“Excellent. A crafty canine masterpiece.“
“Isle of Dogs is a (dog) treat.“
“I couldn’t look away, but then, I didn’t want to.” – SFRevu

Isle of Dogs[i], Wes Anderson’s second[ii] stop-motion animation, takes place mostly on a garbage island off the coast of Japan, where all dogs in the fictional Megasaki City have been sent, banned from the city by Mayor Kobayashi (voiced by co-writer Kunichi Nomura) because of an epidemic of “dog flu.” Atari (voiced by Koyu Rankin), the ward of the mayor, makes his way to Trash Island to find his dog, Spots. When his stolen “Junior Turboprop XJ-750” crashes, he’s rescued by a pack of dogs who help him search for Spots. Emotional highs and lows ensue as Atari and the single stray in the pack, “Chief” (Voiced by Brian Cranston) gradually form a bond despite Chief’s disdain for whole the Master/Dog thing. The use of the exquisitely crafted puppets and scenes makes the emotionally-compelling narrative visually compelling as well and elevates it beyond comedy to something greater. And the dogs rule.

Yes, I loved Isle of Dogs.

The use of stop-motion lends a curious quality to scenes. On the one hand, nothing moves that isn’t intentional, though there are intentionally distracting bits thrown in, like the occasional rat roving in the background. The static quality of the other elements directs your attention to the movement, but the detail of the scenes is so rich that you want to stop each frame and examine the whole thing. There is a sense of presence not found in either CGI or drawn animation, or even in Claymation. The dog’s fur (Alpaca wool) ruffles in the wind, as do flags and banners.

The dogs speak English with the sort of wide-eyed intensity only dogs can deliver. The humans speak in Japanese, or in the case of exchange student Tracy Walker (Voiced by Greta Gerwig) English. The fact that Atari only speaks in Japanese reduces his character, at least for English-speaking audiences, which serves to put the dogs front and center. One of my favorite lines in the movie is when Atari rattles off something in Japanese and one of the dogs turns to the audience and says, “I wish somebody spoke his language.”  I’d love to see how that plays in Tokyo.

Chief: You’re talking like a bunch of housebroken… pets.
Rex: You don’t understand. Uh, how could you, I mean you’re a…
Chief: Go ahead say it. I’m a stray, yeah.
– Isle of Dogs

Although Isle of Dogs is a referendum on fascism, the sacrifice of science for agenda, the rights of individuals, and possibly even our relationship with dogs, the story belongs to Chief. Atari is a well- developed character in his own right, but he is overshadowed, as W.C. Fields would have warned him, by the dog. While Mayor Kobyashi’s manufactured crisis provides the backdrop, it’s Chief’s search for identity that’s the real story, and W.C. Fields could also have offered some advice there:

“It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.” [iii]

This is an interesting reversal for Anderson, who typically treats dogs badly to advance the plot for humans. [iv] Here it’s the tail wagging the dog, and that’s a good thing because, in his past movies, he’s treated dogs in ways you should not treat a friend. Not your best friend, not your worst friend, not your frenemy. In Isle of Dogs, he rises above this for the most part, though what the dogs go through on Dog Island shouldn’t be done to a dog. Or even a cat.

Funny thing, by the way. There really is an Isle of Cats off the coast of Japan. But the cats there are treated pretty well[v].

The cast and crew assembled for this film comes from Wes Anderson’s regular company of luminaries, including Jeff Goldblum (voicing Duke, a dog that keeps his ear to the ground), Bill Murray (voicing Boss, the former Mascot), and Scarlett Johansson (Voicing Nutmeg, former show dog and Chief’s romantic interest). The film’s setting return Murray and Johansson to Japan, where they co-starred in Lost in Translation (2003), and more recently, where Ms. Johansson played the Major in Ghost in the shell. Anderson seems to have taken care to cast Japanese actors in the appropriate roles, including a part for Yoko Ono as the Assistant-Scientist’s voice. Due to the canine inability to speak, I think we can give him a pass on using humans to voice the dogs.

Equal to the voice cast are the animators and ultimately the stop-motion cinematographers led respectively by Animation Director Mark Waring and Stop-Motion DP Tristan Oliver. And the legions of artists and craftspeople involved in breathing life into the Isle of Dogs.

Is Isle of Dogs comedy, art, science fiction, an examination of the producer’s relationship with animals, or a referendum on authority? It’s all those things, and what’s more, it’s fun.

Links/References:

[i] Fox Searchlight; Isle of Dogs: Official Site: https://tickets.isleofdogsmovie.com/synopsis/

[ii] After the Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

[iii] Brainyquote; W.C.Fields; https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/w_c_fields_104641

[iv] The New Yorker; Does Wes Anderson Hate Dogs?: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/does-wes-anderson-hate-dogs

[v] The Atlantic[v] A Visit to Aoshima, a Japanese ‘Cat Island’; https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/03/a-visit-to-aoshima-a-cat-island-in-japan/386647/