Isle of Dogs

First Hit: I liked the premise and animation a lot, however, there were scenes that were not needed which made this film longer than needed.

Director Wes Anderson creates quirky and interesting films. Here, Wes uses stop-motion animation to create a world that, at times, reflects current events. The film references earthquakes and a power plant failure that spread radiation. All events that happened in Japan.

The general plot is that Mayor Kobayashi (voice by Kunichi Nomura), mayor of Megasaki, is a cat person as are his immediate family and his ancestors. However, dog lovers have been ruling Megasaki and therefore dogs reign supreme in Megasaki. Coming into power Megasaki sends all the dogs to “Trash Island,” a place where trash is piled up.

The reason he states is because the dogs have a disease that cannot be cured and eventually it will affect humans.

Atari Kobayashi (voice by Koyu Rankin) is a young twelve-year-old boy who wants his dog Spots back. He commandeers a small plane and crashes it on Trash Island. He runs into a pack of dogs Chief (voice by Bryan Cranston), Rex (voice by Edward Norton), King (voice by Bob Balaban), Boss (voice by Bill Murray), and Duke (voice by Jeff Goldblum, who decide to help him find Spots.

Many of the scenes were fun to watch and extremely well developed. However, scenes like when the dogs in the overhead lift going through a destruction and crushing building were not needed. It added little to the overall suspense and only created a unneeded scene and added to making the film longer.

The personalities of the dogs were great and a wonderful combination of animal and human points of view. This held up well. The focus of a boy’s love of his dog works. And when it comes forth that all dogs love twelve-year-old boys was perfect.

Rankin, Balaban, Norton, Cranston, Murray, Goldblum, and Nomura were wonderful in their voice characterizations. Anderson and Roman Coppola wrote a wonderful script although there were scenes that could have been cut to make the film crisper. Anderson’s direction was excellent although some scenes were unnecessary.

Overall: A strong and entertaining film in a format we don’t see very often.

Monuments Men

First Hit:  Disappointing execution of what was probably a marvelous story.

The cast was stellar. The story was probably interesting. However the result was a disjointed, lackluster, and mediocre film. When you have; George Clooney (as Frank Stokes), Matt Damon (as James Granger), Bill Murray (as Richard Campbell), Cate Blanchett (as Claire Simone), John Goodman (as Walter Garfield), Jean Dujardin (as Jean Claude Clermont), Hugh Bonneville (as Donald Jefferies), and Bob Balaban (as Preston Savitz) there is an anticipation, if not expectation, of seeing a great film and story.

What hurt this story was that it seemed like a bunch of vignettes strung together to meet the end result of the story. Some of these side stories had me scratching my head and wondering why they were there, one such side piece was the dental work piece featuring Murray and Balaban. Couldn’t understand why it was important to show this.

Then there were the cutaway scenes following Damon when he first came to France, while riding in a cart - what was the point of showing these without some conclusion or reasoning? These are just a couple of moments in this film that just seemed to be there for no real reason or point. There were also awkwardly shot moments, like when Bonneville makes an attempt to kill a German, the whole scene was poorly conceived and executed.

This scene seemed like an afterthought. However, there were also touching moments, like when Damon and Blanchett were having dinner, or when Bonneville gives his thanks for a chance to prove his worth after his alcoholic ways.

Clooney as an actor here was OK, but his direction and screenplay contributions seemed lightweight or maybe he didn’t take this seriously enough. Damon was good, as always, but there wasn’t enough meat in the part to have him give a great performance. Murray appeared to be trying to make something out of nothing and when the audience sees this – it is disappointing. Blanchett was one of the best in her role as a mistrusting woman who finally believes the motive of the US forces. Goodman was OK, nothing special. Dujardin was somewhat interesting as he brought some European flair to the film. Bonneville was nothing special in a minimal role. Balaban seemed to capture the screen when he was in a scene which says something about his strong skills. Clooney and Grant Heslov wrote this screenplay and it seems that they were unclear about direction as was Clooney as director.

Overall:  This film was better as an idea than its execution. I left the theater disappointed.

Moonrise Kingdom

First Hit:  Quirky, fun, and interesting while blending stylistic filming to deliver a poignant message of hope and love.

The cast is stellar with the big names in supporting roles. You have Edward Norton (as Scout Master Ward), Bruce Willis (as Captain Sharp), Bill Murray (as Walt Bishop), Frances McDormand (as Laura Bishop), Harvey Keitel (as Commander Pierce), Tilda Swinton (as Social Services), Jason Schwartzman (as Cousin Ben), and Bob Balaban (as the Narrator).

The film is about Suzy Bishop (played by Kara Hayward) who is a troubled young girl and Sam (played by Jared Gilman) a young orphan boy who is determined to live his life his way making him an outcast.

The Narrator begins the film by talking straight to the camera setting up the story of the mythical island of New Penzance its history and that a historic storm will soon envelop it. We are slowly introduced to the characters that are living and working on the island through stylistic mid 1960s scene edits and tones which are almost comic, but blazingly consistent, thoughtful and enjoyable throughout.

This film follows Sam and Suzy as they find each other, realize they can connect with each other, and their choice to journey together. Yes they are only 12 years old, but the point is some people feel really at a loss and lost in their life and people around them, but when they connect with someone else, there is a strong and compelling reason to stay together, to live.

Hayward is bold and evoking as Suzy a girl who struggles with feelings and the expression of them. Gilman as Sam is equally strong as the young boy who is going to live his path regardless of what grownups do. Together they were fabulous. Norton was sublime as the Khaki Scout Master who is charged with training Sam. I loved his acknowledgement of the wonderful camp Sam and Suzy set up. Willis was very low key in his self-effacing character who is just plodding along. Murray was very good as Suzy’s concerned dis-attached father. McDormand was excellent as the dis-jointed lonely mother of Suzy. Swinton was funny, bold and poignantly mean as Social Services. Schwartzman was really funny and good as Cousin Ben. Keitel was good as the head of Khaki Scout Masters and Ward’s boss. Balaban was the perfect choice as Narrator because he brought an informational serious undertone that bordered on dark comedy. Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola wrote a stunning script while Anderson’s clear vision brought it all together.

Overall: This was an excellent film to watch because it tells a wonderful story.