Isle of Dogs

Wes Anderson directed a fun animated film for the whole family, in which he travels through animated Japan alongside the lovable Hufflepuffs. And that's it. As a family flick, it's fine, but as a novelty from a man who has always managed to impress with his playfulness, fun, quirkiness and originality, it's a bit of a slog. Isle of Dogs is OK. Just pretty ordinary and plays it too safe, which may be a bit of a problem for fans of the director. (07/26/2018)

Isle of Dogs once again accumulates a distinctive and unique directorial signature, which may not necessarily be to everyone's taste, but I like the horizontal camera movements, the cleverly planned shots, the distinctive framing of the characters and their specifically bizarre speeches. For a hundred minutes we visit an island full of diverse dogs that sneeze, enjoy garbage and at the same time utter relatively meaningful dialogues. Of all the canine characters, I was definitely most impressed by the Boss and the omniscient Oracle. A truly unconventional animated film that addresses, among other things, mass brainwashing. It will more those enchanted by Wes Anderson's rules of the game. (03/21/2020)

The first half is excellent, the second half is disappointing. Visually, it’s incredibly polished and charming, narratively, however, it’s surprisingly sterile and in the end is mesmerizing, without Wes's usual extravagance and daring. I don't regret a single minute I spent with it, because the level of authorial personality is still admirable and likeable, but the opening simply promised stronger emotions and better character development. In any case, the fourth star is within reach. (06/28/2018)

It seems that Wes Anderson found himself in the way he made Grandhotel Budapest. Isle of Dogs runs in exactly the same vein. The things that Wes only hinted at in his earlier movies are given full reflection today. The absurdity of the characters, a billion of not only pop-cultural ideas, in this case amplified by the animated motif, the editing, the limited camera movement… all these are things that represent Wes Anderson today, and I said to myself more than once how similar this movie was to Grandhotel. Despite all that, it’s still somehow different. The thing is that sometimes I feel that Wes has gotten lost in his artistic motifs. At times things get so wacky and so over-the-edge that the film actually stops being funny and humorous. But that only happens sometimes. In terms of the overall impression, it’s still a very good flick. (12/21/2018)

Playfulness at its best. Somewhere in the middle of the film, I found myself getting completely carried away by the beautiful animation, the tons of ideas, the humour, those touching dog eyes and Desplat's music, and not really focusing on the plot, but all the more reason to watch Isle of Dogs again. (05/16/2018)