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Spoiler notice: This spoiler-free guide covers the premise and characters revealed by DreamWorks. It does not disclose the ending.
Jo and Raissa have been best friends since childhood. Graduation should be the beginning of a new chapter, but it also means their lives are about to move in different directions.
During their final night together, the two friends discover a mysterious portal and are transported to Nakali, a fantastical island populated by creatures they grew up hearing about from their Filipino families.
At first, Nakali appears to be the kind of adventure that could give them one final unforgettable memory. Then they learn what returning home may cost.
The island demands the memories of their friendship as the price of escape.
If Jo and Raissa cannot find another way home, they may leave Nakali without remembering why they ever mattered to one another.
A friendship already facing change
Before the portal appears, Jo and Raissa are confronting an ordinary but painful problem: growing up does not guarantee that two people will continue growing in the same direction.
They have shared their childhood, school years and family stories. Now separate futures are waiting for them. New opportunities could create physical and emotional distance, even if neither friend wants to admit how much that possibility frightens them.
Their last night together carries an unspoken question. Is their friendship strong enough to survive the lives they are about to begin?
Nakali transforms that question into a literal threat. Instead of slowly drifting apart, Jo and Raissa begin facing the possibility that everything they shared could be removed from their minds.
The world of Nakali
Nakali is filled with magical and mythological beings drawn from stories familiar to Jo and Raissa through their Filipino heritage.
Some creatures offer help. Others view the newcomers as intruders or prey. The island makes the stories of their childhood real, but it does not guarantee that those stories will unfold the way they remember.
They are joined by Raww, a well-intentioned but unreliable weredog voiced by Dave Franco. He becomes part of the small group helping them navigate the island, although good intentions do not always produce useful results.
The greatest confirmed threat is the Dreaded Manananggal, voiced by Lea Salonga. In Filipino folklore, the manananggal is a terrifying creature capable of separating its upper body and hunting through the night.
DreamWorks has not revealed the complete confrontation, but the creature’s presence gives Jo and Raissa a clear enemy while the island itself attacks something even more personal: their memories.
Why their memories are the real stakes
Most fantasy adventures ask their heroes to locate a doorway, defeat a villain or recover a magical object. Jo and Raissa face a more difficult problem because the price of failure is not simply remaining trapped.
Every memory they lose weakens the friendship helping them survive.
A shared joke, childhood promise or important disagreement may appear insignificant on its own. Together, those moments explain why two people trust each other. Once the memories disappear, Jo and Raissa could begin seeing each other as strangers at the exact moment when cooperation becomes essential.
That gives the story a natural race against time. They must escape before they forget why they are trying to leave together.
The premise also raises a larger question: if the memories connecting two people disappear, does the bond disappear with them, or can friendship exist somewhere deeper?
Filipino mythology as a living part of the story
The cultural setting is not simply decoration placed around a familiar fantasy plot.
Jo and Raissa recognise Nakali’s creatures because these legends have travelled through their families. Entering the island therefore brings them into direct contact with stories connected to their upbringing and identity.
That connection allows the film to explore what happens when young people inherit cultural stories without fully understanding their meaning. The creatures can be frightening, funny or helpful, but each one represents something the friends already carried before reaching Nakali.
The voice cast includes H.E.R. and Liza Soberano as Jo and Raissa, alongside Manny Jacinto, Dolly de Leon, Jo Koy, Ronny Chieng, Jenny Slate, Dave Franco and Lea Salonga.
More than a search for a portal
The obvious objective is to find a route home. The deeper challenge is repairing the uncertainty that existed between Jo and Raissa before they arrived.
If they were already worried about separating after graduation, the island can use that fear against them. Each forgotten experience could make it easier to believe that the friendship was never strong enough to survive adulthood.
Their escape therefore depends on more than solving the island’s mysteries. They must choose the friendship again, even while losing the evidence that once made the choice feel natural.
The creative team
Forgotten Island is written and directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, with Mark Swift producing. The team previously worked on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
That background is encouraging because The Last Wish combined colourful adventure with serious questions about fear, mortality and relationships. Forgotten Island appears to follow a similar approach: an imaginative world that remains accessible to families while carrying emotional consequences for its characters.
Who is this story for?
The movie should appeal to viewers interested in:
Fantasy adventures centred on friendship
Filipino mythology and cultural storytelling
DreamWorks animation
Stories about graduation and growing apart
Magical creatures presented with humour and danger
Family films with meaningful emotional stakes
Younger viewers can follow the effort to escape Nakali, while older audiences may recognise the anxiety beneath it: the fear that leaving one stage of life means losing the people who defined it.
Flicklevel story outlook
Forgotten Island has an unusually effective emotional threat. Jo and Raissa are not merely in danger of forgetting an answer or losing their way. They could forget the person standing beside them.
That makes every shared memory part of the adventure. The film can entertain viewers with creatures, fantasy and comedy while asking what truly allows a friendship to survive change.
The ending should not depend only on whether Jo and Raissa escape. What matters is whether they can move forward without treating their separate futures as the end of everything they built together.
Forgotten Island arrives in cinemas on September 25, 2026, through Universal Pictures.
Official source: DreamWorks – Forgotten Island