Viewed as a standalone animated feature, Isle of Dogs (2018) is a unique, thoughtful piece that few filmmakers besides Wes Anderson could have envisioned, let alone executed. But graded on the curve of Anderson’s own career, it feels minor. It lacks the emotional punch of The Royal Tenenbaums, the elegance of The Grand Budapest Hotel, and even the narrative focus of later entries like Asteroid City or The Phoenician Scheme.
‘Isle of Dogs’ Movie Review
Isle of Dogs is Wes Anderson’s second venture into stop-motion animation following the warmly beloved Fantastic Mr. Fox, and while both share a meticulous visual language, their narrative and emotional impact couldn’t be more different. Set against a stylized, fictionalized version of Japan and built with Anderson’s signature obsessive detail, Isle of Dogs is a film of striking craftsmanship and enormous effort—but one that ultimately feels more like an aesthetic exercise than an emotionally resonant story. It’s not a misfire, but in the context of Wes Anderson’s consistently strong filmography, it ranks among his less impactful works.
The plot unfolds in Megasaki City, where Mayor Kenji Kobayashi (voiced by Kunichi Nomura) exiles all dogs to the garbage-strewn wasteland of Trash Island following an outbreak of canine influenza. The mayor’s 12-year-old nephew Atari (Koyu Rankin) ventures to the island in search of his bodyguard dog Spots (Liev Schreiber), teaming up with a pack of misfit mutts led by Chief, a scrappy stray voiced by Bryan Cranston. The story follows this ragtag group’s journey as they navigate the island, political conspiracies, and a side plot led by American exchange student Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig) to expose the mayor’s cover-up.
True to form, Anderson assembles an ensemble voice cast that reads like a hall-of-fame roll call: Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Frances McDormand, Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Keitel, and F. Murray Abraham all lend their voices to various dogs, scientists, and journalists. And as with Fantastic Mr. Fox, the sound design, voice work, and animation fuse together seamlessly. It’s a movie that looks and sounds wonderful.
But where Fantastic Mr. Fox was driven by kinetic storytelling, lovable characters, and sharp wit, Isle of Dogs feels emotionally distant. Its tone is more somber, more meditative, and often more consumed by the craft of world-building than the heart of the story. The Japanese setting—constructed lovingly in terms of design, music, and cultural references—never quite finds its narrative justification beyond the surface. At times, it feels like Anderson is simply enamored with the texture of this setting, without doing the legwork to root his characters or themes deeply within it.
Thematically, Isle of Dogs tries to touch on ideas of exile, loyalty, and the failures of political authority, but its message feels oddly sterile. It carries echoes of The Darjeeling Limited in this way—another visually intricate Anderson film set in a culturally distant land that struggles to justify its location beyond its aesthetic value. While Isle of Dogs is certainly more cohesive than that film, it shares the same sense of narrative detachment.
Characterization is another shortcoming. While you’ll remember the names and faces of the dogs, their individual traits don’t stand out nearly as vividly as those in Fantastic Mr. Fox. There’s a uniformity to the way they talk, interact, and move that flattens their personalities. Chief comes closest to feeling fully realized, but even he doesn’t quite break free from the film’s overall emotional restraint.
Viewed as a standalone animated feature, Isle of Dogs is a unique, thoughtful piece that few filmmakers besides Wes Anderson could have envisioned, let alone executed. But graded on the curve of Anderson’s own career, it feels minor. It lacks the emotional punch of The Royal Tenenbaums, the elegance of The Grand Budapest Hotel, and even the narrative focus of later entries like Asteroid City or The Phoenician Scheme.
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For Anderson devotees, it’s still a rewarding experience—if only for its technical prowess and occasional moments of dry humor and melancholy. But it’s also one of the least rewatchable or memorable of his catalog. Isle of Dogs is never a chore to sit through, but rarely does it stir much beyond admiration for its surface. In a body of work defined by vibrant detail and emotional undercurrents, this one mostly just looks good.
Score: 6/10
Isle of Dogs (2018)
- Cast: Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Bob Balaban, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kunichi Nomura, Fisher Stevens, Akira Takayama, Greta Gerwig, Ken Watanabe, Frances McDormand, Nijiro Murakami, Harvey Keitel, Liev Schreiber, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Akira Ito, F. Murray Abraham
- Director: Wes Anderson
- Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy
- Runtime: 101 minutes
- Rated: PG-13
- Release Date: April 13, 2018
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