TOP FIVE REASONS TO WATCH THE DIGITALLY REMASTERED EDITION OF MAGIC TEMPLE ON THEATERS
“Buto, kalansay, tabi-tabi po sa bangkay. Lulubog, lilitaw sasaradong hukay”
For those who grew up in 90s who are not familiar with these witty lyrics, I really do not know what kind of childhood you had but kidding aside, Magic Temple is truly an iconic film of 1996 which dominated the Metro Manila Film Festival bagging all the major awards including the Best Film, Best Cinematography and more.
They won 14 awards out of 22 nominations and not to mention the recognition they got from other Award giving bodies like FAMAS and Gawad Urian! With so much acclaim, you can really tell that this film is really something to remember. It is not every day that we encounter film with such high quality in terms of its story and visual effects. Magic Temple is indeed an amazing film in all aspects and we are lucky enough that ABS-CBN included this iconic fantasy film as part of their Film Restoration project. Millenials will finally get a chance to witness and embark themselves in a magical journey of Jubal, Sambag and Omar in digitally remastered edition of Magic Temple! Now, allow us to give you Five Great reasons why Millenials should watch this digitally restored version of Magic Temple!
5. To Experience the Nostalgia
Calling all #Batang90s! This is our chance to enter the world of Samadhi and accompany our three favorite heroes who just made our childhood fantasy alive! Ignore all those rumors regarding about the possible remake because Jubal, Sambag and Omar will be hitting the big screen one more time to give us the nostalgic experience like we never had before. The film will absolutely bring a lot of childhood memories and for those who already have their own family, don’t you think it would be ideal to bring your kids with you and share them the kind of magic that the film brought you two decades ago? It is very interesting to note that Magic Temple is just one of the many restored classic films to be shown in Power Plant Cinema 1 as part of their Reelive the Classic campaign starting from December 7 until December 14.
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| Junell Hernando as Sambag,Sydney Sacdalan as Shaolin Child and Marc Solis as Omar |
Talking about quality? Well, this is a Peque Gallaga , Lore Reyes and Erik Matti’s masterpiece. These were the days where films are not yet corrupted with annoying and shameless advertisements. These were the days where the stories are uniquely made and writers are not ripping them off from foreign films. Honestly, I checked all notable fantasy films that were shown prior to Magic Temple like The Goonies of 1985, the Labyrinth of 1986 or even the famous Never-ending Story but Magic Temple offers a completely different plot and will take you to a world that is absolutely beyond imagination. On top of its incomparable story, the film offers a great ensemble of cast who portrayed their respective roles impressively. It is no wonder why this film bagged so many awards during the 1996 Metro Manila Film Festival including the Best Original Story and Best Screenplay.
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| Junell Hernando as Sambag and Marc Solis as Omar memes the Magic Temple poster |
If you watched the film, there are three possible things to happen. You will either get inspired from the unconditional love and amazing leadership offered by Jubal, enjoy the wittiness and naughtiness of Omar. Or better yet, fell in love with Sambag’s odd yet inspiring love story. I am not going to spoil much but one thing I can tell is that Sambag will hit you right through your heart with his notable quotes or should I call “Hugotlines” in the entire course of the film. Of course, these are not just cheesy love quotes because this film has many lessons to offer that even millenials can relate. It values friendship, love, responsibilities, leadership and respect (and also the art of “letting go” haha). These are things that are no longer being emphasized in most films today.
2. It is an Almost-Perfect Digital Restoration
One thing I really appreciate here are the efforts offered and initiated by ABS-CBN to restore all the classic films and let the younger generations witness these remarkable movies. It is so fascinating to see how they bring such old film back to its former glory (and in fact even better). We were informed that the team behind this film restoration spent hundreds of hours just to enhance the quality of the film. Take note, they are editing it frame by frame so imagine how much time they had to put just to finish a single scene? Upon watching the digitally restored version of Magic Temple, I can confidently tell that it is really an-almost perfect restoration. There were some moments that the quality of the graphics fluctuates but the instances are very minimal. You can see how the quality drastically improved and I just can’t help but to marvel everything. Kudos to the ABS-CBN Restoration team and for their passion to bring the classic movies back into big screen and for bringing them back to their former glory so the younger generations can appreciate such remarkable quality films today. 2017 will be a big blast for them as they will try to restore more classic films!
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| Junell Hernando and Marc Solis with the original poste of Magic Temple |
The restoration of Magic Temple is really just made in time because they are celebrating the film’s 20th anniversary! Yes, that’s two decades already and yet the film is still being remembered by many! You’ll be surprised how many people can still sing that famous “Buto Kalansay” song. I know many of you are so excited for the upcoming Metro Manila Film Festival which is now dominated by Indie films (and that means good quality films) but before that, you may consider rewatching this restored classic film at Power Plant Mall Cinema 1 starting on December 7 to 14. Magic Temple recently had their red carpet premiere where Junell Hernando (came back all the way from the US) and Marc Solis reunited after 20 years! Too bad Jason Salcedo was not present in the event but we spotted Master Sifu (Jun Urbano) and the all-grown-up Shaolin kid (Sydney Sacdalan) who were there in the event to support the film.
For more information, you can visit the ABS-CBN Film Restoration page (https://web.facebook.com/filmrestorationabscbn) to see their shows line up!
More photos of Magic Temple premiere night at
Written : Milton Coyne
Edited : Axl Guinto
Edited : Axl Guinto
Photos : Milton Coyne and Axl Guinto
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