New fantasy movie smashes The Odyssey’s record as critics hail it one of the year’s best
Forgotten Island is already a hit on Rotten Tomatoes, and the movie’s critical acclaim illustrates how underrated animation has been in the 2020s. Since lockdown, numerous news publications and prognosticators have made a big deal about box office numbers not booming like they were pre-2020. However, two genres have led cinemas out of that dark spot, and animation deserves its credit alongside horror for the box office turnaround. Forgotten Island shows off every facet of why animation is a medium, not a genre.
First off, DreamWorks Animation’s latest release sits at 100 percent on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. That’s more than The Odyssey‘s record! These 42 reviews all point to the emotional journey that directors Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado take the audience on. Liza Soberano’s Raissa and H.E.R.’s Jo are inseparable best friends thrust into a mystical world when they enter the rockiest patch of their relationship. That’s the makings of a good animated film, but it’s more than just emotion.
One thing Forgotten Island nails is tone. Set in the 1990s, both the Philippines and Nakali sing with the song of specificity. These girls are invested in pop culture, and in more ways than just references. Jo and Raissa’s anxieties about their looming futures after high school, family struggles, and public perception don’t just evaporate once they jump through a magical portal. Forgotten Island’s real magic is speaking directly to an audience’s past and present at once.
Film critic Courtney Howard argued as much in her review for Fresh Fiction. She wrote, “There’s a universality found in the specificity. Foods, folklore, family, and the native language all hold resonance, occasionally subtle in their inclusion, but (almost literally) speaking volumes in their profundity.” People who have seen the film heartily agree with her take.
Forgotten Island is the latest example that ‘specificity’ wins on the big screen
Last year, two films took the Hollywood spotlight for weeks on end. Yes, One Battle After Another won Best Picture at the Oscars. The Summer belonged to Sinners and KPOP Demon Hunters. Both movies leaned heavily into the experiences of one specific community to tell a story about the larger world. Tons of people outside Mississippi and Korea saw themselves in the protagonists. It’s not surprising that Forgotten Island is stacking up acclaim before release.
Forgotten Island makes its case for the Philippines being magical without going into Nakali before we ever venture into mysticism. The charm of a place that might be geographically separated from where we are, but familiar to an audience who has never visited, is evident. Small towns can be small towns whether we’re on an island or not. (Digital life makes a lot of small towns feel and function like islands now, for what it is worth!) It’s hyper-specific but infinitely relatable for a lot of the people watching.
We arrive at Jo and Raissa’s enduring friendship. Though the audience is largely adults, they can remember the fast friendships lost to time. As Kristen Lopez from The Film Maven said, “how what we remember becomes a powerful talisman to bind us to the people we love.” Time can push people in different directions, but that doesn’t mean the friendship wasn’t heartfelt, real, and impactful. Of course, our memories are our greatest possessions. In that way, we’re not very different from our protagonists. It’s easy to root for them to find a way back home together with their friendship intact.
Animation as a medium doing heavy lifting
2026’s “year in review” will gleefully praise Horror for “setting things right at the box office.” And, to be fair, the genre has been holding up its end of the bargain at the multiplex. Obsession, Backrooms, and Resident Evil have all been big crowd-pleasers. (Horror fans, go find indie crowd-pleaser It Ends as we head into the latter part of 2026. You’ll be glad you did!) Animation has been doing its thing over here too, and with one-third of the fanfare.
Forgotten Island comes from the DreamWorks’ Puss in Boots: The Last Wish team. The pedigree is apparent. It joins a year at the movies that has featured a billion-dollar box office for Toy Story 5. Hoppers, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, GOAT, and the most interesting Minions movie in years also bowed. None of these have enjoyed the press love their Horror counterparts have, save for Toy Story and Mario. Look at the 2026 box office totals, and you can see animation is pulling its weight just the same.
Hopefully, being set against Robert Pattinson’s new A24 drama and the re-release of the MCU’s most popular movie (“non-Spider-Man: Brand New Day division”) doesn’t make people overlook Forgotten Island. That would be a shame because this movie has everything audiences say they want from the cinema now. In reality, animation has been providing that for the entire decade. Take that leap of faith and bring a friend, because Forgotten Island is just the latest example of how this medium is helping bring theaters back.
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