Before becoming a film major, I used to create animations myself during college, and it even reached a point where I incorporated some animation into my final thesis project during my Master's degree. So what does that mean? It means I love animation so much. So when I found out that there would be a new animated film, Forgotten Island, especially one set in Filipino culture, I got so excited to see how this movie would turn out.

But as someone living here in South Korea, I wasn't so sure if it would be released here since there are a lot of Korean films being released during Chuseok, too. I was just so happy when I checked CGV and found out that they would be releasing it here! So I bought a ticket on the opening day.

Title: Forgotten Island

Running Time: 1 hour and 49 minutes

Photo from Mega Asia

H.E.R. as Jo

Liza Soberano as Raissa

Dave Franco as Raww

Lea Salonga as Manang

Jenny Slate as Batiba

Manny Jacinto as Bungi

Dolly de Leon as Lola Fatima

Jo Koy as Datu

Ronny Chieng as King Truffle Wuffle

Kevin McCann as Prince Mermahn

Amielynn Abellera as Raissa's Mother

Plot: Forgotten Island is about two lifelong best friends, Jo and Raissa, who get trapped in a mythical world called Nakali. In order for them to get out, they have to give up their memories of their friendship. As they try to find their way home, they also have to confront the things that have been affecting their friendship and their own personal struggles.

Aside from the fact that the problem is also universal - friendship, separation, and breakups - the animation itself is based on Filipino culture. From the very start of the film, my friend and I couldn't stop laughing because we could see ourselves in those scenes - the classroom, the bracelet, the folklore - there are just too many to mention. I love Filipinos being represented in movies, and this time, they really did a great job showing those. Not to mention my favorite karaoke scene and the lip-pointing scene. Girl, they nailed it.

There is this certain scene that, even until the end, I can't forget. It is when Raissa was trying to tell Jo that she was moving abroad to study. And when she did, the chicken behind Jo was burnt and the fire alarm got triggered, which also triggered Jo's tears to flow as seen in her eyeliner. It was a nice way to show how Jo was feeling inside visually, that she was not okay even if she wanted to show Raissa that she was happy for her.

As someone who just finished studying Film here in South Korea, I remember how my professors kept telling me to "show, don't tell." Make the audience know the story even if there are fewer lines. And I believe this particular scene was able to do that pretty well.

This isn't the first animation film to do that. A lot of animated films have already done a mixture of 2D and 3D animation. But what I like about this is that it mixed them so fluidly that sometimes I forgot that I was watching a 3D animated film. They were able to put the 2D animations in the right moments, which made the storytelling more fun.

Aside from that, I noticed during the credits that the Philippine team of Snipple Animation seemed to have worked on this film, too. There are a lot of Filipinos in the credits, so I was also happy. This is just proof that Filipinos can also excel in the arts as long as they are given the budget and opportunity. I hope we can also have more animation films in the Philippines.

Each character has their own struggles, which are also common in the Philippine setting. Well, maybe it's also universal. Raissa struggles with unexpressed feelings because somehow she is afraid of hurting her friend. Jo struggles with grief after her grandmother's death, a lack of life direction, and a deep fear of abandonment. Manang is feared by everyone, not knowing that she lost something so precious that even she didn't realize was lost. Bungi, who at first struggles to leave his comfort zone, is afraid of leaving his mom and growing up. Batiba doesn't have a memory of her own. Raww struggles to control himself. Prince Mermahn has his need for attention. These characters have their own struggles, but what caught my attention the most is Bungi.

There was a scene wherein the mother said it was time to cut the umbilical cord and that it was time for Bungi to leave and go on an adventure on his own. I was able to relate to this so much. As someone who has been under the intense care of my family as an only child, I really had a hard time going out and creating an adventure for myself. Just like Bungi, I was also telling myself that my family needed me to stay, which is why I didn't want to leave the house. I always used my parents as the reason, but in fact, I was just afraid of the outside world.

But guess what? I have overcome it, just like Bungi, because now I'm living here in South Korea. The real adventure is out there, outside the house, not inside the four corners of our comfort zone.

I love fast-paced films, my friends know that. I get bored when I watch slow-paced shows. So when I say this film is super fast, it's really super fast. There were so many things happening, especially in the first part of the film, that didn't allow me to process everything as a whole. I had the perk of being a Filipino, so I understood where they were coming from, but for someone who doesn't know Filipino culture, I think it was too fast to let them appreciate the culture itself.

There were slow moments, but they were fewer than expected. Because of the fast pacing of the film, it became so overwhelming. And there were some emotional parts that didn't hit as much as they should have because of how fast the pacing was, which for me was a little bit disappointing. The storytelling would have been much deeper and more impactful if only the pacing was just right.

But from a production perspective, I understand that budget may have played a big role in this, so they had to make sure the running time was less than two hours. But how I wished it would have been a little longer, too, to allow people to breathe at times and give the characters the arc that they needed.

I actually have mixed feelings about the sound design, too. I like it, to be honest. The use of all those small sound effects, the right BGM used, and the audio cleanups were great. It really gave you the feeling of being in a rush like them. But because it gave me that feeling, my ears got tired, too. Haha. I even reached a point where I sighed in relief when it was on a quiet, slow pace. My ears were able to rest for a short while. And then, boom, back to the intense feels.

I don't know if it's just me getting older, but I really felt tired after, haha. But again, it was nice because it gave me that kind of feeling and emotion needed for the scene.

I'll include the soundtrack in this part, too. I love the songs here, whether they are original songs or covers. Everything hits home. And I am also happy to know that Filipino singers got to sing the songs, too.

The story itself is pretty straightforward about two friends who are about to get separated because of life. There were some parts of the film that hurt so much, especially when Raissa's mom compared Jo to a boulder that weighs Raissa, a rocket, down. If I were to hear that from my friend's mom, I would have gotten hurt so much that I might be the one to let go of the friendship. But that's what I like about Jo: she didn't let what other people think of her ruin their friendship.

But throughout the whole film, I understood the importance of communication in friendship, too. Sometimes, we are too afraid to hurt our friends' feelings, so we hide a lot of things from them. That's the thing: when too many emotions are being hidden and buried, one day they will fire back at us and end up hurting them, too. Just like in a relationship, friendships should also grow together. And one way is through communication.

I'm just happy that through their journey in Nakali Island, they were able to fix all those misunderstandings and were able to become better versions of themselves. At the same time, I also felt satisfied with the ending of the film because they showed how both of them became each other's motivation to achieve their dreams instead of becoming someone who weighs the other down.

One thing I would want to know, though, is what is the memory Manang lost that it reached a point where she hated everyone? I'm very curious about it.

This was the line that kept being repeated throughout the whole film. This is also the line wherein there was such discourse in the online community. Yes, they could have used the phrase "Tara na" because this is the most commonly used in the Philippines. But while watching the film, this "Tayo Na" line somehow gave me a different look.

Maybe they were aiming for a play on words? That "Tayo na," which means "Let's Go," may also mean "Tayo na," which means to stand up - to stand up for their friendship and not let any person or monster remove their memories from them.

This is just my own interpretation, and I'm not saying it is what it means. I just felt like that kind of message hit me.

And also, since I watched it in Korean cinemas, there were Korean subtitles in it. As far as I remembered, they just put "Tayo Na" as it is written in Korean. I'm not a pro in Korean, but I just felt like the subtitle somehow was not able to capture it well. There were even parts where they didn't even put a subtitle on it, like the "Tabi-tabi po." Well, I understand it's hard since there's no direct translation to capture the meaning of it, but it's just sad that they won't be able to fully grasp the meaning behind it.

I love how they showed photos of the voice actors with their best friends. It really hit hard. As someone who doesn't have one best friend (hi friends, if you're reading this, I love you, you're my friends) I felt teary and hoped that I also have a best friend I can call a best friend. Someone I can share details about everything in my life with and not just a part of it.

I enjoyed watching the film. It's really a refreshing change from all the films I have been watching recently. It's really nice to see how the film's background is in Filipino culture. I feel so represented. I hope there will be more animations about Filipino culture and even more Filipino animators to work on them.

As someone who has studied animation, pursued Film Production, and is also a Filipino, seeing a major animated film embrace Filipino folklore and culture was something I genuinely appreciated. I also loved seeing Filipino artists and performers involved in the project. The film itself was developed around Filipino mythology and culture, and the production included Filipino artists, including the team at Snipple Animation.

Let's support art and the Filipino community!