Fantastic Mr. Fox
Directed by: Wes Anderson
Written by: Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach (screenplay), Roald Dahl (book)
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe

At the beginning of the decade, Wes Anderson was being praised as one of the most unique and talented emerging filmmakers in America. The Royal Tenenbaums was seen by many as his ultimate masterpiece, earning his only Academy Award nomination to date. However, since then, he has arguably become a victim of his own success. Surrounded by copycats and increasingly cynical audiences, he has struggled to break from the mold that he created for himself.

Although I enjoyed both The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited a great deal, I can’t deny that Wes Anderson’s style was starting to feel more like a predictable checklist and less like the mark of an auteur. He was stuck in a rut, and it was clear that he needed to do something completely different in order to progress and grow as a director. And really, what could be more different than a stop motion animated adaptation of a children’s book?

Wes Anderson first tried to get Fantastic Mr. Fox off the ground back in 2004 as a collaboration with stop motion master Henry Selick. Unfortunately, Selick eventually left the project to direct Coraline instead, and Anderson retreated back to somewhat familiar territory with The Darjeeling Limited. A few years later, Mark Gustafson (The PJs) was brought on board to replace Selick, and the team behind Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride was hired to do the animation. The result is something pretty special.

Not unlike Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild Things Are, this movie takes a children’s story and expands it into something much bigger than originally intended. Also like Where The Wild Things Are, Fantastic Mr. Fox is aimed at adults just as much as it is kids. However, this movie has a much more substantial narrative to draw from, and it seems that Anderson stuck fairly close to it — it’s just that he found plenty of gaps to fill in with his own idiosyncrasies as well.

George Clooney voices Mr. Fox, a wily and charismatic chicken thief who promises his wife (Meryl Streep) that he will give up his dangerous line of work in order to help raise a family. However, after some years go by, he finds himself unable to resist the call of the wild, and he begins sneaking out at night to knock off the three farms in the area. Eventually the farmers get wise to his scheme, and they plan to lay siege to Mr. Fox’s home and lure him out in order to kill him. In doing so, they also leave many other animals in the area homeless, and Mr. Fox finds himself in a tight spot. He has little choice but to confront the farmers in order to not only protect his family and friends, but also redeem himself in their eyes.

Now, on paper this may be a mere fable about greed, but the Wes Anderson version of this tale also revolves around a dysfunctional family with a selfish and flawed patriarch. Mr. Fox’s son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) wants to earn his father’s respect, and he is jealous of his cousin Kristofferson (Eric Anderson), who has impressed Mr. Fox with his athletic ability. Anderson has transplanted all of his usual themes onto an existing story and created something unique in the process. Many of his trademarks are here, but they’re not forced or shoehorned in due to lack of imagination. The movie springs naturally from Wes Anderson’s psyche. With the help of Noah Baumbach (who also co-wrote The Life Aquatic), this screenplay could be some of his most touching and well-rounded writing yet.

Anderson has once again stuck with a voice cast that is both familiar and safe, but throwing George Clooney in the lead was definitely a great choice. I was worried that some of the voices might be too distracting, but they all worked, and helped create the feeling of a nuanced animated movie that isn’t strictly for kids. None of the actors put on funny “cartoon voices”, they simply play themselves. Anderson’s insistence on recording the cast together in the same room also paid off when it comes to capturing the quick-witted exchanges that he is known for. It’s interesting to note that Anderson’s brother Eric has a fairly major role as Kristofferson, and Wes himself even briefly provides a voice.

The animation has a different feel than what we’re used to seeing in stop motion nowadays, and I think this is because Anderson is not an animator. Word on the street is that he put the animators through the ringer, asking them for things that are difficult to pull off, and doing just about everything in camera with no CG effects. In the end, his keen attention to detail and lack of boundaries resulted in something beautiful and cinematic. I can see stop motion purists wincing at being able to see some of the seams (such as the popping of the characters’ fur from frame to frame), but the fluidity of animation is never an issue. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: I was impressed by how much action is in this movie. The heist scenes are thrilling to watch, and the showdown between Rat and Mr. Fox is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in a stop motion movie.

Fantastic Mr. Fox feels influenced by some of the Aardman films, in particular Chicken Run, and there’s also a bit of a Western vibe sprinkled throughout. The music echoes this theme, and although there are some songs by The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys, a large part of the soundtrack is new territory for Anderson. It relies on a great score by French composer Alexandre Desplat, and a folk song by Jarvis Cocker (who also voices the character Petey in the film).

Needless to say, Fantastic Mr. Fox is just a joy to watch. It’s very funny in Wes Anderson’s subtle yet absurd way, but also visually brilliant. Anderson has found a new spark, and the project feels inspired and overflows with life and creativity. I’m not sure that it will top Coraline or Up for the animated Oscar this year, but I have a feeling it will be cracking a lot of top 10 lists (mine included). It’s fun for the whole family, and definitely a movie not to be missed. — Sean

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Recommended If You Like: The Royal Tenenbaums, Bottle Rocket, Chicken Run