DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Casts Lea Salonga as
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- Director Joel Crawford and co-director Januel Mercado (Filipino-American) presented DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' to a packed Annecy crowd, describing the film as a 'love letter to Filipino culture' and citing the adage 'write what you know, but we wrote who you know.'
- Lea Salonga — who voiced Princess Jasmine in 'Aladdin' and Fa Mulan in 'Mulan' — voices the 'Dreaded Manananggal,' a creature drawn from Filipino folklore; Mercado noted she 'ain't no hero in our movie.'
- The film is set in the Philippines during the 1990s and follows childhood friends Jo and Raissa, whose bond is tested when Raissa prepares to move to the U.S. at her parents' urging.
- Manila-based Snipple Animation provided a 2D animation team whose anime-influenced style Crawford compared to Dragon Ball Z, adding a distinct visual layer to the picture.
- The voice cast pairs American talent — R&B star H.E.R. and Dave Franco — with Filipina screen legends including Salonga, while Filipino talent also led key behind-the-camera roles such as the film's composer.
- Crawford and Mercado previously collaborated on the Academy Award-nominated 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.'
Why it matters: By casting Lea Salonga — a Disney princess icon — as a creature from Filipino folklore rather than a hero, DreamWorks signals a deliberate inversion of expectations for its global voice-cast strategy. The studio also handed a visible creative role to a Manila-based 2D animation team, marking a concrete commitment to Filipino creative talent on a major animated feature.
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