Isle of Dogs

Isle of Dogs (Japanese: 犬ヶ島, Hepburn: Inu ga Shima, lit. 'Dog Island') is a 2018 American–German stop-motion adult animated dystopian mockumentary science fantasy political satire road action comedy film written, produced, and directed by Wes Anderson, narrated by Courtney B. Vance, and starring an ensemble cast that consists of Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson, Kunichi Nomura, Tilda Swinton, Ken Watanabe, Akira Ito, Greta Gerwig, Akira Takayama, Frances McDormand, F. Murray Abraham, Yojiro Noda, Fisher Stevens, Mari Natsuki, Nijiro Murakami, Yoko Ono, Harvey Keitel, and Frank Wood. A U.S.–German co-production, Isle of Dogs was produced by Indian Paintbrush and Anderson's own American Empirical Pictures, in association with Studio Babelsberg. The film is set in the fictional Japanese city of Megasaki where Mayor Kenji Kobayashi has banished all dogs to Trash Island due to a canine influenza pandemic. Kobayashi's nephew Atari sets out to find his missing dog Spots with the help of a group of dogs led by stray dog Chief. Anderson started developing the film in October 2015 using stop-motion animation, with a voice cast of Norton, Cranston, and Balaban. It draws inspiration from films by Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki, as well as the stop-motion animated holiday specials made by Rankin/Bass Productions, the 1982 animated film The Plague Dogs, and Disney's 101 Dalmatians. Production began in October 2016 at the 3 Mills Studios in East London. By December 2016, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film, scheduling it for a 2018 release. Isle of Dogs opened the 68th Berlin International Film Festival, where Anderson was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director. It was given a limited release in the United States on March 23, 2018, by Fox Searchlight, and went on wide release on April 13. It grossed over $64 million worldwide, and received acclaim from critics, who praised its animation, story, musical score, and deadpan humor. The film received two nominations at the 91st Academy Awards, for Best Animated Feature and Best Score. In the film, none of the Japanese dialogue spoken by human characters is translated except through an interpreter or occasional subtitles.

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Ten centuries ago, before the Age of Obedience, free dogs roamed at liberty, marking their territory. Seeking to extend its dominion, the cat-loving Kobayashi Dynasty declared war and descended in force upon the unwary four-legged beasts. On the eve of total canine annihilation, a child warrior sympathetic to the plight of the besieged underdog dogs betrayed his species, beheaded the head of the head of the Kobayashi clan and pledged his sword with the following battle-cry haiku. He would later be known as the Boy Samurai of Legend, RIP. At the end of the bloody dog wars, the vanquished mongrels became powerless house-pets: tamed, mastered, scorned. But they survived and multiplied. The Kobayashis, however, never forgave their conquered foe.

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The Japanese archipelago, 20 years in the future.

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Canine Saturation has reached epidemic proportions. An outbreak of Snout-fever rips through the City of Megasaki.

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Blizzards of infected fleas, worms, ticks and lice menace the citizenship. Dog-Flu threatens to cross the species threshold and enter the human disease-pool.

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In a special midnight-session at the Municipal Dome, Mayor Kobayashi of Uni Prefecture issues emergency orders calling for a hasty quarantine: the expulsion and containment of all breeds, both stray and domesticated. By official decree, Trash Island becomes an exile colony.

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The Isle of Dogs.

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Respect-o.

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It's not fair to the dogs.

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The path favored by Mayor Kobayashi is cruel and unscientific.

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For a thousand years, these resilient animals have loved, served and protected us. Now, in their time of greatest need, we forsake them again? A tidal-wave of Anti-Dog hysteria has crippled our moral judgment. Give me six months, and I will deliver a serum. I'm this close, dammit. Dog-Flu will be eradicated. Snout-fever will be defeated. Canine Saturation will be returned to sustainable levels and without mass-neutering!

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Whatever happened to man's best friend?

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No, no, no! The crowd is calling for the immediate ratification and approval of the mayor's proposal.

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As a gesture of public solidarity, Mayor Kobayashi is calling upon his Assistant Hatchet-Man, Major-Domo, to furnish the personal bodyguard-dog of the mayoral-household, Spots Kobayashi, into the possession of the Committee for Canine Desaturation.

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Spots will be the first dog to be officially deported from the city.

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Six months later.

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Nomadic packs of once-domesticated house-pets, sick and hungry, rove the garbage canyons and filthy ravines, scrounging for scraps. One hundred per cent test positive for the Dog-Flu germ. Symptoms: weight-loss, dizziness, narcolepsy, insomnia, and extreme/aggressive behavior.

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Three-quarters display signs of early-onset Snout-fever: high-temperature, low blood-pressure, acute moodiness and spasmodic nasal expiration.

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The exiled dog-population grows weaker, sadder, angrier.

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Desperate.

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Hey, wait a second. Before we attack each other and tear ourselves to shreds like a pack of maniacs, let's just open the sack first and see what's actually in it. It might not even be worth the trouble. - What do you say? - I'm not sure. Maybe. Alright. A rancid apple core; two worm-eaten banana peels; a moldy rice cake; a dried-up pickle; tin of sardine bones; a pile of broken egg-shells; an old, smushed-up, rotten gizzard with maggots all over it... Okay, it's worth it.

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