Fighting the urge to write about Lost...almost there...fighting it...
All right...
#9: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wes Anderson is not for everybody. I distinctly remember watching Rushmore with my family and, at its conclusion, my sister (who generally has pretty good taste) saying, probably three to five times, "That was so stupid. That was so stupid." Granted, she was wrong about Rushmore, but the point is, some people don't like his style. Fair enough. I'm not one of them.
For example, take this "acceptance speech" that Anderson made recently:
From the opening title of "Acceptance Speech," the awkward handing off of the award, the delay in the words scrolling, the changing his mind and taking the award back, starting to exit the wrong way, and generally fumbling over words and talking very much the way people do in real life, but still with this sense of cleverness, this short little video exemplifies what Mr. Fox (and really all of his movies) are about.
To be honest, I was skeptical of Mr. Fox when I first saw the previews. I thought the animation looked a little clunky, I wasn't sure if Anderson was the right filmmaker to do a movie ostensibly for children, and I couldn't imagine his wry, droll sensibilities translating well to clay forest creatures.
Of course, I was wrong.
His charm translates easily to this sub-medium. I think, in fact, Fantastic Mr. Fox, may be his most accessible film because the quirkiness of character, that some people find jarring when attributed to live-action humans like submarine captains and prep school devotees, fits perfectly in the envisioning of woodland creatures. Foxes and badgers don't talk and have occupations in real life, so there isn't as much space to find qualm in their on-screen portrayal. Anderson even uses this to his advantage further as it gives him the chance to inject fun, purely animal qualities into their otherwise anthropomorphic characters. For example, they still growl, fight, eat, and dig like animals, but they are sophisticated and human-like most everywhere else.
The movie is also perfectly cast. We're this a staged play, none of the players would have to be swapped out, though we might need to make Meryl Streep a tad younger so that she and George Clooney could still convince the audience they were a couple. Anderson-fave Jason Schwartzman, as the insecure, teenage fox, Ash, is especially great.
The animation is really engaging as well. Since the aim isn't exactly realism when one starts dealing with fictile fauna, Anderson is given the chance to shoot some very creative, artistic sequences. For example, the way that they dig (kind of like how one might expect digging to be depicted in an old Nintendo game) is far from being true to life, but it's cinematic and endearing.
What keeps this film from being ranked any higher is that I thought the last-third of the story was a little jumbled. There were some false attempts at building to the conclusion which I found took me out of the flow a bit. That is, Mr. Fox and the animals would devise a plan or solution and then change tracks soon after. It's a minor nitpick, one that might disappear on a second viewing.
All in all, Fox is a film that is working on a lot of levels, from the way it looks, sounds (great music too), and progresses. It may not have taken the crown as my favorite of Anderson's films, but I may have to at least include it in the discussion. Certainly on of the ten best movies I've seen this year.
"I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm gonna ignore your advice." - Mr. Fox
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