Review: Isle of Dogs

Set in a place called Megasaki City, the place has been ravaged with a supposed dog flu. The city’s mayor Kobayashi Kunichi Nomura) declares all dogs be banished to Trash Island. Some time in the future we are introduced to dogs like Chief (voiced by Bryan Cranston), Rex (voiced Edward Norton), King (voiced by Bob Balaban), Boss (voiced by a wasted Bill Murray), and Duke (voiced by Jeff Goldblum). We follow them on their day-to-day struggle to survive on Trash Island, when all of a sudden a small aircraft arrives out of nowhere on Trash Island.

 

I just can’t get onto the Wes Anderson (“Rushmore”, “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou”) vibe, I’m afraid. The one Anderson film I did like was his gorgeous-looking stop-motion “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, based on one of my favourite books as a kid by Roald Dahl. I was hoping this 2018 animated film was gonna be another winner. Sadly, despite some fine elements, this one comes up a bit short for me. Scripted by Anderson, the first act is unfocussed and the whole thing runs out of fuel before the finish line somewhere around the hour mark. The best thing is the title: “Isle of Dogs” = I Love Dogs. That’s clever. The second best thing? The wonderfully dry narration by Courtney B. Vance, possibly his best work to date in my view. He’s perfect, in fact the dry humour worked for me for much of the film’s length whereas I’m normally resistant to Anderson’s humour. This one’s a lot less mannered and off-putting. It’s not gut-busting or anything, just amusing.

 

I was a little less impressed with the Japanese flavour of the film, as it didn’t seem to serve much purpose beyond ‘why not?’. The basic plot is interesting but that felt like one affectation too many for me. The animation is more varied than in “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, but I especially liked the design of the dogs. And any film that has Jeff Goldblum voicing a mangy, scruffy dog is at least something. I honestly think that 98% of what makes Jeff Goldblum…Jeff Goldblum is in his inimitable voice. The real standout amongst the voice cast is Bryan Cranston, he’s terrific whilst Edward Norton is interestingly understated and likeable. Frances McDormand is amusing too as the interpreter. I think Scarlett Johansson is phenomenally overrated and robotic as an actress, but she has a nice voice suited to animation so she works fine here too. Perhaps my favourite character in the whole film is The Oracle, a pug voiced by Tilda Swinton of all people. Of course the pug would be the smart one. Genius dogs they are. The gag is that the only reason the pug knows more than the other dogs is because it understands human television. That’s more like a pug. The film isn’t for kids – there’s a little “Animal Farm” to it – but there is a sweetness to the story of the little boy who misses his dog, seemingly the only human in the story who cares about their dog. Although there’s amusement in the casting of Yoko Ono as herself as a former aide to the chief villain, the film completely deflates in the final 15 minutes with an especially flat ending. I was really with this one for about 50-60 minutes or so, so it’s a shame.

 

Unusual and amusing enough to get it to a certain distance before you start to lose interest in it. A good voice cast and terrific animation helps, but this one is never as consistently and wholly enjoyable as you would like. Anderson’s script is based on a story by Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, and Kunichi Nomura.

 

Rating: C+