Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson's love child with the spirit of Roald Dahl, is destined to top quite a few Best Of lists this year. There's really no other way to start a review of Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Fox (George Clooney) and Felicity (Meryl Streep) are living in a cozy little warren, but Fox dreams of something bigger. After they move into a tree, Fox can't resist the siren's call of returning to his thieving ways. It's very much a Dahl story and a Wes Anderson one, for the betterment of both. Fox and Felicity have a misfit son, Ash (Jason Schwartzman) with the quirky angst of a typical Anderson child of larger-than-life parents.
The story includes an equal amount of self-awareness and silliness, set to music that will make even a grumpy adult regress to childhood. With the exception of a rat and "Boggis Bunce and Bean, three farmers equally mean," all the characters have an earnestness that lends a disarming charm. The energy is in part because Anderson had his actors re-create some of the scenes when recording their voices. So characters running around under a tree was recreated with actors in a field running around under a tree. That playful sensibility is infused through every scene.
The rat, played with an exaggerated southern drawl by Willem Dafoe, is as ratty as he can get, but even he is true to his nature, a continual theme throughout the film. Fox himself denies his nature, resulting in most of the chaos in the movie. And the rat, of course, is particularly amusing to Fantastic Fest attendees, with Willem Dafoe once again facing off with a fox, albeit in a completely different context. It's a completely different type of chaos, but chaos reigns in Fantastic Mr. Fox as much as it does in Antichrist.
Anderson’s films aren't always the most accessible, but Fantastic Mr. Fox --while completely an Anderson film -- is equally Roald Dahl’s. Even Dahl’s widow feels he'd love the film. People who haven’t liked previous Anderson films are raving about Fantastic Mr. Fox. The details recognizable in a film like The Royal Tanebaums or The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou are there, but when used with puppetry, play better.
The attention to detail and a relatively timeless story make Fantastic Mr. Fox a movie everyone can see over and over again. Even profanity has been subverted. The story is simple enough to appeal to children and nuanced enough that adults will enjoy it. It holds up very well on the second viewing and still leaves the audience wanting more.
To sum up, Fantastic Mr. Fox is cussing good.
Defender of Wes Anderson's Previous Work.
My biggest fear, as a defender of Anderson's work for the past ten years, is knowing FOX was going to be a homerun. In my gut I knew people would love this one, of all of his films, and that this one would become his "high watermark" to those who have doubted Wes' sincerity as a filmmaker.
"He's a poser," they've said. "Show off!," they say. One-trick pony.
And now suddenly--and this is not a criticism of Jenn--but in general, it now seems "OK" to like Anderson. People suddenly GET Wes Anderson. It's there in Darjeeling, folks. The poetry, art, and pop-savvy. The Royal Tenenbaums is his 'Pet Sounds'; heart and holler, punk ethic and corduroy penache. Fully accessible nonchalance and literate.
Well, I hope they do return to the first few films and recognize that Wes' style on rare occasion can indeed go hand in hand with great talent.
Last point. And like that of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, those who have read Dahl's FOX will recognize that both filmmakers had little more than a guideline to work with. Sure, FOX being far more fully realized than WILD THINGS, but in the end Wes took a script and made something far more spectacular than that original source material.
I'm hammered. I need to lay off beer. That's my trademark.