Berlinale Competition: Isle Of Dogs

Wes Anderson‘s new movie “Isle Of Dogs” (opens in theaters March 23rd) opened this year’s Berlinale last night. Quarantined dogs have been banned to an isle close to Japan (20 years in the future) and supposedly sentenced to death, as far as the mayor of the city of Megasaki is concerned. But there is a 12-year old boy who is brave enough to fly to Trash Island to find and save his dog. On the island, there are the domesticized dogs and the stray dogs, the good and the bad dogs, the chief dog called, eh, Chief (voiced by Bryan Cranston) and the beautiful show-dog, tough and resolute Nutmeg (Scarlet Johansson). Actually all of the dogs are pretty human, like the one dog who used to be a baseball mascot, another one who is an expert in gossip and still another whose former job was to test dog food. One of the funniest characters is that of pug Oracle (Tilda Swinton) who happens to understand what’s going on on TV. The stop-motion animation of the movie is fascinating throughout, there is a deep sense of all kinds of very little details – you are thrown into the island from the start and there is no shortage of funny and crazy dialogues and hilariously animated looks and sequences.

The whistling follows you long after the movie is over and you can’t help but fall in love with the dogs. Proof again that they certainly are man’s best friend. And yes, there is a happy end to the story.