This Friday marks the release of director Wes Anderson's latest animated movie Isle of Dogs. Composed entirely of stop motion animation, it follows an island of dogs as they journey through a literal wasteland. For many, it's easy to be excited for a new Anderson film following the unprecedented breakthrough of the Oscar-winning The Grand Budapest Hotel. However, there is a bigger reason to be excited: it's the director's first foray into stop motion in nine years, which already makes it feel more special than his usual films where each detail is intricately placed into beautiful symmetry. However, it's also because the last time that Anderson made an animated film, it was Fantastic Mr. Fox - his undoubted greatest work in a career full of impressive and iconic films. It just so happens to have more "cussing" than your average family movie.
Even in 2009, Fantastic Mr. Fox felt like an anomaly amid one of the 21st century's best years for animated movies. It had to compete against Up, The Princess and the Frog, and Coraline, which together show the spectrum of modern animation in breathtaking fashion. But even going up against LAIKA Studios' debut Coraline, there was something different about Anderson's film. It could be seen in the small details of a fabricated fox staring into the screen, managing to recall Francois Truffaut with no more than a stern glare. The fur rippled across the screen, giving every second a new life to the figures, of which were elegantly voiced by a voice cast lead by George Clooney and Meryl Streep. This was Anderson's first PG film, and it couldn't have been more confident as it mixed in influences ranging from Truffaut to Sergio Leone and the musical West Side Story.
This was a family movie for the art crowd, and proved to be one of the most engaging adaptations of Roald Dahl since Matilda in the 90's. The central Mr. Fox was a conniving thief trying to right his ways, but falling for the old "one more con" chestnut plot of a heist movie. It was also Anderson's chance to get into the head of a family whose father was a bit self-centered, unable to appreciate the strengths of his own son Ash (Jason Schwartzman). For those that had a familiarity with Anderson's previous films, especially The Royal Tenenbaums, this isn't necessarily new material. However, there was something both charming and surreal by turning this drama into animation and setting it to a folksy score by Alexandre Desplat. It could be whimsical and absurd, making Mr. Fox's personal struggle all the more compelling.
Hidden in the Earthy cinematography was also a story about a community without a home, forced into hiding after land gets developed by the antagonists Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. The lack of control forces interesting dynamics in the animal world as Mr. Fox must learn to be a leader, and in the process get some of Anderson's most whimsical direction. As a tractor begins pulling out a tree, the camera cuts to Mr. Fox and a gang of animals digging a hole in rapid fashion. In this moment, he juxtaposes the whimsical animation with a darker text, creating a film that doesn't shy away from some disturbing moments. It is never graphic about it, but often asks the child to be brave in an attempt to understand some darker themes, sometimes even then with a bit of moral grey area attached.
Anderson's film ends with one of his greatest madcap third acts as well, as Mr. Fox learns how to work with family while riding a motorcycle and destroying the enemy for good. It's the most active that an Anderson film has been, and it's also the point where the brilliance of the stop motion animation becomes clear. This would look too absurd, like a Michael Bay movie, if done in live action. By doing it in animation, there's a sense of madcap humor underlined by a choir singing Dahl's song about Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. It's thrilling to not only see Mr. Fox learn a lesson, but for his family to get some comeuppance. By the end, everyone dances to Brian Wilson in a grocery store. They haven't beaten mankind, but they have survived the worst of them.
Fantastic Mr. Fox was a film that followed two of the director's more meditative films: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Darjeeling Limited. Both films felt crucial for the director to explore character dynamics and keep him from being one note after a string of distinguished-looking films of acclaim. They aren't bad, but they are considerably less revered than what would follow, if just because of how much more nuanced and quiet those films were. With Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson seemed to be revitalized with this Dahl adaptation, which took what was familiar into stranger territories. What would a family film from Anderson look like? It would look surprisingly familiar, actually. There's a lot that feels dangerous even amid twee scenes of talking animals acting like intellectuals. It's the perfect subversion that helped to set Anderson's next era of film making, beginning with Moonrise Kingdom. He would play around with plot dynamics (for instance: The Grand Budapest Hotel's various "internal stories" being shot in different camera perspectives). He had always played around with it, but Fantastic Mr. Fox felt like the start of something more accomplished and realized.
Considering that Isle of Dogs has been receiving unanimous acclaim, it would be easy to suggest that the film is going to continue the director's winning streak - save for maybe racking up double digit Oscar nominations. Who knows. Only time will tell when the film gets a wide release next month and its trajectory is figured out. For now, it looks like a great follow-up to Fantastic Mr. Fox in that both films not only tell distinctly Anderson films, but that they do so with an animation technique that is striking, maybe even off-putting when compared to mainstream forces like Pixar or Dreamworks. Still, there's a good chance that it will push Anderson in ways that are rejuvenating, capturing a side to him the way that Fantastic Mr. Fox did. At the very least, it could be tons of fun.
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