In the history of local showbiz, she’s the only child star with her own self-titled morning talk show. And now, she stars with Vic Sotto in a trilogy, “My Big Bossing”, where she excels in all the three stories featured in it.
We saw the movie at its premiere night at SM Megamall with our granddaughter Jane and she was laughing at all the antics of Ryzza. No offense meant to Vic who’s the title roler, but it’s really Ryzza who carried all the stories written by Bibeth Orteza.
In “Sirena”, helmed by Tony Reyes, Ryzza plays the daughter of Manilyn Reynes who wishes that she’d be a mermaid. Tandang Wishy (Pauleen Luna, unrecognizable in heavy prosthetic makeup) then shows up and grants her wish. At first, she enjoys it, but when a pack of hungry CGI cats are about to attack her, she gets scared and asks that she might return to her former self. Vic plays her friend who tells her that he was nearly victimized by Tandang Wishy himself but he resisted her. This episode’s great asset is the astoundingly beautiful underwater cinematography that’s already worth the price of admission. For those who look for a moral lesson, it warns us to just be contented with ourselves and be careful what we wish for as we might just regret it.
In “Taktak”, directed by Marlon Rivera, Ryzza plays a fake medium (but she’s garbed like Elsa in “Himala”) who’s in cahoots with her wily uncle (Jose Manalo) in deceiving people who want to talk to their dead relatives. Vic plays a TV host who correctly believes that Ryzza is fake, but his executive producer, Marian Rivera, thinks Ryzza is the real deal.
It turns out Vic lost a young daughter earlier (Chlaui Malayao of “Yagit”) and is still grieving over her. The girl uses Ryzza to communicate to Vic that he should learn to let go so she can peacefully cross over to the great beyond. Vic has a touching scene here when he makes a connection with his dead daughter while Marian also shines in her short role as the feisty TV exec who refuses to be cowed when Vic bullies her.
The last episode is the best of all, “Prinsesa”, a fairy tale directed by Joyce Bernal. It’s the most big budgeted in terms of production design, costumes, sets and special effects (the three fairies led by Rufa Mae Quinto and the dancing pigs are quite well rendered). Set in the kingdom of Bougainvilla, the king and queen (Zoren Legaspi and Nikki Gil) are about to have their first baby. But the scheming couple, Nino Muhlach and Maricar de Mesa, succeed in making the king an invalid and in convincing the queen that their own son is actually the royal child.
The queen’s real baby, an ugly girl with a birthmark on her nape, is spirited away by the king’s doctor (Vic Sotto) and grows up be Ryzza, who has no friend but pigs, so she actually believes that she’s a pig herself, called Biik-toria. Of course, in the end, things are set straight and the contravidas are banished from the kingdom. The standouts in this episode are Nino and Maricar as the villainous couple, with Sef Cadayona stealing some scenes as the cross-dressing mute who rears Ryzza.
Ryzza succeeds in making the audience laugh out loud several times. No doubt she will endear herself to more viewers with this movie. And this early, we’re predicting she’ll bag the filmfest best child actress trophy for “My Big Bossing” come the awards night on Saturday. So if you go for harmless entertainment meant for the whole family, “My Big Bossing” should be your bet this holiday season.
