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Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)

Director: Wes Anderson

Time Out rating

Average user rating

24 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Read an interview with Anderson here

Take a few seconds to think back over Wes Anderson’s films and imagine how a stop-motion animated version of Roald Dahl’s ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ might look and sound if directed by this Euro-leaning, Texan caricaturist. Would it, like ‘The Life Aquatic…’ and ‘Rushmore’, offer a hyper-realistic uniform of sets and costumes? Would it, like ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ and ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’, explore an eccentric family, with a father figure looming large and relatives at loggerheads? Would the soundtrack include the Rolling Stones? Would there be a role for Bill Murray? Jason Schwartzman? Owen Wilson? Would it be hip? Would the comedy have a gentlemanly sophistication and even be wilfully exclusive? Would it trade in emotions but feel distancing at times?

Of course, as anyone familiar with Anderson’s films will know, the answer to all these questions is yes. So it turns out: this is an animation, but it’s also a Wes Anderson movie. The difference is that it’s light on its feet compared to the heavy machinery of ‘The Life Aquatic…’ or the ponderous comedy of ‘The Darjeeling Limited’. It’s also a kids’ film, which allows Anderson and his gang – is there another director so collegiate? – to have fun. Anderson himself voices a fey estate agent, and the film has the pace of a caper.
What remains to be seen is how audiences, especially children, will react to the jolty, bristling look of stop-motion animation in the age of CGI and digital 3D. The loving, handmade, purist look of the film, reminiscent of Gondry’s ‘The Science of Sleep’, sees towelling as fields, cellophane as water and cotton wool as smoke, and will probably excite adults more than their kids who will be more taken by the constant, active missions of the plot – elements that, in turn, grow a little tedious if you’re a grown-up.

Dahl’s book was a short, sharp affair illustrated in pen and ink by Quentin Blake, whose drawings don’t have much bearing on Anderson’s version: his colour palette takes its cue from the autumnal hues of fox fur. The main characters in Dahl’s book were Mr Fox himself, a dapper chap trying to protect his family from danger, and his foes, three cider-swilling farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean. Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach (who directed ‘The Squid and the Whale’) have fleshed out the story so that there are more characters (Willem Dafoe’s jive-talking rat is genius) and the Fox family has more personality: Mrs Fox (Meryl Streep) is the voice of reason to her husband’s impetuousness, while their son Ash (Schwartzman), a needy, moody teen, is pitched against a kung-fu-kicking cousin, Kristofferson (Eric Anderson), who comes to stay.

Mr Fox, voiced so appropriately by George Clooney, flits between human behaviour (buying a house, starting a career) and animal instincts (stealing chickens, attacking his food). The push and pull between the tame life and the wild one is the unifying theme. It’s all very transatlantic – the setting and baddies are English; the animals are hip Americans. This is one crafty fox – in every sense.

Read an interview with Anderson here

Author: Dave Calhoun

Time Out London Issue 2044, 22-28 October 2009

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User reviews of this film

Mavis said...

Posted on Nov 15 2010 13:50 perhaps one of my favorite Anderson movie
the animation is amazing. perhaps not to those who is used to the typical hollywood 3d effects audience. detail in the set (architecture) and landscape is fantastic so do all the characters. the combination of western cartoon and elements of japanese comic in characters are witty and funny.
since I have not read the original children's book, there was no reference to the story line when watching, the movie felt like a typical Anderson story, about family, fatherhood, society, values of life and many more that is only to be able to understood by adults, and can be interpreted differently. As the angel changed from human to fox, it became more playful and also brought up some of the other issues which perhaps would not be easy to portrait or present in the human world context, such as towards the end, the scene the wolf appears.
i think it is a masterpiece of animation and also for Wes Anderson, and as a combination of these two it worked out perfectly.

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Mark said...

Posted on Apr 03 2010 16:00 I think the reason some don't find this movie entertaining is simply because it is very smartly done, and if its subtlies are lost, I can see why one would find it boring. From watching the previews, I thought it was an adult movie, and after watching it, I believe that most of its true humor would be impossible for chldren (and slow adults) to grasp.

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ex_timeout_customer said...

Posted on Mar 18 2010 15:56 I have just seen this movie on DVD. Thank god I didn’t see it at the cinema. I agree with the opinions of the many customer reviews that this movie is tedious, not remotely entertaining and (Time Out‘s worst crime) child un-friendly.
I have been a loyal purchaser of Time Out for around 20 years and having been disappointed over and over again by films that have been reviewed highly, I have had enough. This film has been given 4 stars purely because it is quirky and non-Hollywood. Having said that - in one respect the movie is extremely Hollywood: the goodies are American and the baddies are English. I wonder if this time honoured Hollywood tradition would have been forgiven by Dave - Middle Class Film Snob - Calhoun if James Cameron had done the same thing? At least in Geoff Andrews’ day some of his team liked entertaining films.

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molly(: said...

Posted on Dec 14 2009 10:35 why did u delete my comment fantastic mr fox ROCKS!

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Christian said...

Posted on Dec 04 2009 14:30 Theres no doubting the animation techniques used are outstanding and this film is fun. This would be 5 stars like fabrizio says, except if you have seen all the other wes anderson films. It feels far too much like familier territory when you watch..........the stories do not change much from one film to the next..............

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jo TYLER said...

Posted on Dec 01 2009 19:47 My 4 year old daughter has been frightened ?disturbed by this film even 4 days> They left the cinema as it had become too upsetting.Perhaps we were naive but pg guidelines and thinking we knew the story `i==
I wasn't expecting this level of violence....just wanted to post in case any other parent wondering about 4 or 5 year olds . there were several other parents outside the cinema - early having to console young children, I guess keep it to the older children. Thanks

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Christian said...

Posted on Nov 21 2009 16:56 I am a big wes fan and i have to say this film is craftmanship of the highest order and should get an oscar for the animation. Unfortunately the story seems to fit mr anderson too much and felt predictable. Wes will be a great director one day.......when he suddenly does the unexpected i will leap for joy. Qudos for the charm, but move on please wes!!!!

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violetta said...

Posted on Nov 20 2009 17:37 Help let me outa here!! This movies drags on and on tedious to the extreme.

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david horman said...

Posted on Nov 17 2009 13:00 forgot to rate!-

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david horman said...

Posted on Nov 17 2009 12:58 i took my 3 year old daughter-
she seemed to like it and so did i.
You have to understand what Wes Anderson is trying to capture using the old animation look. I thought it worked.
i have never seen his work so i am not bias to the film.
Good stuff!.

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Fabrizio said...

Posted on Nov 15 2009 18:21 Told you so... Pure genius. Dialogues, characters, stop motion, trains and all!!! And both Mr and Mrs Fox are mildly sexy ;-)

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Annelise said...

Posted on Nov 14 2009 12:22 Loved it!!

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Debbie said...

Posted on Nov 13 2009 23:44 Hi Peter - the thing is, I don't think the farmers are supposed to be villains - just humans outwitted by fantastic Mr Fox. Interestingly the day after seeing the film my 5 year old re-enacted the very scene I was referring to, which was a bit of a shock.

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Peter said...

Posted on Nov 13 2009 10:27 @ Debbie - I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the movie but I'm a bit confused that you expect movie villains to be good role models for your kids.

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another Debbie said...

Posted on Nov 11 2009 12:54 Just home from seeing this, and have come online to try to understand how anyone might have enjoyed any of it. I hadn't previously read any reviews - I'd been abroad a lot recently, didn't know it was a Wes Anderson, haven't read the book, didn't know who was doing the voiceovers, didn't know it was Jarvis Cocker singing till he spoke. I was just seeing what I'd heard was a decent film on a wet afternoon. Two hours of our lives and twelve quid we'll never have again. I do regret not leaving at the start. The main character is completely charmless. The colour palette is depressing. The stopmotion animation is irrelevant as the movement is cartoonish, particularly in scenes where all the characters move. The dialogue is tiresome and up itself. The music is brash and adds nothing. No-one in the cinema (a mixed audience) reacted at any time to anything that happened on the screen.
I'm convinced that reviewers see this primarily as a Wes A film and judge it on that premise; so many of the reviews start with a synopsis of his previous work instead of judging it on its merits. I wish this system allowed us to give no stars, or a minus would be nice. Wes Anderson has made the worst film I've ever seen.

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