Film Review: Isle of Dogs

I actually felt thirsty after watching this it was that dry.

Isle of Dogs is the latest film from, in my opinion, the most visually distinctive director in film history. And it does absolutely nothing to contradict that view. This is the most Wes Anderson movie that ever Wes Anderson-ed. It focuses on the story of a group of dogs who live on an island made entirely of trash. A small boy arrives on their patch looking for his former pet dog and the troupe go on a trip to help him in his seemingly straightforward task.

As stated, you can tell immediately that this is an Anderson joint. The soothing symmetry of almost every shot is almost hypnotic. Similarly, the quiet, slow pace of every scene and even the dialogue makes for one of the most relaxing movie-going experiences of the year. Make sure you’re well rested before going into this because I can easily see how you could drop off. That’s not to say the movie is boring, though. Anderson just succeeds in building such a pervasive meditative atmosphere that lulls you to lazy contemplation.

The writing is the same. Straightforward and earnest as well as played completely straight by the all-star cast. The quiet un-emotive style of delivering dialogue lends itself to some deliciously dry comedy that I laughed out loud at several times. Edward Norton and Scarlett Johansson do this especially well. The sensitive wisp of their voices is mesmerising in the echo chamber of a silent cinema which, unlike when watching A Quiet Place, I actually got. The fact the human characters all speak Japanese without subtitles further increases the alienation from their politics while endearing you to the plight of the dogs… unless you speak Japanese, I suppose.

As for the cultural appropriation or white-saviour controversy some have levelled at the film, I’m not gonna touch that. No one’s asking for the whitest man in the world’s opinion on racial portrayals. So I can’t really say what your experience would be. It didn’t upset me, but then it wouldn’t. You might take umbrage, you might not.

Look, in summary, I really enjoyed this movie. It’s flamboyantly absurd, ridiculous and parodic while playing everything hilariously, un-winkingly straight. The animation is stellar and crucially, it’s something radically different to anything you’ll see in the near future.