The Fantastic Mr. Fox

No, I will not go with the obvious and use the word “fantastic” to describe Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book The Fantastic Mr. Fox. But I will say that it’s fun, enjoyable, and excellent.

I have to say that I loved the look of the film – from the character design to the setting to the animation style. The look is very much in keeping with Wes Anderson’s other films and the rather rough animation (in contrast to the smoother, more polished look of Coraline, another stop-motion animated film from earlier this year) gives the film a certain charm. It gave the film the feel that this was something done for fun and helped bring the audience in to just really enjoy it and have fun as well.

Anderson does a good job of keeping the film friendly for kids but also enjoyable for the adults. It’s cute and fun, good for the kids. There’re a few dark moments – Mr. Fox getting his tail shot off and the villain wearing it as a tie – but I don’t think that it’s anything that can’t be handled by a kid, though of course, I only have hypothetical kids.

And I think Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach find a rather elegant way of dealing with the language, making it natural but safe for children. Instead of swear words, the characters say “cuss” as in “are you cussing me?” or “this is a cluster cuss.” It’s safe and gives a little chuckle for the adults who get the meaning. At first it’s a little confusing, you think to yourself ‘did they just say “cuss”?’ but then you get it.

I’ve seen some criticism of the way the film is shot – mostly using static, wide shots. Quite frankly, I didn’t even notice. I didn’t even realize until afterwards when I saw some comments regarding it and thought about it. I was too busy enjoying the movie to notice. And when you start reading into some of Anderson’s influences, it’s understandable why he’d shoot it this way – reminiscent of the old stop-motion animation specials of Rankin-Bass. It’s his way of paying homage to his influences. It’s not always necessary to use moving cameras and tracking shots and things of that nature all the time. There’s something nice about the simplicity. And as a friend of mine said, and I’ll steal it because it’s more elegant than anything I could think of – it gives it the feel of a diorama, which, in essence, it is. It’s a rapid series of dioramas.

The film is dry and witty, which is to be expected from Anderson who has made his career in that style. If you like that sort of humor, then you should enjoy this film. If not, then you should probably skip it because you’ll probably just be annoyed at the dryness and wit and not try to enjoy anything else the film has to offer. And kids shouldn’t and, from what I’ve seen and heard, been bothered by it. And, oh, ok…the film is pretty fantastic.

4 out of 5