ANIMAL ACTION: a review of "Fantastic Mr. Fox"

Originally written December 1, 2009

“FANTASTIC MR. FOX” Directed by Wes Anderson
Written for the screen by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach
Based upon the book by Roald Dahl
***1/2 (three and a half stars)

What a treat this film is! If only most entertainment directed towards children were created on this level!! “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Writer/Director Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s novel, fits snugly with the filmmaker’s previous efforts (“Rushmore,” The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” and “The Darjeeling Limited”) while also carving out an audaciously staged animated experience that is as meticulously designed and emotionally resonant as his live-action films.

George Clooney expertly lends his voice and unmistakable cool to the titular Mr. Fox, a charming, rascally patriarch married to Felicity Fox (Meryl Streep), parent to the diminutive, grumpy and awkward Ash (a terrific Jason Schwartzman) and Uncle to the visiting Kristofferson (Eric Anderson) who is more naturally gifted in all things fox and a source of jealousy for Ash. Mr. Fox has big dreams of uprooting his family to classier digs above ground yet quenching his natural animalistic urges as a chicken and cider thief and outfoxing the dangerous human triumvirate of Boggis, Bunce and Bean (voiced by Michael Gambon) for a life as a newspaper columnist has not been an easy transition in the least. Defying the promises made to his wife 12 fox years ago, Mr. Fox (along with his sweetly dim Opossum sidekick) returns to his sneaky life for that last big score thus endangering his family and friends, including his attorney (and demolitions expert) Badger (the great Bill Murray). The escalating war between the bloodthirsty humans and the tenacious and crafty animal kingdom is by turns hysterical, clever, oddly thrilling and presented in high style and charm.

Wes Anderson has always depicted a certain throwback style within his films as they all seem to be a tad out of step with other commercial features at the multiplex. Then tend to evoke a certain fabricated visage yet the emotions contained are heartfelt and true. Take the storybook tone of “The Royal Tenenbaums” or the dream-like India of”The Darjeeling Limited,” for instance, and underneath you will find two highly melancholic tales of troubled family dynamics alongside crushing feelings of failure, defeat and in some cases, mourning. For his debut foray into animated features, Anderson has made a seamless transition. The visual style is as intricate as the landscapes shown in “The Royal Tenenbaums” and especially in oceanic odysseys of “The Life Aquatic.” In addition, the choice to utilize the classic stop-motion animation instead of the now commonplace and somewhat over-used CGI and computer animation is a fitting and brilliant one. The herky-jerky movements of the characters bring to mind the classic Rankin-Bass productions of old and what results is Anderson’s most playful, joyful and quite possibly, his funniest film to date.

In making his first film directed to an audience of children, Anderson has surprisingly and wisely not altered much of his writing style—except for expletives which have been hilariously replaced with an all-purpose “cuss”(i.e. “What the cuss?!”). His dialogue remains dry, wry, at times existential and…ahem…foxy and the effect is simply perfect. While some adults in the viewing audience may scoff and scratch their heads at the array of laconic non-sequiturs and verbal wordplay, wondering if their children are “getting it,” I heartily scoff back at them and tell them to get over it. All children’s entertainment does not have to be spoon fed to them. Give them something to grow with and to reach for sometimes. Besides, did you understand all of the eccentricities, anxieties and existential quandaries of Charlie Brown, Linus Van Pelt and Snoopy at the age of three? Of course not and it never hindered any enjoyment in the least. Anderson and his writing partner, Writer/Director Noah Baumbach (who made the outstanding “The Squid and the Whale”), have constructed an adaptation that is extremely accessible to children, smartly funny to adults and not even one pop-culture joke is found anywhere.

I really have no idea of what led Anderson to adapt this particular Roald Dahl book above others but the story and characters fit him like a hand in glove. Mr. Fox can easily and proudly sit next to Anderson’s archive of faulty, passionate dreamers like the endlessly creative prep school teenager Max Fischer (“Rushmore”), scoundrel patriarch Royal Tenenbaum and embittered oceanographer Steve Zissou (“The Life Aquatic”). Much like those characters, Mr. Fox’s actions tend to have dire emotional consequences for those around him and he is forced to ask of himself tough questions about his natural tendencies to thieve. In regards to his son Ash and visiting nephew Kristofferson, the latter cub’s natural athletic ability leads to a dangerous rivalry which then forces Mr. Fox to also ask of himself what kind of a father is he if he prefers a nephew to his own flesh and blood. When Mrs. Fox tells him late in the film, “I love you…but I should never have married you,” it cuts to the bone of difficult marital partnerships, how we are loved despite our faults and how the family as a whole, at times, needs to be upheld for the greater good—in this case, the ultimate survival of the animals.

The voice casting throughout is sublime!! Clooney exudes cool of course, yet he always has this ability to laugh at himself and find folly in his foibles. Streep (who reportedly had a bad cold during the voice sessions) has a stern, husky quality that firmly establishes her role as the matriarch as well as the long-suffering spouse. Gambon (an Anderson regular as well as a certain Prof. Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter” series) makes an excellent villain with his deep, grim sounding voice—which also deftly handles the tricky feat of always remaining humorous. Yet, I have to say that I latched onto Jason Schwartzman’s empathetic performance as Ash the most. How I rooted for the family to take notice of this frustrated, eccentric, cape-adorned little fox with desires no larger than to be accepted for exactly who he is by his father.

Most of all, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” proves again that movies designed for children need not appeal to the basest of instincts, garishly loud and crudely populated with all manner of neon day-glow colors and hellzapopin’ sights and sounds. It need not be a pop culture joke junkyard, flatulent or stupid. It need not be a crass and callow pitch to take money from parents while their children lose IQ points along the way.

This year, we have all been blessed with the worlds presented in Pixar’s “Up” and the spell cast by Spike Jonze’s adaptation of “Where The Wild Things Are” easily made one of this year’s very best films. Wes Anderson has given children and the rest of us a film so smart in its presentation and one that demands and deserves to be revisited repeatedly.