I actually liked the idea of it being an American exchange student in concept, but I think if it had been a Japanese-American exchange student it would have been way better, personally. There really wasn't any reason for her to be white other than he wanted to cast Greta Gerwig. Would've been cool if he had cast a young unknown Japanese actor for Atari and then also a young unknown Japanese-American actress for Tracy.
Finally got this in Buffalo last night. It’s great. I think I expected a little more on an emotional level compared to his last few , but still really liked it.
I saw this a while back but didn't see this thread. Beautifully made, some great moments, but the story was average, the characters were poorly realized especially the female characters (why are there only like three female dogs in an island full of dogs? Oracle was great tho), and there are a ton of think pieces about the cultural offness already that put it in to better words than I can.
Yea; Chief felt like the only character that was given his due. I think we should have actually been given a reason to care more about Atari.
This was flawed. Gorgeous, unmatched animation and design, but a clumsy social allegory that Wes Anderson was ill-equipped to tackle.
The female dogs had no agency. Just love interests with little to do. And Oracle who was just a recurring joke was the best representation. Then the only speaking female human besides a narrator was a lame white savior for no reason, and was in love with the main character despite never meeting? Real lazy.
this was so damn good! my two complaints: 1. too many unnecessary heterosexual romance subplots 2. lack of lady dogs but other than that I loved it and can’t wait to watch it with my 4 year old cousin
I definitely felt that was weird too it seemed at first like she wasn’t the leader of that group but then she definitely was taking a leadership position during the protests I thought having an American exchange student was a neat idea of throwing English into the student group (like the translator with the political stories) but having her lead the Japanese students was...questionable
This was fine. It is mid-tier Anderson; while he might never again reach the heights of his first three films, Anderson's attention to detail and ability to pull raw emotion is something that other directors have failed to do when copying him. Once you get through laughing at the outrageous characters that Anderson puts his fairly famous cast into, they do reach some good dramatic moments, especially Walter White being able to learn to love humans again. There was no reason that this could not be set in an American city, and while Anderson considers it a touching and caring homage it is important to look at how it was received. The audience laughed at the Japanese language and the emotion in a way that said that they thought that Asians are weird, which is heightened by the lack of subtitles and the animation. Pretty much every Wes Anderson film is a little racist, but weirdly this is the biggest offense as people are getting more sensitive to racial depictions in film. He will have to address this in his future work, even if many give him a pass here.
Enjoyed this. Beautifully animated and well-acted. The criticisms that have been discussed here and elsewhere were in the back of my mind during my watch. I can't remember specifics, but there were some slight lulls. The animation was so good that I could just stare at the artistry during those parts. Also, Oracle was my favorite doggo.
Just finished this and really liked it! I think Fantastic Fox is a little better, but still great. I really hope he does more of these stop motion films, I think his dialog and humor fits this style really well, more than live action.
Saw this the other day finally and thought it was just average wes unfortunately... darjeeling level. Maybe not that eh.. but for me it's nowhere near Budapest or fox