I prefer foxes.
While Isle of dogs is a beautiful film to look at I couldn't help but feel extremely uncomfortable with the depiction of the Japanese characters. The Japanese characters had a negative hue brushed on each character that felt explicit and alien, this wasn't helped by the fact most dialog spoken by Japanese characters wasn't translated (intentionally) and the presence of a literal white savior character. For me Isle of dogs (I Love dogs) doesn't have the charm or the whimsy of the superior film Fantastic Mr. Fox and while I don't hate this film I don't think it holds a candle to Wes Anderson's previous efforts.
*My opinion may change with subsequent rewatches.
A quirky animated adventure as epic as it is adorable.
This movie, as I was expecting from director Wes Anderson, is visually stunning. The artistic choices worked really great for me. The stop-motion is absolutely flawless, one of the best I've ever seen. The dedication to such a labor-intensive craft, that will look like CGI to many people, is admirable. Huge props to the animators!
The story, on the other hand, didn't excite me as I had hoped. While the premise was very interesting, I felt that the story could have take a better direction, narratively speaking. Some side plots felt useless and should have been skipped, while others could've been expanded a little bit more. The other dogs in the pack could have used some more lines, especially considering the A class actors that voiced them.
I really liked the idea of making the dogs speak English while the humans spoke undubbed Japanese. It really forced the viewer to sympathize more with the dogs, making the human world distant and cold (specially for people, like me, who are not adept to japanese culture).
I definitely did not like the deus ex machina at the end. The situation should have been resolved more elegantly.
In the end, it's a movie that could have been perfect, but the unremarkable(to me) development of the story keeps from being a truly masterpiece. Thankfully, Anderson's stylistic choices were spot on, appealing and just quirky enough. The jokes all work really well ( the recurring "rumor" gag was really funny ). The film flow quite well, with just the right runtime.
8/10
P.S.: go watch the "making of" of the sushi scene. Truly a gargantuan work for one of the best looking food scene in animation history.
It's a typical quirky Wes Anderson film. It looks great and has a good score. The story is heartwarming. I love the way all the dogs interacted with each other. The dialogue is fun and snappy. I thought it was interesting to have the humans speaking their native language. I'm not sure why Wes Anderson felt the need to make this set in Japan but I did enjoy the aesthetic he used for the culture.
If you love dogs, go watch this movie
If you hate dogs, go watch this movie
Others, go watch this movie
You can definitely tell that this is a Wes Anderson film. It has great visuals and I really do respect stop motion as I'm aware that it takes time to make. The story is fine but the most of the characters are underdeveloped. I wish that we could see more of the dogs and their relationships. Greta Gerwig's character didn't even need to be in the movie and felt forced in. I love the style, dialogue & humor, but everything else is decent to weak. I liked Fantastic Mr. Fox more, to be honest.
Wow, just… wow. Wes Anderson is absolutely brilliant. This is a visual masterpiece, stunning from start to finish, with a great story to boot. Amazing voice acting cast as well. 10/10, A must watch in my opinion.
Dog lovers, unite!
"Isle of Dogs" is so unlike most movies, in a good way. The animation was detailed, expressions on the faces of the dogs and the people were perfect. The translations of languages was creative. Even the voice acting, which I think is overrated in most animation, is really terrific.
This film can be enjoyed by adults and children. In fact, compare this to something as asinine as "The Secret Life of Pets"...actually don't. There can be no comparison made. "Isle of Dogs" is exceptional in every way.
I liked the way the story underlined the hastiness and danger in mob mentality. The political underhandedness of the antagonists was cruel but tempered. I never felt like I was being preached to.
I can't give this my highest rating even though I can't quite put my finger on why. There's something missing from the story. Maybe it's a lack of motivation or purpose of the bad guys. The get rich plot point about selling people robot dogs feels a little light. But I normally gripe about painting villains with simple broad brushes, so that makes little sense.
Bottom line, I love dogs and I love animation so this gets a high score from me.
Another brilliant stop-motion animated film by Wes Anderson.
I absolutely love every little detail to this film, the animations are very janky and at times cheesy stop-motion!! Which I love!!!
Wes Anderson goes back to stop-motion puppets, using the same team he last employed in The Fantastic Mr. Fox. As with any Anderson film, it's meticulously composed and ornately decorative, peppered with spots of dry humor and awkward bits of stumbling dialog. It treasures the in-between moments and personal spoils, often at the expense of greater rewards. Sufficiently quirky and offbeat, but I had trouble getting emotionally attached, which is odd as that's usually one of the director's greatest strengths. Everyone's just so damned somber and drawn all the time. Understandable, given they've been exiled to a landfill island and slated for extinction, but still. Give us a little flavor when you're fighting robot canines or riding a suspended mine car through a raging inferno.
A fun concept and another visual showpiece for the highlight reel, but in the end it's rather dull and monotonous.
i always love hearing and trying to identify the voices in animated shows. This one was full of great A actors. Fun movie, too - I would love to see a breakdown of a scene. To see the work that goes into ...
If I had a gun with three bullets and I was sharing a room with Hitler, Bin Laden and Greta Gerwig's character, I'd shoot Greta Gerwig's character three times
This movie is so cute. It made me tear up a lil bit.
I'm still a cat person but this was a win for the dogs! Such an adorable heartwarming story about a boy and his dog, but the more you analyse it the more you realize how incredibly dark the themes are. So cleverly put in there, I never felt like I was being lectured or anything it was a perfect dose. Stunning stop-motion animation, it's so flawless that I had to verify if it was indeed stop-motion. A tiny bit of comedy sprinkled throughout. Set in Japan which was great. The voice acting was on point, especially Bryan Cranston. The use and decision of putting subtitles or not depending on the scenes is creative but I was frustrated at not understanding what Atari was saying for most of the movie. Lost a bit of steam in the middle but the ending was splendid. I want more Wes Anderson stop-motion movies!
Let's do Isle of Cats now!
This is an excellent film that everyone should watch. Everyone else here has made every point I could make, apart from one.
This is a deeply political and socio-cultural film that befits the era in which it was released. What is great about it is that you could plop your kid in front of this and they'd be perfectly happy with the great surface-level story. If you're an adult looking for a fun Sunday-afternoon watch, it will also check all the boxes for you.
The story lying beneath is a lot darker, though. It's not representing any particular real-world event but displays a version of the actions and beliefs of many authoritarians throughout recent history, and how the populace can easily be manipulated into following along with the committing/supporting unspeakable horrors.
Through this lens, the story is about an underclass that is being isolated on an island ghetto, slowly at first before it becomes more and more acceptable to ship them en masse. The underclass in the city are being socially isolated, and are victims of violence, murder, and biological attack. The authoritarian leader consolidates his power into a dictatorship and whips up the populace into a frenzy of hate. This allows him to commit genocide without being impeded by the populace. This underclass is replaced by a 'perfect' model citizen/soldier that will do exactly as instructed, while also playing on fears of automation in the future. The only unrealistically event is showing it all resolved by appealing to the heart of the fascist and winning him, and his followers, over in one heartfelt speech. This is intentional, though, viewing the protesters, child, and the dogs put up against a wall would not make a good ending, nor make the point the story is trying to make.
There are many other smaller stories around this central theme that are also subtle yet effective satires of the dire situation the real world this film was produced in.
This is an anti-authoritarian polemic wrapped in a fantastic heart-warming story about dogs that may just trick a few people into thinking about it slightly more deeply. When I came to this comment section, I was expecting a few right-wing barrages about how 'Hollywood should leave politics out of movies' and similar tripe, but I guess the target audience either excludes them or they stuck to the surface-level storytelling.
Undoubtedly Wes’ most political film, it’s very much a product of the Trump years.
It’s very good, though it could’ve been a little more bold as a metaphor.
I don’t think it says much more than don’t believe the propaganda that’s spread about the disadvantaged people of society , which seems like a very agreeable if you’re at least a little informed. I do like some of the other commentary in regards to corporatism and individuality though.
There were also a few minor parts where I started to get bored, but still: every shot is perfectly framed, the animation is gorgeous, the music’s outstanding and memorable, Wes’ trademark quirkiness is in there and makes the film very unpredictable, very good characters (especially the one voiced by Bryan Cranston), solid story and a heartwarming emotional core.
7.5/10
Delicious Wes Anderson movie, with great actors voicing the characters
Looks good. It can get a bit boring but it's OK
Well, this is a Wes Anderson-Movie - through and through.
For example, in one scene there is a Sushi-Cook. You are watching him making a sushi. First he is filleting a fish, then he stappels the sushi-portions. And finally he puts everything in a box to be delivered.
It's so full of Details and i like that style.
Overall the movie is japnese. It is made by americans and german, but it pretends to be a japanese movie. It is a love declaration to Japan and the japanese style.
BUT.... the story itself and the overall drama seems messy. Not totally, but i was not confinced. Anyway. Nice movie, but not as good as "The Grand Budapest Hotel", my favorite Wes Anderson Movie.
I did not like it that much the first time I saw it. Now that I have revisited it, I love it. A breath of fresh air in animation.
The movie has a very attractive aesthetic and a thrilling soundtrack. It is a beautiful tale of love, trust, hope and courage, but it can be interpred in deeper levels. Some choices made by Anderson - such as the translation of barking, while the japanese is not translated - are a little odd, but contribute to make this movie very unique and pleasant.
FUCK
So, here's the thing: I grew up with a family dog. That means this movie is automatically great, because I have a deep, emotional attachment to the character's identity on-screen. I've never told anyone this, I've never typed it before, but you're all hearing it first, courtesy of me. Let me tell you about myself, instead of informing you about the quality of the movie. I'm in college, a film student, and an inspired fan of Wes Anderson's grossly overused and distracting aesthetic. I love the colors purple and orange, I'm a great driver, and I'm working on a novel, but I'm having writer's block. Wes Anderson is all I hear about in class, which I really appreciate. He's so much better than other "filmmakers" out there, with his gorgeous CINEMATOGRAPHY, and his phenomenal DIRECTION, he's the biggest auteur in the business right now, not like scumbags like Michael Bay, who are just ruining this industry. I got emotionally connected from the first frame of this movie, when I recognized Anderson's flat and symmetrical art style. Literal chills and goosebumps. From there, it was a roller-coaster of epidemic proportions. You aren't ready for these feels. We need a movie like this, in the current year we live in. When, by executive decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, 12-year-old Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture. Overall, I would recommend this film.
i'm gonna go shoot my head off now
Very good movie, although the last chapter isn't as good as the other ones, the pacing was a little off. Chapter 2 is clearly the highlight of the movie. And the animation was flawless.
I was disappointed with this to be honest. It was okay, and had some nice touches but didn't work for me overall
It's amazing what an Oscar nomination will yield in convincing one to watch a movie that I never had any intention of seeing (the trailers for this movie were most uninspiring - filthy dogs on a trash island - ugh!). My first response 1) this isn't as bad as I feared, then 2) this is an all-star voice cast, and then 3) this is a decidedly quirky story. The strangeness of this screenplay may be what earned it its nomination. The stop-animation is flawless. Performances are laid back and chill well befitting the style of writing we expect of Wes Anderson. I give this film a 7.8 (good with moments of greatness) out of 10. [Animated Dry-Comedic Adventure]
Wes Anderson's dry humour is fully to the fore here. It's enjoyable enough, but not the classic many have deemed it to be.
I think that it is fair to say that Wes Anderson definitely has a particular style. Isle of Dogs fits perfectly into his filmography as a charming story of friendship and trust that just so happens to also be about dogs. The animation is truly amazing and I am blow away by how well Anderson can block and stage scenes in the stop motion style. This film looks beautiful start to finish and is a treat to watch for that. The voice cast is also pretty interesting as it made up mostly of well known actors with recognisable voices playing to their public image. Every word said be Goldblum or Murray especially feels exactly like what you would expect real word Goldblum and Murray to say. My only real criticism is that despite being really charming, this movie does not make a lick of sense and fails to build a solid word with it’s own internal logic for this story. I found myself often taken out of the film when something would happen that just didn’t add up, I guess with this being more of a family film it doesn’t matter too much and there is enough to enjoy without thinking too hard about the plot. It’s not Anderson’s best work but it will most certainly satisfy his fans.
Beautifully shot film. Wes Anderson has a great sense of detail and framing. All the of the actors show up and the initial premise is interesting. I even think his screenplay are unique and well written. There seems to be a lack of emotional connection with his characters which, for me, leaves me a bit hollow when important thinks happens to these characters in the story. I do believe his films are visually arresting and I love his music choices and humor, but I prefer a little more emotional depth to completely win me over.
This was definitely a great movie. The story was so cute and sad at the same time as a little crazy. It's amazing what you can make with stop-motion!
Another great movie by Wes Anderson... great characters in a beautiful stop-motion animated film.
2 / 2 directing & technical aspect
1 / 1 story
1 / 1 act I
1 / 1 act II
0 / 1 act III
1 / 1 acting
0 / 1 writing
1 / 1 originality
0 / 1 lasting ability to make you think
-.5 / 1 misc
6.5 out of 10
Bizarre, charming and just the right amount of quirky. It's Wes Anderson through and through. Either you're in the camp that likes that or you're not. It's totally a live children's storybook, a fun one.
Played out good, ended good. Worth your time.
Shout by Saint PaulyBlockedParent2018-04-16T22:35:43Z
In honour of Isle of Dogs, a haiku:
A film about dogs
Played and directed by gods
Don't eat yellow snow
Beauty, poetry, and charm. Isle of Dogs is Wes Anderson at his best.