ISLE OF DOGS (2018) My rating: 7.5/10

Isle of Dogs (Japanese: 犬ヶ島 Hepburn: Inugashima) is a stop-motion-animated science-fiction comedy-drama written, produced and directed by Wes Anderson. Isle of Dogs was produced by Indian Paintbrush and Anderson’s own production company, American Empirical Pictures, in association with Studio Babelsberg. Set in a dystopian near-future Japan, the story follows a young boy searching for his dog after the species is banished to an island following the outbreak of a canine flu. I thought Isle of Dogs was well done with a very entertaining plot.

Isle of Dogs opens in the Japanese archipelago, where 20 years into the future, an outbreak of canine influenza spreads throughout the city of Megasaki.  There’s a risk the canine flu could cross over to humans. The city’s 6-term authoritarian mayor, Kenji Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura), signs a decree banishing all dogs to Trash Island, despite a scientist named Professor Watanabe (Akira Ito) insisting he is close to finding a cure for the dog flu. The first dog exiled is Spots (Live Schreiber), a white and black-marked pink-nosed dog who served as the bodyguard of 12-year-old Atari Kobayashi (Koyui Rankin), the orphaned nephew and ward of the mayor. This action would later be revealed as part of a conspiracy by Mayor Kobayashi and his political party, who are seeking to finish what their ancestors attempted long ago, removing all dogs from Japan.

**** SPOILERS BELOW ****

Fast forward six months later, Atari hijacks a plane and flies it to Trash Island to search for Spots. After crash-landing, Atari is rescued by a pack of dogs led by a seemingly all-black dog named Chief (Brian Cranston), a former stray. The pack decides to help Atari locate Spots, although Chief refuses to join because of his inability to fraternize with humans. Together, they fend off a rescue team accompanied by a band of robot dogs, compliments of Mayor Kobayashi, who sent the dogs to retrieve Atari. The mayor claims Atari was kidnapped by the dogs and vows to kill them as punishment. At the insistence of a female purebred dog named Nutmeg (Scarlett Johansson), Chief reluctantly decides to accompany the group on their search.

During their journey, while the dogs reminisce on the foods their owners once fed them, Chief admits that he was once owned by a family, until he bit the youngest child out of fear. They seek advice from two sage dogs, Jupiter (F. Murray Abraham) and Oracle (Tilda Swinton), who warn them of the existence of an isolated tribe of dogs rumored to be cannibals. Meanwhile, Professor Watanabe finds a cure and shows the results to Kobayashi, who still refuses to lift the dog ban. The professor is put on house arrest for criticizing Kobayashi and is then killed by poisoned wasabi served in a psushi. An American exchange student, Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig), suspects a conspiracy and begins to investigate.

In the meanwhile, Chief and Atari are inadvertently separated from the others. Atari gives Chief a bath, which reveals that his coat is actually white with black markings. Noticing the similarity between Chief and Spots (other than Chief having a black nose), Atari realizes they must be of the same extremely rare breed. Chief remembers being part of a nine-pup litter of which all but one died. He bonds with Atari as they continue their journey.  Chief and Atari rejoin the group, but are ambushed by Mayor Kobayashi’s men.

Isle of Dogs is a solid story with on an exciting, adventurous journey.  I loved the entire movie and I especially liked the way it ended.  The adventure gets even more exciting as the plot thickens.  There is much to learn from this movie as the many messages are loud and clear.  An outstanding cast was assembled and it shows. The film’s voice cast also includes Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Bob Balaban, Frances McDormand, Courtney B. Vance, Fisher Stevens, Harvey Keitel, Liev Schreiber, Scarlett Johansson, Frank Wood, Kunichi Nomura, and Yoko Ono.  It also received nominations for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score at the 76th Golden Globe Awards. See how Isle of Dogs turns out, I’m almost certain you won’t be able to predict what’s next!  Isle of Dogs is available on Amazon, iTunes, HBO and Xfinity — Check It Out!

[Isle of Dogs is Oscar nominated for Best Original Score and Best Animated Feature Film]

 

THE JUNGLE BOOK (2016) – My rating: 9.2/10

Disney has done it again. What a brilliant movie about a young boy, Mowgli, (Neel Sethi) forced to grow up in the jungle, raised by animals who view him as their own. When Mowgli’s human family was killed, he was saved by a panther called Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and given to a pack of wolves to be raise. The mother of the pack, Rakasha (Lupita  Nyong’o) and their Leader, Akela (Giancario Esposito) taught Mowgli to be fast and efficient but would always remind him that he was human, not a wolf or any other animal, thereby having limitations with regards to the animals he ran with.  However, Mowgli was referred to as “the Man Cub” throughout the animal kingdom.  Mowgli was loved and protected by all except the most feared animal by all the others in their region of the jungle, a Bengal tiger called Shere Khan (Idris Elba).  When Mowgli was a baby, Shere Khan was scarred by the “red flower” (wild fire) as he attacked and killed Mowgli’s village including his father (Ritesh Rajan).  Bitter and angry about his scars, the tiger took to threatening the animals in the village where Mowgli lived, every chance he got.  After realizing Shere Khan was not going to leave the animals in peace, Mowgli decides it’s best to leave the pack.  After much thought, Bagheera the panther, agrees and decides to take Mowgli to the “Man Village”, where he would be protected and safe.  While in route, Shere Khan ambushes them and injures Bagheera, but Mowgli manages to escape, thanks to a herd of water buffalo.  Bagheera and Mowgli were separated during the struggle.  Mowgli looked for the panther but moves on when he doesn’t find Bagheera.  Next Mowgli encounters Kaa, an Indian Paython (Scarlett Johansson) who captivates him, placing him under her spell where he learns about his village and how he came to live with the animals.  While under her spell, Kaa tries to devour him but his life is saved by Baloo a sloth bear (Bill Murray) who befriends Mowgli.  From this point on, things get pretty adventurous.  Mowgli and Baloo’s new relationship allows Mowgli to perform human tricks that Bagheera and the rest of the animals always reprimanded him for using.  Being on his own, Mowgli was now left to fend for himself.   There is lots more trouble on the way as Mowgli is kidnapped and turned over to King Louie (Christopher Walken).

These animals were so life like, I kept wondering if they were actually real.  I found out that Disney used green screens and an advanced CGI to create these lifelike animals, which was only the tip of the iceberg.  The Jungle Book was shot entirely on a sound stage in downtown Los Angeles.  The technology combined a sort of hybrid “Avatar” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (one Human surrounded by animated creatures).  In case you didn’t know, the tiger in “Life of Pi” was not real, but created using CGI.  Oscar winning Visual Effects Director, Rob Legato, who also oversaw “Avatar”, created a new standard for realistic CGI.  During the filming of The Jungle Book, Humans mimicked animals for Neel (who plays Mowgli) to talk to, this allowed an eye-line between Neel and the animals to be created.  The only time real animals were used was when puppies were brought in to give Neel an opportunity to cuddle and play with them.  The puppies would be replaced with the CGI wolves that were the same size.  Software such as Pixar’s Renderman, was used for shading and lighting.  MPC was used to allow more ray tracing, which is very expensive because it takes an enormous amount of computational power to figure out every pixel of light.  Peter Jackson’s WETA was used on scenes with King Louie, the gigantic ape.  Between surrounding grass and the hair on just 5 to 15 animals, you’re talking a tremendous amount of computing power.  While the software and technology developed and used to make these remarkable films are expensive, powerful and require passion and knowledge beyond the norm, the end results are absolutely astonishing.

The Jungle Book is an old family story for children and it’s very well told.  It has a profound message for all.  We live in a wonderful time of technology and can take advantage of all life has to offer on modernizing motion pictures like The Jungle Book.  It’s worth seeing what we’re able to do these days and escaping some of the horrific news of the day through the hard work and clever creations of the “Big Screen” productions like “The Jungle Book”.  I highly recommend seeing this one — it’s a real work of art!

[THE JUNGLE BOOK won the 89th ANNUAL OSCAR AWARD for Visual Effects]

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ALOHA (2015) – My rating: 7/10

What an unusual, pleasant, romantic comedy. Bradley Cooper plays Brian Gilcrest, a military contractor who returns to Hawaii to organize a traditional blessing for a new pedestrian gate on behalf of his new employer, billionaire Carson Welch (Bill Murray), who intends to develop nearby land into a space center. After enjoying a celebrated military career that ended because of shadowy deals in Afghanistan, a now disillusioned Brian is tasked with negotiating a deal with the Hawaiian Natives and supporting Carson’s launch of a privately-funded satellite. Brian’s mission is complicated by his former girlfriend Tracy (Rachel McAdams), now married to a very nice guy named Woody, (John Krasinski) plus they have two children but still carries a torch for Brian, and his idealistic Air Force liaison, Captain Allison Ng (Emma Stone), whose wide-eyed fascination with space and spunky character has drawn her to him as well as reminds him of his own childhood sense of wonder. Brian and Allison attend a Christmas party given by Carson, where General Dixon (Alec Baldwin), who practically loathes Brian, tells him not to screw up the deal with the Hawaiians. During the party, Brian becomes more attracted to Allison, who is having fun dancing with Carson. After the party, relationships among other things start to get very complicated.
To recap, there’s Brian; two women (Captain Allison, who he’s falling for and a former girlfriend, Tracy, who’s married with two children, General Dixon, who can’t stand Brian, the new billionaire employer, Carson, who is deceiving Brian and his old Hawaiian Native friends that he is deceiving (except, he doesn’t know that) and the realization that his new relationship with Allison may not be in her best interest.)

There is so much more to this plot, which is considered a box office bomb. I found the movie funny and interesting. Not the best and not a must see. Now that it’s on DVD, you can’t go wrong. Aloha is a little silly but mainly a very cute story with a few surprises.

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014) – My rating: 7.5/10

Critics Gave The Grand Budapest Hotel a “Must See” rating.  Choosing to see Budapest was a risk taking adventure for me as I don’t like slapstick comedy. Obviously, I saw it anyway.  Hoping that it was going to beat out the competition, I let the other movies fall my the wayside in favor of The Grand Budapest Hotel, which was not exactly slapstick.  I can’t say I made the wrong decision but I can say it was not a “Must See” movie. There was an unprecedented amount of stars in this movie starting with Jude Law who played an interviewer/writer and guest at the hotel.  This is the story of  Gustave H, played by Ralph Fiennes,  a legendary concierge at a  famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy, played by F. Murray Abraham as an adult and Tony Revolon as a young boy, who becomes his most trusted friend.  This legendary concierge was a ladies’ man who had an infinity for blond, old, rich women.  When one of them dies, he gets blamed for her death.  This is when the movie takes form and any and everything goes.  From Bob Balaban playing M. Martin to Adrien Brody who plays the dead woman’s son Dmitri to Willem Dafoe who plays a depraved killer named Jopling, I was intrigued.  Stars like Harvy Keitel, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Edward Norton graces this film bringing it to a level of craziness I truly enjoyed.  I was happy to see one of my most beloved actors, Jeff Goldblum who played deputy Kovacs as part of this wacky cast doing what he does best.  If you like this sort of shenanigans, you will surely like The Grand Budapest Hotel.  I was entertained and I thought it was funny.  You might just want to wait for the DVD, as there were no special effects or any other reason to spend money for the price of a movie ticket.

[THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is nominated for Best Picture, Directing, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup & Hair Styling, Music: Original Score, Production Design and Original Screenplay (writing)]