Virgo and the Sparklings - A Very Light Drama of Teenage with Powers & Fresh Addition to the BCU

When this movie was released last March, my wife and I did not got the chance to see it since it did not play in many theaters including the one near our home. In just few days time, there were even fewer studios that showed the movie. So I decided to just wait till it's available via online streaming. Few days ago, the film was finally released on Disney+ which gave me the chance to watch it easily. OK, I'll get right to it then.

Brief Story Line

Riani (Adhisty Zara - Dua Garis Biru, Keluarga Cemara etc) was a high school girl who had unique power of creating fire which always got her into trouble. After the latest incident, Riani had to move to a new school in Bandung where she easily hit it off with Monica (Ashira Zamita - Cinta Fitri TV series etc), Ussy (Satine Zaneta) and Sasmi (Rebecca Klopper - Pelukis Hantu etc). They later formed a group band called Virgo and the Sparklings and wanted to join a National competition to become famous like their idol, Scorpion Sisters led by Carmine (Mawar de Jongh - Para Betina Pengikut Iblis etc).

However, their simple life was ruined when an unknown force made people went berserk and Riani somehow got involved in this matter. With the help from Leo (Bryan Domani - Before I Met You etc), a photographer they met earlier, the whole band tried to find out the reason and stop the danger.

So what would happen to Riani and her friends? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

I watched the trailer of this movie before its release and my first impression then was it felt like a really youthful film and very colorful. And it turned out that the movie was just like that. The story was focusing on high school students with the typical teenage drama of romance, self actualization and even a little bit of bullying. Although these issues were touched only a little bit as the film tried to balance it with the some superhero stuff and the singing (which took a lot of screen time).

As an origin story for Riani who later called herself Virgo, this one was just OK. It showed her struggle to balance doing superhero deed and her friendship, but not the education as it was not touched at all. There was no explanation either on how she got the powers. We were shown some scenes on how Riani practiced and tried to master her skills which was interesting to watch. However due to the type of power that did not look very strong (at least to me), the enemy that she had to face was not extremely powerful either. So on the fighting front, I thought the movie was a bit light. 

In case you are not aware (which I am sure you are), this film is part of the BumiLangit Cinematic Universe (BCU). The two previous movies in the universe Gundala and Sri Asih were both dark, heavy and mature. However this one was the opposite as it was light, fresh and family friendly. The good thing was it actually brought the sense of fun to the universe and that scene before the closing credit certainly make it more exciting. Btw, there was a mid end credit scene here which I think was to set up for the sequel (or maybe future movies).

The cast performance was quite OK. I thought the casting department did a good job to choose the people who look young enough to be high school students. And the four lead cast were quite convincing as best friends while Bryan Domani also look suitable to be the male lead. In addition to those names, there were plenty of support cast such as Irgi Fahrezi (Lupus Milenia TV series etc) and Aida Nurmala as Riani's parents, Gilbert Pattiruhu as Ussy's father and few others. But the ones who excite me was definitely the cameo of those that had relation to the BCU. 

The music was a plus point for this film as they were quite nice with all songs sung by Adhisty Zara who used to be member of the popular JKT48 girl band, so she had no difficulty in performing as a singer. This movie was adapted from online comic of the same title created by Is Yuniarto, Oyasujiwo Poetranto, Annisa Nisfihani and Ellie Goh. It was directed by the very experienced Ody Harahap (Hit & Run, Siap Gan! and many more) so it explained the pretty good story telling. However the action was not the strongest suit and the visual effects were not exactly great either (especially compared to Sri Asih). Perhaps the budget was not as large as that movie. 

Overall this movie was a nice addition to BCU as it added some freshness, but as superhero film it was not that satisfying for me. I felt it to be more like a high school drama about a student who just happened to have a bit of power, instead of a superhero movie with lots of fights between the hero and the villain. So if you expect an amazing superhero action movie, then this would not really satisfy you, but if you are just looking for light teenage drama film with a bit of superhero element, then you might like this one. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars