Isle Of Dogs (2018) ****
As far as Wes Anderson stop motion films go, I like Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) more (there are a few beats in this film that fall flat, unlike FMF, which is close to perfect), but Isle Of Dogs (2018) is a whole lot of fun. Some of the characters don't do it for me, some are underutilized, and some of the scenes drag a bit, but on the whole I love the film, which is bursting with eye and ear candy.
Wes' style of storytelling suits the scenarios perfectly, this time around working from a story by himself, Roman Coppola (who previously co-wrote 2007's The Darjeeling Limited and 2012's Moonrise Kingdom with him), Jason Schwartzman (who has previously worked with Anderson as both actor and writer) and Kunichi Nomura (who voices one of the characters in this film). Anderson has always worn his influences on his sleeve and in Dogs the more obvious ones are the films of Akira Kurosawa and Rankin/Bass.
The voice work of Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton and Jeff Goldblum in particular are all stellar. Alexandre Desplat's score is excellent—at times full of drums beating like a heart, at times as sparse as a 3-note whistle. This is definitely a film that warrants multiple viewings in order to catch additional details and appreciate the art behind the painstaking process of its creation.
Isle Of Dogs is a funny, sad, and charming adventure that has thought-provoking statements to make about the lives of both humans and dogs, how we treat each other on this planet, and how we treat the planet itself.
Isle Of Dogs is a funny, sad, and charming adventure that has thought-provoking statements to make about the lives of both humans and dogs, how we treat each other on this planet, and how we treat the planet itself.
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