ISLE OF DOGS (2018) Review

ISLE OF DOGS (2018)

D: Wes Anderson

W: Wes Anderson. Story by Anderson, Roman Coppola, Kunichi Nomura, and Jason Schwartzman.

S: Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Bob Balaban, Nomura, Ken Watanabe, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Fisher Stevens, Nijiro Murakami, Harvey Keitel, Koyu Rankin, Liev Schreiber, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Akira Ito, Akira Takayama, F. Murray Abraham, Yojiro Noda, Mari Natsuki, Yoko Ono, and Frank Wood. 

After taking the last few months off from watching newer releases (with Black Panther as an exception) I'm back to give my thoughts on Wes Anderson's second animated film Isle of Dogs.

Set in the not too distant future, in a dystopic Japan a young boy named Atari (voiced by Koyu Rankin) goes to an island designated for all dogs of Japan after a dog flu virus spread. He goes there to find his dog Spots (voiced by Liev Schreiber). During his journey, he's joined by former housepets Rex, King, Boss and Duke (voiced by Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, and Jeff Goldblum, respectively) and stray dog Chief (voiced by Bryan Cranston).

What can be said about Anderson that hasn't already been said about him? I don't think there's much else. What is it about him that makes him so engaging? It's surprisingly hard to narrow that down as well. Hell, his 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel was one of my favorites of that year. It might even top the list. But when it's hard to say why. Never the less, I'm going to talk about this movie.

Right off the bat, I can tell you the movie is well told, well acted, and has some stunning production values but that's to be expected with his movies.

I do want to highlight the animation of this movie. Anderson and his team did a fantastic job at the stop-motion effects. Given how long it took them to do a few seconds of a scene it should really be commended that they took the time to add little details. When the five main dogs are introduced they do a close up on them, you can see some of their hair blowing in the wind. That's dedication. Minor spoiler here, but there's even a scene where they animate a kidney transplant. Yes, seriously. They could've easily had that part be implied off camera but no. They went ahead and animated it.

I also love how each dog has a unique design to them. Each dog is given certain details that can indicate what their previous lives were. Stuff like Boss wearing a baseball jersey and having a baseball-shaped dog tag who was a baseball team's mascot. Or King having kind of a mustache which may have helped him stand out when he was a spokesman for dog food. With Chief, there are some very subtle details that foreshadow who he is.

According to an article from Zack Sharf of Indiewire, Anderson said some inspirations for this movie included the works of Akira Kurosawa and Rankin Bass claymation specials. That has to be one of the most bizarre combinations ever. But he made it works.

Sadly, my knowledge of Kurosawa's work is very minimal compared to other critics. Though just from what I've seen of his work, this story is definitely more optimistic than some of his work. For example, Ran (1985) his adaptation of William Shakespeare's King Lear. I won't spoil it here but, man oh man, that movie is bleak!

Speaking of Ran, according to an analysis by Kyle Kallgren of the Youtube channel KyleKallgrenBHH, Kurosawa was also a painter and painted his storyboards. I wouldn't be surprised a part of that was also an influence on the film's style. By the way, if you're not already, you should totally subscribe to Kyle's channel.

If I were to guess though, one might say the character of Chief is akin to a character Toshiro Mifune might play. A bitter loner who lived most of his life in isolation but eventually grows attached to his mission. I could be wrong. I think the coming weeks will consist of me rewatching Kurosawa movies and watching the ones I haven't seen.

As hinted above, this movie is definitely more optimistic than some of Kurosawa's films. The optimism definitely comes from the Rankin Bass influence. I'm fairly certain the Rankin Bass property Anderson is most influenced by is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) and Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1975).

With the original Rudolph the main cast ends up on the Island of Misfit toys where, of course, outcast toys live. That parallels Trash Island where the outcast dogs are sent. The New Year influence comes in with a hero coming to an island (er, islands) and look for a missing character and gets help from inhabitants.

Oh, and of course, the animation style.

Before I went into this movie I did have one initial worry. Since this is a movie about dogs, I thought to myself, "Oh no. There's gonna be a lot of dog deaths. Isn't there?" Without spoiling too much, don't worry, there's nothing that traumatic. But this movie does mess around with my emotions a bit too much.

Now, there is one thing that has been brought up that I do feel the need to, at least, acknowledge - cultural appropriation. I honestly don't feel like I'm not qualified enough to talk about it but I will say Anderson's references and use don't seem disrespectful. But again, I'm not sure whether or not I'm one to talk about it, there are probably others who can do a better analysis of this.

There's a lot more I could talk about but I'm going to cut it off here. I really liked this film and highly recommend it. If there are major complaints about this movie I can't think of them right now.

What are your thoughts on the movie?

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Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter @DocJohn90.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

My #ChangeTheChannel Response and Apology

This image came from a video by SwizzlyBubbles

I've been a fan of the website Channel Awesome (formerly known as That Guy With the Glasses) almost since its beginning. I routinely watch videos created by current and former content creators. I was a massive fan of the site and its main talent the Nostalgia Critic (Doug Walker).

Many of the contributors of the site helped me appreciate and get into things that I'm now a fan of.

In a way, the site and its producers motivated me to start this blog and think about look into possibly doing video reviews. There was even a hope that I'd get to be a content creator of the site.

But my feelings towards the site have changed.

Recently, many former contributors released a 65 page Google document called, "Not So Awesome". In it, they talk about the terrible treatment they and others had received during their time with the website. The allegations include mismanagement, poor communications with producers, sexism and just all around horrible treatment.

Link to the complete document: Not So Awesome Google doc - condensed version 

This horrified me. A site that I had followed almost since its beginning was treating its contributors as almost nothing. It even enraged me.

Eventually, I calmed down and said to myself, "Okay, let's see what Channel Awesome does next." Because I believe in giving people a chance to share their side of the story. The higher-ups at the site eventually responded and it was one of the most non-apologies ever. I basically gave up after reading the line, "we sincerely regret you felt that way".

Now, I'm not saying an apology would've fixed every problem. Chances are there are several bridges are thoroughly burned. But an apology would've been something. Something to at least acknowledge that you messed up in the past and show that you're trying to make things better.

This is part of a larger thread.

But instead, you gave us this.

Dan Olson, a former contributor, says it best.

According to Tony Goldmark (Some Jerk With a Camera), one of the current contributors, he basically warned them to make sure their apology is sincere because if it isn't it'll blow up in their face. And it appears that he was right. Apparently, he's now debating whether or not he should stick around.

Part of a larger thread

Now there are two reasons why I wanted to write this. First, because I wanted to express my thoughts and feelings about this whole thing, especially since this involves a site I've liked for a long time. Second, because I knew about some of these things and I felt guilty for basically ignoring it.

I didn't know about everything that's talked about in the document, but I knew of a few of them. But, I guess my reason for ignoring it is because I thought it was just between those few people and nothing else. But still, that's not an excuse. I should've said/done something.

So, I'm going to do something that is apparently tough for the top dogs of Channel Awesome.

To all those who have been bullied, harassed, mistreated and everything else during their time on Channel Awesome and afterward, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry that I blatantly ignored the problems I knew of and didn't do anything about it. I know I'm just an amateur schmuck blogger with no big connections but at the very least I could've shown more support towards you guys. I'm sorry you all experienced these horrible conditions and treatment.

I hope to help future endeavors by contributing to individuals Patreons and subscribing to individual content channels and such.

Also, in regards to those still producing for the site, I'd like to quote Lewis Lovhaug (Linkara of Atop the Fourth Wall) from his "I Have Left Channel Awesome" post:

"... please do not take my and others’ departures as a sign that you should harass or question those who do remain. Others may not be as fortunate and rely upon the views they get from the site or they may just have their own reasons for staying that they do not wish to share. It is their prerogative. All I will say is that you should support the content you love."

As for Channel Awesome, I don't know what the next step is for you guys. Especially after that non-apology of yours. But right now, I can't in good conscious support the site.

Overall, I just hope things get better for those who were hurt and the management gets better at the site.