ISLE OF DOGS (2018) *** ½

Wes Anderson’s latest contains more imagination and sheer fun crammed into any single given frame than most movies have in their entire running time.  The fact that it’s a stop-motion film makes it even more impressive.  When I saw Ready Player One, I said it would become one of the most paused movies on home video because the frame is filled with so much eye candy.  The same can be said for Isle of Dogs. 

Twenty years into the future, Japan puts a ban on all dogs and exiles them to Trash Island.  A pack of dogs (voiced by the likes of Bryan Cranston, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, and Bob Balaban) roam the island getting into scrapes with other dogs.  When a little boy lands on the island looking for his long-lost pet, the dogs decide to help him on his quest.

Isle of Dogs is visually impressive first and foremost.  It is a feast for the eyes.  Many sequences have tons of moving parts, but the low-tech ways Anderson and his animators achieve the simplest effects are often the most endearing.  I especially loved it when the cotton balls appear over the dogs each time they fight.  The Japanese motif of the film is beautiful too and it would make a great double feature with Kubo and the Two Strings. 

The animation on the dogs is adorable.  The excellent vocal cast expertly add life to their characters.  Cranston does especially well in his first foray into Anderson’s cinematic universe and gets the best line of the movie when he says, “I’ve seen cats with more balls than you dogs!”

The film is enchanting enough for you to forgive the fact that it runs on about fifteen minutes too long.  There’s probably at least one too many unnecessary side jaunts and/or flashbacks.  Even when the movie spins its wheels late in the second act, you can keep yourself amused by the jaw-dropping beauty of the lush backgrounds.  It’s definitely one of the best family movies of the year.