Fantastic Mr. Fox. Directed by Wes Anderson, 2009The trap with a Wes Anderson film is that you're left rooting for first world problems. This is no more evident than in
The Darjeeling Limited (2007), wherein the three protagonists, Francis, Peter and Jack (played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman respectively) go on a quest for higher spiritual meaning in India, all the while focusing on material possessions, ruining relationships and the burden of being white, affluent and abroad. Where his previous films seem to resonate a bit better with this similar tone,
The Darjeeling Limited seemed surface and almost hollow in its effort to be funny. In my opinion, the standouts have always been his first film,
Bottle Rocket (1996) and his sophomore effor,
Rushmore (1998). The main characters are no different than his later films, but pull of the ease of their humor more gracefully than what you find in
Life Aquatic (though still a great film) and
The Darjeeling Limited.
With his most recent effort though, Anderson may have found a way to move beyond the stagnation of his overall comic approach: animation.
Fantastic Mr. Fox is just as detailed, beautiful and rich as his other works, but heightens the experience by making it tangible with stop motion animation. The story isn't unlike a penned Anderson tale — an astute, smart protagonist tries to outfox (sorry) three despicable antagonists with thievery and cleverness, all the while learning something about himself in the process — yet this one comes, originally, from the mind of Roald Dahl. This, I think, frees up Anderson to pursue a richer story because the core emotional and moral tale is intact, all he has to do is bring his charm to the story. The fact that it's animated allows his diorama-esqe, French new wave inspired cinematic styling to feel more controlled and tangible. It also allows the previous problems of
The Darjeeling Limited (two dimensional characters engaged in a near-mid-life-coming-of-age story arc) to be more acceptable because animation often times relies on simple characters doing extraordinary things to play up the moral center.
Fantastic Mr. Fox does that so well it's almost astounding that we haven't seen this type of outing sooner.
The voice acting is superb, the craft impeccable, and the soundtrack, as always, terrific. The humor plays out better because of the lunacy of the styling. It also doesn't talk down to kids (similar to the less kid friendly Where the
Wild Things Are, released this October), which is refreshing in animation. There's some gruesomeness that kids will understand, but not find hard to swallow. There's some pitch perfect family jokes, and the voice of the film should reach most who see it, without forsaking the Anderson touch we've all come to appreciate, even if it slips up. I really enjoyed myself in this movie, and in the Anderson canon might be a high riser.
