I always wonder what exactly is the world that Wes Anderson sees, does he really see things the way he portrays them in his movies? What a great gift to have, I’m so envious!

Like all other Wes Anderson movies, Isle of Dogs makes no pretense of being serious or dark in any way. At the very start, there is a narrator who announces that this is a tale and introduces the story. This releases the viewer of any expectation of rationality and Anderson is now free to unleash his wonderful imagination without restraint.

All Wes Anderson movies have similar stories. There are immature characters, both kids, and grown-ups, who evolve, mature and find meaningful connections over the course of the movie. There are misunderstandings and adventures and chases and failures and losses and an eventual redemption. It is one thing to make movies about all kinds of things, but it takes a real genius to take one theme and make movies out of it set in dozens of premises, each one extremely enjoyable to watch and different from the others.

The characters, even though they’re dogs, are so endearing. It must be great skill and a lot of hard work on the part of animators to endow these creatures with human emotions while still keeping their dog personalities. And the elephant in the room, the entire movie is made using stop animation, it is fucking unbelievable. But why stop animation, why not use digital animation like every other Tom, Dick, and Harry? All art is different, stop animation must require an infinite amount of work but it excels at invoking memories from childhood and making us comfortable immediately, and it also allows Anderson to use his unique cinematographic style because there is an actual camera instead of a piece of code.

I also love the color palette in this movie. The entire world is a trash-island, the background of every scene is literally crap, and yet this yellow trash filled world does not feel repulsive. When portrayed correctly, even the trash can be cute. The movie is set in Japan and has a lot of interesting quirks coming from the Japanese culture as well.

And last but not the least, the music. I love it when there are scenes in movies when the story pauses and the heroes depart on a silent journey, the music takes over and tells you what our heroes are going through. When things happen in the plot you understand what the characters are doing, but when nothing happens and the movie simply breathes you get a chance to understand what the characters are feeling and to empathize with them. Add to this a mix of Japanese traditional music and you have gotten yourself an unforgettable immersive experience.

In today’s world, being a non-conformist moviemaker means making meaningful, light-hearted, wholesome movies without compromising on quality. I’m really grateful to Anderson for sharing his vision and his sense of humor, and for reminding us that the world is not so bad a place after all.