Forgotten Island is a rapturous celebration of friendship and Filipino folklore, the likes of which I have never seen in an American production. That alone merits plaudits and praise, but it’s also the vehicle in which this story arrives—a megaton blast of color, vibrancy, and spectacle—that also warrants superlative acclaim. It’s an experience not unlike watching Scott Pilgrim vs. The World or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with the story taking detours of whimsy and delight while catching us off-guard with changing animation styles and visceral action. There’s one more ingredient to this story that ties everything together: its marvelous heart.
The characters Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) are two halves of this film’s heart, true complements who make the most of their friendship. While Jo is the fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants half of the duo, Raissa is the brainier of the two; it’s an oil-and-water combination that results in the kind of magical combination found in the best of friends, contrasting Jo’s flights of fancy and Raissa’s more grounded approach. Mixed together, there’s nothing they can’t do, and the film takes us from their grade school days to their last days as a pair before Raissa goes from their Filipino hometown to Caltech in America after graduating high school. And when Jo’s Lola’s (Dolly de Leon – “Lola” is the Filipino honorific for our grandmothers) tales come true, they wake up in the mystical village of Nakalimutan, trying to regain the lost memories of the night before, with otherworldly creatures being both help and hindrance as they try to get home.
The film is steeped in Filipino culture and lore, from familial relations to celebrations and foodstuffs to the tales passed from one generation to another. Don’t worry if you’re not Filipino; writers/directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado have made this film accessible to everyone, regardless of how you come at it. If this is your first exposure to Filipino culture, you’ll get a brilliant story about two friends going on the adventure of a lifetime into a mystical world. If you’re more familiar with the culture, you’ll revel in the little things—our love of food and karaoke (there’s a reason a singer holds his note for longer than necessary), spoken and unspoken language idiosyncrasies (especially the word “Ha” as an all-around exclamation and pointing with the lips), the overstrung power lines in the city, Jeepneys, and other facets that make this film unmistakably Filipino.
H.E.R. and Liza Soberano bounce so well off each other, creating characters that feel both sisterly and diametrically opposed, not just in lifestyle, but in manner. H.E.R.’s Jo is that friend of ours who always has a mischievous way of getting in and out of trouble and means well, but feels like they’re always playing from behind and catching up. Which, to be fair, Jo does in her own way, but it’s definitely not how typical Filipino parents would want them to do so. Soberano’s Raissa fulfills that portion, being the more academically successful of the two; at heart, though, she knows that Jo’s freewheeling spirit is a big part of her life. The script gives room for the validity of both of their approaches to life, acknowledging that not every road to success is the same; the goal is happiness, and Forgotten Island speaks to that search for happiness, starting from Jo and Raissa’s very first meeting as grade school children all the way through to the adventure that forms the centerpiece of this film.
Helping them along the way are figures from Filipino folklore, like the were-aspin dog/human Raww (Dave Franco), the Tiyanak man-baby Bungi (Manny Jacinto), the cave-dwelling Batiba (Jenny Slate), and the vainglorious Mermahn (Kevin McCann). Each of these characters provides their own drive and humor with exuberance and hilarity, occasionally veering into the emotionally touching and heartfelt. One can’t help but laugh at the silliness of the Mermahn’s vanity and posturing, Raww’s bounding between dog-mania and human fallibility, and Bungi’s childlike stupor, expressed so wondrously by The Good Place‘s Manny Jacinto. Together, they have to work to avoid the Mananaggal (Lea Salonga), a creature who can split her body in half in pursuit of her prey.
Forgotten Island pulls out a lot of familiar tropes to help its message of friendship and adventure land well, and it also shifts its storytelling methods to match. At times, we might feel like we’re watching an animated version of Dude, Where’s My Car?, but Crawford and Mercado even it out with truly meaningful passages about family, either blood or chosen, and what we’d do to protect our bonds with those we love. The animation styles reflect these changes, from the smooth gliding of computer fabrications to the intentional stutters of hand-drawn verve to more anime-style interjections. This movie constantly keeps you on your toes visually and thematically, but there’s the sense that someone’s got a sure hand on the tiller, never letting anything go too far out of control, providing a grounding balance to the on-screen wizardry.
But it all comes back to Jo and Raissa and their journey back home from Nakalimutan, itself the Tagalog word for “forgotten.” There’s more to Jo’s story than we’re initially led to believe, and Raissa is exactly the person Jo needs to bring stability to her tumultuous life. But it’s not like Jo’s keeping her around for her own selfish reasons; their friendship is one built on whimsy, adventure, and love, like the best of friendships. Making the transition to young adulthood brings its own challenges, and their time in Nakalimutan is representative of that. The values of sacrifice and support are exemplified boldly throughout Forgotten Island while introducing Filipino culture to the masses in a larger-than-life package that whisks us away into its wild and wondrous world, making sure that we’re emotionally well-fed before we leave the theater.
