At the heart of many of the best animations are friendships and in Forgotten Island its Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) a pair of Filipino schoolgirls, the latter an orphaned rebellious creatively imaginative tomboy who lives with her adored and adoring grandmother whilst the latter is the is the model student who enjoys the freedom to be rebellious that their friendship brings. They bond outside the headmasters’ office and share friendship bracelets that as the years go by are increasingly adorned with trinkets that represent special moments they share. Those special moments that we share with friends at that age that are play out in a montage set to INXS track ‘Never tear us apart’ yet torn apart they will be when Raissa wins a scholarship to the US that will leave Jo stuck in her dead end job flipping burgers in a fast food joint.
What’s influenced Forgotten Island …
Borrowing from ‘The Hangover’ the pair, having been at Raissa’s leaving party, go their favourite hangout spot on the beach where sand token sees them travelling through a portal that drops them into the land of Nakali where they wake up with tattoos, a half shaved head and a sort of weredog called Raww (Dave Franco) that flits back and fore into human form. But the pair have no memory how any of this has happened and need to find the portal to get back home. Their only way of doing this is giving up their memories to an avaricious memory demon who has her own agenda
There’s a lot to like here from a highly individual cast of supporting characters that includes a giant baby mummy’s boy, a vain glorious merman and an army of warrior babies that are loveable rather than fearsome and all served by stunning visuals. The films one set back is that this is relentlessly, furiously paced and it is exhausting never resting for a moment to catch its breath and that’s what it needs because there are moments in this where it would benefit from a scene of serenity – a scene where Raissa tells Jo is leaving for the US is the only scene that takes its foot off the pedal.
Love it?
But Forgotten Island comes from the same team that gave us the us the excellent and underrated ‘Puss in Boots : The Last Wish’ and has a load of clever jokes, surreal moments and imaginative flights of fantasy. But at its core is a reminder of the last line from the Stephen King film, ‘Stand by me’ that ‘you never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve’
related feature : ‘Puss in Boots The Last Wish’ reviewed here
related feature : Inside the live action ‘Moana’ VIP screening | Amazing Polynesian dance performance
Here’s the trailer….
