Movie Review: Phenomenal Forgotten Island could become an all-time favorite
Now go and watch it. Tayo na!
By Marivir R. Montebon
New York - Finally, cheers to the phenomenal Philippine movie Forgotten Island (directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado) which DreamWorks has produced. I tick off the major criteria that make it a monumental piece of art: heartwarming message on friendship, extraordinarily rich animation, excellent score and voice, and cultural rootedness.
Forgotten Island continues to blaze on top of the box office charts, but I bet it will be a generational favorite for decades to come, such as Moana, E.T. and The Sound of Music. It is overwhelmingly rich and compact in adventure, cinematic color, movement, and transition, and most of all, culture. The originally dreaded Philippine dwarves and tiyanak (vampiric baby) are animated to be so adorable.
It is overwhelmingly rich and compact in adventure, cinematic color, movement, and transition, and most of all, culture.
The story of young friends Jo (H.E.R. and Kailey Crawford as young Jo) and Raissa (Lisa Soberano and Kayla Teruel as young Raissa) bridges the diasporic reality of Filipinos and the mythical world memorialized by the older folk, beloved Lola Fatima (Dolly de Leon), in this case.
The mature segment of the over four million Filipinos in the US would be able to relate with the manananggal, dwende, kapre, and tiyanak in the movie. It’s a stellar material for parents to introduce their children to Philippine folklore, and an exciting entertainment for family bonding. It will make for an exciting movie excursion for school children as well.
Overly cute tiyanak Bungi with (l-r) Raissa, Raww, and Jo.
Jo and Raissa’s pack of werewolf-mestizo street dog Raww (Dave Franco), tiyanak Bungi (Manny Jacinto), and Mermahn, a kataw prince (Kevin McCann) is hilarious, and on board the magnificent sarimanok, they take us in for adventure in the forgotten island Nakali.
The chief of kapre, Datu (Jo Koy), is a luminous character, but Truffle Wuffle (Ronny Chieng), king of the dwende (dwarves) is the cutest of them all, for me.
Cultural icons like the lumpia, lechon, and karaoke obsession make the movie riotous and sumptuous. Our respectful practices exemplified in ‘mano po’ (kissing the hands of elders) and ‘tabi tabi po’ (literally meaning excuse me) for the unseen natural spirits as we walk through forests or uninhabited patches is simply endearing.
Just one note on the perfectly scary mananangal (Lea Salonga). Her story line isn't made full circle in the movie. It suspended information on why Batiba (Jenny Slate) stole her heart, and the Manang didn’t know that it was stolen. There may be a sequel there, I hope.
Cultural consultant for the movie Kirby Araullo deserves praise for his input to the film. Forgotten Island has captured my heart, finally. I believe that it will be loved by many diasporic Filipinos as well, because somewhere inside us, there is a place called home, both real and magical, and friendships will forever be the ties that bind.#
