There comes a time when one must ask themselves whether Wes Anderson’s style of directing has had it’s day. It is arguably an inevitability when anyone with any unique style of art becomes popular. People are amazed at what is genuinely great cinema, they enjoy the films, eagerly eat up the new ones in which the style used is refined until perfection before groaning over the now repetitious nature of anything subsequently put out. So far Wes Anderson hasn’t been groaned at, or at least I haven’t heard the groans. However being aware that you’re now becoming familiar with a style and aware of there even being the possibility that people may tire of it is potentially the early warning signs of a forthcoming spiral of stagnation. What directors need to do then when these early signs start to appear is freshen it up; create something new, do something different.
Wes Anderson is no stranger to animated films, he has in the past been responsible for a telling of The Fantastic Mr Fox story which I very much enjoyed as did I his latest attempt; Isle Of Dogs. I enjoyed both and refuse to give a preference to either. Like everything the latest attempt is slightly more refined but thankfully it felt anything but tired. Isle Of Dogs tells the story of a boy attempting to rescue his dog from an island prison, which is also a rubbish dump island, after his evil Uncle, who is also the Mayor of the fictional Megasaki, outlaws dogs being in town after an outbreak of dog flu. Mayor Kobayashi is the head of the Kobayashi clan who have been fighting dogs for thousands of years as a result of their kinship with cats. The story also mirrors an ancient myth of a boy who disavows mankind to rescue dogkind in their hour of need.
I won’t go into much else that goes on in the story so as not to give anything away. Rest assured Wes Anderson has managed to bring in his regular crew of actors to do the voices; Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton and Scarlett Johansson to name but a few. The fact he seemingly manages to get the same people to work on his films time and time again suggests that either he’s got some fiendish contracts or he’s quite enjoyable to work with. Having watched the latest I would suggest the latter.
While I am aware I haven’t really told you much about the story or many other details beyond that, fans of Wes Anderson who haven’t seen Isle Of Dogs yet will regardless of how I try and sell it, and those who haven’t seen his films will never get a true picture with my clumsy attempt at descriptive writing anyway. If you have never seen a Wes Anderson film before probably don’t start on his animated ones, I was introduced to The Darjeeling Express first and whether it was because it was something new or because I watched it first in India it will always have a soft spot in my heart. Arguably I like all his films and it is rare I would imagine for a director to have that kind of genuine success rate. We will all get bored of him one day but in the meantime I am more than happy to continue enjoying what he produces. Watch Isle Of Dogs, it’s an intelligent, unique film.
Observations and Misunderstandings 