Forget the controversy over who was where during the actual shooting of Fantastic Mr. Fox. If it looks like a Wes Anderson movie, talks like one and features his unofficial Stock Company (now with 100 percent more Clooney), then guess what? It's a Wes Anderson movie.
And one of his best at that. Across his previous five features, Anderson has become a fairly polarizing voice in cinema -- the dead-pan quirk, formal compositions and exaggerated production design of his strange little worlds has both its steadfast admirers and equally vocal detractors. Regardless of how you feel about his work though, Anderson's style makes his films some of the most instantly recognizable in contemporary cinema.
Besides the obvious visual difference (Fantastic Mr. Fox is Anderson's first stop-motion animation feature) setting Anderson's latest film apart from his past work, the movie is also something of an unlikely maturing point for Anderson. Tonally, there's a lot of similarity to Bottle Rocket and The Life Aquatic, but Fantastic Mr. Fox is a step forward in pacing for Anderson. Mixing dead-pan and screwball, Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach never really look back from the get-go in what is the laugh-out-loud funniest script either has ever written.
George Clooney Leads Fantastic Voice Cast Culled From Wes Anderson's Usual Suspects
Using Dahl's novel as a loose template, Anderson and Baumbach create an outlandish little caper movie brimming with personality. With its autumn hues and real fur puppets, Fantastic Mr. Fox looks quite unlike any of the the studio-supported stop-motion films. Even Selick's recent (and equally terrific) Coraline is worlds more polished than what Anderson has demanded of his animators.
The rougher, cruder aesthetic gives the film (and its characters) a lot of life, but really, its the voice cast that makes all the difference. Clooney is a perfect fit as the untameable Mr. Fox, a reformed family man who has trouble keeping up on his promise to his wife (Meryl Streep) to never to pilfer chickens again. Aside from the Mr. and Mrs. Fox, the critters are almost all voiced by members of Andrerson's informal crew (Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owem Wilson and many others).
It feels appropriate to have all the familiar voices there, because at its heart, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a family affair about the thrills of youthful avengers and the fear of domestication.
The Call of the Wild -- The Laments of a Fox
Mr. Fox -- dissatisfied with his work as a columnist -- gets back into the scheming and stealing business again, targeting the one-two-three punch of farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean. Chases, stand-offs and showdowns ensue. As always with Anderson, though, there's something very melancholic cutting through the silliness.
Streep's delivery of Mrs. Fox's "I love you, but I never should have married you" rivals Bill Murray's "I hate fathers and I never wanted to be one" for the most crushing line ever delivered in an Anderson flick. Besides being true to Dahl's dark spirit, Fantastic Mr. Fox's occasional fits of sadness (there is death and disappointment) feel consistent with the other meticulously constructed universes Anderson has played in.
Wes Anderson and Co. -- Taking (Stop-Motion) Animation Quite Seriously
The exposed edges of Fantastic Mr. Fox only strengthens its character(s). You can see the fur move between frames and the artistry is present throughout, in every badger, mole and fox. This tactile quality makes the world of Mr. Fox no less human than the Zissou Society, Rushmore Academy or the Tennenbaums. In many ways, the characters inhabiting this film feel every bit as real as those in Anderson's other films, though no less quirky, of course.
RATING: 4.5 out 5 stars
VERDICT: From beginning to end, the film is just a complete joy. A great sign that, yes in fact, Wes Anderson is maturing a writer/director.
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