I've seen all but one of Wes Anderson's movies (I'm
in no hurry to get to The Darjeeling Limited). I admit that he is an
incredibly talented filmmaker. He's as distinct as anyone making movies right
now. He writes tight, clever scripts. He has all the best actors lining up to
deliver his lines. His precision as a director is staggering, especially
considering that I appreciate math in art. He tops the list of directors who I want
to love. I don't though, despite my efforts. What he does just rubs me the
wrong way. I find his movies more clever than funny, more precise than
personal, and more praised than liked. Watching his movies is like watching a
basketball team that is over-coached. All the plays are executed perfectly. The
players all know their exact roles. That team may win more games, but I'd
rather watch a team that's coached to play to every players' strengths and
takes a few risks.
Isle of Dogs is set in the Japanese city of Megasaki, 20 years in the
future. The mayor of the city uses the public's fear of a canine disease (snout
fever) spreading to humans as a reason to exile all dogs to a nearby trash
island. A few years pass. The domesticated dogs have settled into their new
scourging existence. One day, the mayor's nephew flies a plane to and crashes
on this isle of dogs, hoping to find his dog, Spot. He gets the help of a pack
of dogs voiced by Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, and
Jeff Goldblum. This quest takes them across the island. Meanwhile, in Megasaki,
a cure is found for snout fever. The mayor hides this discovery from the
people. A group of protesters try to expose this cover up. This all eventually
comes to a head and that is the movie.
Saying that Isle of Dogs is the most I've
immediately enjoyed any Wes Anderson movie isn't saying much. It is saying
something though. Anderson's movies have always been set in cartoon worlds, so
animation makes it easier to swallow what he's doing. The animators do
impressive detail work here. An island made of trash gives them a lot of
freedom to make weird and creative locations. The voice cast is second to none
in terms of star wattage. Cranston has the lead role, as a former stray who
bonds with the boy who crashes on the island. He bites, but he doesn't know
why, and that doesn't make him a bad dog. That's the theme of the movie in a
nutshell. You can read this movie as highly political or you can just takes
away some good messages from it. I chose to do the latter.
It's tricky to talk about Wes Anderson's humor.
That's because it's funnier to talk about his jokes than to experience them.
Looking back on the movie, there's a lot of things that are very, very funny.
The recurring gags like the oracle dog (voiced appropriately by Tilda Swinton)
using its "powers", Goldblum's dog always knowing all the latest
gossip, and the desire for the dogs to put everything to a vote make me chuckle
just thinking about them. While I was watching the movie, these things didn't
get many laughs. There's was a lot of polite laughter: people thought something
was funny and chose to laugh like it was a reward for how much thought went
into it. Laughter didn't come very often as an unconscious reaction*. I'm pretty
sure I'll laugh harder talking to friends about the jokes in the movie
afterwards than I did in the theater. That's how it is for a lot of Wes
Anderson's movies.
*This is obviously my perception of it. Perhaps
other people would insist that it was a raucous theater.
Honestly, I'm just so damn relieved that this movie
has finally been released. This is the worst Lone Ranger Rule* candidate
since, possibly The Lone Ranger.
I'm so damn happy to finally see the movie and be done with the trailer for it
that I might be running on more of a high than I otherwise would be. Maybe I'll
grow to hate the movie by the end of the year. I'm fine with saying that Isle
of Dogs is of a piece with Anderson's other work. It has all the same
strengths and flaws as his other movies. I respect it more than I like it.
*I saw the Lone Ranger trailer before so many
movies back in 2013 that I felt like I had to see the movie or else all those
trailers were just wasted time. So, whenever a movie trailer becomes a month
long staple of my cinema-going, it gets the same treatment. I'm working on the
metrics for the rule, but here's a taste: Since 1/1/18, I've seen the Isle
of Dogs trailer before 8 movies. The next closest is 5 for another movie.
This doesn't even factor in the months of trailers I saw for Isle of Dogs
before 2018.
Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend
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