Wes Anderson’s new film “Isle of Dogs,” a comedic drama realized with stop-motion animation (like his film “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” from 2009) is both a persuasive argument for big-screen viewing and for watching at home via streaming or a disk (preferably Blu-ray). The movie is overwhelming, in the very best sense: the pointillistic profusion of the movie’s visual details—décor, action, and the gestures of the characters (all of which are puppets, deftly manipulated, frame by frame)—and, for that matter, its drolly nuanced sound mix, make a big-screen viewing a prime necessity. But that very profusion of visual details, plus the speed with which the movie’s intricate story is told, the flashes forward and back, and the quick introduction of a wide array of characters and subplots, make a first viewing merely a rough draft of an experience and invite savoring, in private, in slow motion and in freeze-frame.
