In a Philippine village outside the island of Luzon, one special boy changes the lives of everyone he meets. Known to all as Magnifico, his nickname is Ikoy, a child of an impoverished family. His father works odd jobs, his elder brother has lost his academic scholarship, and his mother spends her days caring for both Helen, a young daughter, who suffers from cerebral palsy, and for her husband's aging mother, who lives upstairs in the family home and has a diabetes and pancreatic cancer. Magnifico is a sweet and well-intentioned boy, who is often berated by his father for his stupidity, an unkind assessment for a child who is considerably more clever than anyone gives him credit for. Magnifico's world is filled with a cast of characters in need of his special gifts of hope, of determination, of love. There's the grief-stricken man who mourns for his mother; two feuding shop owners; the crabby old woman who runs the mortuary; his elder brother, who has a crush on a wealthy girl; his little sister, who wants to get out and experience the world, but cannot walk; and even his own ailing grandmother, who worries that the family won't be able to afford a proper burial for her when the time comes. That's a pretty tall order for just one boy. Nonetheless, Magnifico applies himself diligently to the task, concocting a remedy for the mortician's ailments, playing matchmaker for his love struck brother, industriously scheming to provide a burial gown and coffin for his grandmother, and negotiating a wheelchair so he can take his invalid sister to the carnival. Seeking nothing for himself, with his undaunted dedication to bring joy to the people he loves, Magnifico somehow manages to find just the right solution to fill every need. And when the night of the big carnival arrives, his efforts pay off in spades. Magnifico attempts to cross the street and instead gets fatally hit by a car one afternoon. Gerry, Edna, and Lola Magda mourn for their loss, and their rested in the coffin he has originally crafted and intended for his grandmother. At his interment, Magnifico's family, friends, and the people he has touched were present as the community share a tearful moment for his undying generosity.
Magnifico gained international acclaim as an indie film in major international film festivals gaining 31 wins and 11 other nominations. It won the Crystal Bear for the 2004 Berlin International Film Festival Children's Category as well as the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk Grand Prix. In the same year, it also garnered seven major awards in the FAMAS Awards, seven awards in the Gawad Urian Awards, seven awards in the Golden Screen Awards and six awards in the FAP Awards in its home country. In 2011, the Gawad Urian Awards Committee proclaimed Magnifico as the "Best Film of the Decade". On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 63% based on 8 reviews, with a weighted average of 6.53/10. At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
