167. Isle Of Dogs; movie review

ISLE OF DOGS
Cert PG
101 mins
BBFC advice: Contains mild threat, violence, language

Wes Anderson is probably the most original voice in cinema today - creating films which are so offbeat that they split audiences.
In recent years, I was enamoured with the quirkiness of Moonrise Kingdom (which we watched in Hollywood!), failed to click with the Grand Budapest Hotel and fell asleep during Fantastic Mr Fox.
My reaction to the latter made me worry for Isle of Dogs which has the same style of animation and also heroes with fur.
I should not have fretted. While, Isle Of Dogs is only rarely laugh-out-loud funny, it is off-the-wall enough to be amusing from top to tail.
It includes voice work from a host of Anderson favourites including Bryan Cranston, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand and Edward Norton.
Its premise is that the mayor of a Japanese city has exiled all dogs to trash island which is a giant refuse tip. There they feed off the scraps which are sent by the local authority.
Meanwhile, the mayor's nephew (Koyu Rankin) flies in on a self-constructed plane to look for his beloved pet, Spots.
This prompts the dogs to plan a search and escape.
Isle Of Dogs is weird in many ways. The dogs speak English but subtitles are used for the humans who are Japanese and there is an unconventional narration during the whole film.
And there are lots of close-ups which are used to emphasise a simple reaction or facial expression.
I have been trying to think of a touch-point movies comparison but it really does defy any outside of Anderson's collection. Indeed, the only film which comes close is his Fantastic Mr Fox
He is a one-off and, in my view, Isle Of Dogs is one of his hits rather than one of his misses.

Reasons to watch: Unique animation and typically off-the-wall Anderson humour
Reasons to avoid: Doesn't prompt enough laughs

Laughs: Three and a few chuckles
Jumps: None
Vomit: Animated regurgitation
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8/10

Director's quote - Wes Anderson: "The one thing about our dogs is they live on a garbage dump. That helps to undermine the cuteness. "

The big question - If dogs could talk, what would they say?

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