The Fantastic Mr. Fox

I don’t really find myself calling movies ‘charming’. It feels like a trite thing to just say about a movie. To me it feels like a word marketers slap on to a movie’s advertising that’s code to parents meaning it’s safe for kids to see. So you will understand my point of view when I think I can truly say that The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a charming movie.

Roald Dahl’s work tends to have a dark edge to is (the more recent Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a good example) which is absent in this story, but it’s also not material one would typically consider a children’s story either. We come across the main character, Mr. Fox, at what looks like the end of his daring adventures, working as a newspaper columnist, settling down buying a better house (tree, actually) for him and his family. But then Mr. Fox gets the urge to pull one last ‘job’ and trying to avoid the wrath of the three big farmers from which he plunders. It touches on the ideas of family, community and being true to who you are. I say touches. It’s far and away from a heavy-handed Disney moral tale, and it’s told with a sophistication that can appeal to all ages, which is no mean feat.

With animals wearing suits and ties, badgers acting as lawyers, and rats acting as security guards I started to think that Wes Anderson probably could have simply turned all the characters human and made this a live action film. However, his films are very visually rich and this serves him well when he turned to animation. Many choices he made point to making this a very warm approachable film, like the choice of using stop-motion animation rather then computer animation. One of the benefits of going this route is that it gives this world very rich textures from the animals fur to the natural wood of the outdoors and furniture. This film was shot digitally and I saw this film in a digital projection theater and those textures really pop and give the world life that is frankly missing from the smooth, sterile, clay-like surfaces of most current CG films. Wes also chose a very nice natural autumn color palette with reds, oranges and browns which make the film vivd without becoming candy-coated bright. Another striking things is the framing of shots that’s very straightforward. Characters are usually framed head-on or facing straight left or right. Action moves in these limited directions as well. I think these simple visual choices help offset the more complicated grown-up issues the story tackles.

The humor in the film is well-done too, emanating more from the characters rather than catchphrase one-liners and gags (although there was a pretty funny running gag of characters saying ‘cuss’ rather then actually swearing.) The role of Mr. Fox is perfectly suited to George Clooney, adept at playing charismatic con men. Jason Schwartzman also plays a role similar to his strengths, the insecure Ash, son of Mr. Fox. These people aren’t doing ‘voices’ as much as they’re doing characters, and while in some instances this could end up looking lazy, here it comes out as natural, letting people play to their strengths. Having said that, I need to mention Willem Dafoe as Rat. He managed to disappear into this deranged character well and was the only voice that surprised me when the credits rolled. The lively dialogue is probably also due to the fact that instead of compartmentalizing everyone into soundbooths and recording each one separately, Anderson had everyone record lines together in various outdoor locations. It give the conversations real rhythm and weight.

This is a film that I highly recommend seeing. Definitely worth seeing it in a theater, especially one with digital projection. It’s also a worth a purchase as a hi-def digital download or Blu-ray (if you’re still into that sort of thing).