Review of Isle of Dogs (2018) by Djakeir — 28 Apr 2019

I saw this trailer months before its release and I was really put off it because it looked like a typical animated story with a unique style that tries to stand out over other films of the same genre released over the past three years since the last unique animation box office failure. However, I knew this was going to get some attention because of the animation which is reminiscent of Nightmare before Christmas, Fantastic Mr Fox, Wallace and Gromit and kubo. Little did I know how truly unique and abstractly beautiful this film was. For a film shot like this, it is remarkable the amount of movement in each scene. The unnatural angles, the sharp movements of the characters contrasted by gentle movements caused by soft winds, the comedic blocks of clouds and dust, all contribute to a fantastic charm which is not too distant from that often achieved in short films. There wasn't a wide variety of emotions experienced while watching this film, which is obviously the desired goal of a dystopian world. There is no real sense of dread and no real feeling of reluctant sadness of which clutters animated films, instead you watch every scene transfixed by the style, following the wandering characters and their minds.

It really is a film to sit back and relax while watching. The smooth voices of the actors absorb you into the world and characters. There is no reliance on typical Hollywood tricks that is so formulaic at this point where music or poorly written dialogue is the only thing telling the audience what they should be thinking or feeling. Instead, in this film not all the dialogue is translated and whilst the soundtrack is beautiful it is not used to replace anything but it is used to compliment the story. Therefore, the audience feels engaged, they begin to think for themselves and makes you leave feeling you have experienced a truly authentic and unique film. My only real criticism is the childish minor plot detail of the whole cat versus dogs element that didn't feature heavily in the film, thankfully, but the fact it featured at all with little significance made that detail seem unnecessary and a bit predictable. Other than that this a really stylish mature film that can be both thoroughly enjoyed by both critic and audience, both old and young.