“Isle Of Dogs,” say it fast and yes, it does sound like “I love dogs.” That’s what the brilliant filmmaker Wes Anderson goes for and beyond delivers on. Anderson has delved into stop motion animation before with his “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” but this time Anderson hits a canine grand slam with this latest wacky and whimsical, singularly unique and delightful film.

Written by Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Kunichi Nomura, “Isle” has been years in the making and is an ode to the director’s love of Japanese cinema. This doggie saga is set in futuristic Japan where a dog flu epidemic in the fictional city of Megaski which turns man’s best friend into his worst enemy. The evil mayor (voiced by Nomura) banishes all dogs to ‘Trash Island,’ where they are forced to live among the rubbish. It’s there that we meet the five main dog characters, Rex (Edward Norton), Duke, (Jeff Goldblum), Boss (Bill Murray), King (Bob Balaban) and the de-facto leader and tough as nails stray Chief (Bryan Cranston) who warns all, “I bite.”

The evil mayor’s innocent ward Atari (Koyu Rankin), searches for his beloved pooch and winds up on the putrid island. Add to that, Scarlett Johansson’s gorgeous show dog, human activist (Greta Gerwig) plus a scene stealing oracle pug (Tilda Swinton) and might be a cannibal aboriginal dog (Harvey Keitel) as well as Liev Schrieber, Courtney B. Vance and even Yoko Ono; well the casting is just perfect. The dogs take on human characteristics, which makes them off the chart adorable and funny, clever and sarcastic and wholly appealing.

Oscar winner composer Alexandre Desplat, who just won the award for “The Shape Of Water,” as well for Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” composes his music magic once again. The themes of desperation, sadness and despotism are discussed throughout the film, which makes this story genuinely poignant. Kids will appreciate the animation and wackiness of it all because Anderson wisely does not foray into too cutesiness territory. He always tows the line so that adults will be drawn to the droll sly humor and mega charm of this truly technical and artistic marvel.

“Isle of Dogs” opens in limited release on March 23rd.

“A Wrinkle in Time” narrowly took the number 1 spot Friday night from “Black Panther.”

“Wrinkle” scored $10.2 million. “Panther” came close, with $9.972 million. Of course, “Panther” also crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide on Friday.

“Wrinkle” should do a $30 million weekend depending on Saturday and Sunday numbers. Both movies come from Disney, so it’s a win-win for them. But it’s a middling debut for “Wrinkle,” with millions spent on promotion and not so great reviews.

Oscar winner “The Shape of Water” posted $620,000 on Friday night. It will cross $60 million over the weekend.

Despite a huge promotional push, things like so-so for Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time.”

Last night Thursday previews brought in $1.3 million. That’s a disappointing number but not surprising considering the negative reviews– the movie has a 45 on Rotten Tomatoes.

Box office experts are comparing “Wrinkle”‘s performance last night to last May’s “Alice throughthe Looking Glass.” That one finished with $26.9 million on a holiday opening weekend (Memorial Day).

But the promo push here is HUGE– so on Saturday, at least, the numbers should be big for parents taking young girls. We’ll wait and see.

Big news from the UK: the Daily Mail’s premier columnist Baz Bamigboye reports that Oscar winning director Danny Boyle will helm the next James Bond movie. This has been in the air for some time, but Baz has apparently nailed it down in the Bond universe. He says producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson and star Daniel Craig are “willing” this into existence.

Danny Boyle, of course, is the perfect choice to take over from Sam Mendes. He has a long list of smart hits. “Slumdog Millionaire” is his Oscar peak, but if you look at “127 Hours,” Boyle knows how to make a tense action movie. His other hits include “Trainspotting,” “28 Days Later,” and “A Life Less Ordinary.”

Bond 25 won’t come right away, Baz says. First comes a musical project with Richard Curtis called “All You Need is Love” that will be a take on the Beatles. Baz broke that story, too.