Wes Anderson debuted his latest film, “Isle of Dogs” in 2018 and for me, it was a much-anticipated film. Wes Anderson, in my opinion, is one of the most masterful directors in the business. The reason I’m giving Anderson so much praise before I’ve even begun talking about a movie is that a Wes Anderson movie is not just any movie. A Wes Anderson movie is a film, a storybook where the pages are unfolding in front of you before your very eyes. A large number of movies in the 21st century are just straight action sequences with explosions, fast cars, and loud music etc. Which there’s nothing really wrong with that, but if you watch movies for the story and characters its hard to enjoy senseless action with no meaning behind it, but I digress.
“Isle of Dogs” is such a great film because it sets up the story really well and keeps you interested. Dogs are a very loveable animal, most everyone has a dog so therefore when the plot begins with all dogs being banned, that allows the audience to immediately feel for the character(s). Aside from the plot though the cinematography is perfectly crafted to keep the audience watching. Wes Anderson’s style is eerily like reading a book. He doesn’t use very many camera shots that involve moving the camera around like you see in action movies. Not only are most of the camera shots still but when a pan is needed it is more often than not a set pan. For example, if the scene follows a car driving the camera doesn’t do an aerial tracking shot with a fancy drone. Anderson instead uses a set camera just to follow the car. The camera only moves from point A to B, nothing fancy, but that’s what makes his style work so well. Each frame and camera pan is set up so that it almost looks like you’re watching a book. It’s actually quite impressive once you notice it. Not only is this style of cinematography visually appealing but it also aids in allowing you to focus on the story and not solely on the “action.”
Wes Anderson and his style of cinematography continue to blow my mind with each new film that he produces, but maybe that’s because I’m getting bored of just watching the same action and adventure movies over and over. I cannot praise Anderson enough for the films tat he has produced like, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” or, “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” But I’m not necessarily praising the movies for their plot, even though the plots are pretty interesting. I’m praising the movie based on the cinematography genius that is Wes Anderson.
Thomas's movie review 