“Isle of Dogs” may be animation, but it doesn’t lack the same flair fans have come to expect from writer/director Wes Anderson.

Dipping his toes back into claymation, after adapting Roald Dahl’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” in 2009, Anderson has created another visual marvel – an original tale that may look like it’s for the kids, but is squarely aimed at adults. 

“Isle of Dogs” takes place 20 years into the future where an outbreak of dog flu in Japan leads to a Kobayashi (voiced by Kunichi Nomura), the mayor of Megasaki City, to issue a decree ordering the banishment of all dogs to Trash Island.

The first to be banished is Spots (voiced by Liev Schreiber), the guard dog for Kobayashi’s nephew Atari (voiced by Koyu Rankin). Six months later Atari sets out to find his lost dog on Trash Island and meets a pack of dogs Chief (voiced by Bryan Cranston), Rex (voiced by Edward Norton),  Duke (voiced by Jeff Goldblum), Boss (voiced by Bill Murray), and King (Bob Balaban) who agree to help him on his quest to rescue Spots.

Anderson has created detailed world that is an absolute marvel to behold. The world is fleshed out with Anderson crafting everything in meticulous detail – a visual feast that measures up to any of the PIXAR films.

The characters are just as fleshed out – with a smorgasbord of talented actors and actresses lending their voices to the project. There is Greta Gerwig as an American exchange student who becomes Atari’s main human ally. Frances McDormand shows up as a UN translator and then there is Tilda Swinton as a pug dog named the Oracle. Swinton garners most of the film’s laughs as the dog is considered a fortune teller on the island, when she is really just repeating everything she sees on television.

Goldblum’s Duke is also a blast, with a running joke where his character likes to repeat rumors about anyone and everything.

It’s that attention to character detail that makes “Isle of Dogs” so much fun. Like his best films “Moonrise Kingdom” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” Anderson understands that there are no small parts. He gives everyone in this enormous cast time to shine and the result is one of his best films to date.

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton (voices)

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Rating: PG-13 for thematic elements and some violent images

Playing at: Regal Green Hills Stadium 16 in Nashville

Grade: A-