Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

4.0

COMEDY/ANIMATION
U.S. Release Date: 11/25/09
Running Length: 87 Minutes
MPAA Classification: PG (Action, Smoking, and Slang Humor)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Director: Wes Anderson

Cast: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe

Screenplay: Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, based on the novel by Roald Dahl

Cinematography: Tristan Oliver
Music: Alexandre Desplat
U.S. Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Review by: Carter Moulton, for The State News

11/30/09

Director Wes Anderson is known for his eccentricity. He parts his long, thin hair to the side and is often seen sporting a beige corduroy suit and a pink scarf, depending on how he’s feeling. With his newest film—and his first attempt at animation—Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson spills his dapperness into Roald Dahl’s story about an anthropomorphic adventure-seeking fox, and while his high-brow style historically may feel hollow, Fox shows that Anderson is quite the auteur.

George Clooney voices Mr. Fox, a once-chicken thief who, after making a promise to his wife to stop living such a dangerous lifestyle, takes a job as a journalist. Mrs. Fox is voiced by Meryl Streep, and her character has a surprisingly strong emotionality. Anderson, who's work includes The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited, calls upon his usual suspects for the rest of the voices, including Bill Murray as Badger, the well-meaning Fox-family lawyer; Jason Schwartzmen as Ash, the anxious and misunderstood son of Mr. and Mrs. Fox; and Owen Wilson as Coach Skip, Ash’s whackbat coach.

After living in the ground for many a year, Mr. Fox purchases, against Badger’s advice, a large house inside of a tree trunk on top of a hill overlooking three large farms. The farms are individually owned by Boggis, Bunce and Bean, three of the “meaniest, nastiest and ugliest” farmers around. Living so close to these mountainous farms proves to be too tempting for Mr. Fox, and he sets a plan in motion to execute one final thee-part heist.

We’ve seen Anderson centralize his films around socially-awkward, well-off individuals whose problems consist of defunct families and relationships. The director seems to sprinkle flakes of elitism onto the screen when he matches these high-class social problems with his Victorian style of storytelling—his heavy use of pastel on-screen titles, voiceover introductions, and slow motion tracking shots accompanied by indie-rock anthems; this hasn’t by any means stopped me from watching and eating up his films. With Fox, Anderson’s source material is much more accessible, and by creating a form of animation that is visually and universally beautiful, he frees himself of any aristocratic tendencies.

Anderson’s attention to detail is extraordinary—look for the glowing lamplight in Fox’s home, the rotating fan in Ash’s room, and the movement of each fiber on Fox’s brow. Computer animation will never be able to create such organic textures. Fantastic Mr. Fox is constructed with an antique charm that hasn’t been seen since the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials of the ‘60s and ‘70s (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Year Without A Santa Claus, etc.). Perhaps it’s this nostalgic appeal that makes the sights in Fox as rich as the healthy soil our heroes dig through to outsmart Boggis, Bunce and Bean. In a year where I thought Pixar would yet again dominate the Academy Award’s Best Animated Film category, this Fox has a fantastic chance.