Underplayed Gems

Isle of Dogs (2018)

Isle of Dogs poster
Directed by
Wes Anderson
Genre
comedy film, science fiction film, adult animated film
Country
Germany, United States
Runtime
1h 41m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
7.8 of 10 from 5,460 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

In a dystopian Japanese city, the mayor exiles all dogs to a garbage-filled island because of a flu outbreak. His young nephew crashes a plane onto the island to find his lost pet and gets help from a pack of stray dogs.

whimsicaldryly humorousvisually intricateserenemelancholicoffbeatcozybittersweetprecise

What happens

Isle of Dogs (Japanese: 犬ヶ島, Hepburn: Inu ga Shima) is a 2018 stop-motion animated science fiction comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Wes Anderson, narrated by Courtney B. Vance and starring an ensemble cast consisting of Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson, Kunichi Nomura, Tilda Swinton, Ken Watanabe, Akira Ito, Greta Gerwig, Akira Takayama, Frances McDormand, F. Murray Abraham, Yojiro Noda, Fisher Stevens, Mari Natsuki, Nijiro Murakami, Yoko Ono, Harvey Keitel and Frank Wood. An American-German-British co-production, Isle of Dogs was produced by Studio Babelsberg and Indian Paintbrush in association with Anderson's own company American Empirical Pictures. This was Anderson's second stop-motion film, following Fantastic Mr. Fox. The film is set in the fictional Japanese city of Megasaki where Mayor Kenji Kobayashi has banished all dogs to Trash Island due to a canine influenza pandemic. Kobayashi's nephew Atari sets out to find his missing dog Spots with the help of a group of dogs led by stray dog Chief. Anderson started developing the film in October 2015 using stop-motion animation, with a voice cast of Norton, Cranston and Balaban. It draws inspiration from films by Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki, as well as the stop-motion animated holiday specials made by Rankin/Bass Productions, the 1982 animated film The Plague Dogs, and Disney's 101 Dalmatians. Production began in October 2016 at the 3 Mills Studios in East London. By December 2016, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film, scheduling it for a 2018 release. It is the second animated film to be released by Fox Searchlight, seventeen years after Waking Life in 2001. It is the only 20th Century Fox Animation film to be released by Fox Searchlight. Isle of Dogs opened the 68th Berlin International Film Festival, where Anderson was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director. It was given a limited release in the United States on March 23, 2018, and went on wide release on April 13. It grossed nearly $73 million worldwide, and received critical acclaim for its animation, story, musical score, and deadpan humor, along with criticism for its portrayal of Japanese people and culture. The film received two nominations at the 91st Academy Awards, for Best Animated Feature and Best Score. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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