You can swap out real people for puppets, but you can’t take the droll out of a Wes Anderson production.
The director of “Rushmore” and “The Darjeeling Limited” turns to a discarded movie-making technique – stop motion animation – to bring his latest film to life.
“Fantastic Mr. Fox,” based on the children’s book by Roald Dahl, seems like a creative departure for Anderson in every way.
Yet he suffuses his new film, opening today, with much of his trademark smirkery.
The sharp, sophisticated screenplay overpowers a simplistic story, leaving Anderson plenty of space to share his observations on family dynamics.
“Fox” casts George Clooney as Mr. Fox, a well intentioned guy who can’t stop stealing hens from the corporate farms near the hole in the ground he calls home.
That gets him in trouble with the Missus (voiced by Meryl Streep), who insists he stop his shenanigans when she becomes pregnant.
Three years later, we learn Mr. Fox can’t fight his nature. He still sneaks away from home to swipe stuff from his cold-hearted neighbors.
That puts his family in jeopardy, since one of the local business owners (voiced by the great Michael Gambon) decide to put an end to Mr. Fox’s thievery once and for all.
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” doesn’t feel like a traditional children’s film, but there’s nothing here to shock the young-uns beyond a few conversations regarding existentialism.
These all too human foxes wrestle with issues we can all relate to, from striving for something better to the push and pull of modern marriage.
It’s all disassembled with briskly paced sequences and a script that never stops delivering clever lines. The vocal cast is spot on through and through, although Streep’s character isn’t as full bodied as the multiple Oscar winner deserves.
The film still feels slight at times, with the story structure coming off as too mechanical to match the inspired dialogue. The animation here is never as smooth as the CGI wonders Pixar routinely delivers, but the effect is disarming all the same.
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” isn’t an animated classic, and some younger minds will be flummoxed by the deeper themes flitting across the screen. But the film proves an archaic animation technique can be just the ticket for an indie auteur looking for a fresh start.
(Photo: Mr. Fox and Mrs. Fox voiced by George Clooney and Meryl Streep – in “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Photo Credit: Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures)
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I can’t think of two people worse to voice an animated movie than Clooney and Streep. The trailer, all I could picture was a giant “smug cloud” following Mr. Fox from his day to day chores.
“Darjeeling” was an exercise in directorial omphaloskepsis, so my expectations have been managed downward for this; plus, while Clooney and especially Streep have fine voice-acting voices, I expect that their highly-recognizable personas will overwhelm the characters that they voice.
That stated, I do applaud Anderson’s continuing experimentation: stop-motion will bring me back to my Saturday afternoon television matinees and the Harryhausen classics.
Took the whole family to this on Wednesday night. Three out of four of us enjoyed it greatly. (The fourth, our 18-month-old daughter, has been battling some sort of virus and was cranky throughout.) It was charming, well-paced and well-performed. I loved it, though it has flaws. My wife and son liked it. The animation was skillful — you could appreciate the craftsmanship and the artistry more precisely because you knew that it wasn’t computer animated. Or, at least I could. I mean, who doesn’t love those Aardman films?
The film was only superficially like the book, which my son and I read together about a year ago. It’s a very Andersonian take on Dahl. “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” reminded me more than anything of “The Royal Tenenbaums,” but with wild animals. Streep was fine, but Clooney’s Mr. Fox did at times sound as though he was channelling Danny Ocean, which was a bit distracting. Also, Alexander Desplat’s score was much too derivative of Mark Mothersbaugh’s work on Anderson’s earlier films.
The good news is, Anderson seems to have pulled back from the inscrutability of “Darjeeling” and “The Life Aquatic” (which I liked better the second time around, but still didn’t like very much). I’m not sure we’ll get to see it again in the theaters, but I’m looking forward to the DVD.
Saw it tonight based on Kyle Smith’s recommendation. I can see why he liked it; the handsome, bright, articulate and “fantastic” Mr. Fox is a newspaper columnist with a family. So he can identify with the main character. Also the dialog is quite witty and as you say, the family dynamic is good.
On the down side, like most movies where sapient cartoon animals live in a human world it’s a parable about racism and left wing politics. Mr. Fox can’t help himself from stealing from the evil capitalist farmers. At no point does anyone object to this because theft is wrong, but only because it’s dangerous. All the morality is taken care of by observing “we’re wild animals”. So it’s now obvious why George Clooney agreed to sign on.
Ben, It’s people like you who are ruining the moviegoing experience. Seriously, what are you doing taking an 18-month-old to the movies, one that is sick no less. You should be ashamed of yourself. I don’t know what I hate more: People like you, or those who are always checking their cell phones.
Sigh.
The same noise that people make when they see adults brining 18-month olds to the movies.
Seriously, why do you think it is ok?
Please answer my question and don’t just sigh it off.
Today: “Please answer my question and don’t just sigh it off.”
The other day: “You should be ashamed of yourself. I don’t know what I hate more: People like you, or those who are always checking their cell phones.”
Um… yeah. I’ll pass, thanks.
Translation: I know I’m a Dipsh%t so I can’t come back with anything.
Funny. OK, let me put in terms you might be able to understand. I don’t know what I hate more: Hyperbolic commenters who hurl insipid insults, or hyperbolic commenters who hurl insipid insults and then expect some sort of reasoned reply. You don’t know the first thing about me and you’ve wasted enough of my time.
Joey — thank you for the self censorship!
Let’s call a truce! As Ringo would say, “peace and love …”
Where in any of my remarks do you see any hyperboles? You may hate me, but I am only affecting one person. You are ruining the moviegoing experience for a number of people. That is plain rude and you deserve to have insipid comments thrown at you. Are you really that full of yourself that you don’t care about other people who paid money to watch a movie.
I am standing up for everyone who likes to go the movies and have to put up with crap from people like you. You’re right, I don’t know you as a person. You could be a very nice guy. But that doesn’t excuse you for doing what you are doing.
It’s bad enough to take an 18-month-old to the movies, but when shes sick? You said she was cranky so I’m guessing she was not quiet. You really think that’s OK.
Don’t act like you are offended. You are offending everyone else.
I’m also guessing you are going to keep blowing me off. And that tells me it’s because you don’t have a good answer for what you are doing? How could you? What you are doing is plain wrong and I hope the next time you go to a movie somebody says something to you. Maybe then it will get through your head that you are extremely rude.