Robin PottratzFantastic Mr Fox is ...well..Fantastic ***1/2 stars out of 4
January 3rd 2010 00:17
I've never been a fan of Wes Anderson's work...Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, and Darjeeling Limited have all been very flat and ironically cute for the sake of being cute...which I have always found to be obnoxious. Turns out that the main problem was the fact that those films featured...people.
In Fantastic Mr. Fox, all of the things that make Anderson's films so irritating work wonderfully...for they give us a chance to look at the artistry of the stop motion creations of Mr. Fox (George Clooney...is he ever bad?), Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep...see Clooney description), and their son Ash (Jason Schwartzman...wonderful). These creatures are made with such vivid detail that its easy to get lost in the sheer beauty of them. Fortunately, Fantastic Mr. Fox has a wicked fun story for all ages.
Mr. Fox is an adventurer and hunter who settles down and writes a newspaper column when his wife announces that she is pregnant. Several fox years later, he gets the itch to adventure again...this time targeting the farms of Boggis, Bunce, and Bean who are as Mr. Fox's Badger Lawyer (Bill Murray) describes three of the "meanest, nastiest farmers in the entire valley." He ain't joking...they even shoot off Mr Fox's tail.
Eventually a full on war breaks out between the farmers and all of the underground critters.
No plot synopsis can accurately describe the fun that there is to be had in Fantastic Mr. Fox. Anderson decided to bring all of his voice actors to a farm in Connecticut to bring more of an authentic sound to the story...which serves the story for the better. It helps to capture the fast pace of the movie which is furthered by the terrific soundtrack featuring the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys.
Also there are the brief moments of hilarity that make this film more than terrific for adults...such as when Mr. Fox and his Badger lawyer growl at each other and circle each other in his office...or when Mr. Fox is forced to face off against a french guard rat (Willem Dafoe).
This is one of the winter's great surprises, with fun and adventure at every turn. It is very rare but Fantastic Mr. Fox is laced with the same spirit of its title character...without that...all you got is G-Force.
In Fantastic Mr. Fox, all of the things that make Anderson's films so irritating work wonderfully...for they give us a chance to look at the artistry of the stop motion creations of Mr. Fox (George Clooney...is he ever bad?), Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep...see Clooney description), and their son Ash (Jason Schwartzman...wonderful). These creatures are made with such vivid detail that its easy to get lost in the sheer beauty of them. Fortunately, Fantastic Mr. Fox has a wicked fun story for all ages.
Mr. Fox is an adventurer and hunter who settles down and writes a newspaper column when his wife announces that she is pregnant. Several fox years later, he gets the itch to adventure again...this time targeting the farms of Boggis, Bunce, and Bean who are as Mr. Fox's Badger Lawyer (Bill Murray) describes three of the "meanest, nastiest farmers in the entire valley." He ain't joking...they even shoot off Mr Fox's tail.
Eventually a full on war breaks out between the farmers and all of the underground critters.
Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and the crew in "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
No plot synopsis can accurately describe the fun that there is to be had in Fantastic Mr. Fox. Anderson decided to bring all of his voice actors to a farm in Connecticut to bring more of an authentic sound to the story...which serves the story for the better. It helps to capture the fast pace of the movie which is furthered by the terrific soundtrack featuring the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys.
Also there are the brief moments of hilarity that make this film more than terrific for adults...such as when Mr. Fox and his Badger lawyer growl at each other and circle each other in his office...or when Mr. Fox is forced to face off against a french guard rat (Willem Dafoe).
This is one of the winter's great surprises, with fun and adventure at every turn. It is very rare but Fantastic Mr. Fox is laced with the same spirit of its title character...without that...all you got is G-Force.
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