“Isle of Dogs” is the newest film from acclaimed director and writer Wes Anderson, his first film since 2014’s “Grand Budapest Hotel.” This film sees the director return to the art of stop-motion animation, the first time since his 2009 masterpiece “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” The film follows a pack of five dogs on Trash Isle, an island turned into a landfill, after all dogs are kicked out of Japan. All this takes place 20 years into the future. The pack of dogs run into a young boy, Atari Kobayashi, who after his ship crashes into the Isle is in search of his lost dog Spots. Does this film hit the strengths of Anderson’s recent work, and does it rival his only other animated film? 

The cast for this film is truly star-studded. The voice cast for this film includes Bryan Cranston, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Keitel, Greta Gerwig and Frances McDormand. This film is set in Japan, so many of the characters are played by Japanese actors, lending to the authenticity of the world. 

Anderson decided to not include English subtitles for the Japanese characters, leading to many scenes where the audience cannot understand the characters on screen. However, as explained in the opening crawl, all of the dog barks are translated for us to English. This idea leads to one of the best parts of the film, which is its ability to show onscreen how dogs and humans are able to connect while only being able to understand a word or two of each other. Anderson is able to have character growth and development without words, which is insanely hard to pull off. 

However, this choice also leads to many of the characters in the film being severely underdeveloped and under-used. The relationship between the main characters is strong. However, most of the characters, specifically the dogs, are left in the background for most of the film. For a movie called “Isle of Dogs,” I was disappointed with the fact that most of the character development in the film goes to the humans, instead of the dogs. This leads many of the dogs into the trap of feeling like only comic relief, instead of real characters. 

This is easily one of the most gorgeous looking Wes Anderson films. The detail and care that went into building this world frame by frame was immense. In particular, two scenes really stood out, one involving preparing sushi and the other involving testing something in a lab. They felt like candy for the eyes. I couldn’t look away. 

The film is full of typical Wes Anderson style, including symmetrical shots, camera zooms and pans, quirky, funny dialogue and beautiful visuals. That being said, this film is nowhere near the storytelling masterpiece as many of his other films are. The story was the weakest part of the film, feeling at times boring and meandering. Too much time is dedicated to the mainland, and not focusing on the Isle. 

For those that enjoy Wes Anderson films, go see this movie. However, I do not think it’s nearly as good as his other animated film “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” but is an enjoyable ride, chock full of whit and gorgeous visuals. The story is lacking at times, but this is still a film I would recommend people watching, but maybe not in theaters.