Combining live action and animation, the film revolves around Marty (Enzo Marcos), an amateur comic book artist who falls for Sally (Rhian Ramos), a gadget inventor, and has since become her loyal protector and hero from the "monsters": her abusive parents, and her obnoxious boyfriend Nick (TJ Trinidad).

The two develop a system utilizing a high-powered telescope and a codebook of signals using clothes, which enables them to interact than what Sally's parents would allow.

After graduating from high school during the summer, Sally and Marty decide to attend the same college together as fine arts students.

Stuck with his initial comic concept, Marty presents a new story to Toto which is about an astronomer who dedicates his life to a girl abducted by aliens in a prison, which is inspired by his own experiences with Sally, her parents, and Nick.

While initially averse to publishing a love story, Toto decides to give it a try; the comic was a success on release.

Nevertheless, fate continued to set them up with each other, until one day when Sally approached Marty and asked him to autograph her copy of the comics he wrote.

[8] Sawit describes Saving Sally as a "fun and straightforward love story, with good laughs and visual gags" on face value which makes references to both Philippine and Western pop culture but adds that it also tackles darker themes such as escapism and physical abuse.

[5] Sally's house situated on top of a cliff reflected the turmoil of her character and was patterned after a church to symbolize her parents' puritanical characterization.

[13] The film originally consisted of 3D elements, devised puppets, and members of the cast dressed up as monsters, but these were later scrapped and focus on 2D animation be given instead.

[13] The film's producers elected to use macOS computers due to their perceived stability, but budgetary constraints forced them to make do with Hackintosh setups made from commodity Windows PCs.

[17] Saving Sally was released in Philippine cinemas on December 25, 2016 as an official entry at the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival.

[15] The filmmakers of Saving Sally launched an online social media campaign in Facebook calling theater owners to screen the film.

In the same interview, it was revealed that the production team were invited to enter Saving Sally in four international film festivals with the first one to take place in March 2017.

[19] On January 5, 2017, Star Cinema which is behind another entry in the MMFF, Vince and Kath and James, reported a ₱27 million overall box-office return.

[20] Bubbles Salvador for Philippine Entertainment Portal wrote, "Saving Sally is the kind of film that grows on you—if you give it a chance.

Furthermore, De Veyra wrote, "With its heart and brain on its sleeve, Saving Sally is like [Avid] Liongoren writing a love letter to its intended geek audience.

"[22] Arnel Ramos for Interaksyon.com wrote, "[Y]ou'll appreciate it even more if you've read The Little Prince, seen Scorsese's Hugo, and grew up loving E. B. White’s works to bits.

Saving Sally was described by the critic as championing "simple love" and as an "escapist entertainment" that "doesn't pander to the most basic of sensations" noting that the film did not make use of "shortcuts with lowbrow humor or shoddy crafting".

He sadly expressed his views that Saving Sally "won't entice children or adults", its filmmakers are in "a losing situation", and that the film will be pulled out in theaters in favor of "commercially viable" movies will garner more money.