Wes Anderson, universally both loved and hated as the number #1 presenter of indie quirk, is also known for putting his offbeat characters and situations through decidedly grownup live-action. But Fantastic Mr. Fox, his first foray into the family genre, has no hint of unprofessional or slovenly animation, held together awkwardly with his trademark differentness.This film, although not reaching the emotional heights of Pixar's Up, which it lost to in the 2010 animated Academy Awards (much to fellow reviewer Nick Duval's chagrin,) boasts wonderfully unique animation (whose vivid oranges and browns and lovingly detailed fur is a far cry from the paint-by-numbers visual schemes of Dreamworks,) never overdone 'human' conflicts, and characters more bizarrely three-dimensional than Danny De Vito's take on Roald Dahl, Matilda.
Plotwise, the original, simplistic Fantastic Mr. Fox has more or thown aside, (as in the original Mr. Fox had no neighbors, no family, and no pop culture references,) But Wes Anderson has kept the edgy spirit of Roald Dahl intact, with human beings replacing grown-ups as the oppressing, shamelessly ignorant bad guy.
The staring scene opens with the eponymous (and otherwise unnamed) Mr. Fox, who, despite his good intentions, never quite gains the viewer's sympathy. He's a nice guy with a problem- he always needs to be under the impression that he is outfoxing the man, and getting his way comes as naturally to him as breathing.
When he is reunited with his wife (who has an unexplained stomach flu, fulfilling the rule for unreasonably sick married heroines,) they go on their nightly raid, and are quickly caught due to stupidity on the part of Mr. Fox. Mrs. Fox's secret is revealed, and the film cuts forward two years (twelve fox years.)
Mr. Fox is now living in a safe but inelegant hole habitat that hurts his pride, accompanied by his wife (Voice of Meryl Streep,) and moody adolescent son, Ash (Wes Anderson regular Jason Schwartzmen, who is considerably past adolescence.) Ash is at a stage where he desperately wants to impress his father, and has the famous complex of needing to make his parents proud.
Everyone 'helpfully' implicates that he shouldn't try to measure up to his dad, and Ash stirs up hell trying to get attention, spitting, grunting, and wandering heatedly around the house in an angry huff. The unsteady family balance is upset further by visiting cousin Kristofferson (Eric Chase Anderson, voicing, well, obviously,) who's father is sick with double pneumonia.
Kristofferson is an earnest soul who has the unfortunate ability of doing whatever Ash is unsuccessful at flawlessly. This immediately attracts the resentful attention of Ash, especially when Mr. Fox starts treating him like the son he never had. The situation goes from bad to worse when Mr. Fox, in a sort of midlife crisis, somewhat cruelly strings pleasant but dim-witted opossum Kylie along to steal from a trio of very armed, very dangerous farmers.
Kristofferson is brought along (he turns Ash away, although I highly doubt he gave him the chance to prove his incompetence) and the trio take dozens of chickens from the homes of Nathan Bunce, Walt Boggis, and Franklin Bean (Michael Gambon, no longer channeling his inner Dumbledore) , who don't have a lot of compassion for woodland creatures. They, nearly as frustrated by their own stupidity as the fox's cleverness, attempt to dig the community out.
The rest I will leave you to find out, as the film itself is not long, nor overloaded enough to need a reviewer to preexplain all the plot-lines and pitfalls. The pitfalls of the film are few, save some plot holes (like Ash's inexplicable change of clothes halfway through the film) and dialogue that OD's occasionally on quirkiness and doesn't step in time to the snappy pace the plot has going.
I am disturbed by people's ludicrous complaints about this film, including the gimmick where they say 'cuss' instead of the specific word (a lot of children's movies don't bother) and that they talk about *gasp* existentialism. Adult themes in an animated movie won't anyone, and it's nice that someone realized putting references beyond the age group can involve old songs and eccentric happenings, not pee-pees and wee-wees that everyone takes for granted (Rated PG.)
