Wes Anderson films nearly always impress me and draw themselves into my heart and Fantastic Mr. Fox is no exception to this trend.
Based on the Roald Dahl novel, starring an extraordinary cast led by George Clooney Fantastic Mr. Fox tells the complex story of a fox, his place in the world, his relationship with his family and the war between himself and the three local farmers who commit themselves to his downfall.
This movie is almost the quintessential Wes Anderson film, director of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore. Everything that has become his trademark is contained within, an excellent if not whimisical soundtrack, the sharpest yet at the same time understated dialogue and the powerful though quiet relationship moments between the characters. What’s most impressive is that he achieves this with the use of stop-motion animation and the majority of characters are in fact animals.
On that note I should mention how wonderful the animation in Fantastic Mr. Fox looks, there is a great mix of really effective camera work and super fun effects. There are some set pieces that are really highly detailed and probably didn’t need to be and there is one sequence that was in my opinion as good as any in a live action film involving a waterfall.
I think though that the best recurring theme throughout the movie is the use of “cuss” words which I won’t explain here but when you watch it and realise you’ll know exactly what I’m referring to.
As I mentioned earlier the cast is extraordinary and really rise to the occasion with their voice work, regular Anderson contributor Bill Murray particularly is interesting in that he provides a performance that is not the standard Bill Murray that you generally hear, in fact I had to confirm it in the credits that who I thought was him was actually Murray. Meryl Streep provides the leading lady fox with her voice, though I was surprised that Anjelica Huston, another regular to the world of Anderson wasn’t in the role (I also just read that Cate Blanchett was originally slated). It must be said though that Streep is truly excellent as is Jason Schwartzman and Wallace Wolodarsky in their roles.
It is though George Clooney that is just so perfect as Mr. Fox that it is hard to imagine anyone providing the character’s voice but him.
I think that this is a very clever film, it has a lot of wit to it and I think despite its children’s book roots and animation delivery it is a more than entertaining film for adults and there is no doubt enough fun in the film for the kids as well, though in the session I was in there were some restlessness towards the end and a couple of scenes that actually distressed a couple of very young kids.
If you enjoyed any of Wes Anderson’s previous films then I think you are going to love Fantastic Mr Fox and you should go see it in the cinema whilst you still can.
What did you all think about the film?*
*Comments will very possibly contain spoilers so be warned and forearmed.
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