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MOVIE REVIEW: Isle of Dogs

Garth Cremona (RIP)

Wes Anderson returns to stop motion animation in what is already one of my top movies of the year.  A cat loving administration in Japan has sent all the dogs in the area to Trash Island.  The nephew of the Mayor won’t take the loss of his dog lightly and goes in search of his best friend.  On the Island the dogs have grouped themselves into small packs and when Atari finds a pack after crashing on the Island they join him to reunite the best friends.

I’m not a fan of Wes Anderson movies as some people are, the phrase quirky keeps getting tossed around and I’m not a fan of that word either, but there are some that have gotten to me over the years.  About the quirky thing, I have one simple rule, if someone calls you quirky then you are probably lovingly odd, but if you start a conversation and call yourself quirky you are probably the biggest self obsessed idiot that the world has ever known.  That’s just personal opinion and based on a lot of experience.  But back to the movie, Isle of Dogs is not just the top of my Wes Anderson movies list, it’s going to be up there with the top movies of this year for me.

Why is it so special?  Well I do love a good stop motion animation for one.  But it’s the story itself that is just so wonderful and charming.  The cat loving administration led by Atari’s Uncle have engineered the reason for the dogs being exiled, an illness, and have convinced the populous that this course of action is justified.  The Uncle has also silenced all critics to his actions, almost Bond Villain like, leaving Atari one choice, which is defiance.  The animation benefits the story as no other form of animation can manage.  It’s Anderson’s script that makes you just sit there with a smile on your face as you travel with the dogs being dogs.

The strange way that Anderson approaches his films means that the humans aren’t always translated from Japanese but yet you always know what they are saying.  The dogs barking is translated into English and the all-star cast that surrounds the canine chaps takes nothing away from the delivery of the jokes and the emotion.  The script keeps you focused on the plight of the puppies, while there are plots to kill off all the dogs on Trash Island, Atari and the dogs go deep into the landscape of the Island to find his much-loved friend.

The film keeps you guessing which I loved as plot points you think you’ve got sorted straight from the start are placed by the side and we move on.  Then there are moments of the more classic, live action, Anderson.

Did I have a problem with the film? No, well, maybe just that I wanted more.  If you like Anderson then you’re going to love this film, it blends elements of the live action films with a more perfected animation showing an evolution from The Fantastic Mister Fox.  If you didn’t like his movies before then do not let this one pass you by, you don’t have to know anything about his films before this one, you can just lose yourself to the story and beautiful animation.  There are, here in Ireland, a number of Dog and Owner screenings of Isle of Dogs and I’m tempted, ever so tempted, to attend the screening.  Either way I will on release here in Ireland be going back to see this film again and again.  It’s so rare that a film gets a five out of five from me and this one is well deserved!

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson (story by), Roman Coppola (story by) |3 more credits
Stars: Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton & more… See full cast & crew

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Garth Cremona (RIP)
Comic book creator and movie reviewer. You can find out more at www.dublinwriter.com
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