Spoiler Warning: This piece discusses major plot points from ‘Forgotten Island’
What happens when your best friend is ready for a new life, and you’re perfectly happy with the one you already share? It’s a difficult question for an animated adventure, but ‘Forgotten Island’ meets it head-on. There are monsters, magical objects and a very strange morning after a party. Yet underneath it all is something harder to escape: the possibility that growing up means losing the person who knows you best.
Written and directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado – the team behind ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ – DreamWorks’ film takes that worry into a fantasy world inspired by Filipino folklore. Its strongest premise is also its most fundamental: a friendship deserves the emotional stakes usually reserved for a great romance.
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One Last Night Together
Jo, voiced by H.E.R., and Raissa, voiced by Liza Soberano, have been best friends since childhood. Jo is impulsive and determined to keep their adventures going; Raissa is preparing to leave the Philippines for Caltech. For one, the future is opening up. For the other, it looks uncomfortably like being abandoned.
Their final celebration takes an alarming turn when a portal transports them to Nakali, an island inhabited by creatures from the stories they grew up hearing. By the following morning, their memories of the previous night are missing, along with the magical sand dollar meant take them home.
Retracing their steps turns their journey into an adventure. But the real cost emerges when the two discover that getting home could mean losing their memories of each other – and everything that friendship has meant.
A Friendship With Something To Lose
The tension between Jo and Raissa gives the story more substance than a conventional rescue mission: Raissa wants opportunities that could take her elsewhere, while Jo wants reassurance that elsewhere won’t become a life without her. Neither desire is especially hard to understand – making their disagreement all the more interesting.
There’s a difference, too, between supporting a friend and needing them to stay exactly as they are. Jo’s determination to preserve their bond may end up holding Raissa back, while Raissa struggles to be honest about what she truly wants.
Their childhood friendship bracelets give that conflict a physical form – shared history becomes something they could literally surrender. It’s an effective fantasy device that illustrates their underlying fear so clearly: what if the memories you treasure stop mattering to the other person?
Filipino Culture Shapes The Details
Nakali supplies the visual thrills, but the film’s character comes from its day-to-day textures. Grandmotherly storytelling, food, household religious imagery and recognisable family interactions establish the world Jo and Raissa come from before the magical creatures arrive.
Dolly de Leon voices Jo’s grandmother, Lola, whose stories connect the girls’ childhood imagination to the island. That relationship also emphasises how memory is about more than just friendship. Remembering someone can mean holding onto their stories, habits and the way they made the world feel.
The film’s Filipino references don’t all feel the need to come with an explanation attached. That confidence pays off, allowing viewers to recognise something, pick up meaning through context or simply accept that there is more to this world than they may know.
An Unruly Supporting Cast
The island has no shortage of personalities competing for attention. Dave Franco’s Raww – a dog-human companion – joins the girls on their search. Jenny Slate voices Batiba, whose offer to help comes at a considerable cost, while Lea Salonga’s Manang gives the adventure a more threatening undertone.
The film’s roster of supporting characters also point to its biggest risk: overcrowding. When another creature, joke or danger is around almost every corner, the search can become more of a succession of encounters. The more subtle conflict between Jo and Raissa is engaging enough to not always need another interruption.
The same goes for the humour. Bodily-function jokes and exaggerated antics have their place, but they’re less interesting compared to the awkwardness of two friends who know each other intimately, yet still can’t say what they really mean.
A World Of Colour And Sound
The film’s animation shifts between richly detailed digital environments and bursts of anime-influenced stylisation. Its bright palette gives Nakali a vibrant, sometimes overwhelming, energy – delivering enough visual variation to make every new encounter feel distinct.
Music carries the film’s Filipino influences further. Nathan Matthew David’s score draws on Indigenous Filipino instruments, while the soundtrack features artists including BINI, SB19 and Sophia Laforteza of KATSEYE. H.E.R. and Soberano also perform the end-title song, ‘BRB,’ tying the film’s musical identity to both its setting and leads.
Final Thoughts
The crowded itinerary and penchant for slapstick comedy sometimes competes with ‘Forgotten Island’s’ more affecting ideas. But the core friendship gives the adventure an emotional weight that goes beyond just reaching the next spectacular location.
Its most persuasive theme is that loving someone isn’t dependent on keeping them close forever. For younger viewers, that might mean a friend changing schools. For adults, it could mean moving abroad, losing family or realising that a once-inseparable friendship now requires more effort.
Getting off a magical island is a problem the film can solve. Learning how to let a friend leave – while remaining their friend – is the part that follows you home.
Catherine Pun
A Hong Kong native with Filipino-Chinese roots, Catherine infuses every part of her life with zest, whether she’s belting out karaoke tunes or exploring off-the-beaten-path destinations. Her downtime often includes unwinding with Netflix and indulging in a 10-step skincare routine. As the Editorial Director of Friday Club., Catherine brings her wealth of experience from major publishing houses, where she refined her craft and even authored a book. Her sharp editorial insight makes her a dynamic force, always on the lookout for the next compelling narrative.
