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THE FANTASTIC MR FOX |
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What an interesting adaptation of Roald Dahl's 81 page book. Filmed at the Three Mills Studio in London, where they also made Tim Burton's "The Corpse Bride"),
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" is a sophisticated and hilarious example of the best kind of serious adult animation.
The stop motion characters were all fabricated by Ian MacKinnon and Peter Saunders. The only problem as children will only
understand a few the scenes. The main characters in Dahl's book were Mr Fox (George Clooney) himself,
a dapper fox (who makes an annoying clicking sound) trying to protect his
family from danger, and his foes, three cider-swilling farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean. Anderson and
co-writer Noah Baumbach (who directed "The Squid and the Whale") created a story so that
there are more characters (like Willem Dafoe's very cool rat) and the Fox family have more
personality. Mrs Fox (Meryl Streep) is the voice of reason to her husband's flamboyance, while
their son Ash (Schwartzman), a needy, moody teen, is pitched against a kung-fu-kicking cousin,
Kristofferson (Eric Anderson), who comes to stay. Mr. Fox prides himself on being the best chicken thief
there ever was and though he promises Mrs Fox that his prowling days
are over, though he can't resist one more heist. Yup we get that old story of the aging bank robber - as Mr Fox - planning raids on the farms of Boggis, Bunce and Bean ("one fat, one short,
one lean,") accompanied by a possum sidekick Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky) who tends to zone out at
inopportune moments.
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Back at the den, son Ash (Jason Schwartzman)
is hungry for attention. He's "a little different" says Fox because he wears a superhero
cape and is totally incapable of swinging a 'whack-bat' (Owen Wilson explains the rules
of the game in a jaunty cameo as Coach Skip). Ash's failure to live up to his father's
all-star image is highlighted by the arrival of Cousin Kristofferson (the director's brother
Eric Chase Anderson) who excels at everything and is the perfect foil for Schwartzman in full
brat mode. His furry nose is put completely out of joint when Mr Fox recruits Kristofferson
for a heist on a local cider distillery. One Last Job clearly isn't enough to satisfy Fox and
his exploits eventually put the entire animal community in danger.
Bill Murray is perfect as Fox's
grumpy attorney Mr Badger. Willem Dafoe
is just plain nasty - yet cool - as Rat, with yellowing teeth and the ominous glowing red eyes.
No doubt young kids will find him the scariest critter although Michael Gambon and Brian Cox
are pretty evil as the farmers trying to kill Mr Fox. The movie falls short on the underlying darkness of Dahls book. Anderson makes
a joke of anything unsavory like the killing of a chicken... children do like to be scared though! |
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"The Fantastic Mr. Fox" overall battle focuses on the fact that his pelt is worth a fortune. It results in the
farmers launching all-out war on their adversary, digging down into his lair before recruiting snipers to shoot on sight.
The pace and precision with which Fox and his friends great escape is one of the film's visual highlights, as they furiously dig through
layer after layer of earth to stay ahead of their enemies' onslaught. Along the way, Fox burrows up into
the three men's properties, from which he pilfers enough to prepare a giant feast, while the war
continues to the point of becoming a televised siege. Roald Dahl died in 1990 yet his work remains as popular as ever. Many of his celebrated children's books having been adapted for the big screen, among them Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (which was the source of both the 1972 feature, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," and the 2005 film starring Johnny Depp), "James And The Giant Peach,"
"Matilda," and "The Witches," with several others in various stages of development. With "The Fantastic Mr. Fox
we get a lighter than morbid but extremely well done feature that will vie for top honors against "UP" and
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." --GEOFFREY BURTON
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