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Movie Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Tue, Dec 15, 2009 2:41 pm
Fantastic Mr. Fox is presented as another "children's film" that is just as enjoyable for adults. Wes Anderson's newest movie follows the success of Pixar's animated films and the recent release of Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are. While Mr. Fox is just as funny and entertaining as those films, it shouldn't be seen as following a trend. While all these films address serious issues while entertaining the kids, Fox is first and foremost a Wes Anderson movie. All the dead-pan, oddball, indie action you've come to expect from Anderson is on full display. And it all fits perfectly.
The film opens with Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) stealing chickens, their not-so-proud profession. Once they're caught Mr. Fox promises never to steal again. Skip ahead 2 years (or 12 fox years as we're told) and they have a son Ash (Jason Schwartzman). Most of the film follows Mr. Fox as he attempts one last big job against the three most ruthless farmers in the land and the resulting consequences of his actions. What begins as a caper film, one reminiscent of another Clooney heist movie packed with stars, becomes a real struggle for survival. While the film is animated, the issues addressed are more three-dimensional than many non-animated blockbusters. The need for a better life, the keeping-up-with-the-joneses syndrome, is exposed as a vicious cycle for more meaningless stuff, when all the characters are just animals (quite literally) with simple needs and instincts.
Is the story a commentary on the rat race to earn more and get into a higher class? Sure. The whole film can be seen as a critical allegory of the wildness inside all of us that needs to be unleashed in an attempt to escape the quest for capital. But it isn't necessary to read the film as obvious symbolism. The relationships between the characters have enough charm and weight to hold the movie on their own. The audience's opinion of Mr. Fox is twisted and adjusted. Usually anamorphic animals don't carry this much character depth.
Anderson does not let his audience forget they are watching a stop-motion animation film. From the way fire burns to the texture of Ash's wet fur, every moment of the film feels like a piece of art. The aesthetics become almost over-stylized, but never reach the level of nauseating. If anything the style serves to compliment Anderson's own bitter-sweet, half-awkward world. It can be difficult for a director to attach their trademark look onto an animated film, but Mr. Fox has Anderson's fingerprints all over it. The stop-motion style heightens the charm of Anderson's world, instead of distracting from it. Mr. Fox's art direction and fairy tale quality work so well with Anderson's story telling, it's surprising Anderson has never done a children's film before.
Mr. Fox has the quirky characters and intellectual depth of a Pixar film, but it belongs in a category by itself. Anderson has found that elusive line between sickeningly sweet and hopelessly morbid (once again). Wild animals need love too.
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