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.

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.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

First Hit: I didn't get the point of this film and ended up being bored after a half-hour. A few funny quips does not a film make.

George Clooney is the voice of Mr. Fox who, with his wife Mrs. Fox (voiced by Meryl Streep), get dangerously close to getting caught as they raid a hen house. He promises to never do this again and gets a straight job as a reporter to a paper no one reads. He gets antsy, moves his family from a fox burrow and into a tree. 

The tree is near three farmers who make goods Mr. Fox likes to eat. He wants to be a real fox again by going out and raiding things. So he lies to Mrs. Fox telling her he's going to meetings and sets out to raid the three most feared farms near his property. 

The farmers get angry and come after him. He gets shot at and loses his tail. He has to tell Mrs. Fox he lied. Their son is jealous of a cousin who can do most anything he does better. But in the end the family goes out and gets his tail back.

I couldn't figure out what I suppose to care about. The dialog was quipish and rather dull although the animation was somewhat interesting. It was done in an old fashion stop motion way using props and physically adjusted movement.

I kept wondering through the whole film, what am I to care about. A good film subtly entices the audience to care about someone or a cause. There is nothing here to care about. 

Clooney is perfect at reading Mr. Fox's quippish lines which are punctuated by a whistle and a couple of mouth generated clicks. However, these lines and noises might be better served in an Ocean’s 11 film. Wes Anderson spent a fair amount of money on something that has little interesting value.

Overall: Don't bother even if you're bored on a Sunday afternoon and it's a $2.00 video rental.

The Darjeeling Limited

First Hit: This film has a few laughs but basically falls flat on a cold wet tea bag (Darjeeling that is).

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put this film together again.

Anyone who has been to India will note that the crowdedness of the city streets (the initial taxi ride) and railway stations are not represented here. In one scene when they are running to catch their train the background crowd is lined up with their backs to the building and looking at the camera and scene being shot.

Normally that train platform would have been full of people. It is too bad the story has them riding first class because doing so is partially the reason their “spiritual quest” is denied and the film fails. It might have been more comedic and interesting if they had to travel as most of the common people travel.

The story line about the mother leaving them falls flat as well.

I could not picture these guys to be brothers; especially Jason Schwartzman who co-wrote and had a producer credit and was one of the prime movers of the film.

Wes Anderson does create some wonderful visual colorful pictures but it does not make up for a weak script and poor acting. Lastly the thought that an Indian woman attendant would have “a quickie” with one of the brothers was preposterous and demeaning.

Overall: Don’t waste your time or money on this film there isn’t much of a story here.