Isle of Dogs - Review Thread

One of the favorite pastimes of cinephiles around the world is to engage in the great debate of who the best directors of all time are and why.  Generally beyond making superb films, the filmmakers' work embodies a general style that makes it uniquely them.  Even those who scoff at auteur theory can't deny that the debate largely is intwined with the styles, methods, tropes that the most revered directors all bring to their respective works.  While this style isn't always easy to describe or point out with some filmmakers, there are other cases where the films are so largely "theirs" that they essentially supersede the genre they're supposed to be working in.  Sure, Django Unchained is a western, but it's much more a Tarantino film than a genre pic.  Yes, Blue Velvet is a thriller of sorts, but it's far better simplistically described as David Lynch.  One of the most recognizable contemporary directors style-wise is Wes Anderson, who has brought a unique, meticulous, and hilarious voice to film that's completely his own.  While his style really came into its own with The Royal Tenenbaums, his debut feature Bottle Rocket displayed a great skill at the pragmatic but playful framing and obtuse dialogue between oddballs that would become his signatures.  I can completely understand why Anderson's hipster-ode flicks aren't for everyone, but there's no denying that his meticulous vision for filling the frame isn't impressive or at the very least interesting.  He's a filmmaker who tells stories by playing with so many cinematic devices, both paying homage and mocking them, that I find myself admiring the quirky aesthetics he throws in there rather than be turned off by them.  Whether it's title cards or an omniscient narrator, Anderson's diverse use of the cinematic language is a lot of fun to see come together for sight gags and plot devices.  For me, it's always been a treat to see Anderson playfully utilize mostly antiquated storytelling techniques in film and meshing them together with the energy that he does.

Anderson has never been shy about exploring any and every element of film to inject into his own work, but even for him it was interesting when he made the leap to animation with the stop-motion film Fantastic Mr. Fox.  The film was universally praised, and despite the move from live action lost none of Anderson's style and sharp humor.  Much to the film world's delight was that Anderson's latest film, Isle of Dogs, would also be stop-motion animated while also arguably proving to be Anderson's most ambitious project yet.  Isle of Dogs centers around a somewhat futuristic Japan that has banished all dogs to Trash Island, where they are to live out the rest of their days.  The dogs have all contracted a dog flu, and the cat worshipping and corrupt Mayor Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura) wants them completely removed from Japan.  On Trash Island, the dogs must roam the dump for scraps while forlornly living out the rest of their days.  We're soon introduced to a group of dogs containing Chief (Bryan Cranston), Rex (Edward Norton), Duke (Jeff Goldblum), and Boss (Bill Murray).  Chief is the leader of the group, a hardened stray who is used to this harsh life of survival and holds a staunch grudge towards humans, called here "masters".  After a comical encounter with another group of dogs, Chief and company witness an airplane crash onto the island.  It's soon revealed to be the ward of Mayor Kobayashi, eleven-year-old Atari (Koyu Rankin), who has escaped to the island in order to find his banished dog, Spots (Liev Schriber).  From here, Atari and the dogs embark on a quest filled with robot dogs, scientists attempting to cure the dog flu, student activists led by a foreign exchange student (Greta Gerwig), and lots of rumors from Duke.  It's all as fun and ridiculous as it sounds, and while it feels overstuffed at times, Isle of Dogs is Anderson in full control of his craft and utilizes Japanese-inspired cinema and culture to create a unique experience even by his standards.   

The film, as is told in a disclaimer at the beginning, has everyone speaking in their native tongues other than the dogs, whose barks have been "translated" into English for us.  The Japanese characters though speak in Japanese throughout the film with very few subtitles.  It's a choice that works very well, especially since we're mostly following the dogs' point of views for most of the film, and leads to some very funny moments as a result.  This does however lead to what I found was the film's biggest weakness in focusing too much on the humans in the film and not nearly enough on the dogs, especially near the film's end.  Greta Gerwig's character didn't work for me in generating laughs or contributing anything to the plot.  It seemed like everything going on with her attempting to uncover corruption that we as the viewer already know exists felt irrelevant, and Anderson oddly forgoes our main group of dogs besides Chief for Gerwig's character as the film progresses.  Atari's story also dominates the second half of the film, and while he is the driving force of the plot, the struggle between he and his uncle aren't interesting or entertaining enough to replace the dogs on Trash Island.  Like I am with a lot of Anderson's films, I don't feel that the plot unfolds as well as it could have, and a lot of that simply has to do with the numerous amount of characters the film juggles in a brisk running time.  A character that could have benefited from having a lot more screen time was Nutmeg (Scarlett Johansson), a former show dog who serves as the love interest of Chief.  She's introduced briefly, has a scene with Chief, and then is cast aside until the end of the film.  I'm not sure why Anderson didn't divulge more time to the dogs themselves and rewarded running time to these largely uninteresting human characters, but it's not a decision that I feel worked as well as it could have. 

Despite these minor issues though, Isle of Dogs marks another incredibly impressive entry in Anderson's filmography.  The animation is incredible, with the dogs' fur gently moving in the wind, or the seamless blending of hand drawn work incorporated with the puppets, it's all marvelously put together and more ambitious than the stellar work on Fantastic Mr. Fox.  It's a medium that has proved to serve Anderson's patient, meticulous style well.  There are also wonderfully clever nods to Japanese cinema throughout the film.  The use of title cards and subtitles, the tatami mat shots, and deep focus framing all work incredibly well and help to play up Anderson's most absurd examinations of the culture in tasteful fashion.  Like Anderson's previous films, Isle of Dogs is loaded with an onslaught of jokes coming in every form imaginable.  Even those who are generally iffy about Anderson's comedy in live action will find a lot to enjoy here, especially thanks to the film's incredible voice cast which truly give each character an identity.  Jeff Goldblum's Duke continually drops "rumors" throughout the film, Edward Norton's Rex combats Chief at every turn, Bill Murray's Boss longs for the days of being a baseball team's mascot.  Though I again decry Anderson's decision to mostly forget about these characters later in the film, they are hilariously utilized while they are onscreen together.  In a way I almost don't know what else there is for me to talk about without spoiling anything.  You know Anderson's game at this point; the whip pans, the smooth tracking shots, the silly sight gags in the background, the narrator, the quirky characters, the chapters, the title cards, everything.  If you aren't enthralled with Anderson, Isle of Dogs is unlikely to change your opinion as it may in some ways be his most, well, Wes Anderson yet.  And yet Isle of Dogs also feels like one of his most accessible films, where the humor being delivered by dog puppets doesn't feel as snarky as when it's coming from Jason Schwartzman in live action.  Isle of Dogs isn't without its issues as a result of Anderson overstuffing the movie, and it's not likely to convert any Anderson detractors, but for those who are like me and delight in seeing the bold style and pragmatic detail that he brings to each of his works, Isle of Dogs is exactly the dose of Wes Anderson that we've been missing for the last four years.

8/10