Isle of Dogs

             Written for the screen and directed by Wes Anderson, this stop motion animation features a great cast of vocal talent and is utterly charming. The screenplay is from an original story by Mr. Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Kunichi Nomura.

              The film takes place in the fictitious Japanese city of Megasaki, 20 years in the future  where dog flu has run rampant through the canine population and the cat loving Mayor has banished all dogs to Trash Island. His young ward Atari steals a plane and flies to the island to find his own dog, Spots. He is befriended by a small band of particular dogs who agree to help him.

       Mr. Anderson makes many interesting choices for this film. He sets it in Japan and all the humans only speak in their native Japanese. There are no subtitles. The audience is deliberately told this at the beginning of the film as well as letting us know all the dog barking is translated into English. There is one American human character as well as an interpreter that help fill in the story for an English speaking audience. The story is steeped in Japanese culture and yet completely relatable to a wide audience. Coincidently, the story is very timely as the young adult population of Megasaki rally to bring about a major turning point in the film.

                      The team of puppeteers and animators Mr. Anderson has assembled have done nothing short of brilliant work with amazing attention to the smallest detail. Every dog character has a very distinct look and personality. The large vocal cast includes Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Bob Balaban, Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel, Greta Gerwig, F. Murray Abraham, Liev Schreiber, Yoko Ono, Kunichi Nomura and Koyu Rankin as Atari.

            While a serious story at its core, it's an adventure filled with suspense and yet plenty of sly humor. Cute as it may look, it's not a film for small children who may find it somewhat confusing and even scary at times. Canine flu is a real disease and while the film takes it to an extreme, dog owners should consider vaccinating their own pets if they are social and spend a lot of time around other dogs.