Forgotten Island

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

1990’s, the Philippines. Two schoolmates find a best friend in each other, one being a natural born genius and the other a free spirit raised by her grandmother Lola Fatima (Dolly de Leon). Jo (H.E.R.) grows up without much plan in life despite her inclination toward the arts, taking on a part-time job as a fastfood cashier and mascot. Raissa (Liza Soberano), on the other hand, will be flying to California to go to Caltech. As they spend their last night together at the beach reminiscing about the good old times, their arguments are interrupted by a portal which takes them to the forgotten island of Nakali where Jo’s Lola claimed to have gone in the past and even befriended a Kapre or two. Lost and confused, Jo and Raissa are found by a were-dog named Raww (Dave Franco), who takes them to the only creature on the island who he thinks could help them, a memory demon called Batiba (Jenny Slate) who trades favors for memories. Things get complicated when Raissa finds herself with wings which she is said to have stolen from the dreaded Manang (Lea Salonga), a hostile Manananggal feared by everyone on the island.

The thing about Filipino representation in Hollywood is that most of the previous attempts have all been about the Filipino American immigrant experience, and there’s nothing wrong with that. After all, the Filipino diaspora have their own unique story to tell. Filipino culture of Filipinos in the Philippines, though? Nil. Forgotten Island has been the most accurate so far, I’ll give it that. I believe it fell a bit short, though. Or perhaps I was really just hoping that it would be for the Philippines what Pixar’s Coco has been to Mexico? Almost, but not quite. Decent attempt, however, and probably the best to date.

The scenes set in everyday Philippines are spot-on. The classroom scenes with the acetate and overhead projector instantly transported me back to high school in the early aughts. The problem is that these scenes only constitute the first 15-20 minutes of the movie, or even less. Once the characters end up in Nakali, the only Filipino references left are the creatures from Philippine mythology whose depiction feels so surface-level, as well as constant shouting of UHS-wang UHS-wang as if the portal transported them to Ahrneow or Luhzahl instead. They could’ve just legit turned the characters conyo to make it more credible, you know. Less suspension of disbelief needed that way and we would’ve been cool with it.

Of course this is not a documentary on Philippine mythology, so getting them right is a tall order. However, much of the creative liberties taken make no sense. Like a Tiyanak that is a giant blue monster baby who for some reason has three eyes. Or a group of Dwende whose only Dwende thing about them is their height, and actually come across as a direct ripoff of Toad and his mushroom kingdom friends from Super Mario Brothers in terms of appearance and cuteness. I don’t even know whether the main villain, a “memory demon”, is part of Philippine folklore at all. If so, then I’m sorry but I’m not familiar with it. Anyone care to explain?

But perhaps my biggest disappointment about Forgotten Island is that its storyline just runs thin once we reach the fictional island itself. Of course it has been made evident from the get-go that this is a simple story about friendship and how memories make us who we are and help us become who we want to be. The film does a great job in driving that point home. Maybe I was just expecting it to have a stronger storyline to tie it with Philippine culture or mythology, like how Coco crafted an entire fictional storyline around Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos. Filipinos are friendly, sure, but “Friendship” is not really unique to Philippine culture.

All of those criticisms aside, Forgotten Island is a powerful piece of visual art. It reminds you that what makes Dreamworks’ animated films great is that they are not afraid to use vivid colors to tell a story. Your eyes are simply taken hostage by those bright hues and neons from the very start. The mix of animation which includes a smattering of old school 90's anime and comic book styles is also so mesmerizing to look at. I’d say that Dreamworks has a legit shot at securing an Oscar nom for Best Animated Feature next year if they campaign hard enough. The kids will definitely be thrilled, regardless. Let’s see if the box office will agree.