Forgotten Island

There are plenty of quirky charms along the voyage to Forgotten Island, but many of them are unfortunately overwhelmed by exhausting visual gimmicks and a convoluted mythology.

This imaginative animated saga is an ambitious coming-of-age adventure that tells a story of sisterhood through a culturally specific lens rich with Filipino legends and folklore. However, it falls into the familiar trap of catering to youngsters with short-attention spans by filling every frame with as much hyperactive mayhem as possible.

Set in the 1990s, it revolves around mischievous Jo (voiced by musician H.E.R.), whose friendship with the more intellectual Raissa (Liza Soberano) brings her out of her soft-spoken shell.

Enchanted by horror-infused tales from Jo’s feisty grandmother (Dolly De Leon), they make a childhood pact to one day travel to the mysterious and perhaps fictional land of Nakali.

Years later, Raissa is saying goodbye as she prepares for college and a future career at NASA, leaving a despondent Jo behind. “Friends come and go,” her mom cautions. “You need to focus on your bright future.”

That same night, a mysterious portal opens, giving the BFFs a chance to impulsively fulfill that long-ago dream. They jump in, wake up several hours later, and look drastically different.

Realizing they need to find a way back home — Raissa still has a flight to catch — they meet a collection of random creatures both menacing and cuddly, most notably a half-dog-half-werewolf sidekick (Dave Franco) and an agoraphobic demon (Jenny Slate) who threatens to steal their memories.

The film benefits from colorful and crisply detailed animation, from shapeshifting characters to comic book-style accents. It also evokes a nostalgic vibe from an area of boom boxes playing cassette mixtapes, accompanied by a soundtrack peppered with needle drops from vintage hip-hop tracks and soft-rock ballads.

Despite some predictable plotting — there’s definitely a Wizard of Oz trajectory — the subversive screenplay by the directing tandem of Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) is consistently amusing while featuring worthwhile underlying messages of individuality, loyalty, and acceptance..

That helps to fuel our sympathy, which hinges on the odd-couple bond between Jo and Raissa. If only the film had the same confidence in the girls that they do in one another.

Instead, it’s like the equivalent of a two-hour cinematic sugar-rush, when a little breathing room would have made Forgotten Island more memorable.

Rated PG, 108 minutes.