By HOWARD McQUITTER II
oldschoolmovies.wordpress.com
howardmcquitter68@gmail.com
“Isle of Dogs”
(2018) Animation/Adventure/Action/Comedy
Fox Searchlight Pictures
5/5 stars
Those who are fans of Wes Anderson and love dogs are very likely to appreciate “Isle of Dogs”. The last film Anderson did is “The Grand Budapest Hotel”(2014), and before that, as a full-featured film, “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012).
A flu epidemic has broken out in make believe town Megasaki, Japan, the dogs are blamed for the scourge and exiled to Trash Island. Kobayas (Kunichi Nomura), the mayor of Megasaki, is up for reelection sending all the dogs to a landfill where food (most of it rotten and radioactive) is scarce and survival is dire.
Atari (Koya Rankin), a 12-year-old boy, whose uncle is the mayor, crash lands on Trash Island in search of his beloved watchdog Spots (Liev Schteiber).
When Chief (Bryan Cranston) comes into the picture as the alpha dog he bands together Rex (Edward Norton), Boss (Bill Murray), Duke (Jeff Goldblum) and King (Bog Balaban) to help Atari find his pooch. Chief is a stray dog who knows how to stand adverse conditions. When Rex laments by saying,”I don”'t think I can stomach anymore of this garbage.” Chief responds,” Nobody”'s giving up around here…we”'re scary, indestructible alpha dogs.”
The real plan is to band as many dogs together along with Atari to fight against the corrupt regime of Kobayashi. Those dogs are determined to get home and away from death on Trash Island.
Cast: Bryan Cranston (as Chief), Liev Schreiber (as Spots), Edward Norton (as Rex), Scarlett Johansson (as Nutmug), Koyu Rankin (as Atari), Bob Balaban (as King), Akira Ito (as Professor) Bill Murray (as Boss), Tilda Swinton (as Oracle). Director: Wes Anderson. (PG-13) Running time:101 minutes.
