Review: Isle of Dogs

Is this movie Best In Show?

Wes Anderson is basically the poster child of weird, introspective filmmaking that’s somehow in the mainstream. His work is often stuck with a specific style that’s almost turned around into self-parody on at least a few occasions, and yet that strange brand of movie making has always managed to keep people entertained and talking for decades. You need only see Honest Trailers’ recent “Every Wes Anderson Movie” video to tell that much.

Isle of Dogs is not an exception to this, being (surprise) another well put-together and captivating story that will be a sticking point in not only Anderson’s body of work but also animation going forward. It has two peers in its odd pedigree, Anderson’s previous animated venture “The Fantastic Mr. Fox”, and 2016’s “Kubo and the Two Strings.” The former naturally share the same creative team and visual style for which one really pays for when seeing a Wes Anderson film (being Anderson’s only other stab at animation before this one) but the connection to the latter is something deeper. Both are stop-motion stories about young boys set in a fictionalized version of Japan and both make use of the mystical nature of that country to tell their story, but somehow manage to do so with the utmost intention of respect.

I totally buy this despite the concerning implications the plot itself inevitably presents in terms of its way of explaining the characters. Almost every dog speaks in English (mostly from Anderson’s usual A-list troupe such as Ed Norton, Bill Murray, and Jeff Goldblum), while most of the Japanese cast speak basically just Japanese aside from the errant English word or a translator. There’s always going be this suspicion that this paints the Japanese as otherworldly animals while the white-acted dogs are seen more human, and there’s no getting around that thought will pop up, but hopefully, the sincere intent of making the dogs more humanizing while the humans are less relatable will shine through for most viewers.

This film seems like Anderson trying at a youth-empowering kids film that just happens to be in his given weird style, which is pretty appropriate for these times given the very recent influx of youth-empowering protesting. Sure, the TOPIC of protest is different, but it does show a very heavy siding with the power even the young can hold when siding with science, logic, reason, and love over grabs for power and preferred ignorance.

Ultimately, Isle of Dogs is a story of family, how they are torn apart, and how they come back together. It’s got an undeniable heart and inescapable charm and strangeness that makes a Wes Anderson its own brand. Go see it immediately once it hits a wide release.