Isle of Dogs (PG). Director: Wes Anderson. Starring: Bryan Cranson, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Bob Baliban, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kunichi Nomura, Frances McDormand, Greta Gerwig, Liev Schreiber, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton. 101 minutes
During a press conference at the Berlin Film Festival in February, ahead of the opening night screening of his ingenious but deeply problematic film Isle of Dogs, Wes Anderson cited a (possibly apocryphal) remark from Tom Stoppard about the creative process. 'He said that when he starts a play, he starts it not when he has an idea ... but when he has two different ideas that ... crash into each other.'
Something similar had happened to Isle of Dogs co-creatives Anderson, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman. The initial idea was to make a stop-motion animated film about a band of dogs living on a trash heap. The idea grew extra legs when it merged with a second idea: to set the story in a fantastical future Japan. That, it seems, was the beginning of the brilliance. But also of the problems.
The film takes place in the fictional city of Megasaki, whose grim-faced Mayor Kobayashi (voiced by Nomura) is the latest in an ages-long dynasty of dog-hating dictators. Lately, the city's canines have been struck by the twin epidemics of 'dog flu' and 'snout fever', and Kobayashi has pounced on this as a pretext to exile the beasts to the nearby refuse-laden wasteland of Trash Island.
This was a premise that, according to Anderson, gained currency during the years of the film's creation. In maintaining power, Kobayashi maligns political opponents and manipulates truth for the purpose of weaponising popular fears. In the process he furthers the oppression and marginalisation of society's (literal) underdogs. Clearly this is a fable with powerful contemporary resonances.
The only human to rebel against Kobayashi's doggy deportations is the mayor's own 12-year-old nephew and legal ward Atari (Rankin). Atari, whose parents were killed in a train wreck some years previous, flies to the island to try to retrieve his beloved pet Spots (Schreiber). Once there, he falls in with a loveable band of pooches led by morally upright Rex (Norton) and weary, cynical stray Chief (Cranston).
What follows is both a captivating quest story and an exquisitely mounted examination of loyalty, friendship and honour. Working with puppets and models, Anderson and co. have created an animated world that is highly detailed and tactile. His inimitable knack for droll