I count myself as a big Wes Anderson fan. Though most folks will immediately list Rushmore as his best film, it’s a distant second, in my opinion, to The Royal Tenenbaums. His debut film, Bottle Rocket, was a funny and touching combination of the slacker film and heist picture. However, Anderson’s unique visual style and storytelling methods grew stale following The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited. It seemed as if he was just spinning his wheels, revisiting the exact same themes he had already explored. When I learned Anderson was adapting Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, I had hoped he would stretch himself as a filmmaker. A movie based on someone else’s material and done with stop-motion animation seemed like the way to go. I was disappointed after viewing the trailer since Fantastic Mr. Fox looked exactly like every other Wes Anderson film. After catching the actual film, I found my apprehension to be unfounded. He has succeeded beyond expectations in creating one of the most unique and enjoyable movies of the year.
George Clooney provides the voice for Mr. Fox, a charmer who gets his kicks from stealing chickens. He vows to give it up after he and his pregnant wife, Felicity (Meryl Streep), narrowly escape a fox trap. Years pass and Fox now lives in a hole with wife and son, Ash (Jason Schwartzman), and works as a newspaper columnist. He’s lived up to his promise, but feels stifled by what his life has become. Fox moves his family into a tree near the farms of Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), Bunce (Hugo Guinness), and Bean (Michael Gambon), the meanest and nastiest farmers in the valley. Yet, it’s still not enough. In Fox’s own words, he is a “wild animal,” and the call is too much to resist. When Fox robs them of their chickens, smoked meats, and apple cider, the farmers attempt to dig their adversary out of his hole, endangering every animal in the valley.
Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding) step beyond the original story by adding a subplot revolving around family dysfunction and the father-son dynamics which both are so fond of exploring. Ash is insecure about his size and lack of athletic ability. His self-esteem only plummets when cousin Kristofferson (Eric Chase Anderson) comes to stay while his uncle recovers from triple pneumonia. Kristofferson is tall, smart, practices yoga, and a martial arts expert. Everybody flocks to Kristofferson. He has more Fox in him than Ash does leading to a jealous rivalry.
Anderson fills out the rest of the supporting cast with his usual repertoire of players like Bill Murray as Fox’s lawyer Badger, Brian Cox as a news reporter, Willem Dafoe as Bean’s security guard Rat, and Owen Wilson in a cute aside as a coach explaining the Byzantine rules of Whackbat. The director also completes the soundtrack with his always eclectic choices. This time around we get The Beach Boys, The Bobby Fuller Four, Burl Ives, “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” (which opens the picture), and, of course, The Rolling Stones. No David Bowie?
Working in a new medium has reinvigorated Anderson’s idiosyncratic trademarks. Nobody has tried to make an animated film the way Anderson has. Mr. Fox stands head and shoulders above the majority of its cookie cutter peers because it doesn’t look like anything else. Anderson has created a whimsical and timeless world. The puppets were created using actual hair and animal fur giving them a textured feel that can’t be replicated by any software. The cross-section tableaus, the bold yellow chapter headings, the straight-on medium and close-up shots, and the dry quirky humor are on full display in Mr. Fox. In particular, Schwartzman’s deadpan delivery and a running gag where characters cuss by actually saying, “Cuss,” are some of the funniest bits.
2009 should definitely be considered a watershed year for what would be labeled as “family friendly entertainment.” I consider Mr. Fox, Where the Wild Things Are, Coraline, and Up as some of the best films of the year. None of those movies attempt to dumb things down or pander to the audience. They don’t aim for one particular demographic yet appeal to all age groups. Throughout Mr. Fox, there’s an underlying theme about individualism and a subtle commentary about our current economic climate and the trappings of materialism. Kids probably won’t get a lot of that or understand some of the irreverent humor, but there’s more than enough imagination and visual wonder to keep them (and their parents) enthralled.
Rating: *** ½
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