Forgotten Island: The Acclaimed DreamWorks Movie That Opened Quietly

What is Forgotten Island actually about?

Forgotten Island is a fantasy adventure comedy set in the Philippines in the 1990s. Its heroes are Jo and Raissa, two childhood best friends who are about to be separated because Raissa is preparing to leave for college in the United States. On what is essentially the last night before things change, a mysterious portal carries them to Nakali, a fantastical island. The catch, and it is a lovely one, is that on Nakali memories gradually fade the longer a person stays. To get home, the two of them have to escape before they forget each other.

That is the whole engine of the film, and it is a smart one. A story about a friendship that is about to be tested by distance gets externalized as a literal island that erases you. Reviewers picked up on the emotional shape of this: one review describes twelve hours that test a lifelong bond, and the directors themselves have said they hope viewers leave the theater wanting to call their own best friend.

The two heroes have distinct personalities. Common Sense Media describes Raissa as a STEM-minded kid who builds a rocket and gets into a top science university, and Jo as the imaginative, adventurous one. Along the way, according to one parent-focused review, they lose the sand dollar that transports them and have to navigate creatures and their own memories to find a way back before the departure.

The film is 108 minutes long, rated PG by the MPA for animated sequences of scary action, language, rude humor, thematic elements, some violence and brief tobacco imagery, and it is distributed by Universal Pictures. It premiered at the Annecy Festival in June 2026, where the Wikipedia article on the film reports a five-minute standing ovation, and it had a world premiere in Los Angeles on September 23 at the Lucas Museum for Narrative Art, per NBCUniversal.

Who voices the characters in Forgotten Island?

The cast is a fascinating mix of pop stars, Broadway royalty and comedians, with a real emphasis on Filipino and Filipino-American talent.

• H.E.R. as Jo Fatima. The Grammy and Oscar winner, who has Filipino heritage through her mother.
• Liza Soberano as Raissa Molina. The Filipino-American actress.
• Dave Franco as Raww, a were-aspin, the film's weredog.
• Manny Jacinto as Bungi, a tiyanak.
• Jenny Slate as Batiba, a batibat.
• Lea Salonga as Manang, the Manananggal.
• Dolly de Leon as Lola Fatima.
• Jo Koy as Datu, a kapre.
• Ronny Chieng as Truffle Wuffle, the Duwende King.
• Nico Santos as Starfish Pastie.
• Kevin McCann appears as Prince Mermahn.

A couple of these deserve a word. H.E.R. has won five Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year in 2021 for I Can't Breathe, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2021 for Fight for You from Judas and the Black Messiah. She plays guitar, and her acting work has included The Color Purple (2023). In an interview, she recalled that when she was a kid, her mum would always say, in a half-joking warning, that the Manananggal was gonna get her, so playing a character who goes head to head with one has a personal edge.

Lea Salonga is the most storied name in the cast. She originated the role of Kim in Miss Saigon in the West End in 1989, winning a Laurence Olivier Award, then won a Tony Award on Broadway in 1991 as the first actress of Asian descent to do so in the Best Actress in a Musical category. She provided the singing voices of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin (1992) and the title character in Mulan (1998), which made her a Disney Legend in 2011. Reporting notes that in 2026 she becomes the first Filipino to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Casting her as the villain, the fearsome Manananggal, is a witty choice for those who know her Disney history.

Liza Soberano, meanwhile, spoke about representation in an interview, saying there have always been Filipinos in Hollywood but that it is only now that there has really been a spotlight shown on them. That sentiment shows up in the whole production, which the directors have framed as a love letter.

Who made Forgotten Island?

The film was directed and written by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, with Mark Swift producing, Nathan Matthew David composing the score and James Ryan editing. DreamWorks Animation announced the project in April 2025, released a first trailer on March 25, 2026, and screened footage at CinemaCon on April 15, 2026.

The pair are a proven team. Crawford directed Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), the painterly, unexpectedly mature sequel that opened to $12.4 million domestically, earned a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score, was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, and went on to gross roughly $480 million worldwide. Mercado worked alongside him on that project. The two met working on Kung Fu Panda 2 and have described their friendship as one that runs back to their early DreamWorks days.

The personal connection to the story is deep and well documented. Mercado is Filipino-American. Crawford's wife was born in the Philippines, and Crawford has said he drew heavily on the strong women in his life, including his wife of over twenty years. Mercado named the character Jo after his sister Joann. In one interview, the pair said, "We both have personal connections to the Philippines, so this movie is a love letter to our families and a culture that shaped our values." It is also described as the first Philippine-themed animated feature from a major U.S. studio.

The directors have talked about unusual creative touchstones. They have mentioned The Hangover as an inspiration for the narrative structure, in the sense of a chaotic night you piece together, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for the emotional storytelling around memory. A big night, a lost memory, a bond at stake: once you see the reference points, the design of the story clicks into place.

What is the Filipino folklore behind Forgotten Island?

Much of what makes the film distinctive is that its monsters are not generic fantasy creatures. They come from Philippine folklore, and a little background makes the movie richer.

The Manananggal is the film's main antagonist, voiced by Lea Salonga. In folklore, it is a being, most often depicted as female, that can separate its upper body from its lower half, sprouting wings and hunting at night. The creature originates from the Visayan regions of the Philippines, and its name derives from the Tagalog word tanggal, meaning to remove or to separate. Folklore says the detached lower half is its vulnerability, and traditional defenses include salt, garlic, ash and fire applied to that lower half. Wikipedia notes the creature has appeared in Filipino cinema since a 1927 silent film. It is also what the film's designers chose to make the scariest thing on screen, and Common Sense Media warns it can sometimes be very scary.

The tiyanak is a vampiric creature that disguises itself as a crying infant. In folklore it reverts to its true form when someone picks it up. The film's Bungi, voiced by Manny Jacinto, is inspired by it, but the filmmakers reimagined the idea as a comic character, a two hundred year old who never left home.

The batibat is described in folklore as an ancient, tree-dwelling female spirit that attacks sleepers, linked in Ilocano and Tagalog tradition to sleep paralysis and nightmares. In the film, Jenny Slate voices Batiba.

The kapre is a tall, hairy, muscular tree-dwelling giant said to smoke cigars or pipes, and folklore describes it as more mischievous than malevolent. That fits the film's Datu, voiced by Jo Koy.

Raww, Dave Franco's character, is a were-aspin, a weredog inspired by Philippine street dogs, according to reporting on the film.

Around the creatures are everyday Filipino details that reviewers noted, including karaoke, family gatherings, Tagalog language and jeepneys. The portal design was reportedly based on the sun from the Philippine flag, and the island's look draws on real places, including the Palawan and El Nido islands and the Chocolate Hills in Bohol.

What does Forgotten Island look and sound like?

The look of the film is one of its selling points, and also the source of most of its divided opinions.

It blends computer-generated animation with anime-influenced 2D sequences, especially in flashback and memory scenes, drawing on the visual language of Dragon Ball Z, Street Fighter and Sailor Moon. Sony Pictures Imageworks assisted on some shots, and a Philippines-based animation studio worked on the 2D sequences. The directors have described mixed media: pen and ink drawings, hand-drawn flashbacks, graphic linework and a 1990s rave culture aesthetic in places. The filmmakers used longer lenses and a shallow depth of field in the Philippines scenes and much wider lenses, in the 6mm to 8mm range, for Nakali. Character design plays tricks too: Manang's palette leans toward purples, blacks and blues, deliberately coded villainous, so that the film can subvert it later.

This is part of what one reviewer, Discussing Film's Andrew J. Salazar, called DreamWorks' revitalization era, in which the studio is willing to break away from its foundational 3D animation style for something more stylish and impressionistic, a lineup he places alongside Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Bad Guys, The Wild Robot and Dog Man.

On the music side, the soundtrack was released digitally on September 18, 2026 via Back Lot Music and features H.E.R., Lea Salonga, Bini, SB19 and other Filipino artists, plus Sophia Laforteza of Katseye, Ruby Ibarra, Guapdad 4000 and P-Lo. If you want a preview of the tone, the soundtrack is a good place to start.

What did critics say about Forgotten Island?

The short version is that the reviews are strong, the high scores are consistent across sources, and there is a real minority view worth hearing.

By the numbers, box office reporting from Slashfilm and Cartoon Brew put the Rotten Tomatoes critics score at 95% and the audience score at 96%. Earlier in the release cycle, sources reported 96% from 68 critics and, at one early point, 100% from 28 reviews, so the score has settled a little lower as reviews accumulated. Metacritic lists a Metascore of 73, which it labels generally favorable, from 23 critic reviews, with a user score of 7.4. CinemaScore gave it an A. PostTrak found 82% of audiences would definitely recommend it, and among viewers under 25, 93% were positive overall.

The raves are effusive. Scott Mendelson calls it one of DreamWorks Animation's very best movies and ranks it among the studio's top three films of the last five years, describing it as stupendously animated, endlessly inventive and exceptionally funny. Discussing Film's Salazar called it one of DreamWorks' finest animated pictures to date, praising a narrative that achieves broad accessibility through precise cultural specificity. John Daniel Tangalin at The Cosmic Circus gave it five out of five stars, calling it Crawford and Mercado's greatest animated project since Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Sean Tajipour at Nerdtropolis gave four and a half out of five, praising the friends' chemistry, saying every conversation feels natural and every disagreement carries genuine weight. He did find the final stretch a little too drawn out. Tessa Smith of Mama's Geeky gave it ten out of ten, said she was left sobbing and recommended bringing tissues. Metacritic's aggregated snippets include Variety scoring it 90, praising the film as deeply felt and fully satisfying, Polygon at 85, and Screen Rant at 80, which likened its visual complexity to Spider-Verse while noting the buddy-comedy tone may be overwhelming to some.

Then there is the other side. The Guardian is listed on Metacritic at 40, calling the film over-controlled and over-determined and saying it lacks calm and character development. Matt Goldberg at TheWrap was positive but mixed. He wrote that the film is sweet, endearing and too interesting to ignore, but that watching it is a bit like pounding energy drinks for two hours, and that the vibrancy can be like looking directly into the sun. His main criticism was that the relentless visual energy leaves no baseline, and that the film can feel like a collection of references. Another critic, Casey Chong, argued the hyperkinetic pace undermines the storytelling, and that the Filipino mythology feels underdeveloped compared to the frenetic comedy, with supporting characters such as Manang left in the background.

If I had to summarize the critical conversation in one line, it would be that nearly everyone praises the ambition, the animation and the heart, and the dividing line is stamina. People who love maximalist animation are calling it a landmark. People who prefer breathing room say it never lets them catch theirs.

How did Forgotten Island do at the box office?

Here are the numbers as reported, from Slashfilm, TheWrap and Cartoon Brew, which agree closely.

• Domestic opening weekend: $12.8 million, good for fifth place, from 3,548 theaters. TheWrap rounds it to $13 million.
• International opening: roughly $7.8 million, a total that includes a reported $1.5 million opening in the Philippines.
• Worldwide opening: about $20.6 million across 35 territories.
• Production budget: $80 million, before marketing.
• Break-even estimate: approximately $200 million worldwide, according to Slashfilm.

Those are the figures that made the headlines. An $80 million film that opens to $20.6 million worldwide needs enormously good legs to get anywhere near the black, and the trade press has been unsparing. Slashfilm's headline framing called the movie an acclaimed animated film that is nonetheless a box office flop, and its writer noted it was yet another example of a recent original animated film struggling in theaters. As of this writing, only one weekend of data exists, so everything below is about the opening, not a final tally.

Why did Forgotten Island underperform at the box office?

I want to be careful here, because box office autopsies are easy to over-explain. What follows is what the reporting says, not my own diagnosis.

The most useful framing came from Cartoon Brew's Jamie Lang, who wrote that DreamWorks does not appear to have a word-of-mouth problem; it has a getting-people-into-the-theater problem. The evidence is in the audience data. An A CinemaScore, a 96% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, and PostTrak numbers of 82% definite recommend and 93% positive among viewers under 25 do not look like a film that people disliked. Slashfilm summed it up in a line I keep coming back to: people love it, but that love did not translate to ticket sales.

TheWrap's analysis pointed at the marketing challenge. Its writer suggested it is possible that Crawford and Mercado's deep, relentless worldbuilding of Nakali, while enjoyable for those who bought a ticket, did not lend itself to an easy explanation. That is a real problem for a film like this. Compare it to a sequel with a famous cat, or a robot on an island: those sell in one sentence. A film where two friends stumble through a portal to a Filipino folklore island that erases their memories takes a full trailer, and even then the pitch is more emotional than easily summarized.

The wider climate matters too. Slashfilm called the result yet another example of a recent original animated film struggling in theaters. TheWrap's piece placed it in the company of other original animated titles that had trouble: Disney's Strange World (2022), which earned $73 million globally, and DreamWorks' own Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023), which earned $43.2 million globally per TheWrap, though Wikipedia lists $46.2 million. The pattern for family audiences over the last several years is that known brands, sequels and franchise extensions do far better than fresh ideas.

Scott Mendelson raised a more industry-minded point in his review. He observed that studios have previously doubted whether young male audiences would show up for animated films centered on teenage girls, and that Lightyear's underperformance may have influenced some of those decisions, which makes it somewhat ironic that Forgotten Island got greenlit at all. He was describing a general industry hesitation rather than diagnosing this film's opening, so I mention it as context, not as an explanation.

One more factor is worth noting: audience composition. TheWrap's PostTrak data showed a skew toward viewers under 25, with demographics comparable to The Wild Robot, which had 28% under-18 audience share. Teens and young adults are notoriously difficult to reach through traditional family-film marketing.

Is Forgotten Island really a flop, or is it too early to say?

Both statements can be true: the opening was a weak start for an $80 million film, and it is also just one weekend.

The best precedent comes from within the same DreamWorks family. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, directed by Crawford, opened to $12.4 million in December 2022, almost exactly the same as Forgotten Island, and finished with $186.1 million domestic and about $480 million worldwide. Slashfilm also noted that Illumination's Migration opened to $12.4 million in December 2023 and crossed $300 million worldwide. Pixar's Elemental, cited by TheWrap, opened to $29.6 million and finished with $154 million domestic, which shows that a soft start and strong holds can turn a story around.

But there is an important caveat. Those comeback stories both opened in December, in the holiday window, when families are typically off school and a film can play for weeks. Forgotten Island opened on a late September weekend, which is a different calendar. I have not seen reporting on how its legs will hold, so this is my own reasoning about the timing. Reaching anything like the reported $200 million break-even point would require truly exceptional word-of-mouth. I would not bet on it, and I would not blame anyone for calling the opening disappointing.

For a sense of how the year is going for animation, Cartoon Brew's report also noted Coyote vs. Acme, in its fifth weekend, earning $1.9 million to reach $58.4 million domestically after dropping from 3,035 to 1,905 theaters. We covered that movie's own strange path to theaters in our [Coyote vs. Acme guide](https://www.suggestionlabs.com/blog/coyote-vs-acme-shelved-movie-saga-worth-watching).

There is also a hopeful precedent from the streaming side. Ruby Gillman opened to just $5.5 million, DreamWorks' lowest opening weekend at that time, but later became Netflix's most-watched movie in February 2024 with over 12.3 million viewers. Films that disappoint in theaters can find a second life at home. Forgotten Island has much better reviews than Ruby Gillman did, which had a 65% Rotten Tomatoes score, so I would not be surprised if its afterlife is a lot warmer than its opening.

How does Forgotten Island compare with other recent DreamWorks films?

DreamWorks Animation was founded on October 12, 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, was spun off as its own company in 2004 and was acquired by NBCUniversal in 2016 for $3.8 billion. It is best known for Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon, and it has three Best Animated Feature Oscar wins to its name, beginning with the inaugural award for Shrek in 2001. Here is where Forgotten Island sits next to its recent stablemates.

| Film | Year | Opening (domestic) | Worldwide gross | Rotten Tomatoes | |---|---|---|---|---| | Forgotten Island | 2026 | $12.8M | $20.65M after opening weekend | 95% | | Puss in Boots: The Last Wish | 2022 | $12.4M | about $480M | 95% | | The Bad Guys | 2022 | not verified | $250.8M | 88% | | Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken | 2023 | $5.5M | $46.2M | 65% | | The Wild Robot | 2024 | $35.8M | $334.1M | 97% | | Dog Man | 2025 | $36M | $145.6M | 82% |

The comparison tells a few stories. On quality, Forgotten Island sits with the best of the studio's recent output, in the same 95% territory as Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and a hair under The Wild Robot's 97%. Multiple critics have said as much. Mendelson explicitly puts it alongside Puss in Boots and The Wild Robot as DreamWorks' elite recent work, and Salazar groups it with the same lineup.

On stylistic ambition, it belongs to the same wave. The Bad Guys drew inspiration from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and adopted a more illustrative and stylized look. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish used new technology to get a painterly, fairy-tale-illustration aesthetic. The Wild Robot's director, Chris Sanders, described his look as a Monet painting in a Miyazaki forest, with CGI characters and hand-painted surfaces. Forgotten Island is arguably the most maximalist of the group, adding anime-style 2D and a rave-culture energy.

On commercial performance, the film is closer to the disappointments than the successes so far, which is the puzzle. It has the reviews of The Wild Robot and the opening of Puss in Boots, without either film's ability to fill theaters.

One of the oddities of DreamWorks' recent run is that its biggest hits have often been the sequels and the adaptations of known material, such as Dog Man, which had a $40 million budget and earned $145.6 million worldwide. The original stories with real ambition, from Ruby Gillman to Forgotten Island, have had to fight harder. That does not mean the studio should stop making them. It means moviegoers should show up for them.

Where can you watch Forgotten Island?

Right now, in theaters. Forgotten Island opened in the U.S. on September 25, 2026, and it is a theatrical exclusive for the moment. It opened in Australia on September 17 and is scheduled for the UAE on October 15.

What about streaming? I could not verify a digital or streaming date, and I do not want to guess. Entertainment sites have speculated about a digital release as soon as late October, based on how quickly comparable DreamWorks and Universal titles reached digital storefronts, and about a Peacock arrival around late December, based on the pattern of DreamWorks titles following their digital release by roughly three months or more. Those dates are speculation. DreamWorks has not announced an official digital rollout, and no Peacock date has been announced. If that changes, I will update this page.

My practical advice: if you want to see it in its intended form, go while it is still in theaters. The animation is the star, the sound design and the soundtrack benefit from a theater, and, as discussed above, a strong opening weekend is the most direct way an audience can vote for original animation.

Is Forgotten Island suitable for kids? Who is it for?

The film is rated PG, and every parent guide I read agrees that it sits at the more intense end of PG. Recommendations vary:

• Common Sense Media gives an age rating of 8 and up.
• Children and Media Australia advises that it is not suitable for children under 9, recommends parental guidance up to 11, and considers it appropriate for 12 and over.
• Movie Mom recommends it for fourth to sixth grade and up.
• Kids In Mind rates it 1 for sex and nudity, 3 for violence and 2 for language.
• Movieguide, a faith-based guide, rates it as a skip, citing scary imagery, crude humor and its pagan spirit world.

What is actually in it? The scariest element is the Manananggal, the fanged, wings-and-detachable-body villain, which parent reviewers say can be intense, and there is peril involving small armed creatures who chase the two girls and throw spears. Movieguide's notes mention a bus crash, a girl nearly drowning and supernatural battles. There is a good amount of crude humor: a weredog who urinates constantly, fart and butt jokes and a fire-breathing gag. The language is mild for most families, with words like damn, hell and piss appearing, and there is brief tobacco imagery, which is part of the MPA rating. The emotional content is heavier than the trailers suggest, since it deals with loss, separation and the fear of drifting from someone you love. One review includes a note about a grandmother character who dies offscreen.

Who, then, is it for? I would put it this way:

Best for: families with kids around 8 or 9 and up, teens, and adults who love animation. Anyone who has ever had a friendship changed by distance. Fans of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Spider-Verse and The Wild Robot. Filipino and Filipino-American families who rarely see their culture at the center of a studio animated film.

Maybe not for: very young or sensitive children who may find the villain frightening, viewers who dislike fast, chaotic editing and maximalist animation, and families who prefer their humor without bathroom jokes.

What should you watch based on your mood?

Since this is the part we care about most on this site, here is how I would pick.

If you want an emotional cry with a smile, Forgotten Island itself, plus a box of tissues, if the reviews are any guide. One critic said she left sobbing.

If you want something visually dazzling, pair it with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which has a painterly fairy-tale look and a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score, or The Wild Robot, whose look was described by its director as a Monet painting in a Miyazaki forest.

If you want pure laughs, The Bad Guys, which has an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score and was described in its consensus as fast-paced, funny and full of colorful visual appeal.

If you want a gentler friendship story, The Wild Robot again, or, if you have a younger child, Dog Man, which is a kid-friendly comedy rated 82% by critics.

If you want something quirky and unexpected, try Coyote vs. Acme, and then read about why it took so long to reach theaters.

If you want to go down the folklore rabbit hole, watch the movie, then read up on the manananggal, the tiyanak, the batibat and the kapre. They make the movie's jokes land harder.

If you liked this, try these next

If you liked the animation style: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is the obvious partner, since the same director, Crawford, made it. If you want to see what the DreamWorks stylistic experiments look like at their most polished, add The Bad Guys.

If you liked the friendship and memory story: The directors cite Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as an emotional inspiration, though that film is an adult drama and definitely not for kids. For a family version of the memory theme, The Wild Robot is a good pick.

If you liked the night-of-chaos structure: The directors mention The Hangover as a structural reference. That one is strictly for adults, and it is here only as a curiosity about how the story was built.

If you liked the music: The soundtrack, with H.E.R., Lea Salonga, Bini and SB19, is a good listen on its own. If you are curious about Salonga's other work, the Disney classics Aladdin and Mulan both feature her singing voice.

If you want to support original animation: Watch this one in a theater.

My honest take on Forgotten Island

A quick disclaimer on how I am writing this: I have not seen the film myself, and I do not want to pretend otherwise. What follows is my opinion built on the reviews, the audience scores, the reporting on the box office and what the filmmakers have said. I plan to watch it, and if my view changes I will tell you.

With that said, I have a strong point of view on the story around this movie, and it is that the phrase acclaimed box office flop is doing too much work.

Yes, the opening is weak. An $80 million film that opens to $12.8 million domestically is in trouble, and I am not going to argue with the arithmetic. If the break-even is really near $200 million, this is going to be a hard climb.

But labeling it a flop after one weekend does two things I do not love. It treats box office as a verdict on quality, which we all know it is not, and it turns a marketing and audience-habit problem into a stain on the film. Every data point that measures what people think of the movie is excellent. The critics are in the mid 90s. The audience score is 96%. The CinemaScore is an A. Young viewers under 25 gave it 93% positive. When people see this film, they like it, and often love it. That is not what a bad movie looks like. It is what a hard-to-sell movie looks like.

And it is hard to sell for good reasons. It is original. It is specific. It is set in a culture that Hollywood animation has barely touched. It has a plot that cannot be explained in a hashtag. It has a director who told interviewers that this is a love letter to his family and a culture that shaped his values. All of the things that make it special are also the things that make marketing departments nervous. If audiences say they want original animation, and I hear that constantly, this is the exact kind of film that request is supposed to produce.

As for the movie itself, I am drawn to it, with reservations. The reservations come from the critics who did not fall in love. I take the energy drinks line from TheWrap seriously. I have a real weakness for maximalist animation, but there is a point at which speed becomes noise, and reviewers I respect said the film sometimes crosses it. I also take the criticism about the mythology seriously. The idea of a film built around Filipino folklore that rushes past its own monsters to get to the next gag is a legitimate concern. Salonga as the Manananggal, in particular, is the kind of casting that makes you want more screen time than you might get. So I will go in expecting spectacle and heart, and not necessarily depth.

What excites me most is the emotional design. The premise, in which a place literally erases what you love, is a strong metaphor for the moment when childhood friendships get tested by adulthood. That is universal, and it is the reason a reviewer wrote that it achieves broad accessibility through precise cultural specificity. It is also why the directors' line about hoping viewers finish the film wanting to call their best friend is so good. Movies that make you want to text someone are rare.

My practical advice is simple. If you have a teenager, or a kid around nine or older who can handle a scary villain, take them this weekend. If you are an adult who loves animation, go on your own. If you are on the fence, watch the trailer and check the parent guides above. And if you cannot get to a theater, put it on your list for when it reaches digital, because I suspect this is a film that will be much loved in a year, regardless of what it earns in the next two weeks.

Frequently asked questions

What is Forgotten Island about? Two childhood best friends in 1990s Philippines, Jo and Raissa, discover a portal on the eve of Raissa leaving for college in the U.S. It takes them to Nakali, an island of Filipino folklore creatures where memories fade the longer you stay, so they must escape before they forget each other.

Who voices the main characters? H.E.R. voices Jo and Liza Soberano voices Raissa. The cast also includes Dave Franco, Manny Jacinto, Jenny Slate, Lea Salonga, Dolly de Leon, Jo Koy, Ronny Chieng and Nico Santos.

Who directed Forgotten Island? Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado co-directed and co-wrote it. Crawford previously directed Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Mark Swift produced.

How did critics review Forgotten Island? Very well overall: 95% on Rotten Tomatoes according to box office reporting, and 73 on Metacritic from 23 reviews. Praise centered on the animation, humor and heart, while some critics found the pace exhausting and the world thinly developed.

How much did Forgotten Island make on opening weekend? $12.8 million domestically for a fifth-place finish and about $20.65 million worldwide, against a reported $80 million production budget before marketing.

Why did Forgotten Island underperform at the box office? Reporters have pointed to a struggle to get people into theaters rather than a word-of-mouth problem, a highly original premise that is hard to explain in marketing, and a tough climate for original animated films. Audience scores were strong, which suggests the film could still find its audience.

Is Forgotten Island a flop? The opening was weak against an $80 million budget and a break-even point reported near $200 million worldwide, but it is one weekend of data. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish opened to a similar $12.4 million and went on to earn roughly $480 million. Forgotten Island will need very strong legs to follow that path.

Is Forgotten Island suitable for kids? It is rated PG. Common Sense Media suggests 8 and up, citing a scary demon villain, some peril and crude humor. Sensitive younger children may find the Manananggal frightening.

When will Forgotten Island be on streaming or digital? No official digital or Peacock date has been announced. Outlets have speculated about a digital release around late October and Peacock around late December based on past Universal and DreamWorks patterns, but none of that is confirmed.

Is Forgotten Island worth watching? Yes, especially on the big screen and especially if you like inventive, emotional animation such as Puss in Boots: The Last Wish or The Wild Robot. If you dislike hyperkinetic pacing or crude humor, read the caveats first.

Looking for your next movie night pick? Take our mood-based quiz at https://www.suggestionlabs.com/quiz/movies and let us do the deciding for you.