In case you didn't pick up on it, Isle of Dogs is a homophone (or, more accurately, an oronym) of I love dogs. The title couldn't be more accurate in describing the film both in setting as well as in messaging. It is a big wet puppy kiss to all of us dog lovers of the world.
Isle of Dogs is set in the Japanese Archipelago, twenty years in the future as the film aptly advises viewers. Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin) was orphaned several years earlier and is being raised by his uncle, Mayor Kobayashi (Konichi Nomura) who happens to be the iron-willed mayor of Megasaki. When dog flu begins to spread through the dog population, the Mayor orders all dogs deported to an island that serves as the local trash dump. The first dog sent is Spots (Liev Schreiber) who serves as Atari's guard dog. In an act of devotion and defiance, Atari heads to the Isle of Dogs to find his exiled friend.
When Atari crash lands on the island, a pack of dogs comes to investigate. Atari enlists his new friends on his mission to find Spots. He is aided by Rex (Edward Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Boss (Bill Murray) and Duke (Jeff Goldblum). Another member of the pack, Chief (Bryan Cranston) is a master-less dog who doesn't "sit" on command. The mission to find Spot becomes urgent as Mayor Kobayashi plans to unleash his "ultimate solution" on the island. A group of dog-lovers in Megasaki, led by exchange-student Tracy (Greta Gerwig) set out to thwart the Mayor and reunify with the exiled dogs. It becomes a race against the clock. And drones. And Robo-dogs.
Isle of Dogs is a cute story. It is a bit formulaic, yet manages to incorporate some originality into the plot. The dialogue is particularly good, which helps. The pacing could have been better, slogging along a bit around the two-thirds point of the film. Once the pace picked up again, the narrative arc seemed to fire early and then dwell a bit leading to the resolution of the story. It felt a bit choppy and uneven, but tolerable. I enjoyed the story immensely and would have raved about this film had the pacing been more consistent. The film managed to incorporate comedy and affection into a dystopian setting, which was certainly an accomplishment.
Isle of Dogs is a stop-action animated film featuring an A-List of voice actors. The animation is effective. I am a fan of Wes Anderson and thought he did a solid job of putting the pieces together. While I had issues with the pacing, the way the film incorporated the voice-overs into the animation was excellent. The film even made a comic nod to the process which included a variety of translators, text translations and English language dialogue. The translation itself was incorporated into the film with a nice tongue-in-cheek delivery. The actors were all exceptional. Voicing an animated character didn't appear to present a challenge. It looked good. The type of animation had a nice feel that incorporated the flavor of Japanese art seamlessly into the overall look of the film. The backdrops were rendered nicely as well, adding an interesting industrialized-dystopian look that added a bleak backdrop to the animation.
The MPAA rated Isle of Dogs PG-13. The rating seems to result from some thematic material and cartoon violence. There are a couple of scrums reminiscent of old cartoons, with arms and legs visible in a cloud of combat. The most disturbing scene was rather graphic liver transplant surgery. For stop action, it managed to be a bit gory to watch. Overall, the film isn't any worse than television in my opinion. I wouldn't put an age category on it personally. The film has a run time of one hour, 41 minutes. It could have been tighter had it been ten minutes shorter.
Isle of Dogs is a dystopian feel-good movie. I didn't know they existed. Yet Wes Anderson has managed to create one. As a dog lover, I thought this film was a great homage to the bond between dog and owner (I can't wait for the film Alpha due out shortly). The film had some pacing issues, but was otherwise engaging. I didn't try to read into the film for any subtle political messaging, I thought the film was excellent without it, and I didn't want to damage my enjoyment of the film by reading much into it. The story was a bit predictable, but offered an interesting twist and engaging characters. The dialogue was pretty sharp as well. Artfully crafted to navigate between languages (to include dog). This one is worth seeing at the theater. 7.5/10.
Photos and trailer subject to copyright by American Empirical Pictures.