Isle of Dogs

Name: Isle of Dogs
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Drama, Fantasy, Comedy
Released: March 23, 2018
Duration: 101 min
Rating: 82
Cast: Akira Takayama, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Bryan Cranston, Courtney B. Vance

2018

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 55 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 522 Ratings

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8.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 522 Ratings

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Isle Of Dogs

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Movie Details & Credits

Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: March 23, 2018 | PG-13

Starring: Akira Takayama, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Bryan Cranston, Courtney B. Vance, Edward Norton, F. Murray Abraham, Fisher Stevens, Frances McDormand, Greta Gerwig, Harvey Keitel, Jeff Goldblum, Kara Hayward, Koyu Rankin, Kunichi Nomura, Liev Schreiber, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton

Summary: Isle of Dogs tells the story of Atari Kobayashi, 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There,Isle of Dogs tells the story of Atari Kobayashi, 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, 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.… Expand

Director: Wes Anderson

Genre(s): Adventure, Sci-Fi, Drama, Fantasy, Comedy, Animation

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 101 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Josh Larsen

Jul 7, 2018

As wonderful as Fantastic Mr. Fox is, Isle of Dogs represents a leap forward for Anderson and his extensive team of stop-motion animators. Read full review

100

David Rooney

Feb 15, 2018

The unique charm of Isle of Dogs is its bottomless vault of curios, its sly humor, playful graphic inserts and dexterous narrative detours. Read full review

Dan Caffrey

Mar 18, 2018

The characters in Isle of Dogs may fight. They may get vicious. They may get hurt. They may get sick. But they also get nostalgic. They also get bashful. Their eyes also well up with tears when they reconnect with their loved ones, or when they first realize that love even exists at all. Just like humans. Read full review

Empire Nick de Semlyen

Feb 26, 2018

If you’re playing Wes Anderson bingo, you can tick off ‘droll whimsy’, ‘visual pizzazz’ and ‘Bill Murray’. Yet, thanks to the Far East setting and a rollicking story, this is a fun and fresh-feeling experience. Read full review

Jordan Farley

Apr 2, 2018

A barking mad shaggy dog story with imagination to spare. 13/10, would watch again. Read full review

Ty Burr

Mar 28, 2018

Isle of Dogs is a fascinating (and furry) place to visit, but visit is all it does. It’s a good boy. But it’s not a great one. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Odie Henderson

Mar 23, 2018

Isle of Dogs does not have a compelling story, and even worse, it has the most egregious examples of its director’s privilege since “The Darjeeling Limited.” This movie really pissed me off, and the only thing I found soothing while watching it was silently repeating to myself “the dogs are very furry.” Reminding myself of the film’s best asset kept me from walking out. Read full review

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User Reviews

NightReviews

Apr 4, 2018

Audiences around the world go to see a Wes Anderson film for many reasons; imagination, creativity, wonder and most of all, amazement. A man who has crafted and added to, not only a branch of the film industry within the independent market, but an individual who arguable has his own genre ofAudiences around the world go to see a Wes Anderson film for many reasons; imagination, creativity, wonder and most of all, amazement. A man who has crafted and added to, not only a branch of the film industry within the independent market, but an individual who arguable has his own genre of film, proves with his latest that you are able to make an independent success, commercial darling and fading animation style feature film revolutionary. After eight feature films which enrich the medium as a whole, Wes Anderson delved, for a second time, into the stop-motion foray with his ninth future film, and quite possibly his best yet with Isle of Dogs. You heard the rumours right? About Isle of Dogs? Sure, there are a ton of rumours, controversy and discussions about the auteur director’s latest film, both positive and negative (which we will discuss further into this review) including some fun facts that if you say the film’s title fast, it’s actually the equivalent of saying “I Love Dogs”, as well as arguments about cultural appropriation, hmmm.

The fact of the matter is, first and foremost, Isle of Dogs is a film that pays tribute and homage to so many of the things that Anderson loves and hold very dear to his heart. From his love to canines, to his homages to legendary filmmakers and vanguards Hayao Miyazaki and Akira Kurosawa, to his love of stop-motion animation; Anderson’s second venture into stop-motion animation is a film anchored by his passions, as well as a TRUE film for dog-lovers everywhere. DISCLAIMER: NO ACTUAL dogs were harmed during the making of this film–fact!

Nevertheless, don’t let the animation fool you, Anderson’s Dogs is as convoluted a story and themed complexly as any other of his films.

A true underdog story, the film follows a young Japanese boy Atari (Koyu Rankin) and his odyssey to save his beloved guard dog Spots (Liev Schreiber), a short-haired Oceanic speckle eared sport hound, who so happened to be the first dog to be sent to Trash Island, a fictional land outside of Japan’s fictional Megasaki City twenty years in the future, although the story seems more relevant now than it may in twenty years [hopefully]. Trash Island was sanctioned by Atari’s mayoral uncle, Mayor Kobayashi voiced by Anderson collaborator, who also served as one of the screenwriters, Kunichi Nomura. Kobayashi, following an age old dynasty that transgresses from his farthest ancestors, with strong pro-feline beliefs, sets course to sanction a law to deport all dogs to Trash Island, blaming “snout-fever” and “dog-flu” as an incurable disease for its people, despite two scientists (Ken Wantanabe and Yoko Ono) on the verge of a medical breakthrough with the cure.

“What ever happened to man’s best friend?” indeed becomes one of the driving forces of the film. While Atari steals one of his uncle’s jets, the mayor himself Kobayashi, who serves as the boy’s ward following his parents tragic death years before, become family members and foes overnight. Questions arise as to why Atari on a quest to save Spots and deliberately chooses to throw his comfortable life away, despite Spots being one-helluva cute dog? It hurriedly becomes apparent that not only was Spots Atari’s loyal companion, but the pup also served as Atari’s loyal and trusted doggie-gaurd, despite Atari’s hesitations at first. Fast forward some time and Atari’s crash landing onto Trash Island, a desolate, ugly, grungy and garbage-filled wasteland inhabited only by dogs, populated with the brittle bones of animal carcasses, leftover waste, as well as spoiled and half-eaten food of Japan’s Megasaki, the journey becomes a young man’s ode to self-discovery and his ultimate moral fibre. Anderson, who so wonderfully, brings to life fantastical worlds in true Wes Anderson-esque fashion, seemingly chooses this story to showcase a very different side of his of his visual, truly allowing garbage, trash and waste to serve as a beautiful and poetic backdrop to his newest canon of films. Adding signatures such as Anderson’s symmetrical filming style, the use of pans and deep zooms, and Trash Island as well as the overly-populated Megasaki City fit right in with the rest of Anderson’s highly staged universe’s. It also becomes quite easy to see that Anderson is also pioneering himself into cinematic prestige; using Isle of Dogs as his Avatar, progressing and improving stop-motion, maturing the visuals of the medium as well as mastering the ways of its presentation, especially comparing it side-by-side to his first venture with the form in The Fantastic Mr.Fox.… Expand

9 of 13 users found this helpful94

BulgarianCritic

Jun 6, 2021

This movie was really unique especially the part where they don't translate some of the dialogues which to me gives it a pretty interesting twist since you kinda have to figure out what they are saying by looking at the other characters reactions. The animation was superb and visuallyThis movie was really unique especially the part where they don't translate some of the dialogues which to me gives it a pretty interesting twist since you kinda have to figure out what they are saying by looking at the other characters reactions. The animation was superb and visually amazing , the soundtrack was dope and the voice acting was one of the best.The humor was also really great. I am really glad that I got to watch such a unique piece of media (It made me wonder if the Japanese movie version has left the English Dialogue untranslated to add more to the uniqueness of the movie)… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

section20mi6

Oct 6, 2018

Wes Anderson utilizes simple concept of love and friendship with immense matriculation in crafting a tailored sequence of events to send a simple message: Dogs and humans are friends.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

niceone

Nov 8, 2018

I personally enjoyed the movie Isle of Dogs very much. I really appreciate the amount of sweat and blood put into the creation of this film, being a stop-motion animated film. With that in mind, the cinematography in the film gave it a whole new effect and gave it a greater impact, whichI personally enjoyed the movie Isle of Dogs very much. I really appreciate the amount of sweat and blood put into the creation of this film, being a stop-motion animated film. With that in mind, the cinematography in the film gave it a whole new effect and gave it a greater impact, which makes it so unique and fascinating. The combination of using cinematography techniques that is used in live action films and the animated characters and settings gives the film a sense of being “other” or makes it stand out.

I find Wes Anderson’s move to not subtitle the Japanese dialogue very interesting and brilliant; it allows the viewer to have a certain connection with the experiences of the relationship of the humans and the animals in the film. The humans can’t understand the dogs as much as the dogs can’t humans, and with the hope that a Japanese person doesn’t watch the film, Wes Anderson planned to give the viewer the same feeling.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

moviemitch96

Apr 13, 2018

It's got all the fun and whimsical charm you'd likely expect from Wes Anderson! Like his last stop-motion effort Fantastic Mr. Fox, the film dazzles with its incredibly detailed animation throughout. It's also chock full of recognizable voice talents (Anderson regulars such as Edward Norton,It's got all the fun and whimsical charm you'd likely expect from Wes Anderson! Like his last stop-motion effort Fantastic Mr. Fox, the film dazzles with its incredibly detailed animation throughout. It's also chock full of recognizable voice talents (Anderson regulars such as Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham) along with some others such as Bryan Cranston, Greta Gerwig, Scarlett Johansson, etc. Overall, like I said, the film is incredibly fun and charming from start to finish and I'd find it difficult to imagine it not being able to delight even those who aren't huge Wes Anderson fans.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

amheretojudge

May 10, 2018

not fair to the boy.. not fair to the dog..

Isle Of Dogs The bonding between the 12 year old kid and a dog ("a stray" dog) is portrayed beautifully being the core soul and reason of the feature, the makers did invest a lot in it. The work that went behind the stop-motion is admirable andnot fair to the boy.. not fair to the dog..

Isle Of Dogs

The bonding between the 12 year old kid and a dog ("a stray" dog) is portrayed beautifully being the core soul and reason of the feature, the makers did invest a lot in it. The work that went behind the stop-motion is admirable and quite finely detailed too but when it comes to draw the emotions out from the screen, it isn't utterly adequate. The writing is strong, witty and fast paced (especially in its first act) which should have come off in its favor, but due to multiple characters and their sub-plots that it has to cover in such short runtime (around 100 minutes), there is very little space for the audience to breathe in. Wes Anderson's world is definitely different than its usual features and the irony in here is that, "this" is a simpler and asymmetrical one . A decent job on giving the voice by the star cast to these eerie characters and so was the choice on casting them. Isle Of Dogs is an intriguing feature to encounter where the execution is genuinely effective and lures you in within few minutes making the audience work for it and sweeps away its runtime like a charm but the only thing that itches you throughout the course is the writing which unfortunately isn't as convoluted as the makers think.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Cik

Apr 17, 2018

The trailer was utter crap, and Im certain that with a doofus like shallow Wes Anderson, the actual movie is nothing more than an artistic scam.

3 of 29 users found this helpful326

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