Isle of Dogs (2018)

Directed by: Wes Anderson | 102 minutes | animation, adventure | Original voice cast: Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kunichi Nomura, Akira Takayama, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Akira Ito, Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, Yoko Ono, Tilda Swinton, Ken Watanabe, Mari Natsuki, Fisher Stevens, Nijirô Murakami, Liev Schreiber, Courtney B. Vance, Satoshi Yamazaki, Roman Coppola, Angelica Huston

In no time, Wes Anderson has emerged as one of the most influential and original directors of recent years, whose films are eagerly anticipated in advance. It is therefore no wonder that film buffs have longed for his latest project. With “Isle of Dogs,” Anderson opted for a new stop-motion film, after having previously starred in “Fantastic Mr. Fox’ already proved to be able to handle this very well. And, as you can expect from Anderson by now, ‘Isle of Dogs’ has been well worth the wait.

Twenty years in the future. A huge flu epidemic among dogs threatens to spread to the residents of the Japanese metropolis of Megasaki. This prompted Mayor Kobayashi, whose family has run the city as a dynasty for decades, to issue a decree banning all infected dogs to a waste island. As a gesture, Kobayashi sends his nephew Atari’s bodyguard dog Spots as the first released dog to the island. After this, the film takes a leap forward and we are introduced to a group of dogs trying to survive on the island: Chief (the wonderful Bryan Cranston), Rex (Edward Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Boss (Bill Murray) and Duke (Jeff Goldblum). When young Atari, much to his uncle’s anger, decides to search for Spots on the island, a partnership slowly develops between the group and Atari to find Spots and put an end to Kobayashi’s dictatorial practices.

The plot is quite simple for a Wes Anderson film and tells a more coherent and chronological story than in his earlier films like ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’. Where that film sometimes felt more like a collection of skits put together in a very entertaining farce, ‘Isle of Dogs’ is a bit more straightforward. However, it doesn’t stop Anderson from exploring themes such as the relationship between humans and animals, corruption and the spread of disinformation and propaganda. With this, Anderson shows in a light-hearted way how quickly the sowing of paranoia can lead to rejection and banishment, so that the film also has political relevance in a certain sense.

But where Anderson once again proves himself a master is the visual. During the entire running time of the film you will be amazed at the beautiful sets, the incredibly cuddly and realistic-looking dogs and the countless references that Anderson hides in his sets. It does mean that a second (or even third) viewing is actually inevitable. Anderson is perhaps the absolute ruler at the moment when it comes to creating fantastic visual worlds (think back to a great movie like ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’). In that respect ‘Isle of Dogs’ is once again a delightful viewing experience, in which the viewer continues to be amazed at the ingenuity with which Anderson has worked.

As in his previous films, Anderson once again gathered a very impressive (voice) cast, with Scarlett Johansson, F. Murray Abraham, Frances McDormand, Greta Gerwig, Tilda Swinton and Liev Schreiber in addition to the main characters. The actors express themselves with visible pleasure in their voice work, as a result of which the dogs grow into full-fledged characters of flesh and blood.

Although one viewing is never enough to discover all of Anderson’s tricks and finds, ‘Isle of Dogs’ is a must for every film lover. Plot-wise, the film may be less challenging than Anderson’s previous films, but even the greatest cynic should be able to enjoy the beautiful world that Anderson has managed to create in ‘Isle of Dogs’. It is not given to many directors to arouse a desire that makes you want to relive a film immediately after seeing it, but Anderson succeeds in this (once again) brilliantly.