Why Forgotten Island Is the Year's Most Enchanting Animation

Not every animated movie feels like a secret someone whispered just for you. Forgotten Island does. It opens in the 1990s Philippines and drops two childhood friends, Joe and Raisa, into Nakali, a strange, memory-fed realm where the past literally slips away if you linger too long. Simple setup. High stakes.

Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado steer this DreamWorks release with a sure hand. The screenplay blends road-trip camaraderie with folklore-fueled fantasy, and the voice cast — H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Dave Franco, Jenny Slate and Manny Jacinto — gives the characters texture and unexpected warmth. Visuals lean on Philippine myth, yielding creatures and landscapes that feel freshly imagined rather than recycled.

This is a movie that remembers why stories matter.

Tonally, the film hops between raucous buddy-comedy beats and quieter, bittersweet moments about memory and loss. Sometimes it hits like a burst of sugar: fast, loud, irresistible. Other times it slows down to make you ache. That push and pull keeps the experience lively and, crucially, emotional.

Critical response

Critics have mostly fallen for it. Rotten Tomatoes lists 29 reviews and a pristine 100 percent critics score. Metacritic shows a smaller sample — five reviews — but still a strong 81 out of 100. Those numbers capture the two sides of the conversation: near-universal admiration for craft, with a few notes about tonal choices.

IGN (90/100, Eric Goldman) calls Forgotten Island a moving tale about the memories we share with friends, married to a big, funny and occasionally dark adventure populated by creatures borrowed from Filipino folklore. The Film Maven (83/100, Kristen Lopez) admits echoes of other recent hits, yet still finds the film wonderful, praising its heartfelt focus on friendship and the performances that deepen its characters.

Screen Rant (80/100, Alex Harrison) points out that the film sometimes runs as busy as Across the Spider-Verse, an overload that will thrill some viewers and overwhelm others. The movie’s energy, lifted by mythic invention and a confident comedic pulse, rewards those willing to ride its wave. The Hollywood Reporter (80/100, Frank Scheck) highlights the narrative's clever mix of humor, visual imagination and tender emotional moments, especially in scenes between the two leads.

San Francisco Chronicle (75/100, Michael Ordona) flags the film’s playful Oz-like spirit, varied animation textures and subtle visual jokes, while applauding the satisfying emotional payoff that sets Forgotten Island apart from many contemporaries.

At its best, the film feels like a map to a place you want to visit again. At its most frenetic, it asks you to keep up. Either way, it’s hard to deny the imagination on display or the warmth at the story’s core. So, will you go back to Nakali and bring a friend?