Isle of Dogs is a stop-motion animated film released in the U.S. on March 23rd, 2018. Created by visionary director Wes Anderson, who also made Fantastic Mr. Fox, Isle Of Dogs takes place in a fictional future Japan twenty years from now, where all dogs are infected by a dangerous “dog flu” and are sent to a quarantine island by the government. But, the 12-year-old nephew of the emperor, Atari, travels to the Isle of Dogs in order to find his old guard dog Spots. Isle of Dogs features an all-star voice cast of Bryan Cranston, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, and many more.

First of all, I’m a dog-person. So when I first heard about this movie back in September I was ecstatic to go see it. Fast-forward about six months to the end of March 2018, and I finally got to experience it at the theater, and I was honestly blown away. Isle of Dogs captures the heartwarming relationship of a child and his pet dog, while also managing to work in interesting characters, beautiful animation, and an immersive story.

The very first thing about this movie that surprised me and improved the experience of the film was the use of translations. At the very beginning of the movie, the movie itself addresses the fact that since the movie takes place in Japan, all the characters speak in their native language, and are translated only when translators are available. This creates a sense of realism to the film, as it makes sense that a political rally would have a Japanese-to-English translator rather than a boy on an island only inhabited by dogs. Just seemingly small details like this make such a big impact on the movie, as the only characters who are always translated into English are the dogs themselves, and the audience is able to further relate to them as they also struggle to understand what Atari asks of them, as he speaks a foreign language that is not translated for most of the movie.

Another equally important and impressive aspect of this film was the production value of it. As this is a Wes Anderson film, it features the signature symmetrical style found in nearly all of his films that I personally can not get enough of. The quality of the stop-motion animation was probably the most impressive animation I have seen in a feature film to this day. I remember looking and seeing individual hairs on one of the character’s shirts move. The fact that this was all done by hand by actual people still amazes me. Finally, the songs used on the movies soundtrack are just perfect for establishing the tones of different scenes, and are generally just good songs to listen to. My personal favorite song is “I Won’t Hurt You” by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.

This is a great movie for fellow dog lovers, fans of past Wes Anderson films, and for those who just want to see a comical yet heartfelt film with your family and/or friends. I would recommend this movie in a heartbeat to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet and has some free time over the weekend. To conclude, Isle of Dogs is a beautifully-made movie with an equally beautiful and heartfelt story to tell.