credit: Dreamworks
written and directed by Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford, starring H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto
I met my closest friend when I was four. I heard excited laughter at the house behind me, so I crawled under the fence. Standing on the top of a little aluminum slide was a big head attached to a few sticks. Then the head yelled something lost to time, sat down, and slid to the earth. Ever since we've grown apart and closer, bonded over bad movies and Highlander: The Series, and still text almost daily despite being two thousand miles apart.
Memories and friendship are universal. Forgotten Island, the new Dreamworks animated classic, straddles the worlds of adult and childhood and of fantasy and reality. And it has a badass soundtrack. The adult nature of the film (it's essentially The Hangover with some Eternal Sunshine thrown in) may cause it to miss with the younger crowd, but for those who find this it will be in their hearts forever.
Check it out.
Plot Summary
Lifelong friends Jo and Raissa have graduated high school and are about to embark on an incredible journey to adulthood but get sidelined by a magical land called Nakali filled with dark mystery and neon demons. After losing their memory, they must retrace their steps to find their way back home.
Characters
Jo (H.E.R.) - headstrong and chaotic, Jo longs to see the land of Nakali after hearing stories of it from her grandmother Lola Fatima
Raissa (Soberano) - fastidious with a bright future at Caltech ahead, Raissa dreams in reality and to-do lists
Raww (Franco) - a weredog living in Nakali who makes fast friends with Jo and Raissa
Batiba (Slate) - An agoraphobic memory demon in Nakali who holds the key to getting Jo and Raissa back home
Bungi (Jacinto) - A baby demon in Nakali who joins Jo and Raissa on their quest
Setting
1990s Philippines - a magical time when people had jobs and upper mobility to immigrate to the United States with hope
Nakali - a magical land full of demons that want to party and not murder you like the folklore generally states (with acceptions)
Favorite Scenes
Opening show and tell, anime and splash zone
aging montage feeling like UP - It really is a fast gutpunch from the silliness to the real world aging
Also Lola threatening to break the neighbors other leg was awesome
Nakali reveal - art pops, lightning and shadows
In general, the movie pops with style. Animation has leaped ahead and along with the story feels more adult oriented while still staying fun for kids.
Raww meeting and backstory
2D animation and art style - The anime art style… Look, I don't have the knowledge to talk about it but I missed this in the advertising and it made me so happy to see directors and animators mixing styles so well.
frosted tips - pure 90s, dog
Potions - Played less of a part in the story than I thought, but everything here is breezed by with a casual "this is the world, these things exist, but it's about the characters" that felt so refreshing.
"you've destroyed a civilization" - Casual line tossed off to show the decline of the fairies due to the introduction of energy drinks.
Recruiting Bungi - The only character that took a little time to grow on me.
Mom cuts the cord - The wild nonsense I'm here for. Also made me like this character a bit more.
Chase by invisible vampire - Dynamic and interesting as they flew through the world. I don't have a lot to say about Manang (manananggal?) as she is more of a force and threat than a character. Still, they kept making her more of a threat over and over and brought back the potions for a moment.
Eternal Sunshine race - There's a reason memories are powerful and so many movies have time travel or whatever (Christmas Carol, Back to the Future II, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, etc.) allow characters to revisit memories. The different context and perspective instantly allows for both nostalgia and reflection of the character in their present state. Well done here, especially with an active threat behind Raissa as she struggles. The post-it wings were inspired.
End with memories - Again, the whole theme is to protect your memories to solidify your present. It's all you have, inform your art or sense of self, and strengthen bonds by shared experiences. When it gets dark, we are better when we remember the times people held our hands and made us laugh or just brought a little bit of light.
"Abandon the chicken!" - Not much to say about the Duwende warriors (mushroom people) because they are mostly a joke rolling through the already stuffed plot, but the last Trojan chicken joke had me rolling.
Discussion Questions
Do you have someone you call when things get bad? Do they call you?
What's a fictional world you wish you and a friend could have a lost weekend in?
You ever pissed off someone more powerful than you? Were they mushroom or vampire adjacent?
Jo's grandmother fills them with stories about a magical land. Did you have a grandparent tell you about some bullshit like them buying a house while working at Dairy Queen?
Raissa and Jo crash a van on the beach and make it a clubhouse. What's a space you created with an act of vandalism?
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