Forgotten Island, Review: Memories are all we have
Forgotten Island, Review: Memories are all we have
Having visited the Philippines twice, I have an unfair advantage over those viewers who have not been to that country. Also, having lived in Singapore, as a bachelor, with a Filipina maid for help, on Sundays, I have picked-up a few words of Tagalog, the official language of the island country. Though films from The Philippines have often been shown at international film festivals in India, they have not reached the common filmgoer. And now no less a company than Dreamworks has backed an animation film, with Philippines and Filipinos and Filipinas as the subject. And since it is in 3D animation, you might have already guessed that is a fairy-tale adventure. That it has turned out be an entertaining and watchable film will give a fillip to the film industry in the Philippines.
Imagine the joy of the voice actress who has dubbed the dialogue of the lead character, Raissa. In an Instagram post, Liza looked back on the film’s world premiere, which was held at the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on September 24, the same day I saw it the PVR Citi Mall, Mumbai. The event also marked the first movie premiere ever held at the museum. “My heart is sooooo full right now,” she began. “Still can’t believe we got to be a little part of history.” The actress then gave a special shoutout to the film’s creators, Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford, whom she thanked for bringing their passion, vision, and talent to the project, while describing them as “the heart of this film. Thank you @dreamworks for trusting a girl with big dreams from Quezon City, Manila to give life to Raissa.” Which means that on my next visit to the country, I must trace the whereabouts of Liza and interview her.
Forgotten Island follows childhood best friends Raissa Molina (Liza) and Jo (Josephine ‘Jo’ Ruson, voiced by H.E.R.), two girls in the ’90s, as they find themselves on the mysterious island of Nakali. The film features local culture and traditions, through animation. It leans into folklore, friendship, and a ticking clock that gives the story real emotional stakes. The girls have the night of their lives in the magical Forgotten Island, with the catch being they have no way back home, and Raissa needs to be on a flight, bound for America, in five hours, for studies at CalTech University. Raissa’s mother is eagerly looking forward to sending her daughter to the USA, and disapproves of her friendship with Jo.
At a school event, Josephine "Jo" Yuson presents a story about the forgotten island of Nakali ("Nakalimutan") and the dreaded Manananggal. When a classmate mocks her story, Jo attacks him, and is sent to the principal's office, where she meets Raissa Molina, another classmate who had defended her. Jo and Raissa quickly become best friends, and Jo invites Raissa to a sleep-over with her grandmother, Lola Fatima, who tells them about her travels to Nakali. Their friendship deepens through matching charm bracelets and, by the early 2000s, Lola dies of old age, leaving Jo orphaned.
After a send-off party, Raissa and Jo hang out, against her mother’s wishes, on the last evening they can spend together, before her flight the next day. Raissa is eagerly looking forward to fulfilling her mother’s dream, while Jo is sad that she will lose her best friend and tries to persuade Raissa not to go, as she is her best friend, and life will be meaningless for her without Raissa. Raissa is adamant, and calls Jo stupid. As she wades through the water on the beach, Jo finds something called a sand portal, about which he wrote in school. Jo persuades Raissa to join her, as she grabs the round, diamond-shaped, silvery, glowing portal, and they are send hurtling into the island of Nakali. There they first encounter a giant bird that looks like a cross between a peacock and a parrot. The bird turns out to be harmless, and later agrees to become their transport vehicle, but only if Raissa sits in front, and she gives all the commands. The bird likes Raissa. But they soon encounter a flying witch, the most dreaded creature on Nakali, Manananggal, who can break into parts and re-join at will. She accuses Raissa of stealing her wings. To her great surprise, Raissa finds that she has, indeed, developed wings on her shoulders. Raissa and Jo run for their lives, with Manananggal in hot pursuit.
At one point, they meet a boy-dog, a ‘weredog’, who pisses at every place he visits, marking his territory as a dog. He is called Raww, and is more dog than human, but he feels that he is a ‘lone wolf’. He seems friendly, and agrees to be their guide on a tour of the island. They also encounter Bungi, a giant baby demon. Strangely, Raissa and Jo have no memories of the last day or two, and Raww says that he can help them retrieve their memories, which have been stolen by Batiba, a rotund creature called a Batibat, who never leaves her home, and lives her life looking at the hanging memories of her victims. But she is willing to trade them for something she likes. Raww tells the girls that they visited Batiba the day before, and Batiba relieved them of their recent memories, and if they offer her something as a trade-in, she might return their memories. Along the way, they met a creature called Prince Mermahn, a sort of male mermaid and apparently a transgender, who is strong and muscular, and purple in colour. He/she has giant nipples, on which he/she hangs two stars. He/she agrees to help the girls. They head for Batiba’s place. Batiba captures Jo and Raissa, wanting to take ALL the memories of their friendship, through their friendship bracelets, after revealing that she had made a deal with the girls the night before, trading their Forgotten Island memories for a ticket home. When the pair lose the sand dollar needed to get home, Batiba gets another opening to bargain with them for what they hold dear.
Batiba eventually offers to return their memories of the previous night, stored inside their lost Polaroid camera, and in a trance it is revealed that after Raissa stole Manananggal’s wings, Jo had hidden the sand dollar, disabling them from returning home and making them forget their night in Nakali entirely. Angered by the discovery, Raissa reveals she wanted to go to CalTech, and heads off to retrieve the sand dollar herself, effectively ending her friendship with Jo, while Mananganggal attacks and takes back her wings, after learning that Batiba stole a memory from her too. The story then follows Raissa and Jo in their attempts to get back home, and Raissa’s determination to board that flight.
The film is written and directed by Academy Award nominee Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, and is produced by Academy Award nominee, Mark Swift, the filmmaking team behind Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Grammy and Academy Award winning supernova H.E.R. and Liza Soberano (Lisa Frankenstein, Alone/Together) star as Jo and Raissa. Other voices are Raww (Dave Franco) Manananggal (Tony winning icon Lea Salonga), Manny Jacinto as Bungi, Jenny Slate as Batiba, Dolly de Leon as Lola Fatima, Jo's late grandmother, Jo Koy as Datu, a Kapre
Ronny Chieng as Truffle Wuffle, King of the Duwende people, Kevin McCann as Mermahn, Prince of Kataw people, Amielynn Abellera and the film's co-director, Januel Mercado as Raissa's parents, Manny and Jane Molina, and Nico Santos as Starfish Pasties, who adorn the nipples of Mermahn.
Animation is first grade, cutting frenetic, so fast that you have to be 100% alert to catch the shots as the story unfolds. The soundtrack matches the visuals. Against the recommended 120-150 words per minute, the pace is easily 180-200 words per minute. Looks like persons above 16 need to update their hearing and seeing senses. Forgotten Island is aimed at the age-group of 10-16, and might appeal to them more than any other age group. The script has friendship and memories s its dual themes, and the rest of the action padded on to this core. Adventure and emotions over-flow throughout the movie. There will be many mist eyes at the end of the film, and rightly so.
As generations succeed generations, memories soon become a thing of the past. Two metaphors stand out: the Boom Box, the two-in-one radio-cassette player, with large twin speakers, which was obliterated by the CD and then the USB pen-drive, and the Polaroid camera, which gave you instant pictures, of passable quality as printouts. Then, there are the karaoke and tattoos, which have survived the turn of the century and are still present, in 2026. Clever use is made of the acronym, B.R.B., which, here stands for Be Right Back.
We all have memories, some of them painful, some of them happy. If life is kind to you, it will give you more of the latter. If, however, you are unfortunate, you will have more of the painful variety, you will have to cherish the happy ones even more, to try and retain your sanity. The only cure for sadness and depression is happiness. And Forgotten Island makes sure that it serves you large doses of love, friendship and bonding, with less of dark moments, like greed, cheating, selfishness and lying. It is pure escapist fare, and will not make much sense if you look for logic and rationality. Forgotten Island, like most of such animated features, requires a hell of a lot of suspension of disbelief.
Voice artistes have done a good job, with one of them adding a cute, endearing, lisp to his speech. It was nice to hear words like Salaamat (thanks, also a greeting), Maraming (a lot) and Maganda (beautiful), words from the Tagalog language, which I miss hearing in Mumbai. Due credit to editor by James Ryan and Music Composer Nathan Matthew David. There are as many as 37musical moments in the film, including songs, that last from 0.22 mins. to 6 min. 40 sec. At 108 minutes, it is a bit long. No wonder the movie moves at rocket speed. At normal speed, it would last at least 138 minutes.
An interesting sequel set-up actually happens immediately before the credits, in the final moments involving Jo and Raissa’s fate, and what happens to Nakali. That leaves the door open for ‘Forgotten Island 2’. Young adults, and those in their pre-teens, will enjoy this romp with the Wild Pack.
Rating: ***
