Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Eric Chase Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe

Directed by: Wes Anderson

New Line Cinema

The Official Site of Fantastic Mr. Fox

Discuss Fantastic Mr. Fox on the boards!

“The Fantastic Mr. Fox� is a... generous title. It’s not without its flights of fantastic but it’s hardly the display of fierce fantasticality (yeah, it’s a word – I looked it up) that we might have hoped for. I wish that this weren’t the case. Nothing would please me more then reporting back to you that the uniquely wonderful style of writer/director Wes Anderson translated just as magically in his toe-dipping first attempt at a full length animated classic as it has in his past live action features. But as much as he managed to get his fingerprints of tone and artistry all over it, Anderson’s adaptation of Fox has the familiarity of one of his films that’s light on story, light on substance and content on just looking really really cool. It’s the “too-cool-for-school� flick of the fall for hipsters to rediscover the joys of stop-motion animation attached to a childhood classic.

I admit that I was never a fan of the Mr. Fox book series by Roald Dahl, a man responsible for blessing the world with Willy Wonka among other things. It would be one thing if I cherished the series as much as Anderson claims to and faulted the film for being too different, for diverging from the essence of the source, but I have no frame of reference. I entered this fairytale with a fresh perspective eager to succumb to its charms.

At first the allure is easy to find thanks to the combination of the raw art style staged and shot in a very recognizable Wes Anderson perspective. It’s easy to adore. This is stop motion at its simplest with hairs twitching out of place and wire frames bending impossibly in every direction. It’s as much fun to figure out how they did it as it is to watch their hard work unravel on screen.

I was just as charmed as the story first presented itself. Fox (voiced to perfection by Clooney) has abandoned a life of hen hunting and farm pillaging in favor of the safe stability of family living. While moving that family (including son Ash performed by Jason Schwartzman who steals this movie with his stinging sarcastic daddy issues) to a better location he’s tempted by a string of nearby farms. The itch to return to his old ways is undeniable and he begins to put together his “master plan�.

I scooted to the edge of my seat with anticipation and glee. I mean, this is George Clooney reenacting Ocean’s 11 as an animated fleabag. The promise of adventure was palpable and promptly delivered. Decidedly TOO promptly.

Fox and his crew make it through the three target farms in the first fifteen minutes of the film and it quickly devolves into this revenge tale of the farmers lashing out at Fox. They shoot of his tail and wear it as a necktie before bulldozing his tree house into oblivion and kidnapping cubs for ransom. It’s bleak, aimless and boring – especially after the tease of the great caper that was Fox’s short lived “master plan�.

Fox has the look of an Anderson’s film but the similarities end there. Gone are all the idiosyncrasies that make an Anderson story sing. Sexual intrigue, missing fingers, an Alec Baldwin voice over… None of which belong in a children’s movie but I would have never put it past Anderson to find the childlike equivalents of those things. I do now. To his credit he fins a wonderful way to let Bill Murray and George Clooney curse each other out without offending even the littlest cub.

Mr. Fox is as much a success as it is a failure. Everyone will walk out singing the praises of stop motion and the unique perspective of a proven visionary but will any of us testify to its fresh storytelling or emotional impact? In a year that brought us Coraline should we really settle for anything that’s does little more than look “really really cool�?

Rating: 5 out of 10 - I wrote this review and drew the bellow image months ago but let it simmer hoping that time would heal some of my opening-night wounds. Weeks and weeks later I can find no extra love for Fox. It’s a miss for me. Not on every level but unfortunately on the ones that would have me recommend it to you or revisit it. It seems very comfortable in a very average year of movies that were supposed to be something special. That sounds unnecessarily bitter but I’m sorry – Hollywood is getting lazy.

A rant for another time.

Pass. I’d suspect that bad pacing will keep me from even watching it casually on TV. If you’ve not seen it then one trip through wouldn’t kill you. There’s great artistry on display here but some uncharacteristically average storytelling as well. Buyer beware.

It’s officially Clooney time around these parts despite Avatar ruling the box office. I did see Cameron’s epic in IMAX 3-D and I enjoyed it. I recognize it as a technological achievement but wonder if it’s really the game-changer that films like Star Wars and the Matrix have proved to be. I simply don’t think the story is that good. BUUUUUT… it is absolutely a must see so, you know, get to it. Expect a comic and review for Avatar¬ within the next couple weeks. I have something else in mind for Christmas though. Until then enjoy the snow and have a happy holiday.