Movie Review: THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX is Wes Anderson at his Best
From the very beginning I was sold on Wes Anderson’s new film The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I’ve been looking forward to the film since I first heard he was making it. I was happy with everything that I saw in the trailers, and my expectations were high. So what’s the verdict?
The Fantastic Mr. Fox turned out to be my favorite Wes Anderson film so far. I absolutely loved it. This was the perfect story for Wes Anderson to tell, I honestly don’t see how anyone else could have pulled it off and made it that good. The story, dialogue, and design were it’s strongest attributes, each one had their certain charms that made this movie the hilarious film gem that it was.
The story is based on the classic Roald Dahl book that follows Mr. Fox; a kind of bad boy rebel who tries to put his hen heckling, turkey and cider sipping, nocturnal, instinctive adventures behind him after he finds out he is going to be a father. That would be the responsible thing for a father to do. He begins to miss the little adventures that he used to have in his hey day and sets out on another adventure to try just one more raid on the three nastiest, meanest farmers that live right across the way from his new home: Boggis, Bunce and Bean. In the process Mr. Fox goes too far and and puts all of his friends and family in danger, when the three farmers come to get payback for what Mr. Fox has done.
The film was written wonderfully, the dialogue was carefully crafted, and like all of Anderson’s films it’s full of great quotable one-liners. On top of that the actors playing the characters in the film were all pitch perfect. George Cooney, Jason Schwartzman, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe and Eric Chase Anderson all did a great job lending their voices to these characters and bringing them to life.
As for the animation and style of the film... I thought it was great for the story that is being told. I know it is a little old fashion, rugged, and far from perfect, but it all adds to the charm of the film with a vintage homemade feel. Had the movie been made in full CGI or a Hybrid of live action and CG it wouldn’t have had the same effect. I would have been happy to see it made in the style of traditional 2D animation, but I really liked the style Anderson chose to bring this story to the big screen. I definitely don’t think it was the most marketable thing to do, and it might hurt it at the box-office -- because I can see how it would turn a lot of people off. Just know that it adds more to the film than it takes away.
I had a great time watching the film and I laughed all the way through it. I strongly recommend you go see this movie. And if you have kids, take them to it. They will enjoy it as well... At least my kids seemed to really enjoy it.
If you have seen THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX tell us what you thought of it!