The real Animal House.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 stop-motion animated film directed by Wes Anderson, who is known for directing such live-action films as The Royal Tenenbaums. Fantastic Mr. Fox is Wes Anderson’s first forray into animated cinema, but how well does Wes Anderson transition into the medium?

Fantastic Mr. Fox is based on the book by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, ect.). The story (as you might have guessed) follows Mr. Fox, a former fowl thief starting a new life with his family.

Mr. Fox was once quite the thief, stealing chickens, turkeys, geese, squabs and all other manners of birds. Obviously, being a thief is lowly and dangerous work. And once his wife reveals she is pregnant, he decides to start a new, more respectable life.

A few short years (but a few more fox years) later, and Mr. Fox has become a newspaper columnist, living in a hole (as most foxes do) with his wife and his son Ash. But Mr. Fox wants better for his family, so he decides to move into a tree, despite the warnings of his lawyer (a badger, not a snake as you might imagine) that the tree is located uncomfortably close to the farming facilities of Walter Boggis, Nathan Bunce and Franklin Bean, three of the nastiest farmers around.

Boggis owns a chicken farm, while Bunce farms ducks and geese, and with Bean it’s turkeys and apples (and in tern, cider). Of course, Mr. Fox is lured by all of the wonderful things being housed in the farms around him, and he can’t help but be tempted to revert back to his old days of thievery (with some help from his opossum friend/superintendent Kylie). Though Mr. Fox soon finds that he has bitten off more than he can chew, and the more he gives into his vice, the worse things become for him and everyone he knows.

And along with the already great main plot, there is also a subplot that begins once Mr. Fox’s nephew Kristofferson moves into the Fox famiy’s new tree after his father grows ill. Kristofferson is mild mannered and soft-spoken, but seemingly perfect at everything he does. And everyone, especially Mr. Fox, is wowed by Kristofferson’s natural talents.

That is, everyone except for Ash, who begins to feel neglected by his father and inferior to Kristofferson (though Kristofferson would never intentionally try to hurt Ash). Ash is kind of an awkward kid, he prides himself an athlete but isn’t really good at sports, he doesn’t quite fit in with most people and he has a tendency to don a cape (why those ever went out of style I’ll never know). Suffice to say he thinks of himself as a weird kid, and Kristofferson outshines him in seemingly everything.

Both the main plot and Ash’s sub-story are extremely wonderful and enjoyable, and even a bit poetic. The movie flows nicely and has an interesting structure, in which the film goes by in “chapters” to give it more of a storybook feel.

But I think a huge highlight of the film is its unique sense of humor, which is a lovely combination of dry wit and that ever wonderful wacky British humor (of both I am a fan). Some people might not get the humor of the film, but I found it funny and very refreshing compared to all the pop-culture jokes found in most of today’s animated films, and certainly funnier than the juvenile raunchy humor that floods live-action films.

In fact, a lot of the humor of Fantastic Mr. Fox can be found in the body language of the characters, with all their little quirks and mannerisms, the simple movements of the characters can bring out humorous personalities in the characters.

And the dialog is filled with bountiful amounts of that wonderful dry wit. Humorous little sentences and remarks are thrown around so casually, but with charming execution and genuine wit. It is the simple wit and delivery that makes the film so funny and unique.

Another funny aspect of the characters occurs when their animal traits suddenly start kicking in (for example, Mr. Fox gets in an argument with his lawyer, and they start growling and snarling at each other). The way they suddenly go from more human to more animal was entertaining.

Though I’m not sure if some younger audience will appreciate its sense of humor, of course some will, and some will simply enjoy it for the charming characters and the whimsical look of the film. But for the most part, Fantastic Mr. Fox isn’t particularly geared towards children, that isn’t to say it is inappropriate in any way (all possible swear words are substituted with the word cuss. For example, “what the cuss is going on?!” I also found this funny and refreshing.). But the film  seems to be more aimed at older audiences, though again, I could imagine children still enjoying it.

The film has a star studded voice cast, which includes the likes of George Clooney as Mr. Fox, Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox, and Bill Murray as Badger, among others. But I have to say, a delightful thing about the movie is you forget about the big name actors and just start paying attention and listening to the characters. I forgot all about George Clooney and just enjoyed listening to Mr. Fox.

But I’m afraid I sadly have to admit, the aspect of Fantastic Mr. Fox that was a little bit of a mixed bag for me was the animation. Now don’t get me wrong, it isn’t that the animation is bad, but it just didn’t completely win me over.

The character designs for the animals are wonderful, and as I said before, they animation allows for some humorous body language from the characters, and their fur is just plain fun to look at. But I’m afraid I didn’t care much for the human character designs. Sure, Boggis and Bunce and Bean are supposed to look creepy, but I think the other humans seen in the film look too creepy.

And as much as I love the look of the animals and their movements, I’m afraid their facial expressions don’t always come through. At times they can be really expressive, but other times the animation can look a little choppy, especially when we see close ups of the characters’ faces.

But even still, for the most part I do like the look of the film. I love all the furry animals and the bright, sunny look of the film. And the good overshadows the bad.

All in all, Fantastic Mr. Fox is not only one of the funniest films of 2009, but also one of the all around best. Fantastic Mr. Fox is filled with genuine humor and secretly hides more poetry than you might imagine at first glance. Fantastic Mr. Fox proves to be a great first outing into animation for Wes Anderson.

Fantastic Mr. Fox may very well be…dare I say it….. Fantastic!

*Whistle whistle! Click click!*

(1 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10, rated)

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