11 years + Isle of Dogs (2018)

At each blog anniversary I tried to find something that I could recommend with a maximum rating. It worked out at two years ("The Prestige") and at nine years ("The Accountant"), so quite seldom :) Therefore, it's at least statistically proven ( spoiler :) ) why it doesn't work at 11 years either. To be fair, I'm happy that this year I managed up to now to keep the average of one entry per week = watching around one movie weekly. To catch one that has the chance to surprise me at a fixed date... oh well... The truth is that I seriously reconsidered after last year a shutdown, especially in the context where's quite clear also for me that: 1) I don't really get to see enough movies to make a decent selection of subjects; 2) I don't really have the time to stay enough on an entry to make it sure it sounds good enough (not that I ever prepared and revised my posts, but I feel that lately I'm repeating myself too much and I'm wrapping them up too quickly); 3) the everlasting problem since I started this blog is still here - I don't have time to promote it (although, considering point 2 above, maybe it's for the better). Anyway, long story short... I'm not giving up :D (yet...). Maybe I have the chance to compete someday to the longest blog with the least amount of readers on this planet :P And now, the movie...

I had two options for an anniversary entry - "Isle of Dogs" and "Upgrade". Unfortunately I've only had time for one of them, and I've chosen the "safe" one. Wes Anderson doesn't normally disappoint. And it's not the case now either. But still I can't say that this is one of his best... Besides that, unfortunately I don't think I'm connecting too well with the subject, which is: dogs - never having one, or as a matter of fact any other pet.

The story goes like this: somewhere in Japan we have a bad mayor, from an even worse dynasty that for generations hated dogs. Also for generations, these have a tolerated status, being used in the mayor house only for guarding and other practical tasks, never like pets. From this starts a plot of completely eradicating their presence from the community, using the reason of "canine fever". Like that, all the animals are exiled on a garbage island, including the guard dog of the mayors adopted son. Only that the son, not sharing the century old family hate, doesn't really agree with the decision and starts a search and rescue expedition for finding Spots. Which, predictable, it happens, and they will live happily ever after. Considering that we know the ending, I won't say what we're going through for reaching that.

If you wouldn't know who's the writer/director and you'd see 3 minutes of the movie, whatever these might be, you could swear that's a Wes Anderson film. It's so obvious, and the best method to describe Wes Anderson is... well.. watch a movie by Wes Anderson. An ordered chaos, short on topic scenes, cold dialogues that suddenly turn warm, lots of color, a fine sense of humor (e.g., "The Search for Spots" - a reference to Star Trek, that gets a bit deeper in the context), all these are elements that you can find here as much as in "Fantastic Mr. Fox", "Grand Budapest Hotel" or even "Moonrise Kingdom". Still, it doesn't seem like the same level. But again, maybe I'm not emphatic enough with the idea :) Anyway, as in the other cases, technically as a movie what we have here is flawless. At least for that it deserves watching. And if you're a dog owner, you'll probably love it ;)

Rating: 4 out of 5