Isle of Dogs (dir. Wes Anderson)

Quirky, zany and hipster are perhaps just some of the phrases used to describe Wes Anderson’s dynamic cinematic back-catalogue, films that are becoming increasingly entertaining by each venture. Efforts such as “Moonrise Kingdom”, “Bottle Rocket”, “The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” are prime examples of the man’s stylistic visual medium, and quick-fire wry dialogue. For work that could fall so drastically into erksome and parodical waters, Anderson’s audience adoration is unparralled, and more often than not his entries have been met with a similar critical consensus - with his most recent effort, “The Grand Budespt Hotel” awards-season domination proving evidence of this.

Following on here from his first furore into the stop-motion animated world - in the form of "Fantastic Mr. Fox"- which was adapted form the beloved children’s book by Roald Dahl- was heavy on it’s sensational attention to detail and humorous one-liners, which was enough to reconcile the quite obvious plot contrivances. With "Isle of Dogs" - which he co-wrote with Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola and Kunichi Nomura - he’s back on form, and his instantly recognizable visual motifs, along with is effortlessly quotable dialogue and life-affirming messages, all coalesce into a charming and beautifully presented character study, admittedly as bonkers and eccentric as you’d aspect from Anderson’s madcap methods of storytelling.

It doesn’t take genius to figure out the pun-tastic underpinnings to the title, “Isle of Dogs”. For if you speed up your pronunciation a few clicks, it shoulds alarmingly close to, “I love dogs”. Laugh or don’t laugh - this is completely down to your sensibility, but it actually becomes the thesis to Anderson’s wiry canine-tale, as it ponders an alternate existence - through the use of contrasting avenues - of a life without mongrel influence, and the true meaning of “man’s best friend”.

A surprising title card beings proceedings, which dutifully informs us of the following filmmaking aesthetic: “Isle of Dogs” will only feature English dialogue through the use of it’s canine contingent, with the rest of the Japanese cast speaking their native tongue or translated through the use of an interpreter. Perhaps a nod to the Asian market, or even a stab-in-the-dark at political correctness - either way, this method is another dose of Wes Anderson’s wacky sensibilities, and thankfully it comes off quiet nicely. As for the cultural appropriation debate currently making the rounds - this has been something of a sore spot, but more on that later.

In a seemingly drastic turn of events, the corrupt cat-loving Mayor Koybayahsi (voiced by co-writer Kunichi Nomura) has inexplicably passed legislature- in the fictional Japanese town of Megasaki- deeming all dogs to be germ-infected vehicles of disease, so subsequently banishes them to the neighboring “trash island”. Unbeknowst to our tyrannical dictator however, his adopted son Atari (Koyu Rankin) seeks the companions of his recently evicted mate, and steals a plane before crash landing it to said enclove - in a desperate attempted to reconvene his beloved Pup, Spots ( voiced by Liev Schrieber)

Upon landing on the junk-laden wasteland, he’s must by fellow exiled pooches Rex (Edward Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Boss (Bill Murray) and Duke (Jeff Goldblum) - all former domesticated house guests under the de-factor leadership of stray Chief (voiced by the excellent Bryan Cranston). At first, our gang of mutts are fascinated with their human visitor, until they squabble over assisting his futile search for his missing puppy.

Anderson sets the scene early on, in such regard that almost everything our animal contingent say are inherently humorous. His downbeat form of comedy - which worked wonders for him in “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” - is on top form here, and if you’re like me, and believe all comedic cinema should make you laugh at least 6 times - it passes this guideline within he first twenty minutes. Witty asides and comedy interludes become the norm, as our gang of furry-friends deliberate whether or not they peruse the dumpster-like hellhole that has become their home.

Meanwhile, back in in Megasaki, the Mayor has learned of his progeny’s absence and set his goons - the majority of which being robotic dog companions - to search after them, while simultaneously attempting to silence a fellow political leader from unveiling an antidote to the snout-fever epidemic which has plagued man’s best friend.

As they leave for greener pastures, with their unwanted companion in tow, new breeds are introduced along the way in a the suitably comical manor. A terrific cameo from Tilda Swinton, as lovable pug Oracle, riffs on well-worn canine behavior without slowing down the plot a bit. Flicking back and forth between the beauractric nonsense over in Megasaki, and the coming of age-adventure storyline on trash island - Anderson manages to merge these two storylines and cleverly circumvent the storyline issues he had with his last stop-motion feature, this time with a defter precision. Though it must be said that Anderson’s satire is much grittier and nastier than it’s sub-pixar themed marketing campaign should suggest, it's inherently charming- and the tone is effortlessly comical and futher proves the maxim that Anderson’s best work is confined to his efforts which don’t take itself to seriously.

Accompanying of all this is a thoughtful though somewhat aggressive soundtrack; an impressive balance of a repetitive drum-beat with a melancholic afterthought, under the tutelage of the recent Oscar winner for "The Shape of Water", Alexandre Desplat. The terrific score blends so nonchalantly with the visual aesthetic, almost in a relative ease. Additionally, the spectacular ensemble voice cast - which also includes Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abaraham, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Bob Balaban, Liev Schrieber and even Yoko Ono - are all on top form, with the real standout being the excellent Bryan Cranston, who is able to evoke the gloom and downtrodden sullenness of the stray pup Chief, in a quaint and charming fashion.

It’s taken the best part of four years to come to fruition, but boy has it been worth the wait. Anderson has a real affinity for bringing the very best attributes of his whimsical form of cinema to light when dabbling within this medium- and he’s an absolute perfectionist. One need only look at the behind-the-scenes footage of the aforementioned “Fantastic Mr. Fox” to see the sheer amount of work needed to create a film on this scale- sometimes only accruing three seconds worth of usable footage per filming day.

One was reminded of recent efforts within this genre, the terrific "Kubo and The Two Strings", and "My Life as A Courgette" - which were similarly enchanting in their technological scope - and managed to bring pathos and nuance to an animated feature unlike many of it's comparative offerings.

Credit to cinematographer Tristan Oliver as well, for setting the visual pallet to resemble the harsheness of the subject matter (kids film this is not; be aware of images of the skeletal remains of dogs, blood etc), and when our four-legged friends are on screen, the frame is angled in such a way that the dogs are closer to you than ever before, and you feel like you’re right there with them on their journey.

Of course, much has been written on it’s “cultural appropriation”, for the use of a predominately white voice cast against the un-translatable Japanese human characters rumblings, have caught some in a argument for it’s less than progressive attitudes to outdated stereotypes. Some also have argued that it may as well have been set in Iowa for all the good it says about Japanese culture. Though I proudly believe these cynics are looking too much into it, for one, even if this was the case, Anderson and his team would be far form the first filmmaking team to take advantage of a foreign culture (Coco, anyone?). Secondly, everything in a Wes Anderson film goes against the fundamentals of progressive cinema, anyway. By having our central canine contingent speaking English and the human characters speaking Japanese, it’s merely a visual gimmick; adding a further feather in his impressive bow and an extension of his counter-culture style of filmmaking.

Take it from me, you’re best to take Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs” visually breathtaking stop-motion farce as a delicate character piece about a young-boy’s love for his absentee pooch. It’s heartwarming, consistently funny, and will evoke different levels of catharsis upon each viewing. As one of the pro-dog activists muses to the televised nation; “What ever happened to man’s best friend?”. You’d be barking mad to not find out.

Rating 4/5