Memories are magic. That is the theme of one of the best animated films of the year, Forgotten Island. Forgotten Island is an adventure wonderland that seems to remember the key rule of animated film: just because you put a bunch of crazy crap on the screen doesn’t mean you get to skimp on dialogue or emotion. The best animated films remember this; it’s what has kept Disney in the biz for nearly 100 years now.
Jo (voice of H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) are proof of opposites attracting. Boisterous and uninhibited, storyteller Jo approaches life like it’s one big video game while the bookish Raissa needs a great deal of encouragement to get out her safety zone. Sent to the principal on the same day (Raissa wondering “How?” while Jo treating this as same-shit-different-day moment), the two Philippine high school students bond over disembowelment. Seeing one another as a salvation, Jo and Raissa become bffs, exchanging friendship bracelets and obsessing over the mythical land of Nakali, a Forgotten Island that Jo’s grandma claims to have visited years ago.
The two build a touching friendship. This is what the film is about regardless of what it throws at us. Few films, animated or live action, truly explore the depth of friendship like Forgotten Island does. Jo and Raissa are nothing without each other, and they know it. That fact makes the next part very painful: Raissa gets accepted to CalTech, an ocean away from Jo, who has trouble holding down a lousy job as a fastfood mascot.
Sensing a critical time in the relationship, the beach itself acknowledges and gifts the pair a magical sand dollar key sending Jo and Raissa to Nakali. Then the film fast-forwards twelve hours to a time when the two have clearly have party souvenirs, but no memories to show for it. Hmm, is it the fault of Raww, the literal dog boy? How about Bungi, the demon baby? Kataw, the merman? Oh, here’s an idea … missing memories? Try Batiba, the memory demon. That might help.
You could compare Forgotten Island to The Hangover. I’m sure many will. I don’t quite see it that way. The hangover exists to claim laughs while solving a mystery. Forgotten Island is much more a reminder of the journey; our memories make us who we are. Without them, we are blank slates, empty vessels. Such is especially true of best friends. The journey needs to be remembered not because a key home was lost but because critical moment of life were lost. Would you trade memories of friendship? Of love? Not for anything, am I right? The 
journey doesn’t matter if memories are squandered so easily.
Oh, and there’s also the part where Raissa wakes up with a shaved head and functional demon wings. So there’s that.
Many animated films get so wrapped up in the dynamic of creation they forget that films are about feelings. I find such is truer and truer of computer-animated films. It doesn’t matter how sharp the animation is if the audience doesn’t care about the characters. Forgotten Island is almost the exact opposite of this pattern. I found the crazy animation a silly distraction from the core of the film and, as if the writer/directors were trying to tell me personally, all the funky demon creatures exist to keep your children watching the film. In essence, the magical creatures are completely superfluous to everything truly magical about the picture. This is a much better year for animation than 2025 and I’m a big fan of Forgotten Island, an immediate challenger to Hoppers and Toy Story 5 for the best animated film of 2026. And we are not done with 2026 by a long shot.
Two Philippine school girls dream
Of the key to an island in a stream
When what should appear
But the answer, I fear
Fantasy achieved isn’t what it may seem
Rated PG, 109 Minutes
Director: Joel Crawford, Januel P. Mercado
Writer: : Joel Crawford, Januel P. Mercado
Genre: “What did we do last night?!”
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: BFFs
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Curmudgeons
