Movie Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

12/14/09
By Daniel Pickles
Staff Writer

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Directed By: Wes Anderson
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman
Rated:PG
Run-Time: 87 Mins.

Does stop-motion animation have a place in our current world of computer generated imagery? Fantastic Mr. Fox says that it does, and I’m happy to agree. 

For those of you that don’t know, stop-motion animation has a grand history in film. It was even around prior to Tim Burton, if you can believe it. Some prior examples include the original Clash of the Titans (1981); Jan Svankmajer’s Alice in Wonderland interpretation, Alice (1988); and more recently, Coraline (2009). The latter of which, I am morally obligated to point out, is not a Tim Burton movie - but that’s a tale for another review. 

The medium of stop motion lends itself well to odd stories, and not only because it’s typically used to create fanciful creatures; the aesthetics are so surreal that they just fit with certain, quirky stories. 

Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of the stories that fits with stop-motion, and it should be - having been written and directed by two very quirky people, it’s practically a juggernaut of quirk.  

To begin with, Fantastic Mr. Fox is an adaptation of a Roald Dahl story of the same name. Dahl is the author of several popular children’s books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, The Witches, and James and the Giant Peach.  His stories, though well appropriate for their intended audience, have that wonderful perversity that can only be found in the years prior to the Disney plague striking and sanitizing children’s entertainment. If you haven’t read any of his books, I can’t recommend them enough; they are ridiculously entertaining at any age. 

Next, we have the film’s director, Wes Anderson. Wes is responsible for several good movies, including The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic, and my personal favorite, Rushmore. If you appreciate off-beat humor, you’ll appreciate these movies. As with Dahl’s books, I recommend them - though perhaps only to people of the appropriate age. 

Fantastic Mr. Fox begins (no, I didn’t forget my synopsis) with Mr. and Mrs. Fox attempting to steal chickens from a farm and subsequently becoming trapped in a cage. As they plot their escape, Mrs. Fox reveals that she is pregnant with Mr. Fox’s child, and that he’ll need to find honest work, should they make it out of this situation alive - which they do.

Fast forward several years. Mr. Fox and his family are now moving into a new neighborhood with their adolescent son, Ash, and his cousin, Kristofferson. Near their new home live three cruel farmers by the names of Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. Boggis owns a chicken farm; Bunce, a duck farm; and Bean, a turkey and apple farm. Inevitably, the proximity of these farms incites Mr. Fox’s animal nature, causing him to resume his life of chicken-thievery, with disastrous results.  

It’s natural to suspect that a movie like this would be meant exclusively for children, but it’s not. The humor is alternately subtle enough for adults and overt enough for children. And more importantly, this movie never attempts to bat humor over a child’s head in the form of inside jokes; everything is out in the open, where it belongs.     

As for the acting, it doesn’t suffer a lick by being filtered through stop-motion animation. The puppets are incredibly expressive, and serve the storyline better than thrice-damned computer generated images ever could. (As a side note to this, look for my review of Avatar - coming soon!)

For my final endorsement I’ll give you my own personal reaction to the film, which is enthusiasm. I don’t often get enthusiastic about new movies, but this is an exception. I’ll buy this. I’ll watch it repeatedly. I’ll annoy my friends by quoting from it at inappropriate times. I’ll make all the youngsters I know watch it. 

I hope you do the same.