SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
Set in the Philippines back in the early 1990’s, a young Jo (voiced by Kailey Crawford) decides to show and tell her grandmother’s story about a mysterious forgotten island called Nakalimutan. When she’s made fun of for believing in some crazy fairytale, she fights back, earning herself a ticket to the principal’s office. While waiting her turn, another student Raissa (Kayla Teruel) winds up at the principal’s office too. Her crime? Defending Jo after she was banished from the classroom. Both being misunderstood outsiders, the two form a bond and grow up always wanting to visit the magical place in her grandmother’s story. Fast forward to young adulthood and Jo (H.E.R.) is devestated to learn that Raissa (Liza Soberano) is going to attend Cal Poly over in the United States. In their last night together, the two are on a beach when the magical sand dollar that allegedly transported her Lola to that mysterious place all those years ago washes ashore. Against Raissa’s better judgment — she has a flight to catch soon — they step into the portal and begin to meet all the colorful creatures of Nakali, vindicating Lola’s stories, the fatefull show and tell and their childhood dream. But, when they wake up the next morning in Nakali with a partially shaved head, a possibly-infected tattoo and a random dog-boy named Raww (Dave Franco) who seems to know them, they realize they’ve lost the sand dollar and, as a result, start to wonder if they’ll ever get back home.
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Not counting THE WILD ROBOT because that was exceptional, FORGOTTEN ISLAND is the best DreamWorks film since THE BAD GUYS in 2022. The animation is next level, the story is solid and the representation is refreshing. In addition, there a couple of unexpected twists that should be appreciated, the soundtrack is a banger and the callbacks all along the journey aren’t to be slept on.
All that said, the audience can’t help but recognize a lot of other animated projects in this. Look, every movie is inspired by films that came before it. But there’s a fine line between inspiring and outright ripping predecessors off. Batiba looks like Derpy from KPOP DEMON HUNTERS, Bungi looks like King Gristle from the TROLLS franchise and Manang looks like a rejected Na’vi character in AVATAR. And that’s just to name a few. I’m certainly not suggesting the writing and directing team of Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado blatantly stole character designs from those projects but I am saying that they were so similar I considered it multiple times.
The characters are fun but something that’s never addressed — and, quite frankly, glossed over — is that Jo is a pretty poor friend. She’s selfish, a bad influence and clearly bringing Raissa down. In fairness, this is touched on briefly in the climax but it’s feels empty as Raissa begs for her forgiveness, basically apologizing for accusing her of her those things. THE FORGOTTEN ISLAND could’ve gone a more powerful direction with that arc that would’ve left the older viewer more satisfied and the younger viewer with a strong lesson about not settling but, rather, growing.
And then there’s the ADHD-style of filmmaking. I’m well aware that younger generations don’t notice the hyperkinetic editing practice but some audiences find that style exhausting and it does a disservice to the film. There’s just a lot going on here and it’s not all great. Much of it is… but not all of it.
In the end, FORGOTTEN ISLAND has outstanding animation, an above average story and a miserable-to-endure editing style. The potential was there to be an all-timer. Instead, it ends up in the forgettable bin.
(As Jo would say, pun intended.)
JKG SCORE: 6.0 out of 10
