The Case for Foxy People

After the pretty but unengaging films of late, I went into the Fantastic Mr Fox knowing the animation would be stop motion rather than computer generated; that the running time would be less than two hours; and that no real humans would appear on screen. However, despite its lack of high tech finesse and perfect rendering of human emotions on digital faces, the Fantastic Mr Fox wiped the floor with these other efforts in terms of warmth and engaging performances.

If anyone can play charmingly roguish with a strong sense of humour, it is George Clooney, which made him the perfect choice as the titular Mr Fox. Wes Anderson definitely knows how to stock a great cast: Meryl Streep as the grounded Mrs Fox, Jason Schwartzman as their moody (and a bit strange) cub Ash, and Bill Murray adding a world weary charm to Badger. And of course, the Wilson brothers (actually, their voices) pop up now and again as well, as befits a Wes Anderson effort.

The film is based on a Roald Dahl book (which I do not remember having read, though I do love his work), so the film keeps a somewhat English tone by all the humans being British (Michael Gambon works a different kind of grumpy magic here) and the scenery and clothing evoking the home counties, though the trains in the background remind me more of continental high speed versions than what British Rail generally tends to use.. Given all that scene setting, it is quite forgivable (and kind of makes sense) that all the hind-leg-standing, clothes wearing animals have a different kind of accent and societal structure to the humans that inhabit this land.

And being a Roald Dahl book, the story is… well, wonderful. There is some darkness, lots of light, huge amounts of silliness, and a lot of swearing – though any “real” swearword is replaced by “cuss”, so entire arguments are held like, “Cuss you – you are a cussing pain, you know that?” and it works. In fact, it all works.

I am not going to claim there is great emotional depth to all this, but that is not really its point. I am not going to claim it is a perfect film, as it is not. What it is though is a brilliant film, lovingly animated, with a fairly ludicrous plot and some amazing dialogue and (vocal) performances. While I tend to love going to Wes Anderson films (like The Darjeeling Limited, The Royal Tenenbaums), I have occasionally found fault in their pacing or their more heavy handed moments, but, try as I might in the brief “slow” moments of this film, I could find no such flaws. Lucky me.

Verdict: Well, the assessment is in the title – the Fantastic Mr Fox is fantastic. This movie can be enjoyed on the small screen as well as the large, so if you can’t make it at the movies, keep an eye out for it on DVD, HD-DVD or Bluray or whatever, as no matter the format, this movie will be brilliant. 9 BFGs out of 10.