Forgotten Island Review: DreamWorks Crafts Another Hit With This Tale of Friendship
A fantastic story of friendship with a stellar voice cast.
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In 2022, DreamWorks Animation released Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, a dark yet whimsical exploration of existential dread that was one of the year's best animated features. Two years later, The Wild Robot left audiences a sobbing mess and walked away with a Best Animated Feature nomination. Now, two years later, Puss in Boots directors Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado return with Forgotten Island, another movie to cement DreamWorks Animation as a studio unafraid of making emotionally complex narratives about life.
In the case of Forgotten Island, what starts out as a story of friends parting opens up an examination of memory, and how what we remember becomes a powerful talisman to bind us to the people we love. With a super voice cast led by H.E.R. and Liza Soberano, Forgotten Island is, no surprise, another home run from DreamWorks Animation and one of the best animated films of 2026.
Jo and Raissa (H.E.R. and Soberano, respectively) have been best friends since grade school. They've been through everything together, but when Raissa is accepted into Cal-Tech, meaning she'll be leaving their home in the Philippines to live in America, the two realize their friendship could very well be ending. A magical amulet soon arrives and transports them to Nakali, a supposedly fictional world Jo's grandmother told stories about. Though initially happy to be there, the desire to return home puts the pair on a journey that tests their friendship, forcing them to confront a world where they might not have each other.
Like The Last Wish and Wild Robot, Forgotten Island is a story of community, and the chosen family we make through experience; Jo because she's in trouble for beating up a kid who disputes Nakali's existence and Raissa for agreeing. A heartfelt montage sees them grow up, lose family members, and generally run wild through their hometown to a soundtrack that includes Journey and INXS. Every moment sees them celebrate with a charm for their charm bracelet, a literal reminder of their greatest exploits. Once they get to Nakali, that charm bracelet becomes the totem that defines their relationship and sets the plot into motion.
Upon reaching Nakali they meet Batiba (Jenny Slate), a giant cat suffering from agoraphobia who collects memories. If Jo or Raissa gives up their charm bracelet to her they can go home. The problem is once the item is given up, the memory is forgotten by the original holder of it. The girls refuse and thus start traversing Nakali to find another way home.
The voice work here is impeccable, particularly H.E.R. and Soberano. They feel more in line with actual voice performers than professional A-listers. H.E.R. brings a kookiness and humor to Jo that makes it easy to see why Raissa would want to be friends with her. Jo is dismissive of life, content to get fired from every job and generally follow Raissa around, when not inspiring her to indulge in chaos. A trip to Raissa's graduation party becomes the perfect place to show off the skills of the voice work, as well as the animation and the hilarious script (also credited to Crawford and Mercado). Where else can you see fire, hear a karaoke performance of "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" and hear a character say, "What's up, Jesus?"
Once the two get to Nakali it's a breathtaking jungle world of creatures. The animation here is highly reminiscent of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, with a heavy dose of '80s-style TV cartoon animation and '90s-era anime. Raissa and Jo's actual world is a mix of several decades of pop culture. This is a movie where we get INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart" and Predator, mix tapes and a Baha Men reference. If anything, it shows how pop culture once felt broader to young people in an era before the internet. The different decades blended.
On Nakali, it's utterly beautiful when everything doesn't want to kill you. The two meet Raww (Dave Franco), a shape-shifting dog creature who can never control his transformations. Raww, thanks to Franco's earnest voice work, makes up a vital part of the trio that forms on Forgotten Island. He's a lonely creature who just desperately wants to be seen. He looks and feels a lot like Harvey Guillén's Perrito from The Last Wish, but a great character still works if it's aged up. Where Perrito was an innocent, Franco brings a wild nice-guy energy to Raww that's charming. Then again, it's hard not to fall in love with every character on Nakali, from literal man baby Bunghi (voiced by Manny Jacinto) to perpetually duck faced Mermahn (Kevin McCann) whose singing starfish nipples are scene stealers.
As the crew is assembled, almost Wizard of Oz style, the girls realize there's an evil villain chasing them. The dreaded Manang (Lea Salonga) might frighten younger viewers – her animation certainly frightened me – and is the big bad chasing Raissa and Jo throughout the island. She's mostly an impediment that pops up to start trouble here and there until the third act, when her plot line eventually resolves itself.
The predominant conflict is Raissa and Jo's relationship. Where is the line between a friendship that weighs you down versus one that lifts you up? The characters are so three-dimensional in their personalities that it's constantly shifting whether the two will end up secure in their friendship by the end. There's also a deft transition into the movie going from Jo's story to eventually becoming Raissa's that leads to a beautiful montage.
Kristen Lopez
While it can seem like the movie is repeating much of what made The Last Wish work, Forgotten Island is still utterly amazing. A touching story of friendship and how "memories are magic" with a voice cast that adds dimension to some great characters. You'll want to take another trip to Forgotten Island immediately.
Grade: B+
Forgotten Island is in theaters Friday.
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