‘Island’ Time
It’s the Philippines turn in the cultural animated spotlight, and what took so frakkin’ long?
Forgotten Island
Directors: Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado • Writers: Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado
Starring [English]: H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Dave Franco, Manny Jacinto, Jenny Slate, Lea Salonga, Dolly de Leon
USA • 1hr 49mins
Opens Hong Kong September 24 • IIA
Grade: B+
At the very beginning of this past summer’s Hoppers, we were introduced to a precocious, driven young girl causing all sorts of trouble at school and then retreating to the comforting arms of her grandmother and her animal friends in The Glade. It lays the foundation for the indomitable yet sensitive character she carries with her as she grows up. But that was Pixar, and Forgotten Island is DreamWorks, so it will be totally different. At the very beginning of this, we’re introduced to a precocious, driven young girl, Jo, causing all sorts of trouble at school and then retreating to the comforting arms of her grandmother Lola and her only friend, Raissa. It lays the foundation for the indomitable yet sensitive character she carries with her as she grows up. Wait... what?
The point being that co-directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado’s Forgotten Island falls a little on the cookie-cutter side, but it’s also surprisingly entertaining with a distinct voice, with some legit good jokes and an outsized volume of nipple attention for a family film as it scrapes (in a better, non-AI way) underexposed Filipino folklore for an adventure to the land mass of the title. Growing up as life-long besties, Jo (singer-songwriter H.E.R.) maintains her rambunctious, artsy chaos agent energy into high school, while Raissa (Liza Soberano) takes the good girl academic road. Nonetheless the pair is tight, particularly in the wake of Lola’s (Dolly de Leon, who burst onto the international scene as the badass housekeeper in Triangle of Sadness) death, the feisty elder who had a major influence on the girls. When Raissa suddenly announces she’s leaving Manila and heading to CalTech, Jo suggests some final highjinks – after a portal to Lola’s oft-spoken of lost island of Nakali opens and draws them in.
The Philippines really needs more respect
Crawford worked in DreamWorks animation art department starting in 2007 and finally made his directing debut with the way, way underrated Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Forgotten Island visually feels a lot like that film, with a little The Bad Guys thrown in, with its mixed-bag animation style that keeps the action moving while it tells the story, like any tech is supposed to. Flashing between old-school Tex Avery extremes, anime-inflected emotional beats and the “obvious” brushstroke drawing made standard by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and K-pop Demon Hunters, Crawford and newcomer Mercado keep the frantic camera movement to a relative minimum, and instead let the were-aspin (think Philippine dingo), baby vampire Tiyanaks, Ilocano tree-dwelling Batibats, Manananggals and merfolk take centre stage. Those and a metric shit ton of nipple jokes.
Jo and Raissa heard all about Nakali from Lola, so when they wake up in the mythical land, they’re unperturbed by their surroundings. Raissa wants to find a way out in order to catch her flight to LA – her parents are going to kill her if she misses it – but the gig-working, barely employed Jo wants to enjoy their time. The meet Raww (Dave Franco), who becomes their were-aspin guide to Nakali, and who leads them to Batiba (Jenny Slate), the spirit that barters for memories (traditionally it haunts the house you built from cutting down the tree it lived in, and I want to see that movie). If the girls give her theirs, a lifetime’s worth, she’ll open the doorway home. They need to get a thingamajigger too, so a heist caper breaks out, which Jo and Raissa rope Kataw prince Mermahn (long “A” please, Kevin McCann) and Tiyanak Bungi (Manny Jacinto, who set drawers aflame in The Acolyte) into.
Knowing the way the major studios work, hand-in-hand with resistance by too many audiences to simply bypass the unfamiliar (and yet whine about sequels and remakes and I’m never going to understand this) Forgotten Island runs the risk of being overlooked as an “I’ll catch it on streaming” film, which would be a huge mistake. Sure, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel; all the expected surprises, twists and Act II betrayals before the final reunion are accounted for. Sure, the narrative hinges on memory, identity and the irreplaceable value of true, lasting friendship – and how the truest will always survive time and distance – but the wheel here is really well built. The voice performances are nearly perfect; McCann may have the easiest job in the OTT Mermahn, but it’s hilarious anyway – and vaguely reminiscent of Lance Slashblade in the inferior (you heard me) Inside Out 2 – as are de Leon, Ronny Chieng as Truffle Wuffle (don’t call him cute), King of the gnome-like Duwende people and Lea Salonga as one of the Big Bads, Manang, the nocturnal Manananggal, who’s been known to eat unborn babies. The creatures and the lore are fresh and fun to dig into, something that’s not Thor or Zeus or a Judeochristian demon is always welcome, and Crawford and Mercado make the most of them, throwing out some of the lushest, liveliest animated visuals of the year – that deserve to be seen on a big screen. And come on. Nipple jokes that land? Bravo, Mr Crawford and Mr Mercado. Bravo.