Congrats to Wes Andersen and his team for the completely delightful Isle of Dogs. I was not a fan of his previous stop-motion foray, The Fantastic Mr. Fox. But this one works on all fronts-- amazing design (naturally), great voice actors, a really unpredictable screenplay, and endless easter eggs of pop-culture jokes scattered throughout the show. It's a return to the high form embodied in his greatest works like Moonrise Kingdom. Awesome job.
The final inside joke I didn't even get till I heard a commercial for the film after the fact-- who else heard the brilliant pun embedded in the title?
I am a huge fan of Wes Anderson but this was not one of my favorite films of his. I found the Fantastic Mr. Fox far superior on every level, the story, the voice acting, the music, and the I though the stop motion animation was better.
Felt the screenplay for Isle of Dogs was very slight. Throughout I was only mildly amused or mildly moved. Also had some real problems with the foreign exchange student character.
Having said that, I still thought the movie was good. But I don't have any desire to see it again anytime soon.
I loved the original Dahl source of Fantastic Mr. Fox and I truly hated Anderson's film adaptation. Sometimes his films work for me (Rushmore, Life Aquatic, Moonrise Kingdom, Grand Budapest Hotel), but when they don't, they REALLY don't (Bottle Rocket, Royal Tenenbaums, Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox). I'm curious to see where this one lands. Considering it's an original story and not his quirky stylized retelling of a classic story, I may end up liking it.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
joined:10/9/12
joined:
10/9/12
Posted: 4/11/18 at 5:52pm