Fantastic Mr. Fox [Marathon Review]

“I understand what you’re saying, and your comments are valuable… but I’m gonna ignore your advice.”

            I have seen two of Wes Anderson’s films in the theater. The first of them is the first film I ever saw of Anderson’s, which is this film. As my naïve, inexperienced, younger self, I didn’t like it because of its differences from Roald Dahl’s beloved book. Honestly, looking back, I realize I had no idea what I was talking about. Wes Anderson’s additions and changes to the classic are superb and incredible as well as highly creative. He adds exactly the right tone to the characters, fleshing them all out fully and giving them life.

            When one thinks of stop-motion animation in relevance with Wes Anderson, they could likely realize that it fits his style as well as the train in The Darjeeling Limited. Because of the individual focus on every single frame, Anderson is able to pack loads of glorious detail into the film. Wes Anderson is able to control the camera’s every move with this format, as well as his character’s movements. Basically, stop motion animation is perfect for Wes Anderson in every way, and is in heavy contest with The Grand Budapest Hotel when it comes to the amount of control Wes Anderson shows over the medium. One can only hope that he will make a return to animation someday.

            Characters in this film often do what has been done subtly in some other Anderson films: breaking the fourth wall. Some characters glance at the camera in desperate moments of panic. Kylie answers a question asked by one of the three fearsome farmers, despite the fact that they’re far aboveground. After this, Ash pops up out of nowhere, seemingly points at us, the audience, and asks, “What’s that?” Wes Anderson’s film is really not your ordinary animated film.

            Wes Anderson also has a new composer in this film. Alexandre Desplat, who has scored such films as Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life and Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech, now contributes his incredible skills to construct a tremendous soundtrack. He gives the film a lot of energy, with quickness and rambunctiousness. But along with this original score, we have an excellent compiled soundtrack as well. Incredibly diverse, the soundtrack contains songs from Burl Ives, The Beach Boys, Georges Delerue, and of course, The Rolling Stones. In the film is also a musical number played by a character named Petey, which all the characters, though far away from each other, dance to.

            The main character of the film, Mr. Fox (the fantastic), is far from a role model. He steals, he’s enormously prideful, and deceitful towards his family. Mrs. Fox doesn’t do a great job of putting up with this, but she is loving wife to her husband. I disagree when people act as if Mr. Fox should be offended when Felicity confesses that she never should have married him, though. I believe that that is simply a revelation on her part. For her well-being, it wasn’t a wise decision. But she does indeed love him. Their son, Ash, however, feels very unappreciated and is basically the opposite of Schwartzman’s character in The Darjeeling Limited. Whereas Jack Whitman hated being included in family issues, Ash yearns to be, but is surrounded by such impressive, well-known people that his own talents are overlooked. For this reason, he dislikes his incredibly talented, spotlight-stealer cousin, Kristofferson. Ash’s father is more impressed by this skilled and athletic fox than he is with his own son. But Kristofferson is in quite the predicament, with his uncle suffering from not single, but double pneumonia. Not only that, but he’s thrown into a house where he’s led into crime, family issues, and a horribly timed midlife crisis.

            The vocal actors are made up, unsurprisingly, of Anderson’s usual cast, excluding the main two actors. George Clooney, in what I believe is his fourth performance as a thief (the other three being the Ocean’s series), seems to enjoy this type of character. As Mr. Fox, he’s loud and proud best seen in the feast scene, as he obnoxiously interrupts Badger, the lawyer. Meryl Streep shows herself to be capable of filling all sorts of roles. Eric Chase Anderson, who has had cameos in Wes Anderson’s other films, finally has his first primary role, does a surprisingly great job. Wes Anderson himself indeed has his biggest cameo ever, as the Weasel real-estate agent.

            Finally, Wes Anderson’s style is at its most detailed yet. For example, an insert of a newspaper, upon further inspection, is seen to contain excerpts from Roald Dahl’s original children’s book. Another sign of this incredible detail is the scene depicting a sport called ‘Whackbat’. We hear a quick, concise description from Owen Wilson, of how the insanely complex game is played, while we watch the game being played with quickly drawn lines, ‘x’s and ‘o’s, showing something like a football play. And the film is in great contest with The Life Aquatic and The Grand Budapest Hotel for the most highly defined color scheme. Also, Wes uses grand originality, like his use of the word ‘cuss’ in place of all cuss words.
           This wicked game of revenge is actually, surprisingly, one of Wes Anderson’s most delightful films. It’s filled with some truly heartfelt scenes, one of which takes place near the end of the film, a conversation between Ash and his father which nearly draws tears. The film is incredibly uplifting and stupendously enjoyable. Anderson humanizes foxes in this film, but still allows them to retain some of their base, important, ‘wild animal craziness’.