Which Forgotten Island Character Are You?

Learn More About Forgotten Island

Forgotten Island marks a genuine swing for DreamWorks Animation, trading familiar Western fairy-tale territory for a vivid dive into Filipino folklore. Set in the 1990s and centered on childhood best friends Jo and Raissa, the film follows the pair as they are unexpectedly transported to Nakali, a mystical island where memories fade the longer anyone stays. With Raissa preparing to leave for college in the United States, the friendship already sits on the edge of change before the girls are thrown into a world populated by creatures pulled straight from Filipino mythology.

What sets Forgotten Island apart is how specifically it draws from folklore that Western animated films rarely touch. The Tiyanak, the Batibat, and the Manananggal are all figures with deep roots in Philippine storytelling, and the film reimagines them with the kind of personality and visual flair DreamWorks is known for, without flattening what makes them culturally distinct. Bungi, the film's trickster Tiyanak, injects chaos and comic energy, while Batiba the Batibat guards her tree with a fierceness that masks real vulnerability underneath.

The voice cast leans heavily into the film's cultural specificity, pairing H.E.R. as Jo and Liza Soberano as Raissa with a supporting lineup that includes Lea Salonga voicing the dramatic, shapeshifting Manananggal, Dolly de Leon as Jo's grandmother Lola Fatima, and Ronny Chieng as the island's eccentric King Truffle Wuffle. That combination of established Filipino and Filipino-American talent has been a major part of the film's pre-release buzz, alongside its soundtrack contributions from acts like Bini and SB19.

At its core, though, Forgotten Island is a story about the fear of losing someone you love to distance and time, dressed up in a fantastical, memory-eroding island that makes that fear literal. As Jo and Raissa navigate Nakali, they are forced to confront what their friendship actually means once the safety net of everyday routine disappears, a theme that resonates well beyond its folklore setting.

Critics reviewing the film out of its opening weekend have pointed to its vivid, memory-warped visual style as one of its biggest strengths, alongside praise for how naturally it treats its mythological cast rather than reducing them to one-note monsters. It is exactly the kind of original swing that animated studios take far less often than franchise sequels, which has made it one of the more talked-about family releases of the fall season.

If you are into animated features that build a genuinely new mythology from the ground up, Forgotten Island is well worth the trip to Nakali. And if character quizzes rooted in folklore and fantasy are your thing, check out our other animated character quizzes for more worlds to sort yourself into.

So, are you the loyal best friend, the practical planner, the trickster, the guardian, or the dramatic shapeshifter? Take the quiz above and find your place on Nakali.