I admittedly didn't quite know what to expect from Forgotten Island even with seeing the trailer once or twice, it just looked like an entertaining very beautiful animated film and I was down to see it. What I got instead was a pretty damn good family film with kind of a monumental message for young kids and while the emotional tale laid before me didn't sucker punch me in the feels I not only respected it but admired it. The story follows two young girls who grow up together brought up on tales of a magical land when on their last night before the upheaval of college, they're thrown into this wild world and essentially it almost turns into a kid version of The Hangover as they desperately try to piece together what exactly happened so they can get back home. The film is centered entirely on this friendship between Jo and Raissa which could mean that the film is either made or break based on that, but I think they handled it great! You see a progression with them not just from spaz kids to young adults but how they see each other, how they affect each other's lives, how they are human and make mistakes that hurt one another, and that's a pretty big thing for an animated film. Gabriella Wilson better known as artist HER plays Jo who frankly could have my whole heart and I'd never ask for it back, she's so full of energy and kind of a unapologetic dork that is the more rebellious and outspoken of the group. While Liza Soberano as Raissa starts out more as the introspective nerd who is the voice of reason aa Jo gradually gets her to come out of her shell and be herself, so they got an opposites attract thing going on and it really works. Both performances are about as sturdy as durasteel, you get these characters, you like seeing them hang out, you feel for them when they speak from the heart, and I think it's wonderful. But! And oh my is this the biggest but! What pushes it so above and beyond at least in terms of the writing is the messages woven throughout regarding memory, friendship, life, and how nothing lasts forever is kinda jaw dropping. To be maybe depressingly real with you guys, I don't have a very good memory. I'm bad with names, I can't remember what I did three days ago, there's entire years of my life I just can't recall. So when the prospect of our main characters potentially losing treasured moments, the importance the film projects on not only holding onto memories but making more, the most basest of fact that memories shape your life...it was difficult not to appreciate it. I mean to a old bastard like me that's huge but to a kid, you know a single digit child watching this that could be astronomical, something that could stay with them for decades. It kinda steals your breath away. And yeah, sometimes the movie kinda ping pongs with tone and mood, not to a damaging status but certainly noticeable, but even then it doesn't diminish what the film is conveying. The animation is un-friggin'-believable, it made me just think holy fuckaroli we have come a long ass way since Toy Story. The colors, the motion, the heavily anime inspired reactions and art style at times, like goddamn this movie is gorgeous! Might even be the best animated film I've seen in a good while from here in the West to be fair, like sweet babeh jeezus! It's pretty damn funny too, it probably speaks to my early 2000s humor and soul but most of the jokes got a good laugh out of me! It can have a moment but it's not afraid to get wild and offbeat either. So the story is rock solid, the performances are great, the production is reaching the heavens, and whatever grumbles I might have with it can be looked past. I can see this being a influential and timeless story decades in the future for this generation and I can indeed recommend it. I give it 3 stars, 8/10, and ohhhh next week is where the fun truly begins on this show!
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