therumbling

I watched Forgotten Island. It was good. I mean, the animation, the colors, the overall look of it were really nice. But I also felt like it packed in so many Filipino cultural references that anyone unfamiliar with the culture could easily get lost or miss some of the meaning. Maybe that was partly the point of the movie - to introduce Filipino culture, but the runtime felt too short to properly explain some of those references or give them enough backstory. I also felt like Manang's character was a bit forced into the story. The plot probably would've worked fine without her, but I guess she also served as another distinctly Filipino character. Overall, it wasn't bad at all. It just felt more like a movie made for a Filipino audience, people who already understand the culture and references, than for a global audience. I even heard Pinoy kids asking their moms things like, "What's an aswang?" So I can only imagine how much more unfamiliar some of the references might be for non-Filipino viewers.