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★★★★☆
10 March 2018
A movie review of ISLE OF DOGS. |
“I wouldn’t bring puppies into this world,” Nutmeg (Scarlett Johansson)
Humour and humanism. Animation cinema has its work cut out for the rest of 2018 if it wants to best this early front runner for the 2019 Oscar. (INCREDIBLES 2 needs to be on fire.) This puts its stop-animation recent rival, EARLY MAN, in the shade. Witty and stunningly animated, ISLE OF DOGS is an adventure with a perpetually relevant allegory. The film is a dig in the age of grim right wing politics: Scapegoating the poor, foreigners, etc. ISLE OF DOGS is a lesson in long-term inaccurate negative propaganda. How it can tap into a gullible population’s hate-filled simplicity. The narrator speaks of a “tidal wave of anti-canine sentiment.” Look around the world and you will see how topical this project is, even down to students being at the vanguard of hope.
Humour and humanism. Animation cinema has its work cut out for the rest of 2018 if it wants to best this early front runner for the 2019 Oscar. (INCREDIBLES 2 needs to be on fire.) This puts its stop-animation recent rival, EARLY MAN, in the shade. Witty and stunningly animated, ISLE OF DOGS is an adventure with a perpetually relevant allegory. The film is a dig in the age of grim right wing politics: Scapegoating the poor, foreigners, etc. ISLE OF DOGS is a lesson in long-term inaccurate negative propaganda. How it can tap into a gullible population’s hate-filled simplicity. The narrator speaks of a “tidal wave of anti-canine sentiment.” Look around the world and you will see how topical this project is, even down to students being at the vanguard of hope.
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Animation seems to be Wes Anderson's natural home. Perfect framing, precise camera moves. (One wonders why Stanley Kubrick didn't try out the form?) ISLE OF DOGS rewards repeat viewings. The attention to detail and mass of visual information means one sitting is not enough. Ornate dialogue compliments the ornate visuals. Each dog is given a distinct personality, showing how talented the writing team are. “All the ones I like are never in heat,” Boss (Bill Murray).
Set in an alternate reality of Japan, 20 years in the future, the typical neon depiction of the archipelago is absent. Two decades into the future, the hi-tech goes only as far as dog-human ear-piece communications and robot canines. I say only, but that is still impressive. What's weird is why the dog-human comms is not everywhere. Even non-pet lovers would surely get dogs?! For all the canine tech, the species in the country is on the verge of annihilation. A feud spanning over millennia between the Kobayashi clan and man's best friend has secretly re-erupted.
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Of course, everything looks gorgeous, even the landfill island of the title. ISLE OF DOGS is an animated, canine ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. Atari (Koyu Rankin) is a 12-year-old boy who bravely flies to Trash Island to rescue his beloved dog, Spots (Liev Schreiber). This isle of dogs is home to the nation’s canines. There, Atari teams up with a gang of self-styled alpha dogs. Action and escapades ensue, putting to shame the majority of big budget live action blockbusters. Thrills, wit and emotion are nicely balanced. The ending is too neat, but that is a minor quibble.
The narrative structure successfully utilises flashbacks. When we tell a story to our friends, we don’t tell the tale in chronological order. We go back to fill in the backstory. These asides give the quest even more colour.
I love how the alpha dogs are continually voting on their options. ISLE OF DOGS is a winsome celebration of camaraderie and democracy.
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