Wes Anderson's new film Isle Of Dogs accused of 'cultural appropriation'

Wes Anderson has been accused of cultural appropriation by a reviewer of his new movie Isle Of Dogs.

The film, Anderson’s first since The Grand Budapest Hotel, follows an animated pack of dogs as they fight for survival following exile from Japan to a remote island following a “dog flu” outbreak.

Having had its US premiere, American film critics have had their first look at the film and one critic, Justin Chang, from the Los Angeles Times laments Anderson for his “weakness for racial stereotyping”.

He wrote: “It's in the director's handling of the story's human factor that his sensitivity falters, and the weakness for racial stereotyping that has sometimes marred his work comes to the fore.

“Anderson, a stickler for verisimilitude even in the weirdest situations, has the human residents of Megasaki City speak their native Japanese, a choice that would seem respectful enough except for the conspicuous absence of English subtitles.

“Much of the Japanese dialogue, especially Atari's, has been pared down to simple statements that non-speakers can figure out based on context and facial expressions; longer, more complicated exchanges are translated aloud by a handy on-screen English interpreter.”

Chang goes on to point out the dogs speak in “clear” American English, calling this “ridiculous, charming and a little revealing”.

He continued: “You can understand why a writer as distinctive as Anderson wouldn't want his droll way with the English language to get lost in translation.

“But all these coy linguistic layers amount to their own form of marginalization, effectively reducing the hapless, unsuspecting people of Megasaki to foreigners in their own city.”

Chang’s review was met with widespread praise after he shared it on his social media account, although he later returned to Twitter to clarify that his issue was not the film’s location, rather the way Anderson went about it.

But not everybody agreed and mused that Anderson was trying to create a more “futuristic” account of Japan and defended the filmmaker from such accusations.

Isle Of Dogs is in cinemas from Friday 30 March.