2018 Film Review: Isle of Dogs (2018)

Directed by: Wes Anderson
Written by: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Kunichi Nomura
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton
IMDb Link

We have a fairly convoluted set up to tell a fairly simple story. Basically, Japan has collectively gone insane and decided that the best way to deal with the overpopulation of dogs afflicted by dog flu is to deport them all to Trash Island and promptly forget about them; this is all motivated by the mayor of Megasaki city, whose bloodline has historically been cat lovers with a vendetta against dogs. The story then picks up six months later, following five such dogs on the island, all thematically named after some sort of leader (Chief, Rex, Duke, Boss, King, voiced by Cranston, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, and Bob Balaban respectively) as they trek across the island with 12-year old ward to the mayor, Atari (Rankin), in search of Atari's own dog Spots (Liev Schreiber). The most unbelievable thing about this movie is the idea that people would be so willing to give up their dogs, and that in six months only one person would try to get theirs back.



The story is the usual Anderson mix of softly funny, glibly grim, and fancifully human, making for something easy and emotionally resonant without cutting too deep; learning about the reality of the situation through deadpan one-liners that carry with them way more weight than their delivery suggests in order to soften the blow of the circumstance, hard cuts and fake outs to keep the feeling sore without needing to show anything particularly gruesome, or when doing so, doing it in such a way that it feels theatrical. It definitely works here to get that mix of comedy and tragedy just right; Anderson never wants the audience to really hurt, it's like the film equivalent of a slap-fight, maintaining a sense of whimsy to undercut its own emotional depth for the sake of keeping things light and moving.

That said, the dog stuff is far more effective than the human stuff. The character with an actual arc is Chief, and most of what happens human side is build-up to solving the dog flu problem, all of which for some reason is done by an exchange student with a crush on Atari. There's also far more time spent with the dogs, which makes all of its set-ups, build-ups and payoffs feel earned and well-treated, while a lot of the large-scale human stuff is only given enough time to feel little more than convenient. It's still emotionally resonant by the end, but once again only by virtue of the dogs and the personality and time given to them, rather than because of anything the humans they love, aside from Atari, actually did.

That said, all of this is expressed through some truly incredible stop-motion animation. The whole look of the movie has an uncanny texture; the dogs are lively furry, the trash land around them is brimming with an ugly personality, and the whole thing moves and shakes so smoothly, with Anderson's unique visual style making the most out of the real estate on-screen, with perfect use of blocking and split screen to convey even more visually than he does through his story. Every single shot took painstaking care to show off not only that style but also reinforce what we understand by the story and supplement as much information as possible, it's really quite fascinating to see play out on screen.

Credit is also due to the spectacular voice-acting of everyone involved. They all give just the right amount of dramatic humanity and comedic timing to fit flawlessly in to Anderson's style, without a single beat dropped. Particular credit goes to Cranston, pulling more than his own as the broken Chief who doesn't even understand himself and doesn't know how to, with every break in his normally cold and hard voice and a very real lump in his throat as he becomes the very best version of himself.

The Short Version: Beautifully animated, excellently voice-acted, and whimsically told, Isle of Dogs is an emotionally resonant visual feast with a simple and effective, if at times convenient, story.

Rating: 8/10

Published April 14th, 2018