Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.5

Isle of Dogs Blu-ray Movie Review

Not just for "dog people".

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 16, 2018

One of the glories of Phil Hartman’s late, lamented reign on Saturday Night Live was his essaying of the so-called Anal Retentive Chef, a supposed recipe maven who could never quite get around to actually cooking anything since he was always so busy arranging the cozies he had adorning all the objects in his kitchen, or who regularly got sidetracked into detours like the “proper” way to dispose of food scraps (chopped, placed into a paper bag, which was then repeatedly folded, and finally stapled shut). Hartman in fact played a number of anal retentive characters, or perhaps more accurately the same anal retentive character involved in various activities (a kindly YouTube use has uploaded several), but to my knowledge he never tried out playing an anal retentive filmmaker. I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say Wes Anderson qualifies for that actual “diagnosis”, but Anderson’s well documented obsessive attention to detail is certainly front and center (and sides, not to mention forward and backward) in Isle of Dogs, a completely peculiar but absolutely charming stop motion tale that posits a future Japanese world where canines, under the sway of a flu like epidemic, are exiled to Trash Island, a waterbound “refuge” that is covered with the sorts of things the Anal Retentive Chef probably delighted in discarding. This is another Anderson effort that is positively picayune in its weird little plot points, but which coasts along rather effortlessly in its kinda sorta “road trip” journey of a kid named Atari Kobayashi (voiced by Koyu Rankin) who is on the hunt for his beloved dog Spots, who was the first pet sent to Trash Island courtesy of Atari’s nefarious uncle and foster parent, Mayor Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura).

The fact that Isle of Dogs utilizes stop motion animation and has a lead character bearing the same name as a vintage computer brand may lead some to believe the film is hopelessly old school, but as with many Anderson films, there’s a really appealing and quite distinctive combination of elements that are “archival” in nature with a post-modernist spirit that is almost New Wave in its dismissal of anything and everything that has gone before. It’s perhaps indicative of Anderson’s always subtly provocative artistry that most of the film is told resolutely from the dogs’ point of view, and despite a setup that features the Mayor and some other humans, even the arrival of Atari somewhat later in the story doesn’t materially affect this perspective.

Atari’s “tour guide” on the Isle of Dogs is a scruffy looking canine named Chief (voiced by Bryan Cranston, adding yet another completely unique characterization to his resumé), who actually isn’t all that thrilled to be thrust into such a role. There are a number of “supporting dogs”, and there’s a kind of vignette driven approach throughout the film that tends to highlight various characters, even as the throughline of Atari trying to find Spots is never far from the surface. A gorgeous female dog named Nutmeg (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), a purebreed who looks decidedly out of place on the haphazard and garbage strewn island, is a main instigator in getting a pack of dogs to help Atari, but two other canines warn of a dangerous group of feral dogs who have unbridled appetites (so to speak).

Much as with Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, a “mere” plot summary really can’t suffice to properly communicate what an invigorating viewing experience watching the film provides. Presentationally, this is one of Anderson’s more audacious efforts (something that may raise a few eyebrows, considering what’s gone before), and there are a whole host of other media like silk screen prints that are referenced aside and apart from the uniformly charming stop motion animation. (It’s probably salient to mention that this Japanese-esque story has been adapted into a manga.) The film is also filled to the brim with little nuggets of comedy, some verbal, many delivered via on screen text additions, that continually provide little jolts of energy along the way.

But it’s the essential sweetness of this tale (tail?) that will probably stick with most viewers, a kind of heartfelt aspect that beautifully infuses and helps to inform the animation style. This is a film where even nefarious villains are offered a chance at salvation, and the entire film plays like a kind of slightly hallucinogenic allegory that may in fact speak to headline making debates about isolating “the other”, especially if that “other” is perceived to be life threatening. But any screed like tendencies are actually thankfully kept to a minimum here, and Isle of Dogs turns out to be a spot(s) (sorry) that many will enjoy visiting, despite the prevalence of refuse and the occasional snarling canine or two.

Isle of Dogs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Isle of Dogs is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists the Canon EOS 1DX as having digitally captured each still (at a reported source resolution of 5.2K), which was then finished at a 2K DI. This is another spectacular looking Anderson effort released by Fox, one with abundant levels of fine detail throughout the proceedings, and a really charmingly varied palette that offers a glut of burnished tones perhaps surprisingly in what can often otherwise be fairly dowdy looking brown and gray territories, along with bright flashes of almost crimson reds and cooler blues and yellows. Anderson's near obsessive attention to detail spills over into virtually every frame of this phantasmagorical viewing experience, and the multi media approach, which combines the "standard" stop motion technique with amazing model and/or miniature work with other elements that resemble painting or (as mentioned above) silk screens. Detail levels are superb throughout the presentation, and as usual with Fox Blu-ray releases, there are no issues with compression anomalies. The one disappointment some home theater fans may have is that there is evidently no 4K UHD release on the horizon, at least for the time being.

Isle of Dogs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Isle of Dogs features a nicely rendered DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that has good attention to discrete placement of ambient environmental effects, as well as some smart directionality in terms of "smaller" moments like snarling dogs at the sides of the frame and such. While not overly ubiquitous, there's a typical Anderson eclectic quality to the source cues used, and those also open up into the side and rear channels quite winningly (for anyone intrigued by the brief snippet of a version of Prokofiev's charming Lt. Kije Suite, I highly recommend researching the amazing Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, long one of my all time favorites). Dialogue is always presented cleanly and clearly, and there are no issues whatsoever with damage, dropouts or distortion.

Isle of Dogs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Promotional Featurettes are all fairly brief EPKs with some good behind the scenes footage and enjoyable interviews:

  The Animators (1080p; 3:42)

  Isle of Dogs Cast Interviews (1080p; 5:09)

  Puppets (1080p; 4:03)

  An Ode to Dogs (1080p; 2:00)

  Megasaki City and Trash Island (1080p; 2:59)

  Weather and Elements (1080p; 3:04)

• Gallery (1080p; 1:18) features both Auto Advance and Manual Advance modes. The timing is for the Auto Advance option.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:38)

Isle of Dogs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's hard to think of another filmmaker who so regularly confounds expectations and delivers such sui generis offerings as does Wes Anderson. Who else would even think of making a film with so many disparate plot points, and then up the ante by presenting it in stop motion animation (along with some other animation techniques). It's just flat out odd — but it's also unbelievably charming, delightful, laugh out loud funny and (most importantly) touching. This is another "one off" from Anderson that would take a considerably more gifted writer than I am to fully describe, and my bottom line advice about Isle of Dogs is: stop reading and go see it! Once again Fox has delivered a Blu-ray with near flawless technical merits, and while the supplementary package is a little lean, Isle of Dogs comes Highly recommended.