Film Review

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Starring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Shwartzman, Owen Wilson

A lean female fox walks uphill towards a male fox in a suit and as he embraces her, George Clooney says, “You look glowing.” A spotlight shines upon Felicity Fox’s face and Mr. Fox shields the light and then starts off downhill towards a fenced farm. Agile and young, Mr. Fox and Felicity Fox deftly steal chickens but were nearly captured when Mr. Fox couldn’t resist springing a trap before escape. Sworn to stop his sneaky outings due to Felicity’s pregnancy, Mr. Fox lives a life as a quiet reporter raising his quirky son, Ash. After some fox years have passed, Mr. Fox’s nephew, Kristofferson, comes for an extended stay due to his brother-in-law’s illness and an unyielding urge to steal chickens returns when Mr. Fox desires to live more comfortably. The animated release of Ronald Dahl’s children’s classic captures a nostalgic feeling of humanity as Mr. Fox wrecks havok while salvaging what is left of his rebellious youth. What results from an escalated fight between angry farmers and Mr. Fox and the animal community personifies both the glorified and shameful qualities.

The puppets used by Wes Anderson are crafted so realistically, at times it is hard to remember that they are not the actor’s voices. Juxtaposed to scenes in which Mr. Fox stiffly turns and walks away from Badger, a whimsical feeling of drifting in and out of consciousness is created during the story. Anderson worm holes a shot as a dirt wall caves in after quickly switching from Mr. Fox to a close up of Kristofferson’s blank expression. His fast-paced scenes frequently switch angles as often as the human eye which contributes to its honesty.

The dialouge shows an artistry of wit through snippy conversations and dry humor. Each character’s personal mannerisms shine briefly but distinctly and despite the large cast and necessary verbage, the script evenly places pauses and silences that let the natural qualities flow from each actor’s words. The overall sound created the polishing touch over the film and accurately exentuated the candid moments of each character. The detail placed in the choice of tracks is apparent in the contrast between strikingly natural sounds and embellished transition that help to seamlessly connect each frame.

While the animals are busy digging tunnels underneath the angry farmer’s land, there is a comical music break that contains nonsense choruses sung over guitar at a campfire in the worker’s camp. One of the farmers cuts off the song that was documenting Mr. Fox’s raid of their livestock and reprimands the singer for bad songwriting. It is with this style that Anderson expresses the multiple messages of the children’s book through a fresh adaptation of the book. During Mr. Fox’s fits of frustration, expletives are exchanged for the word “cuss” though the phrases they are substitued are still as mature and uncensorsed. Fantastic Mr. Fox portrays a children’s book in the natural way; intended to express complex human behavoirs to children in a way that is easily understood and slightly amusing.