Animal Movie: Isle of Dogs

The notion of dogs being man’s best friend dates back hundreds of years, since the domestication of dogs 20,000 years ago they have always been by our side. Dogs have been loyal to humans for nearly as long as 1/10 of modern humans’ existence and will continue to be so for many years to come. The connection between dogs and humans has been demonstrated through countless forms of media, novels, and film. A film in which I believe does a phenomenal job of portraying this relationship all the while being a new and unique story that differs from many other human and dog movies would have to be Isle of Dogs by Wes Anderson. A film which was released in 2018 from the mind of Wes Anderson himself in claymation and nominated for a multitude of awards as well as winning quite a few of said awards. It is clear to see that Isle of Dogs is a movie that was recognized as one of the best in 2018, and respectfully so for the different approach to an animal story, the connection to humans, and the outstanding development of important characters.

Wes Anderson’s film Isle of Dogs captures the shared experience between humans and dogs throughout its entirety. Although the movie primarily focuses on one boy named Atari and two dogs named Chief and Spot, the movie is still able to capture the purpose as to why dogs are known as “man’s best friend”. The relationships between man and dog demonstrated throughout the movie show many reasons as to why dogs are one of the most beloved animals on the planet. 

An image that is used as the DVD cover art shows the lengths of which Atari goes through in order to help free the dogs trapped at Trash Island. Atari is responsible for freeing thousands of dogs that were exiled into Trash Island because of fear factors used by the Koybayashi family to get rid of dogs. The dogs closest to Atari are the ones that mean the most to him and have helped him the most on his journey, being Chief and Spot. The remaining dogs on the cover art are all prevalent throughout the film and have impacts on Atari and his journey.

A scene that shows this connection that Atari has toward dogs is once Atari and Chief are separated from the rest of the pack of dogs and are all alone. Chief ‘s character really starts to change. As a stray dog that has never been shown love by humans and only been shown disgust or fear, Chief hates humans and does not obey the word of any master. Once the pair are alone however, this behavior begins to change, Atari shows that he isn’t afraid of Chief for the “I bite” routine and decides to pet, hug and clean Chief for the first time in his life. Chief’s character is changing due to the love that Atari is showing him and now knowing that Spots may have been part of his litter, Chief is trying even harder to keep Atari safe and help him find Spot.

The relationship between Chief and Atari evolves into more of a loving relationship than just a stray dog helping a young boy. Chief becomes protective, loyal, and loving towards Atari, the process was slow and took a while but after the scene above happened the process was basically complete. The only part that was missing was that Chief was not specifically Atari’s dog yet, but that happens later between Chief, Spot and Atari. The final moments show Chiefs turn from a stray who hated humans to one that just wanted to be loved by his master. These scenes are very wholesome and enjoyable to watch as it has a happy ending for both Chief and Atari. 

The scene shows the capacity of compassion, loyalty and love that Chief has for humans but his traumatic past has shaped him as a hateful stray dog. It isn’t until Atari shows that he is not afraid and shows that he cares for Chief. It further proves that dogs truly are “man’s best friend.”

Another factor of the movie that I really enjoyed was the use of language between the humans and the dogs in the film. In Isle of Dogs the humans mostly speak Japanese and the dogs speak English, so just like in real life humans and dogs are not fully able to communicate with one another, which is something that I enjoyed and made it seem more real.

In this image from the movie, Spots, Atari’s first service dog speaks to him in English which Atari cannot understand. Throughout the entirety of the movie there is that disconnect in communication because of the language barrier between species. There are only instances when some human characters will say sit, fetch, or lay down to a dog that they will speak in English, and the dog understands and is able to do what they are told. I think Wes Anderson’s use of language, and the disconnect of human and dog makes the movie stronger because although there is no language to connect the two, the dogs are still loyal and man’s best friend.  In this scene above and many others the dogs are always more than willing to help a human even if it is their first time meeting them. This was Spots first time meeting Atari and he was already prepared to be his loyal service dog and carried that through until the events in the movie. Another instance of this type of loyalty comes when Atari first lands on the Isle of Dogs and needs help with his ship.

The dogs behind Atari, have not seen humans in over 6 months after being abandoned by their owners on the Isle of Dogs and yet they are still curious about him and willing to see if he is okay. The dogs check to see if he is living and then proceed to help Atari put together his plane, before it breaks again, but without ever knowing him before this occurrence. This interaction as well as the ones I stated before just go to show the undying loyalty and devotion that dogs have toward humans, how many will do anything for us out of their innate goodness. 

I believe that Isle of Dogs by Wes Anderson is a film that everyone should watch at least once for the way that it represents the relationship of humans and dogs fairly well. The concept of the movie is very unlikely to ever happen within the world we live in today, but Anderson makes the situation feel real and doesn’t allow the plot of his story to muddle the development of his characters and the main goal of his film: to show why dogs are truly man’s best friend. Anderson is truly masterful in many of his films which portray human connection to animals, and he does it again with one of his newest films in Isle of Dogs.