Isle of Dogs review

ISLE OF DOGS:

WES ANDERSON’S SECOND OUTING WITH STOP-MOTION IS BEAUTIFULLY ANIMATED, SURREAL, AND QUITE TOUCHING!

 By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

An adventure with man’s best friend like no other in Isle of Dogs

            From director, Wes Anderson (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel) comes Isle of Dogs, the second stop-motion film in his filmography after 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. But unlike that movie which was based on a book by Roald Dahl, Isle of Dogs is a completely original concept and definitely not quite as “Family-Friendly”.

            It isn’t something like Sausage Party, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, or even some of Ralph Bakshi’s work, where it’s vulgar, raunchy, or extremely violent. Children at least 10 or above should be able to get through the movie fine, however, its subject matter is more adult-oriented and would probably depress the hell out of little kids.

Isle of Dogs is beautifully animated and basks in Wes Anderson’s directing style, with a colorful cast of characters (both human and canine), a disturbing but thoughtful story, and has its moments of heart. With a talented voice cast, surreal humor, and homages to the work of filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa added on top of that.

Set in a dystopian near-future Japan, a dog flu has spread across Megasaki City throughout its canine population. To deal with the problem, the new mayor of Megasaki known as Kobayashi signs a decree banishing all dogs to the mysterious, Trash Island.

Six months after the dog banishment to Trash Island, the orphaned nephew and ward to the mayor named Atari ran away from home and hijacked a plane to Trash Island in search for his lost dog, Spots, the first dog to be banished to the island. There he befriends a group of alpha dogs, Chief (voiced by Bryan Cranston-Breaking Bad, Godzilla (2014), Trumbo), Rex (voiced by Edward Norton-Fight Club, The Incredible Hulk, Moonrise Kingdom), King (voiced by Bob Balaban-Seinfeld, Deconstructing Harry, The Grand Budapest Hotel), Boss (voiced by Bill Murray-Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day), and Duke (voiced by Jeff Goldblum-Jurassic Park, Independence Day, Thor: Ragnarok) who help him on his quest to find Spots and hopefully end the dog flu epidemic before all canines in Megasaki are replaced by robots.

            The film also features the voices of Greta Gerwig (China, IL, Frances Ha, Lady Bird) as Tracy Walker, Frances McDormand (Fargo, Burn After Reading, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) as Interpreter Nelson, Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hail, Caesar!) as Nutmeg, Harvey Keitel (Taxi Driver, Reservoir Dogs, Moonrise Kingdom) as Gondo, F. Murray Abraham (Scarface, Amadeus, The Grand Budapest Hotel) as Jupiter, Tilda Swinton (The Chronicles of Narnia, Snowpiercer, Doctor Strange) as Oracle, Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit 2, Hackers, Hail, Caesar!) as Scrap, Liev Schreiber (Scream 1-3, Ransom, Spotlight) as Spots, and Roman Coppola (Apocalypse Now Redux, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom) as Igor.

            Overall, Isle of Dogs is another win for Wes Anderson and could be a strong contender for Best Animated Feature at the next Oscars ceremony. Everything about it is original and it’s refreshing to take a break from Hollywood franchises and remakes and go into a movie pretty much completely blind outside of its marketing and judge it as a standalone film with no connections to existing material.

            The animation is beautiful and captures that distinctive Wes Anderson style to a tease from the character designs, environments, and camera shots. His films to me always seem to blur the line between visually gorgeous, otherworldly, and bizarre, he could be the next Tim Burton.

            I was very impressed with how engaging the film’s story, I was thoroughly invested in the narrative, characters, and that it takes some serious risks. Themes of death, over-population, corrupted governments, and animal experimentation are present in Isle of Dogs and when it needs to get dark and grim, boy does it go dark and grim? You don’t see themes like these being tackled in most animated films these days, nor do you see them aimed for a more mature audience that often.

            As dark as this movie can get, it’s balanced out with a good sense of humor through the chemistry between the characters, depictions of Japanese culture and stereotypes, Wes Anderson directing choices, and a supposed death fake-out so funny I dare not ruin it here. The humor never gets overwhelming or distract from the more emotional parts of the film, and it’s written and executed in a clever way without relying on Hollywood animated movie clichés.

            Isle of Dogs is a very entertaining adventure with a very odd group of alpha dogs, intense narrative themes, humor, and a surprisingly touching story. Hopefully Anderson will continue to direct more stop-motion animated films in the future.