Wes Anderson earned the title of one of the most popular directors of today according to critics and audience. Film sets that hide the feel of childhood toys, pastel color palettes, unusual characters (assigned to great acting names) on small, but incredible adventures and numerous references to pop culture are just some of the features of Anderson's films. Therefore, the announcement of the new movie, Isle of Dogs, stop-motion animated adventure placed in futuristic Japan, raised the film world to its feet.
Premiered at this year's Berlinale, the film was followed by an excellent advertising campaign: from the posters of a lost dog across the metropolis to Bill Murray, who introduced the new film on a red carpet with the drummer. However, like many films at this year's Berlinale, the Isle of Dogs was followed by controversy.
Reviewing the film in February, Telegraph critic Tim Robey wrote that the film's use of Japanese "archetypes"Β was "certain to get Anderson in hot water once the film is more widely seen".
That seems to be the case: following the film's US premiere last week, a Los Angeles Times review has sparked widespread debate. Reviewer Justin Chang criticised Anderson's "weakness for racial stereotyping", asking: "Does this white American filmmaker's highly selective, idiosyncratic rendering of an East Asian society constitute a sincere act of homage, or a clueless failure of sensitivity?"
Without further ado, Isle of Dogs is probably the worst work in Anderson's career so far. When all the glamour of Berlin and the director's name is removed, and the controversy is forgotten, there remains a visually unique work created by a coherent and lazy written scenario that, according to the quality of the past few years, could be compared to the scripts of Amazing Spiderman and Suicide Squad.
SYNOPSIS
Itβs set in a near-future Japan, where Kobayashi (voiced by Kunichi Nomura, one of the filmβs co-writers), the corrupt mayor of fictional city Megasaki, has taken draconian measures to curb the spread of various canine diseases, including the dreaded βsnout feverβ. He orders all Megasakiβs dogs to be exiled to a bleak island, essentially a huge offshore trashpile.
Life there looks hopeless for its exiles until they get a visit from Kobayashiβs intrepid 12-year-old ward Atari (Koyu Rankin), in search of his beloved, long-lost Spots. A band of mutts led by battle-scarred stray Chief (Bryan Cranston) help Atari on his mission, which involves exploring the scarier parts of the island, a mix of industrial wasteland and abandoned funfair, with fully functioning mechanised parts. Meanwhile, a pro-dog student group β including moppet-like American visitor Tracy (Greta Gerwig) β are rising up against Kobayashi, with the help of research scientist Yoko Ono (voiced by Yoko Ono). Β *
The first act of the movie Anderson unnecessarily overwhelmed with four different introduction chapters. The film is moving from hatred to dogs owned by Kobayashi family, through a detailed but unconventional chapter for the film's bad guy, then the chapter of five abandoned dogs on the island and at the end Atari's initial landing on the island. For things to be even more complex, Anderson for some reason introduces the idea that Atari's dog Spots is dead.
While many may think that these four chapters bring depth to the story and that they are there to make the "adventure" start with more developed characters, it should be noted that as the film progresses, the introductory events do not play a role. Four out of five dogs from introductury during the second act totally lose their function, Mayor Kobayashi appears in a few more scenes of the same "depth" he possesses from the introductory, while in the final and the entire introductory about Kobayashi family loses its meaning. As for the the later development of the character Chief Β (and pushing the remaining dogs from the pack in the third plan) might suggest that Anderson originally envisioned Isle of Dogs as a darker story with the loss of many cold-blooded characters.
The biggest criticism of the film is precisely the overwhelmingness of the characters and their inadequate functionality, which in the end results in a crowd of simple and overly unrelated actions that lead to disharmony in the film's dynamics. After a series of side events, the final act of the film has risen to less than ten minutes in which a series of events have no explanation in the previous segments of the film. It is a pity to see that the introductory love story of Chief and Nutmeg (Scarlett Johansson) remains unexplored, that the dog Oracle (Tilda Swinton) serves as a mild comic deflection and could play a stronger role in action just like Rex, Boss, King and Duke.
What is terrible on the other hand is the fact that even the main characters of the movie are not well profligated. Atari's love for Spots is never visible, Mayor Kobayashi is evil by default, and the Chief, a former street dog, at the time dismisses all his habits and instincts without any explanation. There is also an "elephant in the room" character Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig) who deserves a special paragraph thanks to how problematic it is.
Tracy Walker's character may have been considered the worst moment of the film, due to which the controversies about the "white savior" and the bad reputation of Japan partly began. The plot designed for this dog activist, associated with a cure for a dog's epidemic, could have been written through several already grounded human (though real and doglike) characters. The most potential for this rescue role and the breaking of prejudices about the "white rescuer" would surely have the image of a laboratory assistant named Yoko Ono (interpreted by Yoko Ono). However, Anderson decided to throw protagonist Tracy Walker at the end of the second act of the movie, more or less obviously to have another starry name in the film.
All in all, the average fan of Wes Anderson films will probably not be bothered by any of this. When someone offers a movie full of great Hollywood names, knows how to play with references to pop culture and make a visually beautiful movie, bad narration can, to a certain extent, be pushed into the second plan.
This was my translation from Croatian to English of Ziher.hr article ''Vizualno zanimljiv film loΕ‘eg scenarija'' by A.Fatic
* Isle of Dogs review β Wes Anderson's scintillating stop-motion has bite, The Guardian