Isle Of Dogs - movie review

Isle Of Dogs

Plot: Set in Japan, Isle of Dogs follows a boy's odyssey in search of his lost dog.
Cast: Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton
Director: Wes Anderson
Certificate: PG (mild threat, violence, language)
Runtime: 1hr 41 mins
Release Date: Friday 30th March 2018

Describing Wes Anderson movies are practically impossible. The only accurate definition you can give to any film in his illustrious filmography, is that it's a Wes Anderson movie. Films like The Life Aquatic and The Royal Tenenbaums are predominantly family dramas but due to Anderson's trademark style and whimsy, they morph into their own unique genre. Anderson had dabbled in stop-motion in his adaptation of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox and now, Anderson revisits this painstakingly detailed world nine years later with his eccentric tale of man's best friend; Isle Of Dogs.

Someone's a hugger.

For those who see the advertising for this film or hear that there is an animated film in cinemas featuring dogs, this is by no means a kids film. Isle Of Dogs is, first and foremost, a Wes Anderson movie through and through and to take a young child to see this would be a disaster waiting to happen. It's not squeaky clean and puts these animals in some dire and intense situations that features some fairly violent encounters. It's also incredibly Wes Anderson-y in it's approach with humour. I saw the film in a fairly quiet showing and the only people laughing were myself and an elderly couple. There was a young family who were completely silent for the entire film until the son asked his mother aloud, "Why couldn't we see Peter Rabbit? I don't understand this." If you're willing to give it a chance knowing that Isle Of Dogs is not your typical family adventure, you may be in for a treat but Disney this is not. On paper, the plot to Isle Of Dogs is fairly simplistic. In futuristic Japan, all dogs are considered a health risk and banished to a distant island where they live out their days. It's only when a young boy ventures across to the island in the search for his lost dog, that an adventure to save all dogkind begins. However, those that are familiar with Anderson's work know that there is always more than meets the eye and beneath the surface of Isle Of Dogs are interconnecting storylines of pack members competing for leadership, a young girl who strongly opposes the dogs' banishment (Greta Gerwig) and a scientist embarking on a discovery to disprove the correlation between dogs and flu. At times, Anderson struggles to balance these stories meaning that some are more interesting than others (the scientific espionage subplot is a snooze). Unfortunately, this has a knock-on effect to the pace meaning that the tight 101 minute runtime feels more like just over two hours. But the struggle in pace doesn't hinder Anderson doing what he does best; piecing together a gorgeous looking film. Fantastic Mr. Fox was a solid effort by Anderson and as complex as stop-motion animation always is, I couldn't help but feel as if there were times that the animation was too static. Isle Of Dogs is constantly on the move even when the camera is staying put. The locations are elaborately detailed with vast landscapes and huge open spaces for these tiny models to occupy. Anderson even gives all of the dogs a unique look so that no two dogs are identical. Nothing has been overlooked in the design of the dogs as tufts of fur can be found that you just want to brush away. As always, Anderson is wielding his symmetry like a weapon of mass destruction and seeing it in a cinema gives you the best impression of how perfectly aligned each shot is. If it hadn't been already, Isle Of Dogs solidified Wes Anderson as one of the most prolific visual auteurs of our time.

When Tesco stock up their reduced section.

FACT: This was the longest stop-motion film of all time, beating out Coraline by two minutes.

Witty and snappy dialogue is another hallmark of Anderson's and Isle Of Dogs is no different. Featuring bewildering conversations and explicitly detailed explanations of items that needn't be explained, Anderson has once again swallowed the thesaurus and spat it back out at us across the script. As usual, he assembles a cast that would make any studio executive blush with some familiar faces, or in this case voices, bringing their talents to the fray. Edward Norton pops up as one of the members in our central pack of dogs who appears to be experiencing a leadership complex and craves to return home. What I admired about the creation of these animals is that, despite their rugged, four-legged appearance, their personalities and mannerisms are all fairly distinctly human. Even fellow dogs such as Bill Murray and Jeff Goldblum possess unique behavioural traits such as Goldblum always gossiping about the latest rumour or Murray bragging about his stint as a mascot. In an ideal world, I could have done with more from the supporting players especially as Liev Schreiber is hardly utilised at all. That being said, Isle Of Dogs can therefore switch the focus onto Bryan Cranston's dog, Chief. Cranston has such a commanding voice, be it animated or live action, and he is the perfect candidate to drive Anderson's script forward. Sadly, Chief is the only character that audiences might care towards. I've said this about a lot of Wes Anderson's films and it's that if you remove the magnificent visuals, his films can often struggle in a narrative sense and the characters are so difficult to relate to because they speak in such a strange, Wes Anderson created manner. I even found it difficult to connect to Atari (Rankin) and his quest to find his lost dog because the character is fairly bland. Anderson also makes the decision of not including subtitles for the Japanese humans making it nearly impossible to understand their intentions or characters creating this metaphorical glass window that we can only see partly through rather than the whole picture. I think that's why I felt slightly underwhelmed with Isle Of Dogs. It's a beautiful movie but the emotional disconnection was too much for me to really enjoy it.

Thorpe Park has had some budget cuts.

Cat lovers might want to avoid Anderson's latest film because this is a love letter to dogs boasting the best that stop motion animation has to offer. It's a typical Wes Anderson affair with meticulously planned compositions and a tone that only he can pull off. The story is less of a success story with a real issue to delve into the characters (both human and dog) and definitely isn't something young children should see.

My Verdict: 7.5/10

What did you think of Isle Of Dogs? What is your favourite Wes Anderson movie? Sound off in the comments below.

If you like what you've seen here don't forget to share this with everyone you know, comment below and check out my other reviews. Thanks for reading!!

Follow the official Luke's Reviews Facebook page: fb.me/LukeStapley26
Follow me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/LukeStapley1