The film starts out describing the situation in the country (assumed to be Japan but not stated) as a supposed canine flu outbreak occurs.
Scientist Watanabe along with the rest of his team create a serum that could possibly cure all the dogs from the outbreak and be able to bring them back to their families.
As Atari sets on a journey by himself to find his long lost dog Spots, he suddenly crash lands on Trash Island where he ends up meeting the 5 main dogs Chief, Boss, Duke, King, and Rex.
Atari shows the 5 dogs a picture of Spots and hope for them to have some sort of knowledge about where and how he can find them.
The film comes to a break and presents Scientist Watanabe's successful serum which mayor Kobayashi sees as a threat for the upcoming re-election.
Tracy Walker an American exchange student and pro-dog activist are also presented around this time along with other activist members and are passionate to save all dogs as well as investigate a possible conspiracy done by Kobayashi and his political team.
Images of the name tags scattered around Trash Island for missing dogs
As Atari and Chief are split up from the rest of the group, Atari decides to give Chief his first bath and afterwards realizes that he looks a lot like his missing dog Spots.
Once Atari and Chief continue their journey they are interrupted by the government forces who try to take Atari back, but they are suddenly saved by Spots who comes out of an old test lab building where several of his dog friends also come out to save the both of them.
After getting away from government forces Spots shows Atari and the rest of the dogs how he has been surviving since he was taken to Trash Island.
Atari, Spots, Chief, and the rest of the dogs decide to come together and get to Megasaki City in order to stop Kobayashi's re-election night.
After barging into Kobayashi's speech Atari, Tracy Walker, and Chief begin to show the audience and the rest of the country the success of the serum for not only dogs but humans as well.
Isle of Dogs is a stop-motion-animated film written, produced, and directed by Wes Anderson. The film starts out describing the situation in the country (assumed to be Japan but not stated) as a supposed canine flu outbreak occurs. With the fear of the people starting to settle in, the Mayor Kobayashi decides to stamp a form ordering any species of canine to be sent to a secluded part of the country called Trash Island. At this point the main characters are revealed along with a young boy named Atari who was adopted by Kobayashi after the death of his parents from a bullet train disaster. The motives of these characters change as Atari stresses about his need to find his bodyguard dog Spots. The rest of the characters are the 5 dogs (Chief, Boss, Duke, King, and Rex) who take part in this journey to help Atari.
As these characters begin to experience unexpected challenges throughout their journey the plot comes to a break and presents a more prominent position for other characters such as candidate Watanabe a scientist running for mayor in the next election and an American exchange student from a pro-activist group. Watanabe and his assistant scientist Yoko Ono work together to create a serum to cure the outbreak while Tracy Walker the pro-dog activist along with her small group investigate a possible conspiracy made by Kobayashi and his political team. The plot then resumes back to the main characters as they continue their journey and end up meeting Jupiter and Oracle both dogs giving them advice and information as to where to go and what to know about the obstacles that lie ahead. At the same time the government is determined to track down and stop Atari from causing future problems for Kobayashi and sadly Watanabe a this point is poisoned from a bento dish gifted to him by the government as Kobayashi also sees him as a disadvantage if he succeeds to teach the country of the serum he has created. The film is halfway through the dogs and Atari have come to another obstacle and become separated from a cable car that ends up breaking apart in two. Chief and Atari both having different mindsets are left together, surprisingly Atari offers to bathe Chief and the plot comes to a key part that has the audience thinking if Chief is actually Atari’s long lost dog Spots. Originally being an all black dog, after the bath Chief is actually shown to have white fur under the thick and dirty coat he accumulated from being a stray for so long.
The film has several flashbacks, however Spots’ story of how he survived on Trash Island gives a better understanding of who he is as a character and how his relevance comes to life again as he saves Chief and Atari from government armed forces. As Spots and Atari’s reunion gives the audience a moment of relief, Spots continues to show the group his way of living as well as the start of their plans to travel all of the surviving dogs to Megasaki City to break into the re-election night tally and stop Kobayashi from keeping dogs out of the country. As the pro-dog activist group barges into the stage and interrupts the Kobayashi team the group of dogs from Trash Island also make an entrance as they both present the wrongdoings of the mayor once revealed that they were behind the sudden canine outbreak. By showing everyone at the re-election and national tv the amazing serum that is able to cure dogs and humans from any illness the country is easily convinced and see potential to reunite again. However as Kobayashi begins to understand his problematic behavior his team is against it and fights back by trying to poison the dogs which they have captured before hand. Luckily there is a technical malfunction and the imprisoned dogs are able to escape. The film comes to a close as they begin to show the 5 main dogs with their families living happily in success and well-being. Spots is shown to be living a quiet life with a dog he created a family with while he was in Trash Island and Atari is elected as mayor also assisted by Tracy and other original activists. The film then ends with credits in the same way the explanation of the film was presented in the beginning.
Thesis: Atari and the group of dogs must find Spots and return back to Megasaki City for the re-election along with the scientists and pro-dog activist group in order to stop Kobayashi from winning and to save all canine species.
Words: Abandoned, Unexpected, Loyalty, Island, Outbreak
The Isle of Dogs inspiration board is made up of concept art, typography used in the film, and several examples of texture and color palettes. There is also an emphasis on the characters and their surroundings as there are many ideas for typographic movement within these features of the film.
text2 from UIC DESIGN on Vimeo.
intro_1 from UIC DESIGN on Vimeo.
Full Comp from UIC DESIGN on Vimeo.
IsleOfDogs_Final from UIC DESIGN on Vimeo.