This movie is an adaptation from a popular novel by the same title (Sang Pemimpi a.k.a The Dreamer). It portrays two village boys with a dream of traveling to Paris, to study at Sorbonne University. Being a movie about dream, it failed to capture the audience to follow the story and get attached. It fails much behind movie with similar theme such as the much acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire or even the modest Pursuit of Happiness. The characters are poorly developed so the audience doesn't get attached to the character.
More over, it also failed to represent the culture, Malayan culture, which it portrayed. Following a dream is not a major theme in Malayan culture. The culture is more on interested in wandering, adventure and myth. Pursuing happiness, such as stated in American Constitution, is not really in the mind set of the people. Maybe it enters the writers mind because the writer is an European university graduate, therefore he was exposed to such culture.
The acting was also poorer compared to its prequel "Laskar Pelangi". Luckily the acting of the epilogue part is quite good, thanks to the star performance of Lukman Sardi, an award winner actor, and a surprisingly good performance of Ariel Peterpan, who is well known as a singer, not an actor. Because of their performance, I still give this movie a SIX instead of FIVE. Their performance as the adult version main characters is quite convincing, compared the the main story which depicts the teenage life of the main characters.
The story line is boring and not focused. It tried to build a story about dream, and also wanted to show a movie about a dedication of a father, and in the end failed to achieve both.
It looks like the the director and writers need a major overhaul if they want to make the sequel (Edensor). Miles production cannot depend to much on the popularity of the novel. A movie is a movie, a novel is a novel. You can make good movies out of a bad novel (not an easy task, but still possible with major changes, for example Julie and Julia). And you can make a bad movie out of a wonderful novel.
