"Fantastic Mr. Fox" review by Ben Kenber

After watching “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” I am convinced that Wes Anderson should make as many stop motion animated movies as he possibly can. Nothing against his live action movies, but this form of animation seems really suited to Anderson’s rather unique blend of comedy and dysfunction. While his last film “The Darjeeling Limited” was very good, it started to seem like Wes had been dealing with the same themes once too often. But with the brilliantly made “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” it gives his material a freshness that for a moment seemed to be ready to leave him. I wasn’t sure what to expect when going into the theater, but this turned out to be one of the most enjoyable movies that I saw in 2009. Any frustration I had over not being able to see “Avatar” (it was a family outing, and it didn’t seem right for my 5 year old niece) was completely forgotten.

The movie is based on a children’s novel written by Roald Dahl whom Wes Anderson considers one of his personal heroes. Dahl is the same man who wrote “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach” among other stories, and his work is characterized by a lack of sentimentality and dark humor. Judging from “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” with their strong black humor, it’s no wonder Wes digs this guy!

The Mr. Fox of the story is a cool and exceedingly clever animal, and we first see him with his wife sneaking into a farm to steal food. However, they are caught in a trap which has his wife saying that they should choose a safer form of work. Oh yeah, she also tells him that she’s pregnant, and that changes the dynamics of any relationship in a heartbeat. We catch up with these two a couple of years later as they have found a home within a hole in the ground. Mr. Fox is now a newspaper columnist, and he and his wife are parents to a son, the sullen Ash who constantly feels unappreciated in all he does. Mr. Fox however does not like where the family lives and promises to do better by them. Despite the warnings of his lawyer Badger, he ends up buying a new home in the base of a tree. Their new lodgings are also coincidently right near the gigantic farms owned by three ugly looking farmers, Walter Boggis, Nathan Bunce, and Franklin Bean. So of course, this gets Mr. Fox all excited and back to his usual tricks of stealing food and drink while the rest of the family remains unaware. To quote another fox from a vastly different 2009 movie, “chaos reigns!”

The first thing that people will notice about this movie is its “star studded” (what does that mean anyway?) cast of actors. Voicing the main character of Mr. Fox is the most debonair of movie stars right now, George Clooney. With this, “The Men Who Stare At Goats” and “Up In The Air,” I can’t help but wonder where Clooney gets the time to sleep. At this moment, he’s everywhere it seems, and his constant presence would be ever so annoying if he weren’t as good an actor as he is. George perfectly captures Fox’s confidence without iever becoming overly smug, and he exudes the cleverness Mr. Fox has in getting back at the three farmers.

Meryl Streep who also has had a busy year with this, “Julie & Julia” and “It’s Complicated,” voices Mrs. Fox. I actually wonder how she gets sleep as well doing all this great work and different accents. Meryl is the perfect contrast to Clooney’s charmingly reckless nature, and she serves as the conscience that Mr. Fox needs to hear out more often. Meryl doesn’t do anything incredibly different with her voice like she did for Julia Childs, but the warmth of it is quite seductive at times.

Wes Anderson has also employed many of his regulars for “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” as well. Jason Schwartzman who was featured quite prominently in “Rushmore” and “The Darjeeling Limited” voices Mr. Fox’s son, Ash. Jason perfectly captures the angst Ash feels at never fully winning his dad’s approval and you feel his desperation as he goes to dangerous lengths to get it. Owen Wilson, who co-wrote “The Royal Tenenbaums” with Anderson, has a cameo voicing Ash’s athletic coach Skip. You can tell its Owen right away, and he gives Skip a wonderfully dry voice that gets a good amount of laughs whenever he appears on script. Even Bill Murray, who has had a part in just about all of Wes’ movies, voices Mr. Fox’s lawyer Clive Badger, and he always seems to fit in perfectly in this writer/director’s cinematic universe. Wallace Wolodarsky voices the confidence challenged Kylie Sven Opossum who somehow gets sucked into Mr. Fox’s schemes against his better judgment.

Other voices to be found are Michael Gambon (the current Dumbledore of the “Harry Potter” movies) who voices one of the farmers hell bent on eliminating the thieving Mr. Fox, Franklin Bean. Eric Chase Anderson, who is responsible for doing those illustrations of Wes’ movies when they are released in the Criterion Collection editions, voices Mrs. Fox’s nephew Kristofferson who is perfect in every way Ash is not. But the most surprising voice in the film is from the actor who voices Rat, Bean's security guard. Rat was a French character, so I assumed that the actor voicing him was French. Turns out that it was actually Willem Dafoe! That’s right, the same guy who was in that other delightful movie with a fox in 2009, “Antichrist.”

With just about all of animated movies being released today done with computers and digital effects, it’s refreshing to see other filmmakers go a little retro with the stop motion animation. The work here is brilliantly done, and I was surprised at how lifelike everything looked. Movies like this must require an exceeding amount of patience to make because they must take years to produce. It also fits right in with Anderson’s quirky sense of humor which remains intact a good ten years or so after “Rushmore.”

And of course, the story fits in with Anderson’s common cinematic themes of dysfunctional families (anyone have a non-dysfunctional family?) and unique individuals who don’t always get the attention they think they deserve. Mr. Fox’s son Ash seems the biggest victim of all that goes on as he constantly struggles to win the attention of his father who holds his nephew Kristofferson in higher regard. Then again, how many foxes do you know of that practice meditation on a regular basis? Give Kristofferson some credit; he doesn’t waste time disemboweling himself like that wolf in “Antichrist” (sorry, I can’t stop mentioning that movie).

I also really dug the soundtrack that Wes chose for this movie. Each of his movies has had a great selection of music that veers from classic British rock songs to American rock among other genres. With “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Wes includes some songs from the Beach Boys and Burt Ives which fuel the movie with an undeniable sense of innocence and adventure. It has also made me an instant fan of The Bobby Fuller Four whose “Let Her Dance” plays during one of the most joyful moments of the film. Composing the score for “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” is Alexandre Desplat who has composed music for movies like “Firewall” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” I love how Alexandre captures the infectious spirit of the proceedings that take place here. Even as things get increasingly bleak for Mr. Fox and company, he helps to keep things constantly upbeat.

Is this a kid appropriate movie? I think so. It did get a PG rating which seems appropriate to me. There are many bottles of alcoholic apple cider and some smoked chickens that may give you the wrong impression of the goings on being displayed, but I really think that the movie is harmless. Compare this to the recently released sequel to “Alvin and the Chipmunks” which has not so subtle references to classics like “Taxi Driver” and “Silence of the Lambs” among others. This is a film aimed at kids, and they are going in droves to see it when they could be seeing something far more invigoratingly creative like this.

While you might be more likely to see this movie on DVD or Blu-Ray (or VHS if it’s still available), “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” really is a fantastic movie that deserves a big audience. Wes Anderson, along with co-writer Noah Baumbach (“The Squid & The Whale” and “Margot at the Wedding”) have managed to take their fascination with families that are less than perfect and put it in a context that will not scar your kids for life. It was also cool to see George Clooney play a character that (unlike in “The Men Who Stare At Goats”) was not afraid to dance.

Was it worth not going to see “Avatar” that day and waiting longer to see it? I hate to say it but yeah.

**** out of ****