This has been a historic year for animation in film. Sure, we got The Pout-Pout Fish and Animal Farm (2026), but look at what else has already come out this year. Goat, Hoppers, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Toy Story 5, Minions & Monsters, Coyote vs. Acme (yes, it’s an animated film in every way that matters)… I didn’t even watch or like all those movies, but every single one of them was an unmitigated success on some artistic/critical/commercial level. And we still have Wildwood to look forward to. Hell, there’s still a chance that The Cat in the Hat (2026) and/or Hexed might outperform expectations.
In the meantime, we have Forgotten Island, the latest attempt from DreamWorks Animation to start a viable franchise. And they’re doing it with a female-centered fantasy/adventure/comedy about monsters beaten by the power of friendship, set within a fantasyland heavily inspired by South Asian mythology and folklore. Translation: Somebody saw K-Pop Demon Hunters and drastically overhauled the project to try and ride some coattails.
We open in the Philippines, with the introduction of two young girls. Jo (voiced by H.E.R.) is the new kid, moved back to the homeland with her grandmother (Lola, voiced by Dolly De Leon) after her parents pretty much abandoned her for a life in the States. The silver lining is that Lola entertains her granddaughter with stories of Nakali, a magical world full of monsters from Filipino folklore that nobody in the modern world remembers or takes seriously anymore.
The upshot is that Jo takes every opportunity and spares no grand theatrics in relating her grandmother’s stories of Nakali, thus keeping the old traditions alive while also getting everyone’s attention. Contrast this with Raissa (Liza Soberano), the straight-laced go-getter with overbearing parents and a disturbingly impressive knack for rocket science. The two immediately become best friends, helping each other into and out of various juvenile shenanigans.
Flash forward through an introductory montage, after Lola’s passed on (of course) and both of our leads are out of high school. Jo is on track to keep on running around a revolving door of dead-end jobs, while Raissa just got accepted to the aerospace engineering program at freaking CalTech. Naturally, Jo is devastated by the news that her lifelong BFF won’t be in the Philippines anymore, which means that she won’t have any family or friends or anyone left to indulge in her stories or her bullshit. By contrast, Raissa is under constant academic pressure from parents and family who don’t know the first damn thing about the USA, CalTech, rocket science, or even their own daughter.
Thus Jo brings Raissa out for one last ill-advised decision, with a late night of partying together on the beach at the risk of missing Raissa’s flight out to L.A. And this — of all times! — is when the two of them finally achieve their lifelong dream of discovering the mythical island of Nakali. So of course they cross over, only to find that the myths and monsters their ancestors talked about are all very real.
Things are even further complicated when we pick up twelve hours later, and our leads have no memory of what happened in that time. Though they apparently lost the key back home within that time. So now our heroes have to try and retrace their steps through a bizarre fantasyland populated with monsters from Filipino lore to try and figure out what happened and get back home, hopefully before Raissa misses her flight to CalTech. And we’re off to the races.
First and foremost, this movie is overflowing with heart. The movie’s Filipino pride is palpable, and we’ve got some deeply poignant themes about memories, growing up, moving on, and maintaining friendships through adversity. All of which dovetails neatly into the cookie-cutter “best friends” development arc we’ve seen umpteen million times before. (Like in K-Pop Demon Hunters, for instance.)
I might further add that while the “retrace our steps and recover our memories” premise is a strange fit for a kid’s movie (having been cemented so firmly by The Hangover, which is decidedly NOT kid-friendly), it adds a bit of novelty to this family picture while also bolstering the aforementioned themes of memory. And it provides a convenient excuse for our characters to explore the island and its creatures, and how both are affected by our human leads, which is a plus.
It’s also noteworthy how the villains here don’t need to be defeated so much as they need to be healed. The concept worked beautifully in Moana and it works just as well here. Sure, Manang (Lea Salonga) is a vicious beast, but only because she’s trying to reclaim what went missing. And Batiba (Jenny Slate) isn’t really a monster so much as she’s a greedy and selfish coward.
But then we have the rest of the characters. Whoo boy.
Raww (Dave Franco) gets the most attention, as DreamWorks’ most annoyingly persistent loudmouthed sidekick since Donkey. Here we have a passive-aggressive lone wolf who at once prizes his independence, but goes around pissing everyone off so he can get everyone’s attention on his terms. So he at least provides some opportunity for Jo and Raissa to directly confront and comfort all of Jo’s flaws and insecurities as personified by a separate character.
Conversely, there’s Bungi (Manny Jacinto), whose whole deal is that he’s literally a massive baby. He’s an enormous infant demon with an obsessive fixation on his mother. He serves basically no purpose except to serve as a reflection of Raissa’s central flaws and issues. And he barely even does that.
Oh, and there’s Mermahn, voiced by Kevin McCann. He’s entirely useless. He’s completely unfunny. He actively does more harm than good. Fuck this guy.
Other highlights include the Duwende people (led by Truffle Wuffle, voiced by Ronny Chieng). They’re a proud warrior race with a massive freaking chip on their shoulder about how they get so much cuter as they get angrier. Then we have the Kapre, who serve to break up the plot with a sudden karaoke party. Oh, and let’s not forget the fairies who get hopped up on some kind of energy drink our human characters brought along. And while all of that’s going on, Raissa somehow got herself a pair of Manang’s wings that come equipped with a mind of their own…
Look, I realize that the filmmakers wanted to explore this huge world and showcase all these Filipino cryptids, and there’s only so much room for all of them in a 90-minute kids’ film. But in effect, we’re whipping through so many shallow, noisy, one-joke characters before any of them can leave any kind of impression or impact on the plot. Couple that with the film’s extensive anime flourishes and heightened expressions (again, K-Pop Demon Hunters), and it gives the impression that the film was made for an intended audience of pre-schoolers on a whacked-out sugar high.
I might further add that a huge reason for K-Pop Demon Hunters‘ ongoing success is its kickass original soundtrack. But the filmmakers were apparently too cheap and/or (in this case, more likely) in too much of a rush to cash in. So instead, we get extended karaoke scenes with pre-existing hits. I’m sure it’ll be easier for the audience to sing along with karaoke standards they’ve already heard and sung along to umpteen times before, but it’s nowhere close to anything remotely the same. “Don’t Stop Believing” is already too deeply entrenched in pop culture and it’s been used in too many other contexts, no way in hell is it getting co-opted by this picture.
What depresses me about Forgotten Island is that underneath all the hyperactive animation and relentless attempts at comic relief, there’s a genuine beating heart to this picture. The characters are at their strongest when they slow down and shut up long enough to work through their genuine pathos. And the film is at its best when it celebrates and deconstructs Filipino monsters without treating them as merchandiseable clowns.
There was absolutely a way to balance all this introspective drama with entertaining comedy in a way that strengthens both. (Again, K-Pop Fucking Demon Hunters). But that balance is so far out of whack with this picture, it shows a depressing lack of trust in the audience. As if we wouldn’t find the characters or the story or the themes to be interesting enough unless the filmmakers throw in a character who farts fire. (Yes, that actually happens.)
Would I recommend this movie? For anything more than a home video screening, it’s tough to say. Would I recommend it over K-Pop Demon Hunters? Or the Spider-Verse movies? Or Coyote vs. Acme? Not on your life, bucko!
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