Why “Forgotten Island” Just Became DreamWorks’ Boldest Movie Yet
Okay, I need to talk about this movie because I’ve been refreshing every trailer drop for weeks now. DreamWorks is hitting its 50th feature film milestone with ‘Forgotten Island,’ landing in theaters September 25, 2026, via Universal, and honestly? This doesn’t feel like a ‘safe’ anniversary movie. It feels like the studio finally decided to swing big.
Directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado — the same pair who gave ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ its gorgeous, painterly chaos — this one takes that visual ambition and points it straight at Filipino mythology. And not the watered-down, Westernized version. The real stuff. Manananggals, Duwendes, Batibat spirits, Tiyanaks — creatures that Filipino kids grew up hearing about from their lolas, now getting the full-blown animated blockbuster treatment.
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So What’s the Story Actually About?
Strip away the mythology for a second and at its heart this is a story about two best friends terrified of growing apart.
Jo Fatima and Raissa Molina are that inseparable duo every school has — the ones who talk in inside jokes, who’ve been weird together since childhood, who built their entire friendship around the ghost stories Jo’s grandmother, Lola Fatima, used to tell them. One of those stories was about Nakali, a hidden island that supposedly doesn’t exist on any map.
Graduation night. Karaoke. Junk food. The usual bittersweet ‘we’re about to go our separate ways’ energy. And then — because this is a DreamWorks movie and nothing stays normal for long — they literally fall through a portal into Nakali.
Here’s the twist that got me: Nakali isn’t just dangerous because of monsters. The island feeds on memories. Every hour they’re stuck there, it’s quietly stealing pieces of their shared past. So the real ticking clock isn’t ‘will they survive,’ it’s ‘will they remember each other by the time they escape.’ That’s a genuinely brutal metaphor for growing up and losing touch with people, wrapped inside a fantasy adventure. It’s the kind of concept that could’ve been a gimmick but instead sounds like the emotional backbone of the whole film.
A Cast That Actually Gets It
This is where the casting nerds — me, I’m the casting nerd — lose their minds a little:
| Character | Voiced By | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Jo Fatima | H.E.R. | Grammy/Oscar winner, also contributing music |
| Raissa Molina | Liza Soberano | Her second major Hollywood role after ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ |
| Lola Fatima | Dolly de Leon | BAFTA-nominated, brings real gravity |
| Raww | Dave Franco | Chaotic were-dog comic relief |
| Manananggal | Lea Salonga | A literal Broadway/Disney legend voicing a folklore villain |
That Lea Salonga casting alone deserves applause. Having her voice the Manananggal — one of the most iconic and feared figures in Philippine folklore — feels less like stunt-casting and more like a genuine nod of respect to the culture the film is drawing from.
And then there’s the supporting demon roster, which honestly sounds like a fever dream in the best way: Ronny Chieng as a bratty Duwende king, Jenny Slate as a sleep-paralysis-inducing tree demon, and Manny Jacinto voicing a giant, weirdly sympathetic Tiyanak baby monster named Bungi. The film’s whole thesis seems to be that these ‘monsters’ aren’t evil, they’re just lonely — which, honestly, tracks with a lot of the original folklore if you actually dig into it instead of just using it for jump scares.
The Look and Sound
Visually, this one’s ditching the ultra-glossy 3D look for something scrappier and more expressive — think hand-drawn textures mashed with 90s anime energy, in the same rebellious spirit as ‘Into the Spider-Verse.’ For a story about memory literally dissolving around you, that shifting, glitchy art style is a smart choice.
The score comes from Nathan Matthew David, who’s blending traditional instruments like kulintang gongs into the orchestration — a small detail, but it’s the kind of thing that tells you the filmmakers actually cared about authenticity instead of slapping on generic ‘exotic’ music. Add original tracks from P-pop groups BINI and SB19, plus a duet from H.E.R. and Liza Soberano called ‘BRB,’ and the soundtrack alone sounds like an event.
Early Buzz Is Kind of Insane
Pre-release reactions have been near-unanimous — early trade reviews are pointing to a near-perfect critical consensus, with general audience scores also landing strong. What’s standing out most in early discourse isn’t the action or the comedy, though apparently both deliver, it’s the cultural specificity. Filipino-American viewers online have been especially vocal about how refreshing it is to see their folklore treated with weight instead of being flattened into generic ‘spooky forest creature #4’ territory.
Bottom Line
‘Forgotten Island’ isn’t just DreamWorks checking a diversity box for their 50-film milestone. From the story concept to the casting to the score, everything about this project screams intentional. If it delivers even half of what early buzz suggests, this could be the movie that finally puts Philippine mythology on the same mainstream pedestal Western audiences already gave Greek gods and Norse legends.
Mark September 25 on your calendar. Bring tissues for the friendship stuff. Bring snacks for the demon chaos.
