Forgotten Island is putting Filipino folklore on DreamWorks Animation’s cinema calendar, and the leading women bring serious credentials. Liza Soberano is an actress known for Forevermore, My Ex and Whys and Lisa Frankenstein, while H.E.R. is the singer and actress whose honours include five Grammy Awards and an Academy Award. They voice Raissa and Jo respectively, two childhood best friends facing separate futures.
Joel Crawford and Filipino-American filmmaker Januel Mercado wrote and directed the adventure, which Mark Swift produced. The trio previously collaborated on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. The supporting voice cast includes Dave Franco, Lea Salonga and Dolly de Leon, alongside Manny Jacinto, Jenny Slate, Jo Koy and Ronny Chieng. For Dubai’s kabayans, this combination of Filipino storytelling and a major animated production is an enticing reason to plan a cinema outing.
Forgotten Island Puts Its Besties’ Memories on the Line
Jo and Raissa have been friends since grade school, but high school graduation threatens their familiar partnership as they prepare to pursue separate paths after years of growing up together. Their final evening together takes an extraordinary detour after a mysterious portal transports them to Nakali. This magical island contains creatures from the stories their Filipino families told them as children. Bestie farewell plans become a supernatural survival assignment, and protecting a ride-or-die bond becomes the priority.
Returning home could cost the pair every memory of their friendship, which is a brutal bargain for two people who have known each other since childhood. The premise asks an unsettling question about identity, because forgetting your closest friend also means losing your recollection of growing up together. A well-intentioned but hapless weredog named Raww joins their adventure alongside a small band of allies. Opposing them is the Dreaded Manananggal, the island’s most feared creature, so the itinerary includes danger alongside that emotional gut punch and the urgent question of what a homecoming might sacrifice.
The Filipino Details Worth Catching
Nakali’s mythology is only part of the cultural appeal, because everyday Filipino gestures also receive attention in the characters’ behaviour and their depiction of daily life. Characters point using their lips, a wonderfully specific touch for anyone accustomed to that unspoken method of indicating something. Jo’s grandmother Fatima features in the story, while the domestic imagery includes food and an image of Jesus on a wall. For anyone who recognises those gestures immediately, this is prime elbow-your-seatmate material and a reason to appreciate the small choices alongside the supernatural spectacle.
Even the portal has a Philippine connection, taking its design from the sun on the national flag. That symbol recurs throughout the film, including on Nakali, extending the visual idea into the magical landscape. The invitation is to notice the artwork as carefully as the creatures, because a recognisable national symbol helps introduce the journey into unfamiliar territory. The cultural Easter-egg hunt is on, kabayan, and recognising that emblem offers an extra layer to appreciate amid the island’s magical creatures.
Forgotten Island Queues a Seriously Stacked Soundtrack
The playlist assignment begins at BINI’s “A Parallel World,” an original song written and produced by Nathan Matthew David and Shawn Wasabi. Its melody incorporates the friendship theme composed for Jo and Raissa, giving the song a specific relationship to the film’s score. Its recording pairs the group’s vocals and Tagalog lyrics alongside an orchestra recorded at Abbey Road. For a pre-cinema listening session, that relationship offers something specific to listen for beneath the pop arrangement, so queue it up.
The soundtrack also includes “BRB,” performed by H.E.R. and Liza Soberano, alongside SB19’s “Mga Kababayan.” Lea Salonga features on several selections, including “Ninakaw Sa Akin,” “Magnanakaw” and “Bahagi Mo,” as well as BINI’s “A Parallel World” Amping Mix. Other titles include “Kapre,” “Sarimanok” and “Paalam, Nakali,” giving the tracklist a Filipino vocabulary that connects its musical selections to the beings and locations of the adventure. The album’s September 18 release supplies a listening date for the complete collection ahead of the film’s September 25 US theatrical opening.
The UAE Loves Its Kabayans
Far away from the warm embrace of the Philippine islands, thousands and thousands of Filipino beating hearts have made the UAE their home. Every single day, the unsung kabayans pour their sweat, tears, and dedication into the very fabric of this land.
This movie is to give them an even extra push to hold their heads up high. It is for the heroes who walk the gleaming streets of Dubai and the UAE with a pocket full of dreams and a heart filled with the memories of the homeland they left behind.
When audiences watch Jo and Raissa face the devastating fear of losing each other, they are not just watching a film. They are looking into a mirror that depicts the sacrifices of the diaspora yet they get up and fight because they are doing everything they do out of sheer love and passion. It is the challenging, yet beautiful struggle of keeping friendships alive when oceans pull people apart, and the fragile art of anchoring one's soul to one's roots while navigating a life across the seas.
Loved ones, trusted friends, and even colleagues who wish to understand the magical folklore that cradled the kabayans’ childhood can gather together. This cinema night can be a sanctuary where people shed tears of joy together, celebrate a beautifully resilient culture, and lift up the everyday community that keeps spirits alive.
For the Filipinos, stepping into the theater with pride in their chests and love in their eyes will let the world finally applaud the magnificent, invisible giants who tirelessly emblazon the true spirit of the Philippines wherever they go.
