On Tuesday, Fox Searchlight debuted a brand-new clip from Wes Anderson’s upcoming stop-motion film Isle of Dogs—and only Anderson could make a dogfight over a moldy rice cake look this twee and fanciful.
Isle of Dogs is Anderson’s second full-length stop-motion film, following 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. But where Mr. Fox was a kids’ movie based on Roald Dahl’s book, Isle of Dogs appears to be a little bit bleaker. The film is set in the near-future where a debilitating dog flu has forced Japan to banish all their puppers and good boys to a deserted island full of trash called, appropriately, Trash Island.
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And yet, despite the film’s diseased dogs and dystopian wastelands, this is still a Wes Anderson film, and Isle of Dogs‘s first trailer checked all the boxes we’ve come to expect from the director. Obsessively symmetrical set design? Yup. Fairytale atmosphere? Of course. Bill Murray? Sure, why not.
Tuesday’s clip gives us our first in-depth look at Trash Island and its garbage-eating inhabitants, and the thing doesn’t disappoint. In the clip, a dog named Rex (Edward Norton) and his gang of doggos square off against some rival pups over a fresh bag of garbage. The dogs are about to brawl when Rex recommends that they crack into the bag and check out what they’re about to fight over.
After some discussion, the rival gang agrees, and they tear into the sack to inspect the goods, which includes a dried-up pickle and a rancid apple core, among other tasty morsels. A bloody battle ensues and one dog gets his ear savagely bitten off, but the scene still somehow manages to look like a delight since, you know, it’s Wes Anderson.
Along with Norton and Murray, Isle of Dogs features a huge cast of voice actors like Bryan Cranston, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Jeff Goldblum, and a ton more. The film is set to debut later this month at the Berlin Film Festival, with a wide release coming March 23. Until then, marvel at how adorable stop-motion maggots can be in the clip above.
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