Forgotten Island 3D Movie Review

September 28, 2026 by Jacob Scarberry in 3-D Cinema, 3-D Films, 3-D Movies, 3D or 2D, animated movies, Dreamworks, Forgotten Island, Forgotten Island 3D, Forgotten Island 3-D, Forgotten Island Review, Filipino Culture

Forgotten Island

3D Movie Review

Written By: Jacob Scarberry

3D

I could just say one word for the 3D: Brilliant.

Forgotten Island looks beautiful in 3D, with rich, saturated colors that really pop off the screen. The depth is fantastic. The pop-outs are constant. The art style, with its Japanese manga and anime-inspired look, feels like it was practically made for 3D. Every frame has so much detail and depth that you could pause almost anywhere in the movie and have a piece of 3D art worthy of being displayed in a museum.

From the very first frame, you are taken in by the beautiful worlds of 1990s Manila and Nakali. The 3D doesn't just add depth to the animation; it makes the entire art style come alive. Characters, environments, creatures, and even the smallest details feel like they exist in their own space. Some scenes have so much depth that you almost feel like you could reach into the screen.

Every time the characters travel through one of the gorgeous portals, the 3D becomes absolutely insane, with countless layers of depth, objects popping out from every direction, and such an immersive sense of space that you feel like you're traveling through the portal right alongside them. And every time it happens (few times), it will wow you.

The depth is both so natural with the wide-angle scenes, creating an image that is constantly impressive without feeling like the 3D is being forced on you. This is the kind of movie that makes you understand why 3D exists in the first place. It genuinely feels like Forgotten Island was made for the format.

No ghosting, no flatness, no warping of the image. Even the live-action inserts from the 1987 film the girls are watching are presented in 3D. It wasn't necessary, but it's awesome that they did it. It's stunning from beginning to end, and easily the best 3D of 2026 so far. I could keep going, but at this point, you get the idea. Insert positive adjective here.

Forgotten Island is a stunning showcase for 3D, a movie that feels like it was made for the format and absolutely must be seen in 3D in a theater.

Final 3D Score:

10/10 And Editor’s Choice Award

Movie

Never tear us apart.”

Filipino culture has largely been kept in the Philippines for the most part, with almost no films set there and almost no Hollywood films expounding on the awesome culture of the people. DreamWorks has come to rectify their mistake, and luckily, they hired the filmmakers responsible for Puss in Boots: The Last Wish to deliver this wonderful gift to the world at large.

The story of Forgotten Island focuses on two young girls and their friendship, which becomes the heart of the entire adventure. Since the days of elementary school, best friends Jo (Oscar-winning musician H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) have been inseparable, that is until Raissa announces that she is leaving the Philippines to attend CalTech in America. While spending their last night together on the beach, Jo comes across a magical sand dollar that transports the duo to the world of Nakali.

Having lost their memories of the past 12 hours of fun in Nakali, Jo and Raissa must search for clues with the help of Raww (Dave Franco), a shape-shifting weredog. Jo and Raissa must race the clock to restore their memories and deal with the mythical creatures of Tagalog lore, especially the dreaded Manang, a manananggal vampire that has the ability to separate their body from their torso. But more dreaded is the fear of losing their friendship and memories, and that is the main draw to the film.

The film is an animated, PG-rated take on The Hangover, with Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind and Thunderbolts thrown in for good measure, and it all works with great comedic takes on Filipino culture. The film isn't afraid to go to some dark places emotionally, unafraid of using slightly more adult language (I mean, it's slight, but for a modern family film, it almost feels like an NC-17 storyline) and visuals, and with the terrific performances from the main cast, along with support from the likes of Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto, Lea Salonga, Ronny Chieng, and the rest, they help sell the mostly terrific script by directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado.

The beautiful and unique art style carried over from their previous film, Puss in Boots 2, is still amazing, with some '90s anime/video game flair for good measure that should be the rule, not the exception, for Hollywood animated films. There's almost nothing wrong with the film, but there are some plotlines here that could've been removed to make the film flow a bit better. But it would also make me miss out on more lore that is simply too intriguing to edit out of the film.

The film also falls into the same trap of turning the villain into a good guy/non-threat, which I wish wouldn't have happened so we could have had a slightly better climax. But that's my only real complaint, and even then, it's easily forgiven.

Overall, the film is a stunning feature of an oft-overlooked culture, despite Hollywood using the resources of the Philippines for decades, along with a great look at friendship and platonic love. While not able to reach the same highs as the directors' Puss in Boots 2 in terms of emotional depth and darkness for a Hollywood family film, Forgotten Island is still a fantastic fantasy for all ages to enjoy for decades to come.

Forgotten Island is a beautiful, emotional, hilarious, and visually stunning adventure that celebrates friendship, Filipino culture, and the magic of getting lost in a world that feels completely alive.

Final Movie Score: 8/10

Learn more about how we rate 3D content via the link below:

https://www.3dor2d.com/3d-or-2d-ratingssystem/

Official Website:

https://www.dreamworks.com/movies/forgotten-island

Cars (20th Anniversary) 3D Movie Review

September 28, 2026 by Jacob Scarberry in 3-D Cinema, 3-D Films, 3-D Movies, 3D or 2D, Cars, Disney Cars, Pixar Cars, Cars 20th Anniversary, animated movies, Disney, Disney

Cars (20th Anniversary)

3D Movie Review

Written By: Jacob Scarberry

3D

“3D... I... am 3D!”

The post-summer season is always a slowdown at the box office, with the last of the blockbusters gradually slowing down before hitting home video, and horror films about to gear up to start their reign for the season. Studios need some counter-programming to get families back in the theaters to eke out a few extra bucks. Better yet, it helps that the film is a classic with an anniversary, and even better, a 3D version to make even more money. Presto! You have the twentieth anniversary of this everlasting classic for families.

Pixar is rather notorious for their 3D presentations, being rather mild and inoffensive, and that trend continues here with Cars in 3D. Created for a 3D Blu-ray re-release in 2013, this is the same version from 13 years ago, and it focuses more on depth than on the “Ka-Chow!” factors like pop-ins and pop-outs. The depth is always impressive throughout, with the vast vistas of the American (Carmerican?) Southwest, the racing scenes, and the many shots of Radiator Springs from car level being beautiful. The few bits of random pop-outs (the fireworks scene is the best demo for pop-outs) are fantastic as well. You almost can't tell this wasn't a native 3D film, but for what it is, this image still holds up rather well.

Final 3D Score: 8/10

Movie

Pixar, from 1995 to 2006, had one of the best runs for any studio ever. Toy Story 1 & 2. Monsters, Inc. Finding Nemo. The Incredibles. Even their “worst” film, A Bug's Life, was a beloved animated classic by the time their next film was about to release. I love them all, and by summer 2006, I was totally ready for their next project, Cars, to be unleashed into the world.

The film was a box-office hit, grossing over $400 million worldwide, with a further $250 million in DVD and Blu-ray sales later that year, and I was excited to finally see the film when I rented it from Blockbuster to eagerly watch their next magnum opus. For 117 minutes, I watched anthropomorphic vehicles recreate Doc Hollywood, and that's when it hit me.

Disappointment... Massive disappointment.

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is the hot, young rookie racer on the circuit, eagerly awaiting to be the first rookie ever to win the coveted Piston Cup. While thinking he has the race in the bag, sure enough, he blows his tires on the final corner and manages to make a three-way tie with the beloved racing elder “The King” (NASCAR legend Richard Petty) and cocksure pro Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton). While the trio have to race again in Los Angeles the following week, Lightning is ready to make history, until his truck driver Mack (Pixar good-luck charm John Ratzenberger) is forced by McQueen to drive all night to make it to LA. A group of street racers distract a snoozing Mack, allowing Mr. Ka-Chow himself to escape from the trailer. McQueen desperately tries to find his way back to the interstate, but inevitably causes chaos and damage in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs and is arrested and ordered by the town judge/doctor/old sage, Doc Hudson (the legendary Paul Newman in his final performance), to repair the road he damaged. From there, we go through the Doc Hollywood retread of a fast-moving guy learning to slow down and enjoy life that doesn't involve a pile of money, and becoming a better car along the way.

So what made me disappointed with Cars? I enjoy the 1991 film Doc Hollywood, with its breezy charm led by Michael J. Fox making it a regular watch on TBS, so what's different with Cars?

If you've never seen Doc Hollywood, here's my criticism of Cars on its own merits: the story is incredibly familiar. A hotshot young guy gets stranded in a small town, is forced to slow down, meets some colorful locals, falls in love, learns that life is about more than money and success, and eventually becomes a better person (or car, in this case). There's nothing inherently wrong with that story, but Cars doesn't do quite enough with it to make it feel particularly fresh or meaningful. There are moments of genuine emotion, especially with Doc Hudson and the history of Route 66, but most of the story stays pretty surface-level. The animation is gorgeous, the characters are likable, and the movie is perfectly enjoyable, but when the credits rolled, I couldn't help but feel like there should have been a little more there.

I think it's because the film is very slight for the most part. It doesn't really tackle emotional or adult themes like their other films, or offer the clever storytelling of their other offerings, giving us a rather easy watch. I mean, that's fine, but I was expecting more, especially after the brilliance of The Incredibles delivered in 2004. Cars does have some scenes of emotional weight, with Lightning discovering Doc's racing past, the loneliness of Lightning McQueen, and the effects of interstates on the legendary Route 66. But other than that, it's rather surface-level.

The film screams more of a toyetic film than what Pixar had released before, and yes, there was merchandise from the previous films, but Cars merchandise was and still is clogging up toy store walls. But can you blame Disney? Cars is Pixar's most profitable franchise, with billions of dollars earned from the merchandise, and profit reigns supreme. However, that doesn't excuse the fact that the film just isn't amazing.

2006 was a rather notorious year in animated film, with not a lot to offer (Ice Age 2, Happy Feet, Open Season, The Ant Bully, Barnyard, Doogal, Curious George, Everyone's Hero, Happily N'ever After, Over the Hedge, Flushed Away, and The Wild being the big ones that year, with my favorite being Monster House), so Cars was bound to be one that people flocked to.

What does Cars offer, then?

Starting off with the usual fantastic animation from the artists over at Pixar, lovingly detailing the world with the right amount of cartoon and photorealism that delights and amazes, even two decades later. The lighting and effects work are still amazing, especially later in the film when the neons are a-glow, and it just makes me yearn for cruising culture to make a comeback.

The voice cast does well, with not only the aforementioned cast, but we also get great work from George Carlin, Bonnie Hunt, and Larry the Cable Guy in his best role, Mater the Tow Truck, which isn't much of a stretch from Dan Whitney's comic persona, but he's just so darn likable as the rusted tow truck.

So the film is more kid-centric than other films in Pixar's oeuvre, and there are some moments of greatness throughout that make it a bit more interesting, but it just lacked the je ne sais quoi to make it better in my eyes. Yes, the technical aspects are fantastic, the cast are having a great time here, and there are some fun bits of adult humor thrown in from time to time, but I guess I was just ten years too old in 2006 to really enjoy it then, and thirty years too old now in 2026 to really enjoy it now.

Final Movie Score: 7/10

Learn more about how we rate 3D content via the link below:

https://www.3dor2d.com/3d-or-2d-ratingssystem/

Official Website:

https://movies.disney.com/cars

Minions And Monsters 3D Movie Review

July 04, 2026 by adolph vega in 3-D Cinema, 3-D Films, 3-D Movies, 3D or 2D, Minions and Monsters, Minions & Monsters, Minions and Monsters 3D, Minions and Monsters 3-D, animated movies, 2026, 3D films, 3d Movie, 3D Movies

Minions And Monsters

3D Movie Review

Written By: Jacob Scarberry

3D

If you’ve seen an Illumination animated film in 3D before, you’ll know they consistently produce some of the best 3D presentations around, and Minions & Monsters is no exception. It’s filled to the brim with stunning depth, natural dimensionality, and constant pop-outs, all without a single flat scene or noticeable flaw.

Even with all the mayhem and shenanigans the Minions are known for, the presentation never causes headaches or vertigo. The entire film is a showcase for great 3D, but if you’re looking for reference-quality material, I’d recommend the early steam train sequence. It offers an excellent preview of the visual spectacle that’s still to come.

Easily the best 3D presentation of the summer, Minions & Monsters is also one of the year’s best 3D experience’s.

Final 3D Score: 10/10, Editors Choice Award

Movie

For 16 years, I've watched every film in the Despicable Me series along with every film Illumination has done, and I can say that they peaked with the first Despicable Me in terms of film quality almost getting to DreamWorks/Disney levels of quality filmmaking, but very quickly falling victim to the lowest common denominator of Hollywood family films of storytelling and making sure merchandise is front and center everywhere in your life for a few months until the hype dies down and then rinse and repeat. I really figured that the series nadir was with the 2015 spin-off Minions would effectively kill off the Despicable Me films, but over $1 billion later, we have had a further 4 films in the franchise, with the latest being the subject of today, Minions & Monsters.

Which starts at a film museum where the tour guide (Voiced by Oscar-winner Allison Janney in a glorified cameo) who tells the story of how the Minions' became legendary movie stars while on their search for their new Big Boss. Three Minion outcasts: James, Henry and Ed (all voiced by director Pierre Coffin) become friends along the Minions' quest of servitude when James repeatedly focuses on his artistic side, much to the dismay of Minion leader, Dick (And acts like his name for much of the film). Their antics cause several of their bosses unceremonious ends due to the trio's lack of focus, which ultimately leads them in the Old West.

The Minions happen upon a horse chase between an outlaw and a group of cowboys chasing after the outlaw, having having believe they struck pay dirt, the Minions give chase, much to the dismay of the outlaw. It leads to a train, a plane, and half of Los Angeles destroyed, and a potential waste of film as the outlaw was an actor in a film, and the director, Max (Christolph Waltz) distraught at the ruined shot. Ordered to screen the footage to the studio heads, brothers Frank & Elwood Bright (both voiced by Jeff Bridges), the brothers love the yellow guys and force Max to hunt for them and make them stars of the silent age.

While their films make them become rich and famous, the advent of sound film ruins the minions careers, and most of the minions set off for servitude of a robot, Bort while the main trio set to make their own film, a monster movie, with the help of a spell book summoning Goomi (Trey Parker, yes that Trey Parker) who plans for world dominance in disguise of making a kaiju fight. More mayhem ensues to save the world and their film from destruction.

I was planning on just writing another review like the previous films I've reviewed of the series (Minions: The Rise of Gru and Despicable Me 4 for those keeping count at home) of it being just okay, made mainly for 5 year olds and their families and not meant for a thirtysomething without children, with the 3D being the best thing about the film and that'd be another Minion-based review done and over with until Despicable Me 5: The ConGruing of Villains in 2028 (not a real film... Yet). Color me surprised that this is easily the best Despicable Me film since the first one, and the best in the Minions subseries of films.

The film is a charming love letter to Hollywood, while extremely loose in actual factual events (though the film is set in 1927, you still have women protesting for women's suffrage well after it had been passed into law, sci-fi films being made despite sci-fi not exactly popular in the silent era, etc.) effortlessly throws in silent era nods to the big stars of the time like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton to name a few while also adding some actual nods to the time period (talkies, most editors being women at that time, etc.) that could lead a child's curiosity to learn more about the artistry and the history of the medium.

The film retains the typical Minions physical humor, which the kids of course laughed at and I chuckled quite a bit, but there were adults laughing at other jokes the kids didn't understand, and that surprised me that they actually made adult jokes. Not like double entredres, but actual jokes only adults will understand if they know about classic film or basic American history. The animation is fantastic as usual, with the film oozing with so much fun in each frame, it's amazing that it costs less than half of your typical Pixar/Disney/DreamWorks joint but manages to look as good as those films despite the lowered budget.

Voice acting is well-done by the cast of A-listers, professional voice actors and the director still capably performing as all the walking Twinkies with distinct differences in each character, but the highlight has to go to Trey Parker as Goomi. While distorted by computers, his vocal performance style manages to make it's way through the hi-tech filtering, giving us a fun performance as the main villain of the piece.

The technical aspects are also great, with a fun John Powell soundtrack, the sound being active and busy without being overwhelming, and the cinematography being lovely and colorful throughout, especially amongst the stylized sections focusing on the films being made.

My only real beef with the film is the filler subplot of Bort and his quest for world dominance being affected by a potential relationship with suffragette Debbie. While not useless or outright terrible, it's clearly filler for an already lean story length of 90 minutes and doesn't make much of an impression. There also wasn't much in the way of why Goomi wanted to take over the world, just a rather simple plot that's been told over and over again and I wish the film focused more on the filmmaking aspect more, but other than that, the film is a surprising hoot and a half.

I don't know if the human species really needed more than one Despicable Me film, let alone a massive 7 film franchise that largely allowed itself to be mediocre babysitting films for the younger Gen Z/Alpha kids of the past 15+ years, that's for history to figure out, but I have to give it to this entry in being quality entertainment. It's a breezy 90 minutes with some truly amusing bits and looks spectacular in 3D, and hopefully we get a physical 3D release in the near future as it truly deserves it, and it's great for the entire family and even childless adults who admire the art of filmmaking and film history. Maybe if this film is a hit, we'll finally get the inevitable Minions film set in 1940s Central Europe and then they can include world history events as told by the popular merchandise sold in stores.

Minions & Monsters is proof this franchise can still surprise me. It’s funny, charming, and far more thoughtful about filmmaking than I expected. I didn’t expect one of the year’s best surprises to come from a Minions movie, but I’m glad it did.

Final Movie Score: 8/10

Learn more about how we rate 3D content via the link below:

https://www.3dor2d.com/3d-or-2d-ratingssystem/

Official Website:

https://www.minionsmovie.com