Mechamato Movie is a 2022 Malaysian Malay-language computer-animated action film and a prequel to the animated series Mechamato: The Animated Series. Produced by Animonsta Studios and Astro Shaw as co-producer with distributed by Astro Shaw, the film is directed by Nizam Razak and stars Armand Ezra, Adzlan Nazir, Fadhli Mohd Rawi, Ielham Iskandar, Marissa Balqis, Fazreen Syahmi, Hazzley Abu Bakar, and Feroz Faizal. The film follows Amato's first encounter with the MechaBot in a crashed prison spaceship where Amato eventually becomes the MechaBot's new master, leading them to be pursued by Grakakus, an evil alien.
Initially announced for a 2021 release, the film was delayed numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This caused the animated series to be released before the movie. The film's release was officially announced in September 2022.
Mechamato Movie has been released in Malaysia and Brunei on 8 December 2022.
Premise
A young boy Amato discovers Mechabot - that can mechanize any normal object to super high tech weapons and gadgets - from a crashed alien "Prison Ship" of notorious robots while they try shedding off an escapee. Immediately the next day, in hilarious tricks, he becomes master of Mechabot, and essentially sooner calling their combined form as "Mechamato". Little and sooner of their knowledge, they have a danger triling them: a powerful semi-cyborg alien named Grakakus who wants to capture all power spheras and enslave robots to keep on conquring planets. Mechabot and Amato must stop the chaos and defeat the evil, while rescuing people and keeping his family, friends and city safe from destruction.
Cast
Armand Ezra as Amato / Mechamato
Adzlan Nazir as MechaBot
Fadhli Mohd Rawi as Grakakus
Ielham Iskandar as Pian
Marissa Balqis as Mara
Fazreen Syahmi as Tok Sah
Hazzley Abu Bakar as Mayor Andy
Feroz Faizal as Mr. Aman and Troket
Syabil Syamin as Deep
Anas Abdul Aziz as Aba
Siti Salwa Samsudin as Umi
Nizam Razak as Bago Go and Bula
Azrul Fazlan Hamdan as Bili
Production
The production for the movie started as early as 2019, when Monsta revealed the plan for Mechamato on a video for their 2020 plans as a feature-film project, which features the cutscenes from the movie. The movie production was temporarily halted to make way for the production of the animated series first after the movie released was delayed. Astro Shaw is confirmed as the investor and distributor, while MDEC provided part of the funds and market access for Mechamato. In March 2022, the creator Nizam Razak said that due to the change in the screening sequence, the storyline will be changed a bit compared to the original plan. The movie which was 70% ready needs to be reworked to ensure that the storyline is more oriented towards the 'Origin Story'. In July 2022, they confirmed that they are working on getting the movie dubbed in Japanese, Korean and English. In November 2022, the creator mentioned that the tone of the movie will be more mature than the series. The English version is expected to be completed by March 2023. The initial duration was about 100 minutes, but Monsta extended it to 122 minutes as a result of changes and improvements to guarantee the audience's satisfaction. The final Digital Cinema Package (DCP) of the movie has been submitted to the cinemas on 23 November 2022.
Music
The movie's theme song is performed by Yonnyboii titled "Temaniku", which was officially launched on 18 November 2022. Co-composed by Yonnyboii and Fitri Zain, Monsta's Chief Operating Officer Kee Yong Pin expressed his excitement at being able to work with an influential singer who is able to tap into the tastes of today's young generation. This song makes togetherness in achieving a goal as a message and inspiration, no matter if it is for the integrity of the relationship between friends, family, team or special friends. Kee Yong Pin also revealed that the process of making this theme song was done remotely, with MONSTA contacting a young composer from Sabah, Fitri Zain, after being interested in the music on his YouTube channel. Yonnyboii worked on the lyrics and finally, this song was produced, with Fitri Zain never meeting face to face with MONSTA until this film was released.
Marketing
The official trailer was released on 1 January 2021, intended for the release of 2021 before it was postponed. On 8 July 2022, Monsta released the official poster reveal video on their YouTube channel. The final trailer and the official poster were revealed on 8 November 2022, a month before the release.