Dir. Joel Crawford & Januel Mercado · 2026 · 108 min · in cinemas
It is the 1990s, in the Philippines. Jo (voiced by H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) have been best friends since childhood. Raissa is about to leave for university in the United States, and Jo cannot say goodbye. After a farewell celebration, a magical object carries the two girls to Nakali, an island from the folktales Jo's grandmother used to tell. It is populated by creatures from Philippine folklore, and it has one rule: the longer you stay, the more of your memories it eats. The girls have to find the way home before they forget why they want to go.
The idea is a good one, because the plot's central trick is also the film's subject. A friendship is a pile of shared memories, and the story makes the characters bargain with them. Critics who loved the film mostly start there. Scott Mendelson calls it "one of DreamWorks Animation's very best movies", and Kristen Lopez of The Film Maven writes that it is "still utterly amazing" even when it feels like a replay of what made Puss in Boots: The Last Wish work. That is no accident: Crawford and Mercado are the team behind that film.
a candy-colored immersion into both Filipino folklore and animation's rich international history
Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
The look is the other draw. The main style is glossy computer animation in the manner of The Last Wish, with flashbacks in an anime-influenced 2D style drawn by the Manila studio Snipple Animation. Seitz sees nods to Studio Ghibli, Ralph Bakshi, Genndy Tartakovsky and Disney's Fantasia. The creatures come from stories that cinema has rarely used: the Manananggal, the Tiyanak, the Kapre, the Duwende. The cast around the two leads includes Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, Lea Salonga and Dolly de Leon.
Here the critics split, and it is worth knowing before you buy tickets. Rotten Tomatoes showed roughly 95% positive at the time of writing, yet Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian found a film that "never takes a breath or a moment to let its characters come to life", and that imitates anime's energy without its calm. Lopez, who liked it, still notes that the villain is only an intermittent threat until the third act and may frighten the youngest viewers. Seitz points out that adults will see one character's hidden agenda long before the children do, and that Jo's denial about her friend leaving can make her hard to sympathise with early on.
So the question is pace. If you like a film that sprints from one gag and set piece to the next, it was built for you. If you want stillness between the jokes, you may agree with Bradshaw.
Tap whatever sounds like you.
Pick a few and I'll tell you where you land.
Weighing the raves against the Guardian's pan, and the film's real strengths (an idea that fits its theme, a distinctive look, folklore the big studios rarely use) against its relentless pace, a score of 3.5 out of 5 seems fair. It is a lively, sincere family adventure that some will find exhausting.
The film opened in US cinemas on 25 September 2026 and opens in UK cinemas on 16 October. Release dates and formats vary by country, so check your local cinema listings.