20th Century Fox | 2009 | 87 mins. | Rated PG
Adapted from Roald Dahl’s book of the same name, Fantastic Mr. Fox is director Wes Anderson’s (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) first foray into full length stop-motion animation. Adapted for the screen by Anderson and Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale), the first thing that struck me about this film was the look. One of the oldest animation styles available, stop-motion animation tends to make buildings and landscapes look rather picture booky; In the case of Fantastic Mr. Fox, the faces of animals look almost lifelike. Most amazingly, their fur seems so real. Its details like this that serve to draw you into the story from the first frame.
After learning that his wife (voiced by Meryl Streep) is pregnant, former athletic standout and expert chicken thief Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) leaves behind his life of thievery for a job as a mild mannered newspaper columnist. Then, 12 “fox years” later, he is drawn back into his old life. The family moves from their small den to a large tree that overlooks three large neighboring farms. Their son Ash (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) is resolutely “different.” He has a hard enough time living in the shadow of his notorious father; so he’s less than thrilled to learn that his beloved cousin Kristofferson (the director’s brother Eric Anderson) will be staying with them for awhile.
Mr. Fox plots a raid on the farms with an opossum named Kylie (voiced by Wallace Wolodarsky). Unfortunately, the act has unexpectedly dangerous repercussions not only for them, but the entire animal kingdom. After raising the ire of the three biggest local farmers–Boggis, Bunce and Bean (the latter voiced by Michael Gambon), Mr. Fox, his family, and the other animals are forced underground. The farmers have every sniper they can find on the hunt for Mr. Fox; forcing him to use every animal instinct he has to avoid certain death. When one of the farmers kidnaps one of his loved ones, it looks like his days are numbered. In order to save them, he’ll have to come out of hiding and face a sad fate.
One thing that Anderson does so well is make us care about the characters. The choice of voice actors was perfect. George Clooney seems born to play Mr. Fox, equal parts roguish and sweet, every word he says is somehow believable. Streep can make even a “suffering wife” voice-over role interesting; I only wish there had been more of her in it. Bill Murray has some memorable moments as the lawyer Badger, and Schwartzman is funny and awkward as Ash. Willem Dafoe and Owen Wilson have small but notable roles as a tough talking rat and Ash’s “Whack Bat” coach, respectively.
I mentioned the animation earlier, but there are a few additional things that male it superb. The palette is full of warm autumnal colors that seem to pop off the screen at every turn; Anderson added actual fur to the puppets to give them a more realistic look. And to those who worried that Anderson’s foray into stop-motion animation would mean a change in his filmmaking style—not a chance. The style and pace is pure Wes Anderson, including the soundtrack (which includes everything from “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” to “Street Fighting Man” by The Rolling Stones.)
While I will concede that Fantastic Mr. Fox is a bit slow to get going, and at times a bit too quirky, at the end of the day Anderson has succeed in crafting a film that should appeal to both children and adults. Fantastic Mr. Fox definitely earned a spot on my top ten list of the best films of 2009.
The film’s 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio is faithfully delivered in a 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. The color palette isn’t eye popping, as everything trends toward a brown reddish hue. However, the clarity and sharpness of the picture is second to none. You can count every hair on each animal, and there are acres of details in the sets and costumes that these characters inhabit. Only the slightest banding in some navy blue skies prevents the transfer from being reference quality material.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix delivers the eclectic music score very well into the available channels (everything from “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” to “Night and Day” and “Street Fighting Man”), but the remainder of the mix veers strongly toward the fronts with a noticeable lack of use in the rear channels and the subwoofer. The voices are nicely recorded and are always clear and distinct, but this is not a reference soundtrack that one often finds in current animated movies.
Subtitles are presented in English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Fantastic Mr. Fox offers the Following special features:
• Making Mr. Fox Fantastic – A fabulous documentary on the making of Fantastic Mr. Fox which you can play all or watch the following featurettes separately: The Look of Fantastic Mr. Fox (8:12), From Script to Screen (7:00), The Puppet Makers (8:19), Still Life (Puppet Animation) (7:23), Cast (6:32), Bill and His Badger (7:37).
• A Beginner’s Guide to Whack Bat – (1:12) A brief guide to the sport of Whack Bat.
• Fantastic Mr. Fox – The World of Roald Dahl – (2:58) A short featurette about using the Dahl house as an inspiration of ideas in creating the miniature sets for the film. Roald Dahl’s widow talks about how the filmmakers did a wonderful job in capturing Roald’s ideas for Fantastic Mr. Fox.
• Theatrical Trailer – (2:25) The original theatrical trailer
The Blu-ray of Fantastic Mr. Fox includes a DVD of the film presented in Widescreen (1:85:1), audio in English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround and Subtitles in English SDH, Spanish and French. Also, included is a digital copy of the film.
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