Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson)

[Kirby Avondale]

Except I'm not using it as a metric to prove the existence of an asymmetric power relation between the US and Japan; I'm using the fact of an asymmetric relationship which has existed for over 150 years (and therefore surely doesn't need to be proven) as an explanation for the reception of Eastwood's films in Japan. That is to say, if you accept the premise that, for a certain generation of Japanese film reviewer, Clint Eastwood is America, the praise his films get there kinda makes sense.

I'm trying to imagine the conversation between you and one of these Japanese critics where you inform them that they love Eastwood because of American dominance of Japan. It sounds like an awkward conversation!

[Sycophant]

I watched Gran Torino on TV subtitled in Japan once and it's amazing what effect scrubbing out most of the protagonist's most offensive language can have.

[Ezee E]

When the dogs are on screen, it's as good as anything that Wes has ever done. When it goes off the island, it loses a little momentum, but it's still appealing to watch nonetheless. Wes gets to do everything he wants here with the island, and has a lot of fun going into certain chambers, playing with flashbacks, dreams, and dog bits.

The animated bits with the crying eyes got me every time.

Also, can't wait to play this on my TV in front of my dog.

[Watashi]

More of the same Hollywood anti-cat propaganda.

I get it. America loves doggies.

[Stay Puft]

Mild yay.

Incredible animation throughout, especially with the blending of mediums (e.g. hand drawn 2D animation on the computer and TV monitors). It reminded me a lot of Kubo and the Two Strings, or my reaction to that one, in that I was overwhelmed and impressed by the attention to detail, and the creative use of multiple animation styles, but largely underwhelmed by the narrative. There's a moment early in the film where everybody thinks Spots is dead, which hit me really hard, but the film quickly course corrects, sending the characters back down a well-trodden narrative path. It basically lost me at that point. The film routinely suggests the possibility of danger, or larger dramatic stakes, but always undercuts or backs down (e.g. sending the dogs into an incinerator as a gotcha moment, one of many which clearly worked on my audience, and I wish I could say the same for me, but alas).

Still, largely entertaining, and I had fun. Great voice casting for the dogs, lots of memorable minor characters (Tilda Swinton as Oracle was amazing), and I even loved the owl.

Miss me with the Greta Gerwig subplot, though. Isle of Dogs is a work of cultural appropriation (not a first for Wes Anderson, either), whether that impacts your opinion of it or not, and that subplot was a gross miscalculation at best.

[baby doll]

Isle of Dogs is a work of cultural appropriation (not a first for Wes Anderson, either), whether that impacts your opinion of it or not

This may be overly fussy, but I think it's worthwhile to differentiate Orientalism (i.e., essentialist representations of Asian societies) from cultural appropriation (using things made by other cultures), although the two can sometimes overlap. I point this out because everybody is engaged in cultural appropriation all the time: There's no natural connection between, say, Japanese people and manga; therefore, anybody who reads manga, regardless of their nationality, is appropriating someone else's work for their own purposes. That's not to say cultural appropriation is always okay (see, for instance, Justin Trudeau's Indian fashion fiasco, where he tried to "go native" by donning traditional Indian outfits on every day of his failed trip), but that's not what Anderson is doing here.

[Stay Puft]

This may be overly fussy

No, that's a useful clarification. I see the difference.

[TGM]

"Where do you hear all of these rumors?"
"Dogs talk, I listen. I like gossip."

I think this might be my new favorite Wes Anderson film.

[Spinal]

I think this might be my new favorite Wes Anderson film.

It's way up there, to be sure. I went into this a bit skeptical after finding Grand Budapest Hotel mostly tiresome, but came away highly impressed. It's genuinely funny, the story's engaging, and it's just beautiful to look at. I liked the way language was handled and felt like Japanese ritual (authentic or not) suited Anderson's meticulous style.

[MadMan]

I loved this movie. But I am a die hard Wes Anderson fan so I am quite biased.

[Milky Joe]

This was pretty sublime. I hope Anderson keeps making these silly, gorgeous little puppet shows.

I love the shadowy cat cabal always lurking in the fringes.

[Grouchy]

This was a charming and inventine romp with perfect voice acting. I'm long past expecting Wes Anderson to do anything but perfect his brand of symmetric-framing, oneliner-spoting dramedy, so I enjoy his movies more and more on that basis. There's one thing about his style that bugs me a bit, though, and it's the undercutting of seemingly important plot elements in order to keep the levity of the whole affair alive. Like when the rest of the dogs are chucked into a compacting machine and we might be tempted to believe it's true but it's merely a way of keeping the pack apart for a while to focus on the relationship between Atari and Chief. Not necessarily that moment alone, just the sheer amount of times he does something similar per movie. In a related vein, the villains were too much of a cartoon for my tastes.

[Peng]

The annoyed, snippy dismissiveness to legitimate cultural objections (especially from Asian-American critics) bothers me than anything in the actual film, although Isle of Dogs is not without its blatant missteps in this regard. I am truly baffled by choices made in the conception of US foreign exchange student Tracy Walker, who feels ill-conceived both culturally and narratively. It's best exemplified by the scene where she confronts the bereaved female scientist, which already feels grating without even delving into the unpleasantness underneath it; the surface of her character's functions is so unpleasant that for me it overwhelms any possible "subversiveness" some has argued for, whether in that scene or her character's ultimate place in the story.

As for the story itself, coming after one of the most incredible three-film consecutive runs from any director (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel), this is bound to be hard to measure up. But even without that comparison, this is still Anderson's most emotionally and thematically under-imagined in quite a while; the deep melancholy or unified emotional undercurrent to anchor his films, even in far lesser works like The Darjeeling Limited, just isn't there. There is some poignancy portrayed in the bond between dogs and humans, but it's comparatively thin by Anderson's standard. However, the film more than compensates by being one of his most gorgeous films ever, with level of intricate, satisfying visual details one could get lost in for days. And even without the cohesive force of his other films, when the story focuses on the adventure on Trash Island, Anderson's snappy storytelling and layered humor still remains as strong as ever. 7.5/10

[Dukefrukem]

You gotta be a cat lover to dislike this movie right?

[dreamdead]

For someone who found Grand Budapest Hotel so affirming, this one didn't quite work for me, even though the structural links between it and Mr. Fox are fairly obvious. There is a very dry humor to this one, though, that somehow gets diluted through the animation style. The voice acting is roundly solid, yet some of the choices, as others have noted, come off as more sterile than necessary. The repetition of information from speaker to newscaster translator, for example, seems precious rather than valuable. All the same, there are also some fun touches, whether it be the silliness of the dogs hanging in suspended compartments and still arguing as though nothing's out of the ordinary--all of these moments are fun enough.

[Dukefrukem]

How do folks like this over Fantastic Mr Fox? Do you guys remember the criticism of Anderson's directing with Fox?

I'm just wondering if people see it differently after that.

[transmogrifier]

I haven't really enjoyed an Anderson film fully since Fantastic Mr. Fox. He has calcified and lost the ability to craft a satisfying narrative. Everything is sealed airtight in his art direction, leaving nothing much else except appreciating witty little asides scattered around like gold in a musty art museum.

[Skitch]

Havent watched this yet, but Fox is the best thing hes done imo.

[Dukefrukem]

Havent watched this yet, but Fox is the best thing hes done imo.

You mean, if he actually "directed" it?