[COMMUNICATED CONTENT] Throughout Jewish entertainment history, there were those who strove to push the limits of excellence and completely reinvent the status quo. These gifted visionaries tilted the frum showbiz world on its axis, making previous performance norms seem archaic by comparison. MBD transformed Jewish music with the timbre of his songs. Shmuel Kunda elevated Jewish storytelling with the allure of his tales. And just last year, Emes Productions and Kolrom Multimedia have  revolutionized Jewish audiovisuals with the release of Megillas Lester. This full-length, 3D animated film has brought down the curtain on mediocrity and set the stage for unparalleled professionalism, as the first authentic Jewish Pixar –style movie.

Megillas Lester is a breathtaking, breakthrough production full of colorful characters, dramatic dialog, rib-tickling humor and nail-biting suspense. The opening scene introduces us to young Lester’s very-familiar-looking New Jersey community, where we get to meet his two friendly sanitation workers; his cruel, cat-wielding neighbor; his boisterous classmates and one ominous administrator from the Board of Theatrics. From there, through a series of unforeseen circumstances, Lester is transported in time and transcended in place, to Shushan Habira in the epoch of Haman and Mordechai. The journey is a relentless adventure full of hilarity and upheaval as the Purim story spirals full throttle out of control. Lester finds himself in the thick of events, trying desperately to reconstruct a well-known saga that has gone awfully wrong. Kids and adults alike will want to fasten their seatbelts as they follow Lester on his rollicking rollercoaster ride of unpredictability, turning the megillah as we know it, totally upside down. This DVD will spark the imagination and kindle the flame of Jewish pride, as audiences cheer Lester on in his triumph over evil and his heroic rescue of our great nation from tragedy.

Megillas Lester was a much larger undertaking, on a much grander scale, than anything previously attempted in Jewish film production. Using the technologically advanced art of 3D animation, its producers managed to capture a realism and vitality that bring every character to vivid life. Director Chananya Kramer and his creative team enlisted the help of experienced animators to convey their story with depth and legitimacy. In order to achieve the desired results, they spent many hours in a motion capture studio.

The producers weren’t specifically looking for frum, or even Jewish, people to fill the script roles, but as there is such a proliferation of talent in the Jewish arena, it happened that almost all the actors are Yidden. They did a casting call for the lead part of Lester, and wound up using one of the actors that Kolrom had  originally cast in the beloved Mashal Man from OORAH’s shmorg – Michael Bihovski. As an adult, Michael had to calibrate his voice to sound like a child throughout the performance, and his portrayal of Lester is worthy of a Torah Academy Award. Shmop Weisbord is Bigson; the lumbering, swaggering servant who gets no respect. Shmop, a frum businessman and part time performer living in Baltimore, jokes in his behind the scenes interview that he’s actually an Italian bodybuilder, so the part fit him like a barbell. For the part of Achashverosh, Kramer tried to find someone who could fluently articulate a Persian accent. Yanky Schorr was a natural, as he grew up surrounded by the Persian culture in the Iranian community of Baltimore. He added his own Yiddish flavor to the Middle-Eastern dialect of Shushan. Andrew Davies plays both the diminutive, Bigson-worshipping Seresh and the ever-ill-advising Charvona. There were hundreds of auditions for the part of Haman. While the voice had to sound scary, some of the actors were actually too frightening for a family comedy. Ultimately, Adam Levinthal was the ideal candidate. His voice is smooth, sinister and sly, but it won’t send toddlers screaming in Haman-induced terror. This was the first time Adam participated in an animated venture, and he liked being able to act with a script right in front of him, rather than having to memorize all his lines. On the whole, the cast is spot-on, and they worked seamlessly together as a supremely talented and creative team.

When designing the film set, the animators continuously referred to archeological and historical records for authenticity. As much as possible, they used historical facts to render realistic backgrounds. Thus the city of Shushan and Achashverosh’s palace are both laid out according to the specifications in Rabbi Landy’s well-researched book, ‘Purim and the Persian Empire.’ An incredible amount of detail and modeling went into every facet of the design.

This level of vanguard 3d modeling has never been done in the frum community before, and it requires a mind-boggling amount of work. The producers needed multiple computers to generate that much information in a reasonable amount of time, making Megillas Lester a project of tireless effort and tremendous skill.

Personally, I think it’s the songs that catapult Megillas Lester from outstanding, to out of this world. Music director Shmuli Rosenberg of fwd/NYC Marketing wrote the compositions that truly enliven and enhance the plot. The song “Don’t Take No Garbage,” sung by the king’s ill-fated traitors Bigson and Seresh, is a fun and festive twist on a Purim favorite. The rousing chorus sung by all the inebriated Persians at Achashverosh’s party, is actually an old Modzitzer niggun with a European feel and a Yiddishe taam. A string of Middle Eastern percussions give this melody its Persian flavor. The song “I am Evil” is the crown in Haman’s three-pointed hat. A wonderful mix of scary chords, eerie lyrics, exciting orchestration and even a riotously funny rap number make this song a thoroughly entertaining rendition by Jewry’s most malicious villain. Shmuli was about to start driving from his hometown of Lakewood, NJ to NY, when inspiration for this song hit. He went back inside, wrote it and sent a demo to the incredibly talented lyricist, Malka Leah Josephs. The rest, as they say, is evil history. “Upside Down” is the film’s theme song, and the recurring refrain through the entire project. All the characters sing their individual verses, and the whole of Shushan joins in for the chorus. It’s a topsy turvy, oopsy daisy, upside down musical delight that will have audiences catching on in no time.

There are funny allusions and creative quirks all throughout Megillas Lester, from the Porous and Mudeye spa to the Chevron Shelanu gas station. Look out for Dougie’s on the avenue, and an abundance of minivans on the road. You’ll laugh out loud when Zeresh calls all her ten sons down to lunch in a single breath, and when Heyguy gets introduced to Hey Dude. All in all, Megillas Lester is a fun, funny, and visually fantastic movie that will undoubtedly take Jewish entertainment from ho-hum, to high five!

To purchase Megillas Lester online, please visit megillaslester.com

Follow Megillas Lester on Instagram and like us on Facebook for updates and special offers.