Shadows on the Wall | Forgotten Island

Forgotten Island

Review by Rich Cline | MUST SEE

dir-scr Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado
prd Mark Swift
voices H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Dave Franco, Lea Salonga, Dolly De Leon, Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto, Kevin McCann, Jo Koy, Ronny Chieng, Nick Mendoza III, Kristin Villanueva
release US 25.Sep.26,
UK 16.Oct.26
26/US DreamWorks 1h38

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After a career in franchise animation, writer-directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado draws on their experiences with Filipino culture for this fresh, original story. Their snappy blast of 1990s attitude fuels a fast-paced animated adventure that astutely explores the nature of friendship and memory amid a riotous action comedy. So while its visual flourishes dazzle the eyes and silliness keeps us giggling, it's the emotional depth that lingers.

As pre-teens in the Philippines, sparky artist Jo (H.E.R.) and brainy rebel Raissa (Soberano) bond as school troublemakers, relishing scary stories Jo's grandmother Lola (De Leon) tells about the mythical island Nakali and creatures from local folklore. Then as Raissa prepares for university at CalTech, they discover a portal to Nakali. But holding memories is tricky here, and they have no idea why Jo has only one shoe. Or why Raissa now has wings. So they'll need help from werewolf boy Raww (Franco) to reconstruct their time here and find a way to go home.

Amid a continuous stream of surprises, they team up with a big, blue, three-eyed baby (Jacinto), a memory-collecting agoraphobe (Slate) and the amusingly self-involved Mermahn (McCann). And then there's the frankly terrifying vampire-like Manananggal (Salonga), who moves like a twitchy spider and can split her body in half. Each character evokes flashbacks that are rendered in distinctively hand-drawn styles that echo popular 1990s animation. The constant barrage of inventive visual touches is simply gorgeous.

Creating such a freewheeling, chaotic atmosphere requires a lot of skill, and the attention to detail here is astonishing. Despite feeling almost overwhelmingly random, each element is carefully positioned to offer more insight into the characters and pull us deeper into their journey. Thankfully, the filmmakers allow their sparky sense of humour to infuse the film with things that are both hilariously rude and genuinely scary. And they have encouraged the animators and voice artists to go for broke, so every frame bristles with personality.

Most importantly, they have also woven a heartfelt narrative that beautifully captures how the memories we create together being us closer. And the film celebrates the tokens we have of our experiences, represented in Jo and Raissa's increasingly cluttered matching charm bracelets. Not only do these items represent their life together, but they keep their memories and their relationship alive. And the film depicts this complex, hugely involving theme with razor-sharp wit and honest emotion.

themes, language, violence 23.Jun.26 aff

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