''Fantastica'' is a 2018 Filipino

fantasy comedy Fantasy comedy or comic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is primarily humorous in intent and tone. Typically set in imaginary worlds, fantasy comedy often involves puns on, and parodies of, other works of fantasy. Literature The subgenre ro ...

film directed by Barry Gonzales. It stars an ensemble cast including

Vice Ganda Jose Marie Borja Viceral (born March 31, 1976), known professionally as Vice Ganda (), is a Filipino comedian, actor, host, singer and television personality. He is considered one of the most successful entertainers in Philippine show business ...

Bela Padilla Krista Elyse Hidalgo Sullivan (born May 3, 1991), better known by her stage name Bela Padilla (), is a Filipino actress, host, singer, writer, and director. She is best known for her roles in television dramas on GMA-7 and ABS-CBN, as well as ...

Richard Gutierrez Richard Kristian Gutierrez (born January 21, 1984) is a Filipino actor. He is regarded as the original "''Fantaserye King''" for top billing multiple hit television series. Gutierrez is a recipient of a FAMAS Award and three PMPC Star Awards fo ...

Jaclyn Jose Mary Jane Santa Ana Guck (October 21, 1963 – March 2, 2024 ), known professionally as Jaclyn Jose, was a Filipino actress. Known for her penetrating eyes and antagonistic roles in film and soap operas, she was a recipient of various accolades ...

, and

Dingdong Dantes Jose Sixto "Dingdong" Gonzalez Dantes III (born August 2, 1980) professionally known as Dingdong Dantes, is a Filipino actor, filmmaker, and television personality. He is known for his acting versatility and played dramatic and fantasy-action r ...

. Produced by

Star Cinema ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc., trade name, doing business as Star Cinema and also known as ABS-CBN Films (since 2018), is a Philippines, Philippine film studio, film, television production company, production and distribution (marketing), di ...

and

Viva Films Viva Films, Inc. (also known as Viva Films, stylized as VIVA Films) is a Philippine film production and distribution company owned by Viva Communications. It was founded in 1981 by Vic del Rosario Jr. and his sister Tess Cruz. Viva Films is o ...

, the film serves as an official entry to the 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival. The film was released on December 25, 2018. It received mixed reviews from critics, praising the film's special effects but criticizing the lack of character development and some of the comedic scenes. This also marked the last film appearance of comedian

Chokoleit Jonathan Aguilar Garcia (; June 25, 1970 – March 9, 2019), better known by his stage name Chokoleit (), was a Filipino comedian, actor, and TV host. He was best known for his role as Pearly Shell in the Philippine television series ''Marina'' ...

, who died after suffering a fatal

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

Bangued Bangued, officially the Municipality of Bangued (; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Philippine Province, province of Abra (province), Abra, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

, Abra on March 9, 2019, at the age of 48.

Plot

Kleia Blythe, the proprietor of a struggling carnival named Perya Wurtzbach (a pun on

Pia Wurtzbach Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach-Jauncey (; ; ; born September 24, 1989), formerly professionally known as Pia Romero, is a Filipino model, actress, and beauty pageant titleholder best known for winning the title of Miss Universe 2015. Previously, Wurtz ...

), is tasked by a princess Sxia Blythe to find three princesses of the knight's land Fantastica. The princesses was warped to Earth separately, where the carnival’s crew must track them down to help save Fantastica, but eventually live regular lives there. But an evil spreads on Fantastica, and his rival Hannah Velax is on their throats. The mission's cover is to revive the carnival to lure the princesses.

Cast

Main cast

Supporting cast

Extended cast

Special participation

Reception

Critical response

''Fantastica'' was released to mixed reviews from critics. Zsarlene B. Chua of ''

BusinessWorld ''BusinessWorld'' is a business newspaper in the Philippines with a nationwide circulation of more than 117,000 (as of March 2014). Founded in 1967 as ''Business Day'', it is Southeast Asia's first daily business newspaper. History ''Busin ...

'' praised the opening sequence by

El Gamma Penumbra El Gamma Penumbra is a Filipino all male shadow play group, best known for being the winners of the first season of '' Asia's Got Talent''. Etymology ''Gamma'' refers to gamma rays and ''Penumbra'' means “shadow”, so its name describes "t ...

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

-breaking jokes and the film's parodies of various drama films, but viewed Vice's continued reliance on

insult comedy Insult comedy is a comedy genre in which the act consists mainly of offensive insults, usually directed at the audience or other performers. Typical targets for insult include people in the show's audience, the town hosting the performance, or the ...

and

innuendo An innuendo is a wikt:hint, hint, wikt:insinuation, insinuation or wikt:intimation, intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called in ...

s as stale and repetitive, saying "The movie's premise and sheer starpower guarantee the film will be a blockbuster, but if you're expecting something new from Mr. Viceral's yearly MMFF entry, you're bound to be disappointed as it is more of the same: innuendos (which makes one question why it's rated PG) and his usual insult comedy." She did however conclude that "it's a feel-good if mind-numbing film for people who want to shut down and get a few laughs here and there." John Magbanua of ''

Bandera Bandera - from a Spanish word meaning - may refer to: Places * Bandera County, Texas, U.S. ** Bandera, Texas, its county seat *** Bandera High School ** Bandera Creek, a river, with its source near Bandera Pass ** Bandera Pass, a mountain pa ...

'' also gave the film a mixed review, praising the film's special effects and romantic pairings but was critical of the formulaic production and what he noted as censorship done presumably to make the film more family-friendly. Magbanua also noted that ''Fantastica'' could have incorporated more carnival elements to further justify the film's narrative.

Box office

It was announced by

in a thanksgiving dinner organized for ''Fantastica'', that the film became the highest grossing MMFF film which starred Vice Ganda. ''Fantastica'' earned with the figure including earnings from both domestic and international release of the film.

References

External links

* {{MMFF 2018 films 2010s fantasy comedy films Circus films Filipino-language films Films set in amusement parks Philippine fantasy comedy films Philippine urban fantasy films Star Cinema comedy films Viva Films films Films with screenplays by Daisy Cayanan