From one of the most inventive and irreverent voices in Filipino and World Animation, director Avid Liongoren (SAVING SALLY, the upcoming ZSA ZSA ZATURNNAH), the utterly delightful HAYOP KA! is inspired by the beloved telenovela genre of romance melodramas. Nimfa (voiced by Angelica Panganiban) is a perfume saleswoman kitty in Manila, who receives a prediction from a fortune teller that she’ll fall in love with two men (er, dogs) simultaneously. One is her long-time boyfriend, likable but unambitious canine janitor Roger (voiced by Robin Padilla) – the second turns out to be high-powered top dog (literally) executive Iñigo (voiced by Sam Milby), who sweeps her off her paws and forces her to ask what’s more important: Love, or Wild Hot Sex + Lots of Bling? Featuring an irresistible style that’s both retro and Cartoon Network modern, HAYOP KA! is one of the few Filipino animated films both made in the Philippines and about its life and culture. The Philippines has long been an animation powerhouse, but primarily churning out product for U.S. and Japanese producers — until the arrival of a new generation of animators led by Liongoren’s Rocketsheep Studio and films like HAYOP KA!. In Filipino with English subtitles.

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Video Quality

Hayop Ka! debuts on Blu-Ray in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with a sterling 1080p master that looks as great as any modern animated movie should. Every creative flourish within the animation is left intact with no unnecessary digital manipulation to ruin the charm of the feature. The memorable character designs complement the background elements for a seamless visual language. The textures of this awe-inspiring world look authentic and give every space the appropriate amount of clarity and depth. It is fun to survey the background for clever pop culture allusions. This Blu-Ray is the perfect representation of the source, including top-notch black levels with no obvious issues of banding or compression. The bold colors are ideally saturated with these dazzling hues mingling with one another while maintaining the necessary delineation. Deaf Crocodile continues to be one of our favorites in the boutique label space.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray comes with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio stereo track in the original Filipino that holds up as well as the visual side of things. The film is overflowing with dynamic sound effects that are given the necessary placement within the mix. The track deploys the atmospheric effects favorably on all fronts. Dialogue comes through exceedingly well without competing sound effects or music obscuring important information. Every tune thrives as it emanates with exceptional fidelity, every note full of life. The audio is a winner by every metric. Optional English subtitles are provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Filmmaker Avid Liongoren and co-writer/co-producer Manny Angeles provide a new commentary track filled with tons of interesting insights into the production process, Filipino elements in the film that might be unknown to international audiences, controversies around the film, the backgrounds of the performers, and more.

Ass & Class – Sex, Romance, and Economic Escape in Hayop Ka!: A nearly 12-minute visual essay from film critic Celeste de la Cabra that explores relationship dynamics in Filipino culture, the various themes on display in Hayop Ka!, the abundance of references to other media, how the film utilizes melodrama, and more.

Interview with Avid Liongoren: A 40-minute interview with filmmaker Avid Liongoren conducted by Deaf Crocodile’s Dennis Bartok. In this conversation, Liongoren discusses his background, his early inspiration from classic animation, the landscape of animation in the Philippines, and so much more.

Interview with Avid Liongoren + Jether Amar: A 28-minute continuation of the previous interview with Liongoren and art director Jether Amar conducted by Deaf Crocodile’s Dennis Bartok. In this part of the interview, we dig more into the development of Hayop Ka!, how they paid homage to telenovelas, and so much more.

12 Reasons: A 24-minute excerpt from the previous interview session in which Liongoren tells a “cautionary tale” of why it took 12 years to complete his first feature film.

Short Films: A collection of animated shorts is provided that show some of the immense creativity that has been with these creatives from the beginning. These are all wonderfully entertaining films.

- Robuboy (2012) (HD) (4:19)

- Momo (2016) (HD) (4:14)

- Muning (2016) (HD) (2:26)

- Josephine (2016) (HD) (4:44)

- Our Forgotten Friends (2018) (HD) (2:16)

- Jepoy (2018) (HD) (6:54)

Original Trailers

- Teaser (1:02)

- Full Trailer (2:15)

- Teaser Trailer for Upcoming Rocketsheep Feature, Zsa Zsa Zaturnna (1:16)

Booklet: The release includes a 48-page bound book featuring new essays by film critic Walter Chaw and Fantasia Festival programmer Rupert Bottenberg. Both of these provide great insight into the film, the themes, the creatives, and the behind-the-scenes details in a thoughtfully written style.

Final Thoughts

Hayop Ka! is often very funny in the way it approaches modern dating and the struggle to find happiness in the current day. As charming as the film can be, the film does tackle some serious topics with a fair amount of tact and honesty, which makes this more adult-driven even without anything exceptionally inappropriate in the film’s DNA. We love that this film could have been made with human characters, but the whimsy that comes with an animal ensemble is too much to resist. The creatives behind the film delivered a stunning feature that is packed with clear signs of passion in each frame. We love when an artist can transport us into another culture through animation, and this is one of our favorite examples from recent memory. Deaf Crocodile has released a Blu-Ray which sports a first-rate A/V presentation and a tremendous assortment of special features. Recommended

Hayop Ka! is currently available to purchase on Standard Edition Blu-Ray or with a Limited Edition Slipcover exclusively through Deaf Crocodile.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Deaf Crocodile has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.