I’ll spare you the pleasantries- are you a Wes Anderson fan? ¬†Ok, if so then you’re going to dig this movie. ¬†If not, move along. ¬†If you’re like me, you’re positioned on the proverbial fence when it comes to Mr. Anderson. ¬†I was mildly amused by Rushmore, loved The Royal Tennebaums and Life Aquatic but watched The Darjeeling Limited whilst shaking my head. ¬†Quite frankly, it made me feel stupid. ¬†Enter Fantastic Mr. Fox: easily Anderson’s most accessible feature yet and also filled with all the disjointed humor and perfectly matched soundtrack that you’ve come to expect. ¬†I won’t say it’s his best work but I could easily see it being his most successful. ¬†Enough with that, what about those of you that don’t know who the hell Wes Anderson is but are interested in seeing this movie? ¬†I think you’re going to dig it.
Mr. Fox, the title character voiced by George Clooney, loves stealing chickens. ¬†I know what you’re saying, we all love to steal chickens. ¬†But you don’t understand- Mr. Fox loves it! ¬†It’s almost a drug for him; concocting schemes with his new friend, Kylie the possum, to try and steal chickens along with alcoholic cider from three nearby food processing factories. ¬†What they don’t realize is that these humans aren’t going to take too lightly to their thieving ways. ¬†From there, things spiral out of control as their entire colony is uprooted by the former proprietors of said chickens and cider. ¬†All of this is done in a very entertaining manner and when it’s all said and done, you’ll hopefully realize that it was quite easy to fall in love with this movie.
So let’s talk about the animation for a moment. ¬†Shot with digital SLR cameras, the film was made using the stop-motion animation technique, which is rather uncommon in this day of Pixar and Dreamworks Animation. ¬†I did some research (read: Wikipedia/IMDb trivia pages) and found that the film was actually shot at 12 frames a second. ¬†This will cause a sort of stutter to the whole film. ¬†The filmmakers decided to do this so that it was easier to tell see the style of animation they were aiming for. ¬†Another interesting addition is the fur. ¬†All of the animals have it and you can see it lightly move between frames, likely due to adjustments made between shots. ¬†It’s subtle but something about it came across as genuine. ¬†Everything just felt more organic than all the CGI movies we see nowadays. ¬†This is something I wanted but didn’t realize I wanted it. ¬†If that makes any fucking sense!
Another great thing was the music. ¬†As per Wes Anderson standards, it’s all put to great use here. ¬†The best use is saved for the third act though. ¬†The whole climax plays like a montage put to some really great music and if you have any doubts about the flick to that point, they’ll be obliterated within the first few verses. ¬†That was kind of my experience- I was digging the movie but didn’t think it was anything special. ¬†By the time the climactic set pieces were flowing with the music, I had a giant movie-nerd boner and was really into it. ¬†The music is simply the heart of the whole movie. ¬†Without this element, I think it would have been lost on me.
Now I know this is a trite statement, but this is really a film that can be enjoyed by both children and adults equally. ¬†The kids in our screening were really responding well to everything even though a lot of it should have been way over their heads. ¬†And of course there was plenty of adult-type humor to keep parents entertained. ¬†More than that though, there are a few adult type moments that the film handles brilliantly. ¬†The whole reason the film gets moving is because Mr. Fox wants to steal chickens. ¬†They make it apparent that he’s not stealing these chickens just to chill out with them- he is in fact planning to consume them. ¬†While the chicken killing doesn’t occur onscreen, I think the method they use is effective and kid safe while still demonstrating that your main character, as lovable and fuzzy he may be, is killing other animals for sustenance.
My bottom line advice on this flick is to check it out. ¬†I really enjoyed it but that being said, I had planned to really enjoy it. ¬†I would say my expectations were higher than normal and were simply met. ¬†And as I recommended in the opening paragraph, use your Wes Anderson barometer to determine your likelihood to enjoying the movie and I think you’ll be safe .
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