I went and saw Isle of Dogs with a friend of mine and his sister a few days ago and I gotta say, damn, this is by far the greatest movie of this year. Black Panther, take a seat, cause this film was quite the ride. Lets begin the review and see why I think so.
Story: So the story goes is that dogs all throughout japan are getting sick through a sort of dog flu and the newly elected mayor Kobayashi has signed a degree to have them all banished to Trash Island, though some scientist are working on a cure for this flu and are extremely close. While on the island, these dogs meet up with a young boy named Atari who flew to the island in search of his dog Spots and they team up in search for him. For the most part, it plays out like a typical rescue mission kind of movie, but it also has more to say in the way of their being a conspiracy as to why the dogs are sent to the island and what is to be done with them, not to mention a lot of this movie is presented with the dogs speaking (or in the films case their "barks") English and the Japanese characters speaking in their native tongue with the occasional translator transcribing what is important to the story to help it flow. speaking of flow, this film can get a little bit fast to follow for some people when it shows off text on the screen for people to read whenever they are in a new place with the Japanese characters of the text on the screen as well, but I kind of like that cause its such a fresh concept to see in animated films like these and pretty much a staple in Wes Andersons films. While the film may be a bit to fast for people to follow, it is certainly an intriguing film to follow from start to finish.
Characters: Chief (voiced by Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad) is the central main dog of the group. Cold and stern, he comes off as the street smarts when it comes to being a stray unlike the others. Atari (voiced by Koya Rankin) is the human boy off to find his abducted dog Spots, He is quite resourceful yet still full of child-like wonder for his 12 year old age. Tracy Walker (voiced by Gerta Gerwig, director of 2017's Oscar nominated Ladybird) is the foreign exchange student from America who speaks out about their being some sort of agenda against dogs when hers get abducted and realizes something is going on. Stubborn yet very determined, she is sort of the SJW character of this movie without being to "pushing her agenda" about it. Now, their are SOOOOOO many characters I could talk about since Wes Anderson fills his movie with some many celebrities, but I will leave them for you to discover. Mostly it follows the dogs along with Chief and the boy finding Spots. Chief goes through a sort of coming to terms with Atari since he was mostly a stray his life and refuses any sort of human affection since he can be quite stubborn, but something about the boy rubs off on him and I like seeing that in a character like him. The other dogs are mostly their to just be sort of that pushing him towards helping him and having some bits of humor here and their and they just kind of don't show up for the last half of the movie (or maybe they do, I just don't remember seeing them after a certain part in the movie) but they are still enjoyable characters none the less. I also like the approach towards Tracy's character as being the one to speak out against the whole conspiracy that is going on against the dogs that she herself, along with a hacker, tries to dig deeper into these happenings by seeking out higher ups like the cohort to the doctor who made the cure and what not. It makes her a pretty determined character and reminds me a lot of Judy Hopps from Zootopia. Another character I really like them bringing up in the film is Mayor Kobayashi (voiced by Kunichi Nomura) He's sort of the antagonist of this film for the things that he lets happen and you never know what he is going to do next along with his grungy looking assistant Major Domo (voiced by Akira Takayama) To finish, this film has a lot of characters that really make you invested in the world of this movie.
Animation: If their is one thing I loved about Wes Andersons Fantastic Mr. Fox, it was its stop-motion animation style. It makes a triumphant return to this movie and it is even more glorious. Their is so much to gush about to bear with me. Just like the previous film, Wes tends to lean more towards a much more furrier kind of doll design in his character animations like with the dogs, and yet they have such a realistic look to them that is quite uncanny, even the human character are well designed to such fine detail that it is astounding to look at. But when everything moves, holy mother of Anderson, is it ever a sight to behold. Everything has this kind of choppy movement to it. Not that its bad, its that it lacks frames and has less fluidity, but for some reason, I like how it all moves. Even for the dogs, the way they are animated is truly a sight to behold. Their moves are well captured for the animal that they are with sitting, walking, and head movements, not to mention the lip synch is so well utilized you think that it would be hard to make those mouth movements for the designs of the dogs in particular, but Wes' team has found a way to do it and it blows my mind. And speaking of "blows" the way that the fur moves in the wind on the dogs is definitely one of the things I fell in love with. It is amazing how well executed and flawless it moves. I can tell ya, its not easy to animate fur or cloth in stop motion, but again, they did it, and I am truly impressed. Even when characters emote, its all done very well too. The way a character cries in this film leaves me stunned and truly mesmerized. I can feel it through the animation even if they are just letting out tears and not fully blubbering. Not only are the character animations done well, but everything from the effects and backgrounds are just as impressive. Effects such a smoke, water, explosions, arte all done practical and not cgi, giving it a look of authenticity and adds its own charm to it. Its like the way an old Rankin/Bass (Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town) Christmas special was animated. The backgrounds are all really cool too. Everything from the town of Megasaki city to the filthy wastelands of trash island really pop out at you with their use of color and set pieces that you can tell what you're looking at. One of the last things I wanna bring up in this category is the use of the Camera. Now normally I don't talk about the camera work in animated films since it's not really something I'm good at talking about, (which is why I don't talk about live-action films) but just like other Anderson films, he knows how to get it to work in his films for just how crazy and artsy the angles can be. They compliment the landscape of his films and its no different here. scenes where you just see shadows talking, or scenes shot from above or when they are walking with the background being the center piece only for it to change into a new background as they still keep their walk cycle is a wonder of the use of camera work. Props to Tristan Oliver (director of photography who also did Fantastic Mr. Fox's photography) for bringing his use of the camera to life once again.
Music: Oh.....oh Alexandre Desplat, do you ever stop being good with your music??? Academy Award winning composer Alexandre Desplat (Grand Budapest Hotel, The Shape of Water) has come back to Wes for another round or incredible music. He really knows how to set the mood for the intense, the suspenceful, the heartpounding. And the range of music is pretty impressive too. From the unusual bits of winds to the heavy deep chorus groans. The Japanese influence is strong in this movie too, much more so than in Kubo and the Two Strings. From stuff like folk, to traditional, and those drums, those god damn Taiko Drums https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zK95kdY_xc Mmm! I could listen to that all day.
All in all, I give this film a 9.5 out of 10. This is a film I highly recommend to anyone. Its a film that needs to be watched to be believed for the incredible animation, the charming story, and the interesting characters. It is truly a masterpiece.
It really was a great movie, and it subverted a lot of my expectations too. One thing I realized, though, is that not a single child in my theater laughed, which is kinda sad tbh, because some of the humor was top notch.
It really was a great movie, and it subverted a lot of my expectations too. One thing I realized, th
Thanks, even though it was hard to draw Chief since he was a stop motion designed character that would have killed me if I tried drawing ALL those individual lines of fur on his body XD
Thanks, even though it was hard to draw Chief since he was a stop motion designed character that wou
