Isle of Dogs is the latest film from Wes Anderson. Having been described as 'Fussy', 'Twee', and 'Obsessive Compulsive' Wes Anderson has a definitive style for filmmaking that includes: Diorama style Film sets, Pastel Colors, Music that is always in period, purposefully framed shots, and a narrator with a low, masculine, gravelly voice. The protagonist is always a male with complex emotional issues.
These are the tropes one has come to expect from Wes Anderson films. To date I have seen them all: Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1999), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited(2006), The Fantastic Mr. Fox(2008), Moonrise Kingdom(2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and now Isle of Dogs(2018).
As I have seen them ALL, I will candidly tell you I found Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums, and the Grand Budapest Hotel to be his best films. His Least movies are Bottle Rocket and The Darjeeling Limited.
Where does Isle of Dogs end up in this listing now that there's nine films?
Isle of Dogs, while fully rooted in the conventions and tropes of Andersonian filmmaking is a deeply satisfying slice of Japanese tourism. Anderson realized, quite rightly, that while he wanted to make a Japanese monster film, he wanted to present it in the jarring, disruptive nature of Japanese Import films during the 50's and 60's. To that end, there are no subtitles, the Japanese cast primarily speaks in Japanese. Either it's translated by a translator, or the dialogue is not.
This creates the wondrous experience of having a tour of a fantastical city in the middle of the Japanese archipelago.
The story is as straightforward as Anderson shall ever be: Fearing an outbreak of dog flu and it's companion disease snout fever, Mayor Kobayashi (Konichi Nomura) - the current scion of the former Samurai clan, a cat devotee - issues an emergency order to relocate all canines to Trash Island (to be renamed The Isle of dogs) and as a token sacrifice, sends off the Kobayashi clan security dog Spots (Liev Schrieber).
This will induce Spots' best friend, Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin), to pursue his best friend to the Isle of Dogs and rescue him.
This rescue would not be accomplished were it not for the pack of 'Indestructible Alpha Dogs' (Anderson, 2018) who aid Atari in his quest: Rex(Edward Norton), Duke(Jeff Goldblum, King(Bob Balaban), Boss(Bill Murray) and Chief (Bryan Cranston) are all lovable rascals. The voice acting for the dogs is fantastic, and the decision to have the dogs speak English while the humans speak Japanese, is spot-on (pun intended). Dogs, after all, only understand a few of the words we state. So it would make good logical sense that they speak a language other than Japanese. This begs the question, what language do American dogs speak...
This film is a stop motion animation. It's a huge step-up from the Fantastic Mr. Fox. The range of expressions available for every character, the artistic poses selected, the incorporation of flashes of Japanese culture: including a town election, sumo match, tea ceremony, and a Noh play, all give authenticity to this production.
Wes Anderson clearly heard the complaints concerning white washing Asian films. The majority of people are portrayed by Japanese actors, apart from Frances McDormand and Greta Gerwig, who are both translators, and both clearly defined as Americans in Japan. The dogs are the regulars in the Anderson Troupe, apart from Cranston and Scarlett Johansson who voices a show dog named Nutmeg.
Ultimately, how you come to this film depends on your mileage with Wes Anderson. To date, while I didn't like 2 of his films, the other six were good to great. This ninth one, because I adore Wes Anderson's style, the Japanese and Acid Jazz music used in this piece, and dogs in general, I find to be amongst his best films.
Others will disagree. I have at least one friend from Slovakia who cannot abide Wes Anderson at all. But for me, I will tell you this dioramic, pastel colored, funny as hell, stop motion animation asking us to consider who we would be without dogs' is one of the best damned films you will see this year.
I am definitely planning on watching it in the theater a second time, which is the highest praise a student of film can give.
3.5 stars out of 4