Rating 4/10
Let’s start with the positives. Forgotten Island is a visual marvel. DreamWorks Animation has produced a dazzling achievement involving a kaleidoscope of colors, imaginative characters, and fluctuating animation styles. Directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, who previously collaborated on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, explore a range of techniques. Like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Mitchells vs. the Machines, the picture combines computer imagery with painterly, hand-drawn textures. Anime-inspired expressions, manga-style illustrations, and comic-book flourishes add to the excitement. When you’ve grown accustomed to one style, the filmmakers introduce another. At times, I was blown away by the artistry on display.
Unfortunately, the storytelling is just as hyperactive. The production is so determined to overwhelm the senses. Each new scene introduces another personality or an elaborate action sequence, or frantic buffoonery. Sometimes all three. The mood is exhausting. It’s a beautiful movie to look at, but a headache-inducing one to sit through.
In the Philippines during the 1990s, Jo (voiced by H.E.R.) is an impulsive and outspoken young girl who adores her grandmother (Dolly de Leon). Lola tells folktales about Nakali, a magical island populated by strange entities. When Jo shares these at school, she is ridiculed, but a fellow classmate, Raissa (Liza Soberano), comes to her defense. The two become inseparable, commemorating their friendship with matching charm bracelets and adding new charms to celebrate their adventures over the years. But when Raissa announces that she’s leaving for Caltech in California, Jo is devastated at the prospect of losing her best pal.
On their last night together on the beach, they discover the magical sand dollar from Lola’s stories. This opens a portal to Nakali. The girls awaken on the island with no memory of their first 12 hours there. Half of Raissa’s hair has mysteriously disappeared, and an affable were-dog named Raww (Dave Franco) somehow already knows them. However, the sand dollar that could take them home is now missing. With Raissa’s flight to America approaching, the two friends must navigate this bizarre world and piece together what happened. Holy shades of The Hangover!
Nakali draws its inspiration from supernatural legends in Filipino mythology. That’s a novel idea. Sadly, the screenplay has little interest in developing the personalities. The seemingly endless parade of oddities is just a series of sight gags. Raww is an excitable weredog who periodically loses his ability to reason whenever his canine instincts take over. He’s soon joined by Bungi (Manny Jacinto), a mischievous demon baby based on the tiyanak of Filipino folklore. Then there’s a tribe of adorable warriors called the Duwende, led by King Truffle Wuffle (Ronny Chieng). The girls also encounter a handsome but vain merman (Kevin McCann), a giant mythical bird called the Sarimanok, and a community of tree-dwelling creatures led by Datu (Jo Koy).
That’s merely the beginning. Lea Salonga voices Manang, a vampire-like monster known as a manananggal, who can split at the waist and fly through the night. Jenny Slate plays Batiba, a mysterious feline spirit who collects other people’s memories. The latter at least has an interesting psychological motivation. The relentless noise even extends to the central girls, who mostly shout their dialogue. Jo is particularly grating.
The humor also has an unsavory undercurrent. A giant’s nipple ring, tattoos carved into flesh, a merman sporting living starfish pasties, and bodily functions are recurring jokes. None of this would be shocking in an adult comedy. But in kid-oriented entertainment, the inclusion of juvenile grotesqueries is off-putting. It’s an odd choice for an adventure that celebrates the wholesome sweetness of childhood friendship.
Beneath all this clutter is a sincere tale about two young women coming to terms with the fact that adulthood will lead them down separate paths. It’s a relatable subject that delivers an emotional payoff. But their determination to fill every available second with noise undermines that sentiment. Too much of the narrative construction is mindless nonsense. Even the climax relies on a sacrifice that is not required once the means of escape has been recovered.
Forgotten Island is a remarkable showcase for the talents of its animators. I was astonished by what they put on the screen. Yet impressive animation doesn’t compensate for a plot that thinks constant activity is entertainment. Sometimes a movie needs to slow down and allow its characters a moment to breathe. By the end, I was the one suffering from a hangover.
10-13-26