Just watched Forgotten Island and I think it's a special, heartfelt movie.
Just got back from a packed theater and oh my lord I never thought I'd cry watching in a cinema. I was initially excited for this film because it is the very first time Filipino culture (my culture) is being represented on a major big screen and true enough, this film is jampacked full of them Filipino culture references. From karaoke singing, to randoms attending a celebration without actually personally knowing the celebrant, to a centerpiece lechon buffet, to a Jesus Christ portrait, to lip-pointing, the film is brimming with Filipino cultural representation that definitely serves as a lot of "aha" moments throughout the movie. All that said, this movie isnt special for me because it represents our culture, rather it is special because of the two main casts, Jo and Raissa, who, in their last bonding moment together before Raissa leaves to study in the US, encounters a portal to Nakali - an island strongly referencing Biringan City - an island formed entirely around all the Filipino mythical creatures we heard as kids from our lolos and lolas.
In this mystical island, Jo and Raissa forgot the first 12 hours of their memory when they first got transported to the island. The film then proceeds to revolve around them backtracking their steps to try and remember what happened the night before. In their attempts to recover their memories, they came along a bunch of colorful individuals who, in their own way, "helps" them with their memory recovery mission. It was all basic fun and games during these encounters which I think was the only somewhat "boring" part of the film. However, the story starts suddenly ramping up the emotional and dramatic beats as soon as it switched to the third act. Suddenly I found myself randomly gasping or trying to chock in tears from falling as the relationship and "unseen moments" between Jo and Raissa gets unraveled. I felt the "realness" of these fictional main casts when their personal stories drive too damn close to home, especially Jo's. As the story reached its climax, I was just letting out all the man-tears bruh. Like just... take it all Dreamworks.
Also, massive shoutouts for the story's antagonist, the dreaded Manananggal. I have been recently consuming a lot of horror films lately and have recently completed playing Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes. I should be somewhat immune to horror elements due to this but damn, manananggal in this film is freaking intense! She just steals the spotlight every time she appears on screen. Kudos to the artists and sound design team designated in working on realizing her. For an animated film supposedly catered towards kids, she is a bit scary so I'd like to make it a point as a fair warning that this film also has a pinch-sprinkle of horror elements solely because of her. (I love her character conclusion in the film too btw, something I think some people will find kinda frustrating or confusing)
This might come off as a regurgitated opinion for Forgotten Island already but still, I want to iterate how GORGEOUS and COLORFUL this film is. It's basically serving eye-candy from start to finish. I think kids will love it through the sheer fact that it's just that beautiful as an animated feature. It's as beautiful as Puss in Boots 2 and The Wild Robot, if not more. If I have a minor gripe for this film, it's towards its pacing and side characters. I think it's a bit too fast paced for its own good and the side characters are just zany without making any efforts in attracting intrigue for a character study. I blame tiktok for this to be honest lol. I think the film could have been much better paced if the film has a longer run time. Despite that though, I still had fun with them especially with Bungi Tiyanak's powers. I also think it could have ended much better but the actual ending is still fine as it is. I was overall pretty satisfied with my experience with Forgotten Island. Dreamworks definitely earned my tears (and apparently my seatmates') with this one. I sincerely think this has a good shot at being the best animated feature of 2026!
I'll personally rate it 8.5/10
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