- Gist: A boy seeks his dog…helped by a bunch of other dogs…in near-future Japan…as seen through the LSD goggles of Wes Anderson.
- Charming: My inner Disney Princess goes all gooey in a Wes Anderson movie.
- Quirky: Stop motion…dogs…voiced by Americans…on a trash island…in future/retro Japan…
- Misfits: In case Japan isn’t already the worst place above hell for a misfit, let’s also put there an outspoken, bushy-haired American girl. So quirky and charming!
- (Voice) Acting: ANYone will go into the little recording booth for Wes Anderson and perform as well as they ever have live.
- Children: Quirky, Charming, Misfit kids to the rescue!
- Style: Side-pans, zooms, counting things, montages, live-animal-butchery, all the charming little quirks are here. “So distinctive he’s practically his own genre,” wasn’t it?
- Traumatic Terror and Shocking Abuse: Yep, that’s happening.
- Production Design: So beautifully detailed it’s ocular overload: a mashup of Hiroshige scenes, Kabuki sets, steampunk, and…um…a mushroom cloud.
- Culture: Does a quirky, charming celebration of culture look a little like lampooning?
- Dogs: Snout fur animation amazing, English flawless, personalities more vibrant than the cast of any rom-com.
- Conclusion: One of these every 3-5 years is perfect. No more than that, please.
Another little delight from Anderson. Nice review.
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