A good story premise should grab your interest right away, and Dreamworks’ next animated feature Forgotten Island has quite a grabber. Jo and Raissa have been besties their entire lives, but the looming reality of separate colleges after graduation threatens to tear them apart. Relatable (and told before), but the real hook comes when the girls are warped onto the mythical island of Nakali, and told they may not be able to escape the enchanted land without losing their memories of each other.
Being separated by hundreds of miles is one thing…forgetting your best friend ENTIRELY is another. Can Jo and Raissa figure out how to get out of their predicament without losing each other forever? It’s a great idea with high emotional potential, but as today’s Annecy trailer proves, the animators have added some extra zing to it. Following in the footsteps of Sony Pictures Animation, Dreamworks has pizazzed the presentation with shifting animation techniques, wild cartoon takes, and lots of hand-drawn flair.
The new trailer introduces two new characters no one’s seen before: Jo and Raissa’s ally Raww the Weredog, and the picture’s villain, The Dreaded Manananggal. It turns out the Manananggal is the one responsible for people’s memories being lost, so…now that the source has been identified, there’s hope. If they can stand up to someone so powerful, that is…
Grammy winner H.E.R. voices Jo in Forgotten Island, while Liza Soberano (Lisa Frankenstein, Alone/Together) plays Raissa. Dave Franco is Raww, and Tony winner Lea Salonga voices the Manananggal (no word on if she’ll sing). Other voices include Jenny Slate (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place, Top Gun: Maverick), Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness), comedian Jo Koy (Haunted Mansion) and Ronny Chieng (M3GAN).
Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado wrote and directed the picture, and Mark Swift served as producer…they were previously the team behind Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, one of Dreamworks’ better recent films. Forgotten Island has all the ingredients to become the animation sensation of the fall. We’ll find out if it can achieve that status on September 25, when it’s released in theaters.
