Isle of Dogs Review
PG-13: Thematic elements and some violent images
Fox Searchlight Pictures, Indian Paintbrush
Writer & Dir: Wes Anderson
1 Hr and 41 Minutes
Voice Cast: Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kunichi Nomura, Ken Watanabe, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Courtney B. Vance, Fisher Stevens, Nijiro Murakami, Harvey Keitel, Koyu Rankin, Liev Schreiber, Bob Balaban, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Akira Ito, Akira Takayama, F. Murray Abraham, Yojiro Noda, Mari Natsuki, Yoko Ono, Frank Wood
INTRO: Four long years after the release of his last film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson is back! He has returned to a form he experimented with once: stop motion animation.
In a dystopian future Japan, dogs have been quarantined on a remote island due to a "canine flu". A boy, Atari, ventures to the island to find his dog, Spots. Other dogs—Chief, Rex, Boss, Duke, and King—help him search for Spots and evade the authorities.
THE GOOD
I find it completely ironic how Wes Anderson’s live-action stories are rather cartoonish, but when it comes to his animated features, his stories are the most humane and emotional works he has ever written. Anderson’s first animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, centered on a family fox going through his mid-life crisis so he tries to relive his glory days, but ends up putting an entire neighborhood in danger. For a kids movie, it was rather dark, violent, hilarious, and had plenty of adult themes, but none crossed as too inappropriate. Most of all, it was faithful to Roald Dahl’s work. The Grand Budapest Hotel was the last time Anderson told a story while maintaining his stylistic flair that we’ve grown to know and love.
While Fantastic Mr. Fox was based on pre-existing written material, Isle of Dogs is a completely original story from the mind of Anderson and it honestly might be his best-crafted work (figuratively and literally) since his previous film. I would’ve said “since Rushmore” but The Grand Budapest Hotel was a terrific story with great performances and memorable characters. Anderson is currently on a streak where he has given up writing cartoonish characters for the sake of prioritizing style over substance, and now focuses on writing more intricate stories. As much as I love and appreciate most of Anderson’s previous work, Isle of Dogs is the most unpredictably elaborate and developed story Anderson has written to date.
The majority of the characters are dogs, but you primarily become emotionally invested in Chief (voiced by Bryan Cranston). A large amount of the movie is focused on him and his bond with Atari, who is on an expedition to find his dog. Atari is a boy who speaks in his Native tongue, but he has enough depth that you can sympathize with. Though the resonance comes from a retreaded Anderson element that every single one of his movies has, it actually works for the sake of his growth instead of it being a runoff joke. It is nearly similar to the way you sympathized with Zero in Budapest Hotel, but something about a 12 year-old-boy losing his parents is more forlorn than the same happening to a teenage boy. The age affects his innocence and Atari is an innocent little boy with a loving heart.
Yes, the secondary characters are weird and quirky, but you’re watching a Wes Anderson movie. You should expect that by now. Here is the thing about his secondary characters though: their presence advances the story and keeps the plot moving. Even characters who are introduced nearly thirty minutes in leave a long lasting impression and you get attached until the end. Greta Gerwig’s character, Tracy, doesn’t appear until thirty minutes into the film. When she does, she commands the screen with determination and strength.
Some of his recurring dialogue tendencies are present, but instead of it being for the sake of being weird, it's there to give the characters some depth. Usually, when characters have monologues in other Anderson movies, they’re there to express how eccentric the characters are. When characters have their monologues in Isle of Dogs, it showcases their complexity.
Anderson has crafted puppets that vary from anthropomorphic animals to American humans. Now you have a unique onset of character designs that vary from different breeds of dogs to Japanese people. Each dog looks different than the others and every human is unique. Anderson gives each one of his puppets a distinctive attribute in design to make them stand out from their crowd. This ain’t some Illumination shit where you see a copy-and-paste of the same character model reappearing. The individuality given to each puppet tells you they were made with blood, sweat, and tears. In my personal opinion, Isle of Dogs has to be the most visually unique animated feature that I’ve gotten lost in for the graphic display since Jorge Gutierrez’s The Book of Life.
Similar to Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings, the narrative of Isle of Dogs is a nicely-pieced folklore story that pays homage to Japanese culture, their traditional storytelling, and (unexpectedly) their music. Yet, underneath everything that is going on, Anderson found a way to sneak in a subliminal message about political corruption, which also is a major thread in the story. The political aspect of this movie gets surprisingly real. It kind of gets TOO real to the point that it feels as if the political corruption subplot was a response to American politics. In the third act, you almost feel like Anderson holds up a mirror to America with the way he compares their dysfunctionality to ours. I sort of got into my own head thinking, “Wow how ironic that the Japanese sent every dog to a concentration camp just like how Amer—OH!” Trash Island is pretty much a concentration camp for the dogs, but Anderson found a way to make every single location look stunning. The scenery is so mesmerizing that I'm fighting amongst myself whether to buy the "Making of" book made for the film.
Besides the use of stop-motion, Anderson cleverly utilizes 2D animation as well. Whenever a character is seen on a surveillance screen or in a newspaper, we see them in the traditional 2D format.
THE BAD
As much as I praise Isle of Dogs for its storytelling while maintaining Anderson’s flair, some of his tiresome habits resurface. Anderson has an annoying knack for telling one joke and then beating it into the ground. In this film, there is a running joke with Jeff Goldblum’s character where he hears rumors. The joke is funny the first time. It’s also humorous the second time. Then it happens again and again and again… you get the idea.
Things I’ve been getting tired of in Wes Anderson movies that cross over here:
Awkward silences
Characters speaking in deadpan monotones
Recurring jokes that go nowhere (believe me, there are several)
THE RENDY
So, there is a character named Yoko Ono voiced by Yoko Ono, and the way the joke comes into fruition is odd. Her character has a major role regarding the subplot of the story, but why did her character have be named Yoko Ono? OH, I’M SORRY! Assistant Yoko Ono. Now I’m wondering if there is a John Lennon in this world.
Hollywood has recently been very open-minded by giving their directors 100% creative control with their projects. One of the biggest indie studios who does so is Fox Searchlight, which distributed this film and The Shape of Water. While watching Isle of Dogs, I kept thinking back to The Shape of Water and how it was an ambitious passion project that Del Toro poured his heart and soul into while telling a beautiful story and had no studio conflict whatsoever. Del Toro was affectionate towards his film in the same way I felt Anderson was with Isle of Dogs. There were no limitations by the studio at all.
Nobody came in here and told Anderson how to direct his animated movie. This has a PG-13 rating and you rarely see that with animated films nowadays. It either has to be kid-friendly or strictly adult. Isle of Dogs is smack dab in the middle of just being a well-told story that has emotional, whimsical moments, but doesn’t shy away from getting dark and violent. Shit, Fantastic Mr. Fox was dark at times but it still beared a PG rating. What I’m trying to say is, this is one of those movies that I am fond of because of the passionate love that was put into it while also telling a great story.
LAST STATEMENT
Beautifully crafted with an affectionate amount of both style and substance, Isle of Dogs” is Anderson at his prime as he proves that not only he is an amazing auteur, but that he truly is a great storyteller.
Rating: 4/5 | 87%
Super Scene: Spot’s passing of the torch.
