Review of Isle of Dogs (2018) by Wayne K — 20 Apr 2018

It can never be said that Wes Andersons's films lack distinction, especially in the visual department. His framing of shots and camera movements have become as much an integral part of his movies as Bill Murray has.

I don't have the best of relationships with his projects, and while I enjoyed Isle Of Dogs more than his last foray into stop motion, Fantastic Mr Fox, it still didn't warm me to his methods. His side to side camera sweeps and obsessive-to-the-point-of-insanity symmetry shots may be characteristic, but it also means that every single one of his projects looks the same, and carries the same tone.

The story was mostly enjoyable, as was the voice acting from the stellar cast, but it failed to connect with me because the techniques employed always felt like self-satisfied quirks rather than methods of generating emotion.

To me, Mr. Anderson always seems more interested in pleasing himself than pleasing us, and as such I feel I may never come to love, or even really like, any of his past or future endeavours.