Henry Saw: Fantastic Mr. Fox

What a year for animation.


As we near the end of the year it is becoming clear that this, in the end, was not the best year for movies. There were highlights, but then again there are always highlights, but my Top Ten of 2009 will be significantly worse overall than last year's or 2007's.

Still one "kind" of cinema has excelled this year and exceeded the average quality of films in 2009: Animation. This has been a very strong year for "cartoons".



We've had the fairly fun Monsters Vs. Aliens, Ice Age 3 (apparently a somewhat entertaining popcorn flick for kids), Ponyo (any Miyazaki film is a good film), the very cool looking 9, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (which I heard nothing but surprised praise for), Coraline (a movie that deserves to be a bit of a classic), and Up (one of the best reviewed movies of the year). Then there is the soon to be released The Princess and the Frog, Disney's return to 2D animation, which is getting a strong 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.

All these solid to great movies and Fantastic Mr. Fox is probably my favorite of them all. Which is not to say it is better than some of these. Both Up, which manages to reach lofty levels of real "art" and of silly hilarity, and Coraline, which blends the unique look of The Nightmare Before Christmas with a dark fairy tale more reminiscent of 1980's children films, are better movies. Fantastic Mr. Fox is certainly a more flawed film than either of those. Still, Wes Anderson's first animated feature has a certain warmth, lightness, and aesthetic (God how many times has that word been used in reviews of Anderson films?) that made me just completely give in to the movie.



Anderson's film, written by Anderson and his sometime partner Noah Baumbach, and which is based on a short "novella" by Roald Dahl, is about a Fox (voiced by George Clooney) who gives up his life of thieving when his wife (Meryl Streep) gets pregnant. 2 years later Mr. Fox is bored in life and slightly disappointed by his son Ash (Jason Schwartzman), especially when his cool nephew Kristofferson comes to stay with them. In order to appease his midlife crisis Mr. Fox moves his family into a tree near three adjacent farms. Soon the temptation is too great and Mr. Fox is breaking into the different farms, poaching Chickens or alcoholic cider, and angering the three farmers who run them. The rest of the film involves Mr. Fox's conflict with the farmers, which results in all his animal neighbors being displaced from their homes, and teaming up together to fight back.

The movie, as has been said elsewhere, really feels like a Wes Anderson movie. The look, the clothes, the framing of shots, the music...except that this is the most fun Anderson has had since Rushmore. There's a pace and tone to the film that sweeps you in and makes you want to laugh at every little joke.



The old-fashioned stop-motion animation, more reminiscent of the old Christmas Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer cartoon than something like Corpse Bride, never tries to hide how it was made. The fur of the animals moves in each shot, like the old King Kong, because human hands have been manipulating the doll frame-to-frame. It almost gives the look of wind blowing the hair around...but not really. Anderson, just like with his other films, is not worried that you're always aware you're watching a film. This is not an immersive experience but an incredibly enjoyable one.

The voice work is also strong. Clooney is playing his Danny Ocean character and is perfectly cast. Streep, though underused, is always compelling (even when its just her voice). Even Schwartzman, one of the more annoying actors in the world, is well utilized as the strange and bitter Ash. Unlike the other Clooney movie of the season (Up in the Air not The Men Who Stare at Goats) the "cameos" by other actors is not distracting. Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Owen Wilson, and Willem Dafoe...they all work really well. I especially liked Dafoe's performance, he plays a greaser Rat who gets into a knife fight with Mr. Fox, and is hardly recognizable. Rat was one of my favorite characters and I was surprised when I learned who had done his voice.



So I can't recommend Fantastic Mr. Fox enough. It combines the nuevo-art house elements that Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are had with...you know...an actual effort to entertain adults and children that Jonze's movie lacked. It's a fun, short, and clever adaptation of a great author's lesser work. This is the best Dahl film-adaptation after The Witches...and it's also my favorite animated film of the year.

Grade: A-

Best Scene: The fun, but layered, final scene.