DreamWorks’ New Animated Sci-Fi Movie Took Notes From A Late Anime Legend [Exclusive]

This article contains spoilers for “Forgotten Island.”

The emotional core of “Forgotten Island,” the latest film from “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” writer/directors Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford, is as poignant and moving as anything I’ve seen on film this year. Trapped on the mysterious island of Nakali, best friends Raissa (Liza Soberano) and Jo (H.E.R.), who are both temporarily suffering from 24-hour amnesia, must figure out a way to retrace their steps, learn what happened the night before, and ultimately get home. Eventually, Jo offers to make a payment to a mysterious creature in order to get Raissa home, but the payment is devastating: it’s Jo’s memories of the pair’s decades-long friendship. At the last minute, Raissa races through the duo’s memories as they disappear, trying desperately to save them and reunite with her best friend before she’s forgotten forever. (The film made our list of Best Sci-Fi Movies of 2026, as well as Best Movies of 2026, regardless of genre.)

I had the chance to speak with Mercado and Crawford in advance of the film’s release, and while you’ll be able to hear our full conversation on the September 30 episode of <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/film-weekly/id1254073246″ rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>the /Film Weekly podcast, for now I just want to highlight the section in which I asked them about the climactic sequence. 

“The memoryscape and running through it was something that we knew would be this visual tour de force that was cool to see, but also very, very emotional,” Mercado explained. Meanwhile, Crawford listed “The Hangover” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” as influences, but also said that particular scene was inspired by the works of an elite filmmaker who died in 2010: Japanese director Satoshi Kon.

Legendary filmmaker Satoshi Kon inspired the best scene in Forgotten Island

Satoshi Kon directed four feature films before his untimely death: 1997’s “Perfect Blue,” 2001’s “Millennium Actress,” 2003’s “Tokyo Godfathers,” and 2006’s “Paprika,” and a case could be made that all of them are varying levels of masterpieces. As a storyteller, he was ahead of his time in many ways, influencing directors like Darren Aronofsky and Christopher Nolan with his sharp, borderline experimental style. As Januel Mercado pointed out in our interview:

“I’m glad you brought up Satoshi Kon [nods to Joel Crawford], because the editing, his visual storytelling, is very trippy where he’s using cutting and movements to discombobulate the viewer, but you’re still going through the journey in the point of view of the character that’s being transported and thrown through different spaces in time.”

The emotional climax of “Forgotten Island” is on the opposite end of the tonal spectrum from Kon films like “Perfect Blue” and “Paprika,” so I never would have pinpointed his influence without hearing the directors name-check him. But now that I know, it actually makes perfect sense: The blocking Raissa running through her shared memories with Jo as they melt away definitely has shades of the purposefully disorienting editing technique that Kon perfected.

While the rest of the movie doesn’t exactly reflect Kon’s visual flourishes, there’s an ambition and an envelope-pushing energy to “Forgotten Island” that I imagine he may have appreciated.

“Forgotten Island” is in theaters now.