Forgotten Island - Movie Review

The Movie: Forgotten Island

The Directors: Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado

The Cast: H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto, Dolly de Leon, Jo Koy, Ronny Chieng, Lea Salonga

The Story: Two best friends become stranded on the mystical world of Nakali, where their only escape might cost them their shared lifetime of memories.

The Rating: 10/10

The Review:

I had been looking forward to this movie for quite a while so expectations going in were pretty high and pair that with the fact that I had already given Toy Story 5 a 10/10 rating, this animated feature from Dreamworks really needed to knock it out of the park. What the directing duo of Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado is something really special and, from the opening frame all the way through to the end of the credits, Forgotten Island is a love letter to friendship and to the Philippines, especialy when it comes to the culture and folk lore that is so deeply embedded into the country's history.

You've probably never heard of a Sarimanok, or an Aswang, or a Manananggal. It's really nice that the story, which was also written by Crawford and Mercado, puts these mythical creatures on display without feeling the need to explain them or water them down, they just exist in the world of Nakali, a play on the word nakalimutan, which means forgotten. Even before the main characters Jo and Raissa, voiced by H.E.R. and Liza Soberano respectively, find themselves thrown onto the mythical island, the story deep dives into Filipino food, music, culture, and heave doses of nostalgia all of which I feel like audiences will find both familiar and comforting.

The themes of the movie are centered on the friendship between the two main characters as well as how important of a role family plays in our lives whether it's through blood relation or the type of family we build around us as we grow and as our lives inevitably change. Change is an absolute constant and becomes a test for Jo and Raissa as they face the realities of adulthood. One of my all time favorite animated movies is Coco, mostly because it was so nice to see my Mexican heritage on full display in a major feature film. The two stories explore a lot of the same themes which makes sense because the Philippines shares a lot of history and culture with Mexico thanks to Spanish colonization and other overlapping factors.

The two countries also share a love of food, like lechon for example, and it was so fun to see a family gathering at the beginning of the movie filled with all the typical foods and all the typical family dynamics on full display right down to the grumpy little lola pointing with her lips when asked where someone at the party can be found. This whole scene, along with many others, are going to require repeat viewings to take in everything that's happening and all the subtle details and easter eggs dropped into just about every frame of the movie. The creative team definitely did their homework when it comes to adding as much of the Philippines into their movie as possible.

During pre-production, the directors took a trip to the Philippines and brought along key members of their crew so they could fully immerse themselves into everything it would take to make this movie work the way they wanted to. Mercado is Filipino American and Crawford's wife is from the Philippines so both have deep roots tied to the islands which, along with the friendship they share from years of working on animated features for Dreamworks, all comes across on screen in a very authentic way. This movie isn't just set in the Philippines, it represents the Philippines in every way possible and one of the highlights, especially for me, was the inclusion of Filipino and Filipino American musicians and singers into the soundtrack.

Yes, this is the part of my review where I mention Bini. If you know me, you knew this was coming. If you don't know who Bini is, they are a pop group from the Philippines. I've been a fan of theirs for a couple years now and have seen them live three times during that time. The group was brought into the production to sing A Parallel World for the soundtrack and, after hearing them sing the song including the parts with Tagalog lyrics, the directors said that they added about a minute to the movie's run time so that the song could be featured. The video you see below is a reaction video I made of Bini singing the song live on the Genius YouTube channel and really shows off just how talented they are.

Along with Bini, the soundtrack includes songs by H.E.R. and Liza Soberano, Sofia Laforteza from the pop group Katseye, the legendary Lea Salonga who also voices the Manananggal villain character, as well as Filipino pop group SB19 and a song by Carl Angelo and Ruby Ibarra who I saw live several years ago at the Seattle Asian American Film Festival. For the score, composer Nathan Matthew David, who worked on the movie Joy Ride, gets just as involved in showcasing the Philippines through sounds, voices, and instrumentation. The first part of the movie is like a mixtape nostalgia tour and then, once the girls find themselves on Nakali island, David switches things up and adds in a beautiful soundscape tailored to each of the mythical characters that we see and get to know.

I've mentioned some of the cast members already, H.E.R., Liza Soberano, and Lea Salonga, and they all put in really great performances. The moments Salonga has on screen as the Manananggal, basically a vampire demon that can detach her torso from her lower body to fly around at night and attack human prey, are legit creepy, villainous, and a bit terrifying although I will say that the people I spoke to who watched the movie with kids said the young ones weren't too freaked out so no worries there. I think it's important to show all of the creaturs in accurate and authentic ways to go along with the movie's family friendly stylization which added a lot of comedy to the characters as well.

Speaking of comedy, you're going to love Ronny Chieng's character Truffle Wuffle, just don't call him cute. Spoiler alert: his character is super cute. The legendary Dolly DeLeon is on board as Jo's Lola Fatima as well as Manny Jacinto, who most will remember as Qimir from The Acolyte Stars Wars TV show, Dave Franco, comedian Jo Koy, and Jenny Slate, who was the voice of Bellweather in Zootopia, another one of my favorite animated movies. The diverse casting is really a hallmark of the complete team effort that this production puts at the forefront of every part of the process.

Have a I mentioned that this is just a really good movie? The story is fast paced and keeps things relatively simple. It's familiar in a lot of ways and, oddly enough, parts of the movie felt like a kid friendly, animated version of The Hangover. Yes, seriously. You'll understand when you watch the movie. Kids will love this movie. Families will love this movie. Adults will love this movie. I really can't imagine anyone not loving this movie. It's fun, it's bold, it's colorful, it's emotional, it's very smart, and it'll leave you wanting to hug all your best friends. Even the closing credits will get up in your feelings and, while there aren't any post credit scenes, you kind of get the idea that we may see more of this world in the future. If so then I'm here for all of it. Tayo na!

Maraming salamat, po for reading this review. That was me saying thatnk you in Tagalog. It's not often I give a 10/10 rating and this is just the third one this year with Toy Story 5 and Dear You being the others so you know this movie is special. I can't recommend enough for you to go see this in IMAX or Dolby or Screen X or whatever premium format theater you can find. Even a regular theater will do, just please go see this movie.

Supporting a movie like this is so important for studios to understand that if they put diverse content like this out there, we will show up. The crowd at the screening  I attended was mostly Filipinos and the whole vibe was like a big party which makes sense because the movie itself is such a celebration. Just thinking and writing about how much fun the experience was, I can't wait until I'm able to go watch it again. In the meantime, here's a video of my day going to Jollibee for the Forgotten Island bundle meal and then to the movie screening. Take care and see you next time!