Forgotten Island: A love letter to the diaspora
'Forgotten Island' spoiler-free review: DreamWorks' Filipino folklore film starring H.E.R., Liza Soberano and Lea Salonga is a love letter to the Filipino diaspora, now in theaters.
THE LIL THINGS I LIKEREVIEWENTERTAINMENT
9/25/20264 min read
DreamWorks Animation has built its reputation on unlikely friendships — a boy and his dragon in "How to Train Your Dragon," an ogre and a donkey in "Shrek," a robot and a gosling in "The Wild Robot." "Forgotten Island" keeps that tradition going, except this time the friendship at the center is entirely human, and entirely Filipino.
I caught an advance screening at Opus Mall last week, days before the film opened in theaters everywhere Sept. 23, and walked out thinking about my cousins who grew up abroad, my nephews and nieces who ask me to translate Tagalog, and every Filipino kid scattered across a country that isn't the Philippines. This movie is for them.
Written and directed by Oscar nominees Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, and produced by fellow Oscar nominee Mark Swift — the same team behind "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" — "Forgotten Island" follows Jo (Grammy and Oscar winner H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano, "Lisa Frankenstein," "Alone/Together"), best friends since grade school who are about to graduate into separate lives. On their last night together in the 1990s Philippines, they stumble into a portal that drops them on Nakali, an island built entirely from the mythical creatures Jo's Lola Fatima (BAFTA nominee Dolly de Leon, "Triangle of Sadness", "Ghostlight") told them stories about growing up.
Some of those creatures become allies, like the well-meaning but hapless weredog Raww (Dave Franco) and the small-but-mighty pack of friends he brings along. Others become enemies. Getting home, Jo and Raissa learn, might cost them the very memories that make them best friends. That's as far as I'll go — no spoilers here.
What struck me most is how the film manages to be universal and unmistakably Filipino at once. Strip away the jeepneys, the karaoke machine and the tita pointing with her lips, and you still have a story about family, friendship, hope and the fear of losing people you love — themes anyone can recognize. Leave those details in, and it becomes something only this culture could have told. That balance is the film's biggest win.
My one real quibble: a handful of the creature designs feel a little too cute for their own good. I get it, kid-friendly means kids need someone to hug in the toy aisle, but Filipino folklore already hands you plenty of characters built to be imposing rather than adorable — the Tiyanak, the Kapres, the Batibat, a Duwende king who by lore alone should carry some menace. "Forgotten Island" waters a few of them down into cutesy comic relief instead. Which makes it more frustrating, because the film proves it knows how to make a creature land as genuinely unsettling with Jo and Raissa's biggest obstacle: The Dreaded Manananggal, the island's most feared resident, voiced by Tony winner Lea Salonga. Her character, Manang, is intimidating by design, since she's the antagonist — the film clearly has that range. It just didn't use it on everyone who could've earned it.
And for what it's worth, if I'm being fully honest: I walked out with a completely unreasonable soft spot for Prince Mermahn. I couldn't tell you exactly why. He's not the funniest character, not the flashiest, not the one doing the emotional heavy lifting. He just stuck with me in a way I can't fully explain, and I'm not going to pretend I have a critical reason for it. Sometimes a character just gets you.
The pop culture references are where "Forgotten Island" gets clever. Because memories play out differently depending on who's remembering them, certain flashbacks shift into entirely different animation styles — one stretch channels "Dragon Ball Z," another leans into old-school "Street Fighter," and a magical-girl sequence reads like a direct nod to "Sailor Moon." Manila-based Snipple Animation handled the 2D work, and the styles land as genuinely Filipino in-jokes while still being funny and legible to anyone who grew up on '90s anime, wherever they grew up.
A quick heads-up for parents: with that many animation styles stacked on top of each other, some sequences flash and strobe more than others. If your child is sensitive to that kind of visual intensity, it's worth knowing going in.
I'll also give the film some grace on accents. The voice cast bridges Hollywood and the Philippines — H.E.R., Liza Soberano and Dave Franco alongside Salonga, plus Emmy nominee Jenny Slate ("Marcel the Shell with Shoes On," "Dying for Sex"), Manny Jacinto ("The Good Place," "Top Gun: Maverick"), comedian Jo Koy ("Haunted Mansion," "Jo Koy: Live from Brooklyn") and Emmy winner Ronny Chieng ("The Daily Show," "M3GAN"). With a lineup that wide, a few names and accents land more Americanized than a purist might want. But the voice work itself is strong across the board, and honestly, that mix mirrors the diaspora it's honoring: half here, half there, figuring out how to hold both.
That's really what "Forgotten Island" is. For me, it's for the American-born cousins, nephews and nieces who know the food and the songs but not the streets. It's for Filipinos and their children spread across cities on every continent. It's for anyone trying to find their way back to their roots while still holding onto the family and friends in front of them. DreamWorks made a movie about Filipino folklore. What it actually built is a mirror for anyone who has ever had to leave something behind to become who they are.
"Forgotten Island" is distributed by Universal Pictures and is now showing in theaters.
Images: Universal Pictures