GoodTrash Critique: Isle of Dogs

To start, I love dogs. I’m giving you my bias up front. I have three of them. They mean the world to me, especially Giles—yes, named after the watcher. And, much like Atari Kobayashi, I would move heaven and earth to find him. I would fly a small plane to an island filled with trash, and scour the mounds and mounds of garbage to give him safe travel home. So, Isle of Dogs hits home for me in many ways. I just love the pure being of dogs and their sweet doggo energy.

Also, I enjoy Wes Anderson. I don’t know of a director with as much a distinct look and whimsy about their films. Certainly, many directors have a unique style. But, Wes Anderson is so Wes Anderson that it hurts. But, I came to his filmography after seeing his first animated work The Fantastic Mr. Fox—that was my first experience with Anderson. I then saw Moonrise Kingdom, Rushmore, Life Aquatic, and everything else, except for The Royal Tenenbaums. Anderson’s work is just so visually appealing and fascinating, and all of that rings true for Isle of Dogs.

Isle of Dogs, as mentioned, focuses on Atari Kobayashi’s attempt to find his discarded pup, Spots. Set in the near future, the Mayor of Megasaki City, Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura), has mandated that all dogs be removed from the city and moved to Trash Island. There are several reasons, mostly political, for this. But, the primary is attributed to a strain of dog flu that worries the citizens. Kobayashi sends the family dog, Spots, to this island. The story jumps to show us Atari (Koyu Rankin), Kobayashi’s nephew, arriving on the island in search of Spots. He is soon aided in his adventure by Rex (Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Boss (Murray), Duke (Goldblum) and the self-proclaimed stray, Chief (Cranston). As the narrative unfolds, a foreign exchange student, Tracy Walker (Gerwig) gets involved in the Mayor’s affairs while on the beat as a high school newspaper reporter.

Isle of Dogs Review

For what it is, the plot is a little heavy. We get several subplots and many flashbacks and flashforwards to drop the exposition in a way that makes sense, and at most times to humorous effect. This is where my major qualm with the story lands. It bogs down a few times with a few too many of these flashbacks. They start to feel unnecessary towards the end of the second act and into the third, putting a stop to the film’s momentum at times.

But everything else about this film is captivating. I love the use of stop motion animation, it feels more cared for, at times. I know a lot of work goes into traditional animation, but the use of figures and miniatures and puppets to pull of this spectacle is much more captivating to me. It also adds a texture, and figures that Anderson is working with here are gorgeous. The fur, the look, the features all pop in gorgeous fashion. This is coupled with the brilliant use of color throughout, much like all of Anderson’s previous efforts. There were so many frames that I wanted to pull off the screen and hang on my wall.

I remember reading one time that animation was the perfect match for Anderson’s sensibilities, and I can’t argue with that. He feels so at home, transcribing many of his techniques to the mode of animation. The way shots are framed, and the balance within each frame is captivating. Anderson’s use of depth to draw the eye is fantastic. The staged way in which we are watching characters move within a frame or shot has always struck me when watching Anderson. He utilizes space in such fascinating ways, making every shot stand out as a masterpiece of art.

Isle of Dogs is visually stunning.

It’s also a very sincere film. The story that Anderson crafts regarding this ragtag group of lost dogs, led obviously by Cranston’s chief, is endearing. The voice performances help develop these tragic dogs into the audiences beloved companions. It’s a formidable cast—Cranston, Murray, Norton, Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Ken Watanabe, Yoko Ono, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham and many more round out the cast.

And you may notice simply from that list where the controversy of this film has arise. For a story set in Japan, we have very few Japanese performers. Of course, Asian performers voice the main Japanese characters. But, that’s it. I know many would argue that their dogs, and dogs don’t have a voice. But, wouldn’t one assume that a dog that was raised in Japan would have a Japanese voice? If this film were to be set in the south, the dogs may all have southern accents and use southern slang, or if it were France, they would speak french. That’s one place where the issue arises.

The other issue is in the form of Gerwig’s Tracy Walker, who acts in many ways as the troublesome White Savior of the narrative. Originally from Ohio, Tracy is in Japan as a foreign exchange student who is on the school paper. She seems to also be leading a resistance to Kobayashi’s rule. It’s just one of those negative tropes that adds to the other issues Asian critics have cited about the movie.

Some critics will try to argue that they’re wrong or that they’re misreading the film. But, most of those critics will be white. I find myself struggling with these elements of culture in film. As I’ve been thinking of this, I think of Black Panther and I question what we would have gotten if the director had been white—or how it would have been perceived. It’s something all white critics need to seriously be conscious of. Our experience is not the same as minorities. Their culture is not our culture to cherry pick for our own work.

We have to understand that.

I don’t think Wes Anderson meant to be hurtful here, I think he was aiming for homage. Yet, the presentation is misguided. But, Anderson can now assess the situation and move forward for future work—wiser and older.

Isle of Dogs is rated PG-13 and runs 100 minutes. With a star studded cast, gorgeous visuals and an endearing story, I recommend you catch this one in theaters.

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