Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, the team behind Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, are back with Forgotten Island — and it might just be their most heartfelt film yet.

Equal parts wild fantasy adventure and intimate coming-of-age story, here’s why this one is worth your time.

1. The friendship feels real

Before any magic enters the picture, Forgotten Island does something smart: It lets you fall in love with Jo and Raissa (voiced by H.E.R. and Liza Soberano) as regular kids first. We watch their friendship form over a shared love of the weird and macabre, complete with gleefully gory folklore reenactments performed for their unsuspecting classmates. By the time the fantasy kicks in, you’re already fully invested, which makes everything that follows hit that much harder.

2. It doesn’t shy away from the ache of growing apart

The setup is simple but powerful: Raissa is leaving the Philippines to study at Caltech, and the night before she goes, the two are swept into Nakali, a folklore-fueled fantasy world. Underneath all the adventure is a story about the very real, very relatable fear of drifting away from the person who knows you best. It’s a theme most people have experienced, and the film treats it with genuine emotional weight instead of merely gesturing at it.

3. Nakali is packed with unforgettable creatures

The film’s fantasy world doesn’t hold back on imagination. There’s a hard-partying weredog (Dave Franco), a memory-collecting creature (Jenny Slate), an easily offended tiny king (Ronny Chieng), and — the film’s biggest standout — a self-splitting, winged predator called the Manananggal, voiced with real menace by Lea Salonga. It’s a genuinely unsettling presence that gives the movie an unexpected jolt of tension.

4. Filipino culture isn’t just a backdrop — it’s the heart of the story

What sets Forgotten Island apart from a generic fantasy quest is how naturally it is steeped in Filipino folklore and everyday life. The creatures, the storytelling traditions, and the texture of Jo and Raissa’s world — none of it feels bolted on for flavor. It’s woven into the fabric of the film itself, making it a welcoming watch whether these stories are already familiar to you or brand new.

5. It’s really a movie about why memories matter

Strip away the fantasy elements, and Forgotten Island is ultimately about something universal: the specific, weird, shared moments that bond two people together, and how those memories become the thing that holds a friendship steady even when life pulls people apart. It’s not just “the power of friendship” — it’s the power of remembering that friendship and why protecting those memories matters.

Forgotten Island is funny, inventive and unexpectedly moving. Balancing big fantasy spectacle with real emotional honesty, it is a film that both kids and longtime best friends will feel in their chest.