Isle Of Dogs Review – Spoiler Free
Isle Of Dogs is an animated adventure/comedy film which comes written and directed by Wes Anderson who some may know for his work on The Grand Budapest Hotel or Fantastic Mr. Fox. Isle Of Dogs stars Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kunichi Nomura, Greta Gerwig and Scarlett Johansson.
Going in to see this film, I wasn’t sure really what to expect. I’ve seen quite a few of the trailers for it in the lead up to its release, but they didn’t really blow me away. The dogs themselves didn’t seem interesting and I couldn’t see the appeal of it, except that there was a very interesting and likable cast as well as Wes Anderson’s name attached to it all. I also really wasn’t sure what the audience is for the film, being an animation I didn’t know if it was for kids, or if it was a more artsy animated film meant for adults.
Coming out of this film last week, I walked out of the cinema with one of the biggest smiles on my face I’ve had all year. The film is a delightul and intruguing story about a bunch of dogs who live in Japan that are sent to the garbage dump because they have something known as “dog flu” which is very bad. The dogs are discarded and chucked away and they all live in a place that’s very hard to survive in. It’s harsh, but also a little sad. Things change a little for our group of dogs when a kid name Atari turns up and starts looking for his lost dog, which he misses and also loves. It’s here where the journey begins and the kid and the group of dogs start their search.
While the plot of the film I guess sounds a little simple in the way I describe it, I can tell you that the plot is filled with a lot of depth, interesting themes and also a lot of symbolism. I can’t really spoil it when reviewing it, but coming out of this film, you’ll have so much to discuss. Each of the dogs are different characters in themselves, but so too is Atari and also the villain Mayor Kobayashi. To some extent I feel that I certainly need to give this one a second watch just to fully see things I may have missed the first time round with the story. I absolutely loved every part of the adventure and was in no way expecting something with so much depth within it from Isle Of Dogs. This is exactly the type of film I like to see and I’m definitely getting the Blu-Ray when it comes out later this year.
The animation is something I’d like to mention. I really enjoy the look of this film. I don’t know much about the type of animation process myself as I’m not technichal, but the art style they chose to use is distinctly different from many of the other animated films you’re likely to have seen in the past years or even to see in the near future. This isn’t some Pixar style animation (which is good too), but it’s nice to have something different to what we’re used to getting all the time.
The sounds in the film were also great. In the cinema I loved the musical instruments that were played, particularly the Japanese themed music which you can hear in the trailer. I thought that the music was well mixed and used well to create just the right feeling for what was going on in certain points of the adventure. Without it, the film maybe would have been boring, but it wasn’t at all.
The voice acting is another high point. I enjoyed everything I heard from Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bryan Cranston, Scarlett Johansson and all of the rest of the cast. The chosen voice actors seem to know how to do a decent job at voicing characters that I guess are serious, but also be comedic and I guess lovable in a way.
Overall I’d highly recommend seeing Isle Of Dogs at the cinema this weekend. If you’re a fan of Wes Anderson or any of the many voice actors including Bill Murray, Scarlett Johannson, Edward Norton or Bryan Cranston then you’re sure to have a good time. The story is a solid entertainment experience and has a nice message, theme and tone to it with a lot of depth. The animation is also quite interesting and soundtrack is excellent. Isle Of Dogs is one of my favourite animation films in a long time and I’m happy to recommend it as a great option at the cinema this weekend.
