A Breakthrough for Indonesia’s Animation Cinema: Exploring the Heart and Art Poured Into “Jumbo”

(Official Poster of Jumbo)

During Eid Mubarak, the vibes are usually bustling with the chatter of family, relatives, and neighbors. Not to forget, the long awaited pocket money and abundant feast to devour. This year, Eid Mubarak feels even more special with many families going to the movies, parents and children hand in hand to watch the fantasy genre animated movie Jumbo. 

What makes this movie currently the highest grossing animated movie in both Indonesia and Southeast Asia, along with the third best selling movie in Indonesia? Jumbo premiered on the big screen on March 31st, 2025, but behind the screen it took 5 years and over 200 creators from across the nation to create this masterpiece from start to finish. A little fun fact, Ryan Adriandhy, the head of animation development of Visinema Studios as well as the main director of Jumbo is a Binus University alumnus! While creating Jumbo, he strived to create a movie that deserves to be watched and enjoyed by all ages.

The movie is a renowned success for its endless achievements, one of the reasons being its ability to resonate with the audience through a heartfelt narrative based on family and friendship. In particular, it deeply resonates with Indonesian audiences because this movie perfectly captures the local customs and essence of Indonesia while still maintaining the fantasy genre. 

Another thing that we rarely see in an animated movie especially in the fantasy genre is diving deep and being realistic. For example, the main character Don showed his ego and selfishness as a kid because of the storytelling book his parents had written for him. To him, it was all he had left, and all he wanted to do was protect and cherish it. 

But on the other hand, Atta, as Don’s nemesis seemed like a bully by his constant remarks towards Don. However, back home, coming from a poor family, he only thought about his brother, Acil, and how he wanted to make money for his leg surgery. One scene in particular is engraved in my mind, which was Atta breaking down and pondering their not so fortunate life and why it is that way. That alone was a deep thought from a little boy. Acil, as the older brother responded, “If you’re mad, upset, or sad, never take it out on others”. For me personally, it couldn’t have been said better. No matter how old we are, we have that tendency to take out our emotions onto others as our coping mechanism. 

Later on in the story, a new character appears, and she’s not a human, but a ghost named Meri. Her character is another one worth looking into because all along, she had been following Don and his friends, as well as one of the reasons for Don’s character development. Her sincerity to help out her friend doesn’t overshadow her pain and worries about her parents, which is just another example of how we are conditioned as humans. Sometimes, all we do is talk, draining our voice and energy, thinking it would fix everything or maybe even heal us. This makes us forget to take a breath and simply listen. 

This is the reality of humans, we all have our own experiences, some may change us for the better, and some for the worse. We might feel euphoria while causing others hurt and vice versa. What matters most is our willingness to continuously learn and grow. It might not make us perfect, but it makes us stronger as humans.

“For every storyteller, there must be a listener”