Wes Anderson mixes stop-motion filmmaking with stellar cast in ‘Isle of Dogs’

MANILA, Philippines — Years after captivating audiences with "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox," acclaimed director Wes Anderson has again begun wowing audiences in his latest masterpiece “Isle of Dogs” starring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

The film is led by an all-star voice that includes Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), Scarlett Johansson (“Lucy”), Yoko Ono, Bill Murray (“Ghostbusters”), Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards in Ebbing Missouri”) and Liev Shreiber (“X-Men”).

"Isle of Dogs" details the story of Atari Kobayashi. When an outbreak of the canine flu spreads in Japan, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled by royal decree to a vast garbage dump. A scrappy pack of exiled dogs who’ve banded together to survive makes an amazing discovery:  the crash landing of a little human pilot who will take them on a life-changing journey.

Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies to Trash Island in search of his bodyguard dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire prefecture.

Anderson, who also directs the film, detailed the writing process of the film and said that coming up with "Isle of Dogs”" was a continuous process.

“It’s just always changing and once we reach the end, we start reworking it,” he said.

The film is considered more complex and ambitious than Anderson’s first foray into stop-motion animation, the 2009 hit “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

Composer Alexandre Desplat, who marks his 4^th time working with Anderson in “Isle of Dogs,” has nothing but praises for the film.

"It’s an even more ambitious film than Fantastic Mr. Fox and it doesn’t look like anything else you’ve seen.The animation is wild and the amount of detail packed into every frame is astonishing," said Desplat.

Featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest names, the film also includes the voices of Edward Norton (“The Incredible Hulk”), Bob Balaban (“Moonrise Kingdom”), Jeff Goldbum (“Thor: Ragnarok”), Tilda Swinton (“Doctor Strange”), Harvel Keitel (“Pulp Fiction”) and Ken Watanabe (“Inception”).

Anderson’s newest animation masterpiece from 20^th Century Fox will be shown in select Ayala Malls Cinemas on May 30.