Very enjoyable movie - downright hilarious, and it's good for kids, too. Seems that in Megasaki City, Japan, the dogs have come down with a bad case of the flu and have been forcibly evacuated to the appropriately named Trash Island, which housed factories, trash facilities, and so on. The first dog sent over to the island belongs to the young ward and nephew of the city's mayor; years later, the boy hijacks a small plane and heads to the island to find his pal. Aided by five other dogs, he must deal with the machinations of his distant uncle, robot dogs, the dog flu, and other obstacles in order to find Spots the dog. Wes Anderson's imaginative, beautiful movie employs stop-action animation with excellent detail to wonderful effect. I mean, you can see the individual fur strands move. The life of an untethered dog is exquisitely expressed, and as usual Anderson employs fine actors to provide the dogs' voices, such as Bill Murray, Liev Schrieber, Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Tilda Swinton, and Bryan Cranston. As an added bonus, the entire movie is presented as a Japanese film that's been, shall we say, modified for an American audience. When the mayor gives one of his many speeches, for example, a translator sits off in the wings, speaking his words in English. A note tells us that the dogs' barks have been automatically translated to English, too. But lest you think this is a culture appropriation issue, the original Japanese written language is employed throughout. In short, great entertainment no matter who you are.
Review of Isle of Dogs
