abilities.

While the film is mostly kid-friendly, there are also a couple of surprisingly dark moments. The fight scenes in particular can get brutal with visceral imagery of our heroes getting bruised and bashed about complete with fittingly crunchy sound effects. You see them push themselves to the limit to get back into battle. This adds a good sense of oomph to the fight without being too explicit for a younger audience.

If you’re a fan of the BoBoiBoy universe, the film also has a decent amount of world-building. A lot of time is given to the mystery hero, Maskmana. He first appeared in BoBoiBoy Movie 2 and after numerous fan theories, they’ve finally revealed more about him. For those who have been following the series over the years, I can imagine it’s quite a treat to see such a favorite character given so much love and development. 

Malaysia Looks Beautiful

Aside from the action, another thing I like most about this movie is the way it animates Malaysian culture. The setting of the film, Kota Hilir is heavily inspired by Kota Melaka and anyone who’s visited will instantly see the resemblance. You can find the Malacca River, A Famosa, Dutch Square, and the Maritime Museum of Malacca and they all look great to the point that I kind of wished I could walk around and explore them. 

The Destar Corp building shown in the movie was actually inspired by the design of the Tengkolok, also known as Dendam Tak Sudah. In this building, there are some great ship designs that use Wau and Congkak as references. Not to mention, there is a scene in this film with some seriously stylish rickshaws. 

I really commend Animonsta’s efforts in introducing the beauty of Malaysian culture to both domestic and foreign audiences with this movie. 

Mechamoto The Movie 

The Mechamato Movie is a fast-paced action romp that should please kids and adults alike. While the characters are a little too predictable, I truly enjoyed the quality of the animation. The world and characters look fantastic and the way they move, fight, and shot each other kept me on the edge of my seat. 

Whether you’re a fan of the series or a newcomer, this is a mechanized upgrade that’s well worth seeing.

The Mechamato Movie is currently screening in cinemas across Malaysia.

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