Isle Of Dogs (2018)

There are films that I had wished I was able to see when they were released in theaters, but circumstances in life sometimes get in the way of doing so. The film that I chose for today is one of those films that I wished I had for how amazing of a job that writer and director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums) does with his films and so I chose his last film Isle Of Dogs as my film of choice. In the country of Japan, a royal family was sick of how much the dog population had grown in the country so they attempted to eradicate the country of them only to fail. Centuries later, the mayor Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura) from the same clan that failed is successful as the dog flu runs rampant in Japan so he banishes them to Trash Island where they'll have to fend for themselves. That is until his 12 year old nephew Atari (Koyu Rankin) decides to go looking for his once loyal sidekick Spot. The film also stars Edward Norton (The Illusionist) as Rex, Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) as Chief, Bob Balaban (Gosford Park) as King, Jeff Goldblum (Mortdecai) as Duke, Bill Murray (Ghostbusters) as Boss, Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) as Tracey Walker, Frances McDormand (Primal Fear) as Interpreter Nelson,  Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit) as Nutmeg, F. Murray Abraham (Last Action Hero) as Jupiter, Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit) as Scraps, Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as Spots, and Tilda Swinton (Okja) as Oracle.

There are just way too many names to list in this film that helped out like Yoko Ono, Harvey Keitel (The Irishman), Angelica Huston, Ken Watanabe (Inception), and Courtney B. Vance (Dangerous Minds) to name a few that helped make this a great film. It's old school stop motion animation, but they did such a great job with it that you barely notice. This was also a film that featured an all star cast of the whose who of Wes Anderson films of the past and they did an excellent job in the film especially Edward Norton and Bryan Cranston whose interactions were comedy gold as they couldn't agree with each other as to who was leader of the pack. Besides the touching subject matter of never forgetting who man's best friend is, the film had a rather political spin to it or at least you can make it seem that way if you choose to. They alienate a species because of the fat that they develop a virus that is affecting everyone and in a major political move they segregate them to an island to fend for themselves. Nonetheless, it was an excellent film in my opinion as it explored the lost art of stop motion animation that Wes Anderson pulled off for this film and it had all of the suspense that you needed to keep you on your toes. So, I definitely recommend the film to any one that enjoys these types of films and Wes Anderson films. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.