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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Get out of here and don't come back.

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Sheesh, Igor. I think he chewed your ear off.

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Hmm... Hmm.

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I don't think I can stomach any more of this garbage. - Same here. - Words out of my mouth. I used to sleep on a lamb's-wool bean-bag next to an electric space-heater. That's my territory. I'm an indoor dog. I starred in 22 consecutive Doggy Chop commercials. Look at me now. I couldn't land an audition. I was the lead mascot for an undefeated high-school baseball team. I lost all my spirit. I'm depressing. I only ask for what I've always had: a balanced diet, regular grooming, and a general physical once a year. I think I might give up. - What, right now? - Right now. There's no future on Trash Island. You heard the rumor, right? About Buster. - Not sure. - Can you remind me? Who's Buster? Uh, my brother from another litter. - What happened to him? - Suicided. Hanged himself by his own leash. - Hmm. - Oh, boy. I want my master. Ah... You make me sick. I've seen cats with more balls than you dogs. Stop licking your wounds! You hungry? Kill something and eat it. You sick? Take a long nap. You cold? Dig a hole in the ground, crawl into it, and bury yourself. But nobody's giving up around here, and don't you forget it, ever. You're Rex! You're King! You're Duke! You're Boss! I'm Chief. We're a pack of scary, indestructible Alpha Dogs. You're talking like a bunch of house-broken... pets. You don't understand. Uh, how could you? You're a...

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Go ahead, say it. I'm a stray, yeah.

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How does she keep her fur so clean? There's no shampoo on Trash Island. You heard the rumor, right? About her and Felix. - What'd they say? - Felix? No. - What happened to them? - They mated. Ooh. Who is Felix again? All the ones I like: they're never in heat. Hey, now, that puddle-jumper's flying crooked. - Oh, you're right. - Ease up. - Pull up. - He's gonna lose a wing.

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Wow.

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Part One: "The Little Pilot."

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Small guy. Not much meat on him. Yeah, is he dead? - He looks dead. - I have a question. Are we eating him, or is this a rescue? We don't know yet. Nobody's eating The Little Pilot. Not even the dead body of him. Dogs don't eat masters. You're not our leader. We all are. Let's take a vote. All in favor of not eating The Little Pilot, say "Aye". - Aye. - Nay.

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First-things-first: let's open his helmet so he can breathe some air if he's alive, then see if we can pull that hunk of broken propeller-clutch out of the side of his head if it doesn't kill him. - Does that sound right? - Yeah, that's right. Mmm-hmm.

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Spots-u! Spots-u! Spots-u!

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We get the idea. You're looking for your lost dog, Spots. - Does anybody know him? - Hmm. No. Uh-uh.

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Wow.

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In response to questions regarding the purported disappearance of his ward Atari, Mayor Kobayashi offers no comment and urges reporters to respect the privacy of the mayoral-household. Atari, aged 12, was last seen early yesterday morning rolling a small airplane onto a runway at Megasaki Executive Airport.

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24 hours later.

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I bite.

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I beg your pardon. Ignore that dog. He's got Snout-fever. Just please follow us.

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Now, I never met him, but I asked around. I understand he made a lot of friends. He had a very good-natured temperament, I'm told. Of course, you would know best. It's just a bit further up here on the left. Anyway, as I say, he seemed to have been an extremely pleasant animal. Unfortunately, nobody could figure out how to open his dog-cage.

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Three years earlier. The sole survivor of last week's colossal bullet-train disaster, a young boy named Atari, awoke from a deep-coma early this morning to learn of his parents' tragic deaths and also the intention of his distant-uncle, Mayor Kobayashi, to personally adopt him as ward to the mayoral-household. Upon his release from Megasaki General, Atari who suffered the loss of his right kidney and numerous broken bones in the crash will live in sequestered quarters within the confines of Brick Mansion, where he will be educated in solitude by private tutors. Atari has also been assigned a security-detail for his own protection in the form of a highly trained bodyguard-dog named Spots Kobayashi.

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Bodyguard-dog! Not pet!

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