Forgotten Island

“Forgotten Island” is a colorful story about friendship and memory, inspired by Filipino folklore. Jo and Raissa meet as children in the waiting area for the principal’s office. They are very different, Jo (H.E.R.), a fierce, impulsive chaos agent and Raissa (Liza Soberano), deliberate, thoughtful, and academically-oriented. Jo lives with her beloved grandmother, Lola (Dolly De Leon) but feels abandoned by her parents, who have moved to the US. Raissa has a more comfortable life with devoted parents. But they have something in common, a passion for Lola’s stories about visiting the magical island of Nakali through a portal from an enchanted sun dollar.

They have both been sent to the principal’s office for getting in trouble in the classroom by insisting that Nakali is real. But they decide not to wait, leaving behind a post-it note that simply says BRB (Be Right Back), and pledge to be best friends forever, exchanging string friendship bracelets. In a charming and joyous montage, we see their adventures as they grow up, including accidentally driving a bus to the beach where it gets stuck in the sand and becomes something of a clubhouse/art project. Many special memories get added to that friendship bracelet, and many more BRB notes are left behind. And then, as the girls are near high school graduation, we see them with Lola in a hospital bed hooked up to monitors, and then she is gone.

Jo is working (and sometimes getting fired) in fast food restaurants and Raissa is getting ready to go to America to attend Caltech. The night before Raissa is to leave, Jo persuades her to go on one last adventure. They discover an enchanged sand dollar and soon they are transported to Nakali. They wake up the next morning with no memory of what happened the night before and find that the sand dollar is missing so there is no way for them to get home in time for Raissa’s flight to California. They try to figure out how Raissa lost one whole side of her hair and how she got wings. Jo is wearing a jeweled crown but has no idea where it is from. And both girls and a strange new companion named Raww (Dave Franco) have some angry-looking, possibly infected tattoos that read: Wild Pack.

They meet a series of magical creatures. Raww is a were-dog who sometimes assumes full dog form, sometimes almost turns back into a boy, and most times is a bit of both. Batiba (Jenny Slate) is an agoraphobic cave-dweller who collects the memories of visitors to the island and keeps them for herself. Merhman (Manny Jacinto) is a preening mer-man, Bungi is a 200-year-old baby whose mother finally cuts his umbilical cord so he can travel with the group, and the Manananggal (Lea Salonga) is a fierce and angry winged creature whose upper and lower halfs can separate at the torso and operate independently.

As Jo and Raissa try to locate the sand dollar, remember the night before, and hold onto the memories of their past that Batiba wants for herself, the exciting and colorful adventures help them to understand their past and learn, sometimes painfully, how to be better friends.

The Filipino folklore contributes new characters that in the Joseph Campbell or Jungian sense each represent parts of an integrated human spirit, all the parts that make up the id, ego, and superego. The visuals are dynamic, with has great, strong, colors, some luminous, and imaginative and telling character design. The pacing is very energetic, sometimes overly so, as though worried about losing the attention of the hyped up of the TikTok generation. As is the current fashion (“Spider-Verse,” “KPop Demon Hunters,” etc.), moments of particular intensity of emotion or action switch to an exaggerated, flat, anime style, which may reduce the tension by adding some self-aware humor to reassure young audience members. There are some nice tributes to the pleasures of karaoke and some good pop songs (“Don’t Stop Believin'”, “Don’t You Forget About Me”) that fit the storyline. The discussion of memories is well handled, but what’s best is the relationship of the two heroines, very different in temperament and outlook but appreciating each other and the way their differences are a strength. A sweet concluding scene is more magical than even the most fanciful character.

Parents should know that this film has some disturbing material for a PG including scary images, peril, and violence (no one badly hurt), very risky behavior shown as fun and adventurous, as well as crude language, potty humor, and jokes about crotch hits and the “Predator” movie.

Family discussion: Who have been your best friends and what memories of your time together mean the most to you? Which is your favorite of the magical characters and why?

If you like this, try: “In Your Dreams”