Movie Review: “Fantastic Mr. Fox”

Like it or not, we live in a world where most mainstream animation films are now done by computer-generated imagery. With Pixar Animation Studios and DreamWorks Animation releasing one or two films every year with great financial and critical success, it’s hard for other, smaller, production companies to take a risk in trying different animation methods. However, 2009 was a great year in original animation films. Walt Disney Animation Studios went back to its roots and created a hand-drawn feature called The Princess and the Frog. There was also the surprise success of Henry Selick’s Coraline, which used stop-motion animation. Stop-motion animation is a technique wherein physical objects are slightly altered and photographed one picture at a time to give an illusion of movement when displayed in sequence. Another animation film that used stop-motion in 2009 and was recently released on DVD a few weeks ago was Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. The film received two Academy Award Nominations for Best Animation Feature and Original Score.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is based off the popular Roald Dahl children’s book of the same name. For twelve years, Mr. and Mrs. Fox have lived a peaceful and carefree life in the wilderness with their son, Ash. Shortly after their young nephew Kristofferson arrives for a visit, Mr. Fox’s long-suppressed animal instincts begin to take over. The faithful family man resorts back to his old ways as a cunning chicken thief, endangering not only his family, but the entire animal community as well. When evil farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean decide to take vengeance and force the animal community underground in a desperate attempt to capture Mr. Fox, dwindling food supplies force the frightened animals to band together in one last attempt to fight for the land that is rightfully theirs.

What makes this animated film so unique was the choice of the director. Anderson is one of the most prominent directors in the past fifteen years with such films as Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. Bringing a director on with no animation background is a huge challenge and risk, but it also gives a chance to have a new outlook on how to present the material that many animation directors may not realize. Watching Fantastic Mr. Fox, the film has many of the director’s trademarks like the heavy use of title cards and dry humor.

The voice cast for this film includes such actors and actresses like George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Willem Dafoe. Anderson took an unconventional approach when it came to recording the dialogue. He had the voice cast record their lines outside at a farm instead of a sound booth like most animated features. The director wanted to capture the sounds of nature intertwined with the dialogue. The voice cast successfully pulls off the tone for each of their characters while having their own unique traits to make them different from one another.

The soundtrack for Fantastic Mr. Fox is superb ranging from The Rolling Stones to Nancy Adams. The music in the film isn’t just thrown in for the sake of having a song in the film, but it actually helps levitate the scene. One scene in particular that uses the soundtrack to its advantage is during the opening scene when Mr. and Mrs. Fox sneak into the farm to steal chickens to the tune of The Beach Boys’ Heroes and Villains. The original score for the film was composed by Alexandre Desplat and he truly tightens the essence and emotions within the film.

Overall, Fantastic Mr. Fox is simply fun and entertaining to watch. The stop-motion animation and story is both quirky and different (in a good way). If you are a fan of Anderson’s past work than you will definitely not be disappointed with this film. While the film is aimed for young children, the film contains many adult themes that can be thoroughly enjoyed by all ages. While it was only in the Aberdeen Carmike’s Theater for one weekend, it’s now available on DVD and Blu-Ray and I highly recommend checking it out even if you’re not a fan of animation films.

- Dan Dreher

Tags: April 2010, Bill Murray, Fantastic Mr. Fox, George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Movie Review, Owen Wilson, Wes Anderson, Willem Dafoe