On Friday, September 25th, Forgotten Island will finally arrive in theaters. This will be DreamWorks' third new IP of the 2020s and comes from the entire team that developed Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the latest installment of the Puss in Boots franchise, including its directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, who are also the main screenwriters this time around, as the film is based on their friendship.
Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado have been part of the DreamWorks team for many years. They met while working on the masterpiece Kung Fu Panda 2, and subsequently collaborated on several films for the animation company. On The Croods 2: A New Age, Crawford became the director, while Mercado held a prominent role as head of story. This led to Crawford becoming the lead director on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, with Mercado serving as his co-director.
After the second Puss in Boots film, they decided to create something original, drawing on their own experiences. Friendship was the central theme, and the film was inspired by Filipino culture, as both have family connections to the Philippines, even incorporating elements of it into the movie. Additionally, they based it on the 90s for two reasons: Mercado lived in the Philippines during that decade, and the story's setting worked better because when someone moved away, there weren't as many elements to connect with them. This led to Forgotten Island, the product born from that story.
Today we explore the new Dreamworks film:
Without exaggeration, Forgotten Island is gorgeous. It will make you grin like an idiot and then cry like a baby with every twist and turn. It's literally Dreamworks at its best in years, and it demonstrates how perfectly the team has understood what we loved about The Last Wish and The Wild Robot.
Focusing on the story, as I said, it's a real rollercoaster. One minute you're laughing your head off, the next you're scared for the characters, and then you're crying. The jokes land 90% of the time, but what works even more is how personal the writing is. The conversations about found family, depression, suicidal tendencies, and finding your place are perfectly woven into a funny story and flawless animation.
The writing in Forgotten Island is masterful when it comes to character development. The relationships are incredible, and the cast is full of diverse personalities, but it's even more evident in how it perfectly portrays Filipino mythology and develops it so well throughout the film, seamlessly integrating it with the story.
Beyond the story, Forgotten Island shines in its animation. It draws heavily from The Last Wish and The Wild Robot, as mentioned, and offers a vibrant animation style that blends light and dark. The two villains might be the best example of good versus evil in terms of design, though things aren't entirely black and white.
Forgotten Island pushes the art style of Puss in Boots to its limits. As I said, the colors are derived from what made The Last Wish so unique, but it also learns from The Wild Robot's design style by being more anime-inspired and choosing not to tell the entire story solely through its visuals.
The animation choices in this film might be the most incredible aspect of the entire design. The 3D animation is primarily inspired by a blend of what its predecessors did, combined with more anime-like expressions, but for me, the 2D anime segments are the most unique. And to top it all off, I have to mention how awesome the action is; it leaves you wanting more every time it ends. It's fast-paced, yet visually spectacular, and each character brings something different to those scenes.
To top it all off, the Forgotten Island soundtrack is perfect, James Gunn-level perfection, and that's saying something. The moment I heard "Don't Stop Believin'" as the film's first musical drop, I knew we were in for an amazing ride, but the best drops and the best parts of the soundtrack come even later; it's simply flawless.
But all that glitters is not gold. The minor, silly errors in Forgotten Island are very small, but they are a bit annoying. Some of the transitions between 3D and 2D feel very abrupt and disrupt the pacing, even though the anime sequences are very good, as we mentioned. This is in addition to a few jokes that fell flat. Nothing too major, just a few issues worth mentioning because not everything is perfect.
If you or anyone you know has any doubts about whether to see Forgotten Island, don't. It's DreamWorks at its best once again, and that's saying something because THEY'RE ON A ROLL. First Puss in Boots Last Wish (whose team also made this film!), then The Wild Robot... AND NOW THIS! Forgotten Island undoubtedly joins the DreamWorks pantheon with films like Shrek, Madagascar, and How to Train Your Dragon.
Comments
Post a Comment