Isle of Dogs (2018)

I really hope that I have just watched one of the nominees for best animated films for 2018, because this was so unusual and beautiful and sad and ugly and multi-layered.  I love Wes Anderson, and this film does not disappoint.  There were so many thoughts that I had during the movie about the way things were done and why that might be, and now, days later, I am still pretty sure that I don't totally get it.

The first thing is that the movie is complicated, in that there are moments where you just laugh out loud, and others where you are holding on just to see what will happen, still others where you have no idea what is going on exactly because while it is in Japanese and English it is also in dog.  The storyline takes place in Japan, the script is bilingual (the dogs speak English, the people speak Japanese and not everything is translated), and word has it that the Japanese voice acting is spot on.  The dogs are being exiled by a cat loving mayor, and the conditions that they live under are deplorable.  There are a number of ways to look at the message laterally, but suffice it to say that none of them support intolerance.  It is possible that you might be able to tell the values of a person based on what they think about this surprisingly complex movie.
 
Here is the deal.  Not everyone is going to love this new Wes Anderson animated movie, but I am willing to bet that if you love his auteur style generally, you are going to love this.  The thing about this is that it is not for kids.  The messages are multilayered and complex, which is not inherently different from other animated films, but it’s a bit grittier than Fantastic Mr. Fox, and certainly is unrecognizable when using Moana as a touchstone.