Nine years after the fantastic Fantastic Mr. Fox, writer/director Wes Anderson returned to stop-motion animation with Isle of Dogs (2018), based on an original story by Anderson and previous collaborators Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, and Kunichi Nomura. Being that dogs are as integral to the story as humans, if not more so, “humans…speak in their native tongue” with occasional translations while “barks have been rendered into English.”
Buy Isle of Dogs (Criterion Collection)The film opens with a prologue (The Boy Samurai and the Headless Ancestor) set a thousand years ago when “the cat-loving Kobayashi Dynasty declared war” against dogs. Even though a young boy rose in their defense, dogs “became powerless house pets: tamed, mastered, scorned. The Kobayashis, however, never forgave their conquered foe.”
In Japan, 20 years in the future, an outbreak of Snout-fever leads to a concern about Dog-Flu jumping to humans. Mayor Kobayashi (Nomura) decrees all dogs be sent to Trash Island, an exile colony. Professor Watanabe (Akira Ito), a scientist and political rival, offers a dissent, claiming to be on the verge of inventing a Dog-Flu serum in six months but the decree moves ahead. Spots (Liev Schreiber), a white male dog with black spots that belongs to 12-year-old Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin), the mayor’s nephew/ward, is the first to be quarantined.
Six months pass. Things are rough on Trash Island as formerly domesticated dogs are running in packs, scrounging for food among the garbage that is dropped. One dog has committed suicide. Chief (Bryan Cranston), a former stray, thinks he leads the story’s main pack, but Rex (Edward Norton), King (Bob Baladan), Duke (Jeff Goldblum), and Boss (Bill Murray) usually out-vote him.
A plane crashes on the island. The pilot is Atari, who has come looking for Spots. The pack decides to help him in his search. Initially reluctant, Chief is convinced to join them by Nutmeg (Scarlett Johansson), a show dog he is attracted to, even though he is sure it will get them all killed. Back on the the mainland, Kobayashi has Watanabe put under house arrest. American foreign exchange student Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig) believes a government conspiracy is taking place in order to turn the public against their dogs. The plotlines converge in a compelling climax.
The video is has been given a 2160p/24hz encode transfer displayed at an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. According to the liner notes, “Supervised and approved by director Wes Anderson, this new 4K digital master was upscaled from the 2K digital source master, which was created from the original digital camera media…The feature is presented in Dolby Vision HDR (high dynamic range) on the 4K Ultra HD.” The colors come through in strong hues. Blacks are inky and whites accurate, leading to a strong contrast. The image is clean with a sharp focus, allowing for defined depth and extremely fine texture details on all objects.
“The original 5.1 surround soundtrack was remastered from the original digital files.” Dialogue is clear and, along with most of the effects, reside in the front speakers. Composer Alexandre Desplat’s score is percussion heavy with the Japanese drums resonating in part from subwoofer support.
The Special Features are:
- Audio commentary featuring Anderson and actor Jeff Goldblum on UHD
- Feature-length storyboard animatic
- The Making of Isle of Dogs
- Crew Interviews (21 min) with animation director Mark Waring, co-production designer Paul Harrod, head of puppets department Andy Gent, director of photography Tristen Oliver
- Jupiter in the Studio (17 min) – F. Murray Abraham (voice of Jupiter)tours various sets
- Voices of the Hero Pack (8 min) are shown recording a scene
- Animation Tests (4 min)
- VFX Breakdowns (5 min)
- Time-Lapse (4 min)
- Sushi (2 min) – the stop-motion making of a bento box
- The Visual Comedy of Isle of Dogs (11 min) – A video essay by filmmakers Taylor Ramos & Tony Zhou about Anderson’s directorial style
- Featurettes
- Animators (4 min)
- Cast Interviews (5 min) with actors speaking through their onscreen characters
- Puppets (4 min)
- An Ode to Dogs (2 min) – actors sing their praises
- Megasaki City and Trash Island (3 min) – A look at the two contrasting locations
- Weather and Elements (3 min)
- Actors and Their Puppets (1 min) – a video photo gallery
- Trailer
Part boy’s adventure, part political drama, part romance, Isle of Dogs is captivating film about the need for connection between individuals. With the actors’ voices and the animators’ actions, the dogs are unique and expressive as any human character. The attention to detail is stunning, and the UHD video presentation allows for each frame to engage the viewer’s eye. Criterion provides numerous supplements for those curious about how it was made. It comes with an accompanying Blu-ray, leaflet with an essay by filmmaker Moeko Fujii, and a poster.
