The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
(director: Wes Anderson; starring George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray)
There’s no questioning this film takes place in Wes Anderson’s universe, despite being his first animated feature. The look of the film is unlike any other mainstream animated movie I’ve ever seen, many of the shots centrally composed against a flat background as if we’re looking at a childhood sticker book, the colors richly autumnal and an overall aesthetic that relishes the form of claymation (they shot it at 12 frames per second opposed to the usual 24 supposedly in order to heighten the claymation feel, although I must also wonder if that choice was just to save time by setting up only half the frames; regardless, it was a good decision). However what really makes this film Wes Anderson’s is the dialogue. While it may at first strike one as just full of the usual quirky asides and phrasing audiences have come to expect out of any movie in the genre “independent comedy”, there’s really much more going on beneath the surface. There’s very nearly a musical quality to the dialogue, each character’s line perfectly timed against the other so one begins to nearly sense a rhythm to it all. It’s definitely not organized enough to be in iambic pentameter or something similar but there’s no denying that one misplaced word could throw the timing of the entire scene off (if Wes Anderson were a muscian I might expect a heavy reliance on dissonance to distinguish his work).
In that way, the Fantastic Mr. Fox is perhaps better enjoyed for the technical form Anderson brings to the look, feel and sound to the film, however the story (based on the children’s book by British author Roald Dahl) has many pleasures of its own, mixing a throughly entertaining plot that always kept me engaged with a great cast of memorable characters. Kylie the opposum in particular stands out, his eyes going vacant whenever George Clooney’s Mr. Fox is trying to communicate something important, appearing at once ridiculous but also reminiscent of people that actually are like that. Meryl Streep’s Mrs. Fox is the only character I felt could have used a bit more work, being pivotal to the plot and yet somewhat lacking in an identity of her own besides what the story necessitates of her (although Streep does a fine job as always).
Pixar is normally championed as being the only studio that is able to produce films that have a strong appeal to both adults and children, but honestly I find that the Fantastic Mr. Fox easily outshines any of Pixar’s recent output at least judged by that criteria. While a Pixar film generally mixes seperate elements directed for adults with elements aimed more for kids (Up was a perfect example of this, the ‘serious’ opening passages contrasting somewhat heavily with the goofy repeated gags present throughout the jungle adventure) Fantastic Mr. Fox manages to entertain both adults and kids at the very same time. What’s amazing is this isn’t even the obvious choice for best claymation film of the year, both Coraline and Mary & Max easily strong contenders for all-time great animated films as well. Although 2009 has been rather deficient in terms of both dramatic output and more traditional genre films (Transformers, G.I. Joe and 2012 were really our choices for blockbusters this year? Thank god we have Watchmen and Avatar bookending what was otherwise a very disappointing calendar year) it has been a goldmine for some of the strongest animation and children’s movies in cinema history (Coraline, Mary & Max, Where the Wild Things Are, Up, Disney’s return to 2D animation in the Princess and the Frog, and even middling efforts such as Monsters vs. Aliens, Planet 51 or A Christmas Carol at least proving that animated films are still very viable market products).
(reviewed 12/16/09)
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