I am baffled, by the number of 9 and 10 star reviews this film has received. If a reviewer starts out by professing their love for Wes Anderson or dogs, their review should be tossed aside as an empty can of sardines that one might find in the trash on the Isle of Dogs.
This film clearly under-performs. Its technical aspects -- the visuals, voices, all the production values -- to my untrained eye are quite good. It's quirky and original. The plot is decent, albeit that there's little tension. What dark, tense moments do exist don't last and don't grab us. In other words, it's rather superficial.
There's little character development, save for one dog, where we can see some character trajectory, but, again, it fails to go deeper. That is to say, the movie plays it quite safe; it engages us enough to keep on watching, but it doesn't want to stir up anything deeper inside of us.
This movie is a tad dark to be a kids' movie, yet too superficial to be a good adult film. I can see where my 12yo would enjoy it.
This film clearly under-performs. Its technical aspects -- the visuals, voices, all the production values -- to my untrained eye are quite good. It's quirky and original. The plot is decent, albeit that there's little tension. What dark, tense moments do exist don't last and don't grab us. In other words, it's rather superficial.
There's little character development, save for one dog, where we can see some character trajectory, but, again, it fails to go deeper. That is to say, the movie plays it quite safe; it engages us enough to keep on watching, but it doesn't want to stir up anything deeper inside of us.
This movie is a tad dark to be a kids' movie, yet too superficial to be a good adult film. I can see where my 12yo would enjoy it.