Forgotten Island: Big color, big laughs, big dreams.

Riot’s Reviews: The Forgotten Island

Animated films have been on a heck of a run over the last decade plus. Ironically, as animated studios had advanced at an unbelievable rate, it seems like the quality of special effects in live-action film has become spotty in most occasions, but that’s a separate issue. An increase in studios doesn’t hurt the situation, it’s a testament to the free market when you really think about it. Either way, groups like Illumination, Sony, and Dreamworks have added a level of maturity and legitimacy to their films and have resulted in truly incredible works like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Puss and Boots: The Last Wish, and now Forgotten Island. The line of what constitutes a kid’s movie (which was pretty exclusively animated for many, many years) is admittedly getting blurry…a little too blurry in my opinion. But the results are speaking for themselves at this point. It’s already obvious I found Forgotten Island to be amazing, but what makes it what I would call a “must see movie of 2026”?

First and foremost, as you might have guessed, the animation is absolutely incredible. Spider-Verse started something that it will have to finish, but the imitators are making truly awe-inspiring work in the meantime based on their artistic formula. Forgotten Island features a color palette that stuns at every turn. There’s hardly a single moment that doesn’t pop off the screen, even during the dark and stormy bits. Everything moves at a break-neck pace, but the lines are clean, the colors constantly shine, and the character designs are pretty fantastic. There’s no real limit to the details and Easter Eggs that are peppered throughout every scene, which is sure to make people want to re-watch. And while everything I know about the Filipino culture is from what I’ve gathered listening to Tigerbelly and Bad Friends, the whole film is beautifully saturated in it. The story covers more ground/lore than you would think possible and more impressively does it in a way that’s not confusing, overwhelming, or potentially insulting. (That’s just the overall feeling/impression I got, again my knowledge on the subject is limited.)

Forgotten Island benefits from some very strong voice acting, much better than I was even expecting based on the trailers. The two leads, Raissa (Liza Soberano) and Jo (H.E.R.) are standouts, each doing fantastic work handling the broad range of emotions that the story brings. Their backup, Raww (Dave Franco) puts on a comedy clinic and is a major source of energy throughout. The entire theater was legitimately belly laughing though most of the film. There are more performances worth mentioning, but since I was able to get into an early screening, it looks like the credits haven’t even been fully updated yet. The film features a pretty fantastic soundtrack/score and is bound together with a heartwarming story that is pretty badly needed these days; I’ll touch on that later.

Early reviews, especially on Rotten Tomatoes are as glowing as they can be (100%!!!), and while I will sing the film’s praises like the rest of the critics, in fairness I have to touch on the bad. As I mentioned before, the events of Forgotten Island hit you at a breakneck speed, almost to a manic point. Sure, you are certainly belly laughing, but the jokes are coming so hard and fast that sometimes you barely have a chance to breathe. Now that may be hyperbolic but truly, once a beat happens, the characters are already diving headfirst into the next one. The amount of featured characters is also a source of oversaturation that doesn’t help the rapid pace, because while the writers did an excellent job giving background, details, and depth to its characters, there’s simply too many of them. The overwhelming pace may be fine for younger audiences, but then we have to start getting my other negative point of the film, the unnecessary sexualization of animated characters. I’ll spare you the details so you can see them for yourselves, but when you’re dealing with a cast list that is already larger than it needs to be, adding a sexualized element to them just seems ill advised at best and frankly stupid at worst. As the years go on, I find myself more and more confused by the lines (or lack thereof) that we are drawing as a society on animated (children’s) movies, but I wouldn’t deign to think I have the perfect answer to this issue.

Forgotten Island is a delightful exploration of memory, loss, friendship, and growth that hits deeper on its themes than you would expect out of an animated film. Memory is often the foundation of who we are and it’s the people we share them with along the journey of life that make them so special. We live in a society that is increasingly trying to promote isolationism, emphasizing a “cut and run” approach to relationships when things get tough that is neither healthy nor beneficial. The film reminds audiences that fighting for memories is a worthwhile endeavor and that regardless of what the future may hold, the people that stood by you at your lowest should also be around when you’re soaring.

Riot’s Rating: 9.6/10: I often acknowledge that maybe age is finally catching up to me, but the manic nature of the movie shouldn’t keep you from experiencing one of the best animated films out there. Stick with it, laugh early and maybe cry later, it’s a beautiful story matched only by its  beautiful effects.

P.S. I have loved watching the influence of anime expand in the US over my lifetime, its thumbprint is deeply imbedded in this movie and I’m totally here for it.

P.S.S. This "the bad guy isn't really bad" trend needs to stop already. Explanations are one thing, we are getting force fed excuses. Cut it out.