ISLE OF DOGS – Rated PG-13 – 1 hr. 40 mins. – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
DIRECTED by Wes Anderson
WRITTEN BY Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Kunichi Nomura
STARRING the voices of Bryan Cranston, Live Schreiber, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Courtney B Vance, Akira Ito, Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Keitel, Tilda Swinton, Bob Balaban and Koyu Rankin
When a dog flu hits Japan with a vengeance, it seems that the Mayor’s nephew Atari (Koyu Rankin), is going to have to learn to live without his best friend Spots (Liev Schreiber).
Banished to an island inhabited by other exiled dogs of Japan, it seems that this world away from their humans, is one pretty scary place. When leader of the pack Chief (Bryan Cranston) decides to gather up his pack for safety from the other mongrels inhabiting their space, a vision appears from out of nowhere…bringing human life back to their island.
When Chief realizes it’s the Mayor’s nephew Atari looking for his dog Spots, Chief and the rest of his crew join forces to help Atari find his friend, as they all hope and pray, it’s not too late….
I give ISLE OF DOGS a rating of MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN ~ Anderson has managed to suck me in again with another somewhat imaginary, somewhat “oh so real” storyline, that will make every dog lover in this world shed a tear, or two. Cranston is perfect as the leader of the pack, Chief, along with his comrades too along the way – voiced by Norton, Balaban, Murray, and Goldblum. It is truly awesome hearing all of these familiar voices in this one film! And you couldn’t ask for a sweeter “girlfriend” for Chief too in this animated masterpiece, than the beautiful Nutmeg (voiced to perfection by Scarlett Johansson). And I am happy to report too, that even the dog loving youngsters over the age of 8 can take this film in…as even though at one point I thought we might be headed into concentration camp territory, with lots of gruesomeness, I was happy to view that Anderson didn’t take it too far, so that it’s okay for the younger ones in the audience to experience. Filled with emotion and empathy for our favorite furry friends ~ and the world in which we live ~ ISLE OF DOGS is one film that you, and your entire family must go see at a theater near you this weekend!!!
Kathy Kaiser
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 