Review: Isle of Dogs

Directed by Wes Anderson

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum.

The story follows a young boy searching for his dog after the species is banished to an island following the outbreak of a canine flu.

Finally had the chance to watch Isle of Dogs last night, and as expected from Wes Anderson, it was fantastic. Anderson's unique directing style and story-line backed by it's phenomenal stop-motion animation presentation, makes it another Wes Anderson masterpiece.

The stop-motion animation was incredible, and flowed flawlessly, just like his previous stop-motion animation film Fantastic Mr. Fox. The cinematography was great and the visuals were also really good.

The cast was very good, the humor was there and was not over the top, and the film's themes of language and the relationship's between dog and human is depicted really well, conveying the Japanese and their culture. Wes Anderson's decision to not subtitle the Japanese speakers was a clever choice highlighting the unreliability of translation, and how everything in the movie is interpreted and there is no such thing as fact or "true" coming from the speakers.

The film's soundtrack done by two time Academy Award winner Alexandre Desplat (who has previously collaborated with Wes Anderson in films such as The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Moonrise Kingdom) was incredible and highlighted the theme of the Japanese culture. Desplat noted that he took inspiration from legendary director Akira Kurosawa's films Drunken Angel, and Seven Samurai.

In conclusion, despite the film's slightly predictable climax and conclusion, the film was really entertaining, and I definitely enjoyed it especially coming from an auteur such as Wes Anderson, whose unique directorial style is displayed in every film he made and continues to make.

My rating: 9/10

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