Film Review: Isle of Dogs

Director: Wes Anderson

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum

Running time: 101 mins

As one of the most immediately recognisable film-makers working today, a new film from director Wes Anderson is always a highly anticipated event. His films, for better or for worse, are always uncompromisingly his own, and while Isle of Dogs is unlikely to win over any Anderson-sceptics, it is a great treat for fans of his work (which this reviewer undoubtedly is).

Set in the fictional Japanese city of Megasaki, twenty years in the future, the story follows 12 year-old Atari Kobayashi in his journey to Trash Island, where all dogs have been sent following a canine flu epidemic, to find his own loyal pet, Spots. Like Anderson’s previous films, Isle of Dogs takes place in its own heightened, storybook world with its own internal rules. This sense of setting is established excellently in the introduction to the film, and is later built upon through outstandingly detailed production design, as well as Alexandre Desplat’s excellent, fitting score.

While the film still reflects his own unique style and sensibilities, tonally Isle of Dogs represents a slight departure from Anderson’s most recent work; the meticulously precise details of Moonrise Kingdom are replaced with a much more rough around the edges approach, and the breakneck pace of The Grand Budapest Hotel is exchanged for one which takes its time, allowing conversations and the characters having them more space to develop.

However, this relaxed pace does not mean that the film is not entertaining; even the slower scenes are beautifully animated, and the film stays engaging by telling its story in a non-linear fashion, often leaping around through the frequent use of flashbacks. While the script may not be Anderson’s strongest, it is more or less carried along by a great ensemble voice cast of regular collaborators such as Jess Goldblum, Edward Norton and Tilda Swinton, as well as newcomers such as Bryan Cranston and Liev Schreiber, who are perfectly suited to their roles and to Anderson’s quirky, idiosyncratic world. The animation also remains visually inventive throughout, frequently employing various different animation styles throughout the film to great effect.

Anderson has stated that he was largely inspired by the films of Hayao Miyazaki, and it is easy to see this influence throughout the film. Isle of Dogs frequently wears its inspirations on its sleeve, with numerous references to other staples of Japanese cinema, with some of its musical cues lifted straight from the films of Akira Kurasawa. Pleasingly, all of the Japanese characters are voiced by Japanese actors, their words occasionally interpreted by Frances McDormand’s translator, while sometimes simply going untranslated, allowing the audience to work out what is being said through context. This lack of communication between the human and canine characters highlights a key difference between this film and Wes Anderson’s previous stop-motion effort; while the animals in his 2009 adaptation of Fantastic Mr Fox were largely humanised, the dogs in Isle of Dogs are unmistakably more animalistic.

The film is not flawless however; some of the dialogue can be deadpan to the point of simply feeling cold, a sub-plot following foreign exchange student Tracy (voiced by Greta Gerwig) is given more time than it deserves, and the less said about Yoko Ono’s distracting character the better. However, the touching central relationship between a boy and his dog remains heart-warming throughout, and the timely themes of propaganda and authoritarianism make this Anderson’s most political film to date. Feeling simultaneously fresh and familiar, Isle of Dogs may not be his most accessible film, but it is a must for lovers of dogs and Wes Anderson alike.

Did you know? This is the longest stop-motion film of all time, beating out Coraline by two minutes.

Trailer

Isle of Dogs is screening at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 19 April