Friends Travel to FORGOTTEN ISLAND

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to theatres this Friday, from writers/directors Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado, DreamWorks and Universal Pictures bring the story of friendship that faces a challenge on FORGOTTEN ISLAND.  

In the Philippines, a very young Jo (H.E.R.) is in class, telling the story of the forgotten island of Nakalimutan, or Nakali for short. To get her point across, she invokes the bloody story of Manananggal, which doesn’t go over very well. Landing her to wait for the principal, she is joined by a very young Raissa (Liza Soberano) who the same teacher sent for defending Jo’s position. Discussing their reasons with each other, it becomes very clear that these two were fated to be best friends.

Jo is a talented artist, and Rais is a brainiac, yet the two get along famously. Every adventure they go on adds to the bracelets they both wear. Rais also spends a lot of time listening to more stories of the forgotten island from Jo’s grandmother, Lola (Dolly de Leon), who has actually been there through a magical portal! Their goal? They both want to find the island too.

As the years go by, Jo is finding her way while Rais has found her direction – and it's off to America to attend Caltech. Celebrating their last night together, the shell they had been looking for appears, taking them away to the forgotten island. They wake up on the shore of the island and meet Raww (Dave Franco), who agrees to act as their tour guide because the girls don’t remember much of the prior night. Raww takes them to see Batiba (Jenny Slate) to help get their memories back, but it comes at a price.

On their journey to remember and find the missing portal key, Jo and Rais meet Tiyanak (Manny Jacino) the extremely large demon baby, Datu (Jo Koy), King of the Duwende Truffle Wuffle (Ronny Chieng), and Mermahn (Kevin McCann), the outrageous, well, Mermahn. The creature they are running from is the dreaded and feared Manananggal Manang (Lea Salonga). The goal is to get back home for Jo and Rais, but something wonderful happens along the way, and it’s something neither will ever forget.

H.E.R. and Soberano as Jo and Rais are everything one would want in a childhood best friend. They may have different areas of interest, but that doesn’t stop them from finding common ground. So much so that they are practically joined at the hip, and best friends wouldn’t want it any other way. Like sisters, there are moments of tension, but it doesn’t diminish the love they have for one another. They learn misunderstandings hurt, but a hug can heal so much in the heart. I just loved watching these two characters go through their journey, and it is H.E.R. and Soberano that kept my attention on the screen from start to finish.

Franco as Raww is hilarious, especially when his character sees a stick because, for anyone with a dog, we know it’s true. He is charming, strange, and full of twists and turns, but lovable to the end. Jacino as Datu cracked me up so much, becoming part of the band of misfits. McCann as Mermahn just shot out of nowhere in the film and made himself right at home with the gang. He is colorful, emotional, and an all-around good friend to have. Salonga as Manang is the creature the whole island fears, and with good reason. Shout out to Koy at Datu; I recognized his voice immediately, as well as his tone of humor.  

The film is set in the 1990s, which offers up the use of some pretty awesome music that will have some in the audience singing along rather quickly. This is the first animated film based on Philippine mythology, bringing the culture of family and traditions to the screen. The mixture of animation techniques (shifting from computer-generated to anime animation) adds so much more fun to the story from Jo’s side of the talented duo. Those techniques were inspired by Filipino art and graphic style.  

FORGOTTEN ISLAND comes in at one hundred and eight minutes of fun, laughs, action, color, friendship, mythology, and the wide human scope of love with all the problems that come with it. Generations in the family will find something heartwarming in this film. There is humor for all ages as well, which makes this a perfect family film to see from grandparents down to grandkids. It is films like this that allow families to come together, have a good time, and learn about another culture and its own mythology.

The film is beautifully done, exceptional in the animation, wonderful in the choice of cast, and when you mix that all together, FORGOTTEN ISLAND won’t be forgotten any time soon.

In the end – no memory left behind!

 

Our Favorite Cave Family Return with THE CROODS: A New Age on Bluray

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to Bluray, DVD and Digital from director Joel Crawford and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment comes THE CROODS: A New Age.

The Croods are a family consisting of Dad Grug (Nicolas Cage), Mom Ugga (Catherine Keener), older daughter Eep (Emma Stone), son Thunk (Clark Duke), Gran (Cloris Leachman) and baby Sandy (Kailey Crawford) as well as Eep’s love Guy (Ryan Reynolds) and they are looking for a safe harbor in the caveman world.

Being an overprotective Dad, Grug is not happy about the romance between Guy and Eep mainly because he thinks his daughter will leave the pack. To his surprise on their continued walk, Grug finds a wall calling everyone over to see it. Guy seems to have a remembrance of it but can not seem to place it until seeing Phil (Peter Dinklage), Hope (Leslie Mann) and daughter Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran) Betterman (emphasis on ‘better’)! This couple are friends of Guy’s parents.  

Thrilled to see them again, the Betterman’s are interested in the Crood family and surprised to learn they can even speak believing cave people were gone. Almost immediately Grug is irritated with Phil and Ugga is not to thrilled with Hope. The only ones that seem thrilled are Eep and Dawn discovering that they get to be besties!

The only rule that Phil asked of the Croods was to leave the bananas but as the irritation of the Croods begins to build and they realize that they are being treated as, well, simpletons, Grug fights back eating the bananas. Well, there was a reason for those bananas, and they are now pounding at the gate.

Either the Croods and Bettermans work together to survive or they might all become bananas!

Cage as Grug is still overprotective, wary of Guy and easily manipulated but such a loveable guy with great intentions. He truly loves his family and would do anything for them, and Cage uses his vocals to bring all of that front and center to this big lug headed character. Keener as Ugga tries to make friends with the Bettermans but something is nagging at her and embraces her daughters desire to want more out of life. Keener is totally the nurturer of this clan and keeps them in check.

Stone as Eep is still strong willed, opinionated, and not about to be told what to do by anyone – even if she has heart thumps over him. I just love Eep and love even more that Stone has given her a strong personality through words (even if she is a little hostile at times) and it is so enjoyable. Reynolds as Guy is clearly heart struck on Eep but does not seem to know how to handle her way of handling things. That does not mean he is not hung up on her but now must decide what home means to him.

Dinklage as Phil is a stone aged hippie trying to find the most natural way to live, the problem is he is a little like Grug without wanting to admit it. Having Guy back in the fold means he can expand his pack and will stop at nothing to make that happen – even manipulating Grug. Mann as Hope is a woman who has issues with the Croods and looks down at their ways instead of trying to understand them. She is about to get a lesson in manners!

Tran as Dawn is just happy to have another girl to talk to because her parents are getting to be to much. Having Eep teach her about the outside world means exploring and deciding what she likes about it all. Clark as Thunk gets to be his usual unusual self when discovering stone age television and Crawford as Sandy has something new and she wants to share.

Leachman as Gran gives one heck of a performance as her story is loud, large and needing to be shared. I laughed hard when that story is told and Leachman gives it her all and deserves to be applauded. She made her mark as Frau Blucher and cemented that mark becoming Gran for the Croods. What a career, what an actress!

Other cast includes Chris Sanders as Belt, James Ryan as Sash, and Gabriel Jack as little Guy.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has just added an amazing film to their library and making it available for us to all experience and re-experience in our own home theaters. There are films of every genre available from scary to drama to family films. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.uphe.com.

MOVIES ANYWHERE gives viewers the ability to download the Movies Anywhere App. With that you can view films by downloading or streaming to your favorite device using a Digital Code. For more information on Movies Anywhere please visit www.MoviesAnywhere.com.

The Bonus Features include Two All New Exclusive Shorts, Family Movie Night: Little Red Bronana Bread, Dear Diary: World’s First Pranks, Deleted Scenes, How to Draw: Caveman Style, Stone Age Snack Attack, Family Album and more!

THE CROODS: A New Age is colorful, hilarious and everything that a family film should have to make it a movie night at home. The Croods are a family we already knew had charming issues and being a cave family is only one of many so having them return for a second installment is everything we could ask for and more.

This film tells a little more of the Guy’s story, how the Croods manage to continue being a loving family, adding the Betterman’s and giving Gran an amazing story as well. There are new creatures and returning creatures that are just as fun and crazy as both families.

Pop the popcorn and prepare for the fun because that is what the THE CROODS: A New Age brings.

In the end – work together or go extinct!