Tomorrow, Hollywood hands us something genuinely rare: an original animated film. No sequel number, no pre-existing toy aisle, no "Part One" in the title. Just Forgotten Island, a brand-new fantasy adventure from director Januel Mercado, and early audiences are already treating it like a national holiday. The film currently sits at a staggering 9/10 on TMDb - the kind of score usually reserved for Studio Ghibli re-releases and whatever Pixar does when it's firing on all cylinders. So yeah, expectations are sky-high. The question is whether the movie can possibly be as good as that number suggests. Here's the honest answer: it comes remarkably close.
The setup is deceptively simple. Jo and Raissa - voiced by H.E.R. and Liza Soberano, respectively - are best friends spending one last night together before adulthood yanks them in different directions. Graduation is over, the future is looming, and the two sneak in a final celebration of everything they've been to each other. Then a portal opens. Because of course it does. And just like that, our heroines are dropped onto Nakali, a fantastical island bursting with color, strange creatures, and a magic system that feels genuinely novel rather than recycled from the fantasy bargain bin.
But Nakali has a cruel tax. To go home, Jo and Raissa have to pay with their shared memories - the entire history of their friendship. Every inside joke, every late-night phone call, every stupid fight and sweeter apology. The longer they stay, the more of each other they lose. The film's central race against time isn't about outrunning a villain or escaping a ticking volcano. It's about clinging to who you are when the world keeps asking you to forget. It's a surprisingly grown-up premise for a family film, and it's the engine that makes the whole thing hum.
Mercado, whose animation background includes some of the most visually striking work of the past decade, directs with real confidence here. Nakali is a feast - bioluminescent forests, floating markets, a creature design team that clearly had way too much fun. The comedy lands too, mostly thanks to a voice cast that's almost unfairly stacked. Dave Franco brings real manic energy to Raww, Manny Jacinto is a scene-stealing Bungi, and Jenny Slate - as Batiba - gets the kind of laughs that make you forget you're watching an animated character and just enjoy a comedian cooking. Lea Salonga and Dolly de Leon anchor the emotional beats with warmth, and Jo Koy as Datu is exactly the chaotic uncle energy you want on this kind of island.
But the film belongs to H.E.R. and Soberano. H.E.R., making the jump from Grammy-winning musician to voice actor, brings a soulful vulnerability to Jo that's genuinely disarming. Soberano matches her beat for beat as Raissa, all sharp edges and hidden softness. Their chemistry is the entire movie. If you don't buy these two as lifelong friends, nothing works - and you buy it completely within the first ten minutes.
The emotional payoff is where Forgotten Island sticks the landing. Without spoiling anything, the film understands that memory is identity, and that friendship is a choice you make over and over, not a fact you can take for granted. Adult viewers will be caught off guard by how hard the third act hits. Bring tissues. Actual, real tissues.
Is it a perfect 9/10? Maybe not - a handful of side characters feel underdeveloped, and the middle act sags just slightly under its own world-building ambition. But those are quibbles. As original animated features go, this is the most confident, most emotionally intelligent American release in years. It earns its laughs, it earns its tears, and it earns the right to sit alongside the classics it's clearly been inspired by.
Forgotten Island opens September 16. Go see it in a theater, ideally with the person who knows all your embarrassing stories. Then call them afterward and tell them you remember every single one.
