Wes Anderson – cinema’s great master of twee – returns for his second stop-motion animation, after 2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox. Furry, four-legged friends are the stars once again, but this film, utilising the voice talents of Anderson regulars Ed Norton, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray and Jeff Goldblum, takes place in a near future where a “dog flu” has spurred the evil mayor of Japan’s fictional Megasaki City to exile all canines to Trash Island. In her four-star review of the film after its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, BBC Culture’s Emma Jones wrote, “Isle of Dogs emerges as a profoundly Andersonian tribute to his love of Japanese cinema, particularly to Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of animation house Studio Ghibli, as well as the late, legendary Akira Kurosawa.” Released 23 March in the US, 29 March in Australia and 30 March in the UK (Credit: Fox Searchlight)
