Why has Wes Anderson not been making movies like “Fantastic Mr. Fox” his entire career? This charmingly stop motion animated kids movie is as perfectly in Anderson’s style as any film he’s ever made, and his colorful and peculiar quirks fit in beautifully with Roald Dahl’s lovingly crafted story.
Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is quite fantastic. He steals chickens for a living and follows each job and sly remark with a cute click and a whistle. His wife (Meryl Streep) asks that he settle down and find a real job before she gives birth to their son Ash (Jason Schwartzman). 12 fox years later, as an amusing subtitle so lovingly informs, Mr. Fox is hoping to move out of their dirty hole to a luxurious tree, but three ruthless farmers, Boggis, Bunch and Bean (Michael Gambon), are threatening the territory. Mr. Fox embarks on one last master plan to drive the three farmers out-of-town for good.
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” is wonderfully irreverent. It is pitch perfect and funny where each of Anderson’s live action comedies strike a chord of oddity. For me, watching an Anderson movie has always been hit or miss because I can’t explain the unnecessarily wide and colorful shot of a living room to compose every scene, nor can I describe why the actors look dumbstruck and seem to have been instructed to do so.
There’s no need to explain the animation. It’s simply a sheer joy to watch, and in making it accessible for kids, the spontaneity is all the more enjoyable. I cannot express how happy I was to see Kylie the possum’s eyes simply stare aimlessly in a quick close-up profile, or to learn the rules of the impossibly complicated game Whackbat, or a heated argument where every swear word is replaced with “cuss.”
It works all the more because at no point does the animation make an attempt to look “good.” It is what it is, Anderson knows it, and he finds enough charm in it to take liberties that might just work to make something even more hilarious. He uses the same approach with his screenplay, and the dialogue is all the more fresh for it.
The film is perfectly scored by Alexander Desplat, who finds the ideal mix of frolicking and moving rhythms along with something mystical and odd. The music matches the film’s brisk and joyful pace and frees up the opportunity for some equally random dance numbers.
I had an immense amount of fun watching “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” It’s clear that the voice actors, all perfectly cast, did too. Such is the charm of “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” of which the message is simply that being different can sometimes be fantastic.
This film is highly different from any of Anderson’s other movies and yet still remarkably his own, and there’s something truly fantastic about that.
4 stars
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