Isle of Dogs

The movie opens with a prologue of a time long ago when the Kobayashi clan sought to wipe out the dog populations of Japan.  On the very day that the dogs were about to be wiped out, a boy samurai slew the leader of the Kobayashi clan and saved the remaining dogs who became pets.  In the present, dogs are everywhere and assailed by dog flu.  To prevent a potential leap from dog to human, all dogs are banished to Trash Island.

The story centers on a particular pack of dogs: Chief (Bryan Cranston), Rex (Ed Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Boss (Bill Murray), and Duke (Jeff Goldblum).  They are all alpha dogs and thus all decisions are put to a vote.  Soon after they have won a fight with a different dog pack, Atari (Koyu Rankin) crashes on Trash Island in search of his dog, Spots (Liev Scheiber).  Most of the dogs take to him immediately but Chief - who has been a stray for the majority of his life - shows mostly disdain.  The growing relationship between Atari and Chief is extremely well done and the best thing about the movie.  That Atari wins over the misanthropic Chief is the heart of the movie.  Cranston does a brilliant job in bringing Chief to life and provides an emotional and convincing transition from a 'bad' dog to one that risks life and limb for Atari.

While Atari and the dogs seek Spots, Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig) the American exchange student and cub reporter for the school paper untangles the machinations of the Kobayashi Clan's plot to avenge themselves on the dogs of Uni Prefecture.  This storyline is mostly uninteresting but does provide some background for Atari, setting him in the role of the modern version of the boy samurai of the prologue.

The movie is somewhat awkward in using English for the dogs, exchange student Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig), and a translator.  Though used to good effect a couple of times, it more often slows the movie because we hear both the Japanese and then the English translation.  On top of that, there are scenes that could have been cut or shortened.  It felt like a long movie though it was only an hour and 40 minutes.

 

Not the best Wes Anderson film but not his worst.  Enjoyable but nothing to rush out and see.