Isle Of Dogs

And so Wes Anderson presents conclusive proof that people who think cats are better than dogs are quite clearly idiots.

The Partially Educated Review

Some perspective (if needed). The recent output of Wes Anderson has left me feeling rather cold. I particularly disliked Moonrise Kingdom and also couldn't entirely get into The Grand Budapest Hotel. I appreciate both of those are opinions in need of justification, but this isn't a review of those films.

I felt the need to establish that; mostly so that this doesn't seem like a review coming from an Anderson fanboy. That I definitely am not. I definitely am a fan of Isle Of Dogs though.

In a not-too-distant future Japan, a flu has spread through all dogs that leads them to be banished to the nearby Trash Island; away from all human population. This causes controversy for a number of reasons, not least of which being that a reported cure for the flu is being ignored by the corrupt, cat loving (so definitely evil) mayor. Said mayor's nephew Atari travels to Trash Island in search of his long, lost dog Spots where he is greeted by several other dogs who undertake to help him on his quest.

There are two things you are guaranteed not to be missing from an Anderson film; vivid imagination and a pretty dry sense of humour. He has, at times, risked becoming a pastiche of himself when you consider the fact that very little changes tonally from film to film. That's pretty much the root of my ambivalence towards some of his other films; making it incredibly difficult to explain why nothing's changed for Isle Of Dogs, but I couldn't stop laughing at it.

The only thing I can possibly nail it down to is the cast (or my love of dogs, but I'm trying to be artistic here damnit!). Much like many of Anderson's films, this is a big name cast with many taking on roles much smaller than they usually would. I guess that speaks volumes towards how much respect Anderson has conjured for himself. The star this time, however, is a newbie to the Anderson fold. Some bloke called Bryan Cranston. I think he did some inconsequential TV stuff.

As Chief, a rather grouchy and wholly begrudging member of our band of heroes, Cranston just about steals the film. His performance is layered with heaps of emotion; which I will refrain from going into lest I spoil some of the character developments. Credit is equally shared with the writers for this; particularly Jason Schwartzman who must have secretly been wanting this role for himself, but takes on another (still good) one instead. If anything, Cranston is so good that he does expose a bit of a flaw in how inconsequential a few of the other characters feel. When you make me fail to notice that Edward Norton's in your film, you've done something wrong.

The beautiful animation echoes that of Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox adaptation (also brilliant), but still feels untraditional enough to capture the eye. The plot warms the heart, particularly the portrayal of Akira; taking the WALL-E approach to character development (though let's not get ahead of ourselves, WALL-E's still better). With a slightly trimmed running time and the better fleshing out of characters, this would have been one of the best films I've seen in a long while. Instead it falls just short of that mark. But only just.

EIGHT out of 10