It was silly of me to sit out Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox when it came out. I don't remember why I wasn't terribly interested in the movie. It has three things I enjoy very much: 1) Roald Dahl, 2) George Clooney, and 3) Stop Motion Animation. As I also enjoy (to varying degrees) the films of Wes Anderson to this point, there was really no reason not to see it, but somehow I chose not to.
The good news is that I rectified this last night, and I'm happy to say that this year's Best Animated Film category was truly well contested (admittedly, I have yet to see The Secret of Kells, but I'll get there soon enough). I don't mean to beat up on Coraline* - which I feel like I do every single time I mention the film - but as stop motion goes, I really did enjoy Fantastic Mr. Fox more in just about every respect. There's something about watching the hairs move around on Mr. Fox and every other animal that reminds you just how much work went into the film.
Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) are chicken thieves, until one night when, in a trap, she reveals that she's pregnant. Mr. Fox promises to give up stealing and live a crime-free life as a newspaper columnist. 12 fox years later (there is a fox to human time conversion handled in title cards) Mr. and Mrs. Fox are living a life of quiet domesticity with their angsty son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) and visiting Nephew Kristofferson Silverfox (Eric Anderson). Mr. Fox has aspirations, and moves his family from a hole in the ground to a new tree he can't really afford, in part because of its proximity to the farms of Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), Bunce (Hugo Guinness), and Bean (Michael Gambon), three rather unpleasant farmers who specialize in chicken, geese, and cider respectively.
With his new partner in crime, Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky) - and against the wishes of his attorney, Badger (Bill Murray) - Mr. Fox resumes his life of crime, tempting fate by stealing from the meanest farmers around. All goes smoothly at first, but when the vindictive Bean declares war on Fox, all of the animals nearby are forced underground and face starvation and attacks from Rat (Willem Dafoe). Unless, of course, the newly tail-less Mr. Fox (Bean shoots it off) can come up with a scheme to win the day...
I'm going to focus on two things I really enjoyed about the film in order not to ramble - as the Cap'n tends to do. What's very impressive is that - despite the fact that Anderson was mostly "hands off" during the production, according to most reports - the film clearly fits into his stylistic approach. You can pause the film at almost any point and say, "Yes, this is a Wes Anderson film"; from the title cards to the production design to the use of music, but also particularly the pace of the story, Fantastic Mr. Fox occupies the same universe as Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, just with stop motion animals.
That being said, the other element that I found really astonishing is how, despite the fact that it clearly could fall into "auteur" category, Fantastic Mr. Fox (it's so hard not to put a "The" at the beginning, but that's not the title!) is a film you can show to children without concern. In a world where Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is raking in the big bucks (I assume), it's a relief to see a movie like Fantastic Mr. Fox where the Cap'n enjoys the film from beginning to end but would not hesitate to show it to a youngster. Aside from (spoiler) the death of Rat, there's not much there to find objectionable. In fact, there's a rather clever conceit of removing profanity and simply saying the word "cuss"; it's a clear enough referent for adults what the word would be, but kids aren't going to pick up any new words you'd have to explain to their teachers later.
The pace of the film - which is only around 80 minutes without credits - still manages to feel leisurely but never dull. The cast are all having a great time and despite the fact that they come in clusters of similarly shaped animals, there's never a problem telling which character is which. Clooney, in particular, seems to be having a ball in what one could call "Fox's Eleven". Even Boggis, Bunce, and Bean have distinctive qualities that carry you through the fact that two of them barely say a thing. I was both impressed and very entertained by Fantastic Mr. Fox, and look forward to watching it again, which is kind of strange; typically, while I enjoy Wes Anderson films, I will revisit them periodically but never in any kind of hurry. I highly recommend you check Fantastic Mr. Fox out, as it's every bit as deserving of its nomination as Up and Coraline (I'll get back to you on The Secret of Kells and The Princess and the Frog).
* Allow me to reiterate that I really did enjoy Coraline, and feel in some part that my ambivalence towards the story has everything to do with me and nothing to do with the film itself. I've read Neil Gaiman's book three or four times, and because I know it backwards and forwards, the film didn't really surprise me in any way. That's totally on me and not at all a reflection of the exemplary work Henry Selick did with his adaptation.
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