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Director: Wes Anderson
Release date: February 15, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
The 21st century saw a few live action directors and film makers crossing over to animation, often with original films that were welcome deviations from the standard family fare of Pixar, Dreamworks, Sony, Illumination and the like. One of these directors was Wes Anderson, whose live action films already have a very distinct flavor, let alone his animation work.
In 2009 Wes Anderson brought us ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’, his own quirky take of the classic children’s book by Roald Dahl, adding some ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’-like flavor to it. It seemed a one off, like all other animation adventures by live action directors, but in 2018 Wes Anderson surprised everyone by making yet another animation movie, this time with a completely original story of his own.
‘Isle of Dogs’ is a sort of fantasy-dystopia film set in Japan. Surprisingly, much of the dialogue is in Japanese, and not always translated, adding to the film’s idiosyncrasy. The film tells about the cat-loving Kobayashi clan who wants to get rid of all the dogs. When a Kobayashi mayor gets into power in the fictive town of Megasaki, he banishes all dogs to a garbage dump island…
The film knows quite a lot human characters, but uses mostly a dog-viewpoint and is even narrated by a dog (voiced by Courtney B. Vance). The film focuses on a stray dog called Chief, whose life changes when a young boy arrives on the island, looking for his own former pet, Spots.
Where all other film makers would make the boy and the dogs be able to talk with each other, Anderson keeps their languages strictly separated, with the dogs not getting a thing the boy says, and vice versa. As the boy speaks Japanese, we, the audience, too, cannot always follow what the boy tries to say – a bold move.
The dog communication is all in English, and Anderson makes use of a lot of familiar names to voice his animated creatures, like Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, just to name a few. Even Yoko Ono has a small role as a scientist of the same name.
Like ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ ‘Isle of Dogs’ is a stop motion film, and a very virtuoso one, too. The animation, directed by Mark Waring, is superb throughout and there are crowd scenes with tens to hundreds of puppets, and both dog and human characters are very intricately designed. Like in Anderson’s first animated film, all animals have a rather scruffy look, giving the film a very individual look. There are some typical quirks in the animation, like dogs sneezing at random moments. I also like Anderson’s use of cartoony fight clouds. As far as I know he’s the first to use those in a stop-motion film.
As with his other films Anderson employs a very typical use of the camera, often showing symmetrical images, and sometimes using close ups in a rather Spaghetti Western-like fashion. There’s also a little 2D animation to depict events on television. The background art, too, is unique. Apart from elaborate sets, the film uses rather flat background art, with a typical cut-out look. The quasi-Japanese score by Alexandre Desplat, an Anderson favorite, adds to the film’s unique atmosphere.
The film’s story says something about populism, and how misleading information can lead to unjust decisions, but the film is too silly to emphasize this point. Likewise, the film’s heart lies with Chief, but much more interesting than his development are the dry dialogues, and the running gag of one dog hearing a rumor the others never heard of. In fact, apart from the film’s looks, the dialogues form the film’s main attraction, as they are often very funny.
Unfortunately, the film’s finale is not the best part, and the defeat of the villains a little too easy, but otherwise ‘Isle of Dogs’ is a real treat, and with its unique style a very welcome diversion from the often run-of-the-mill fare of American studio animation.
Watch the trailer for ‘Isle of Dogs’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Isle of Dogs’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD
Director: Valentin Karavaev
Release date: 1970
Rating: ★★
Review:
‘A Lesson Not Learned’ is a rather blatant and vicious Soviet propaganda film suggesting that West Europe is led by fascists trying to restore the Germany of old.
The film starts with images from World War II, accompanied by the sounds of bombs and gunfire. Then we cut to an old Nazi in sheep’s clothing, who seeks refuge in the American-British zone. Accepted and retired, the old Nazi preaches ‘revanchism’, in order to restore Germany’s borders from before World War II. However, he is stopped by the Berlin wall and the peace treaty signed between the USSR and the DDR, in which the current borders are accepted.
This film uses a satirical style more reminiscent of the forties than of the seventies, rendering an old-fashioned imagery. The best idea is the little Hitler angel helping the old Nazi. There’s no dialogue. For example, when the old Nazi starts to speech, we only hear the sound of guns. There’s pretty little animation and the message is emphasized with writings as in political cartoons.
It’s hard to watch a film so full of lies, which shows that up to its very end the Soviet Union partly based its legitimation on the idea that its existence was the only way to stop fascism. And the saddest thing is that the current Russian regime has revived this falsehood to defend its current war in the Ukraine.
Watch ‘A Lesson Not Learned’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘A Lesson Not Learned’ is available on the DVD set ‘Animated Soviet Propaganda’
Directors: Kaspar Jancis, Ülo Pikkov & Priit Tender
Release Date: March 25, 2005
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
Probably one of the weirdest animated features ever made, Frank & Wendy belongs to the most commercial films ever produced by the Eesti Joonis film studios.
It features plenty of action, loud rock music, and a weird sense of humor, while it lacks the disturbing qualities of earlier films produced in this studio. Despite clearly being pure entertainment, it nonetheless retains the strong absurdism and surrealism typical for the Eesti Joonis studio, thanks to the screenplays and storyboards by Estonian animation master Priit Pärn. Frank & Wendy was originally conceived as a television series, and the feature has retained its episodic character, being divided into seven rather unrelated episodes.
Frank and Wendy are American FBI agents living in Estonia, saving the world from the most bizarre evil schemes, like a fast food chain selling hamburgers, which transmit a hunger message, and an amusement park designed to let live polar bears eat American elderly tourists. Also featured are politicians Vladimir Putin and Tony Blair, while several characters from other Eesti Joonisfilms have a cameo. The plots are very hard to re-tell and make even less sense on paper than on the screen.
Frank & Wendy is an entertaining movie, but due to its lack of plot and its episodic nature, watching it becomes a bit tiresome. In the end it fails to be a masterpiece.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Frank & Wendy’ yourself and tell me what you think:
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 