The film stars George Clooney as Mr. Fox and Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox with a supporting cast including; Owen Wilson, Michael Gambon, Bill Murray, and Willem Defoe. For this film puppets and stop motion filming is used to bring the characters to life. The story of “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” centers around Mr. Fox and his family who form part of the fauna in a bucolic setting. Mr. Fox although a respectable middle aged father who put his wild days behind plans one last chicken raid against three farmers.
Wes Anderson has given us other quirky films such as: Rushmore, The Royal Tanenbaums, and the Life Aquatic with Steven Zissou. With the director’s trademark humor and ridiculous situations “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” should give plenty of laughs.
The anthropomorphic titular family displays all the flaws inherent to humanity, as Collin Flatt at Philebrity puts it, “The performances are top notch, most notably by the aforementioned Schwartzman as Ash Fox, and George Clooney as the title character. Clooney channels his role from O Brother Where Art Thou: Always scheming, confident, and tragically flawed with a lack of humility and the responsibility of being a father and husband.”
The movie holds a lot for older audiences with the throw back in film style and the “adult” actors garnered from the comedy genre. Most people with younger children today grew up with stop motion animation, and the fact is that CGI has a lot to desire from the aesthetic view.
Puppets release the viewer from having to suspend disbelief that man-like animals can exist and expect them to move in a natural setting. From the previews the cinematography does not disappoint either, the backgrounds are vivid and the interiors rich.
The animation does not have the problems with stuttering like previous stop motion, a credit to the animators at Lip Sync Post who created a world in which badgers are lawyers, rats criminals, and foxes the everyday man who’s own struggles are meant as an outlet for our own in the tradition of Aesop’s fables.
“The Fantastic Mr. Fox” works on different levels, like Shakespeare, the humorous interplay between Mr. Fox and the other characters will appeal to adults and the visual slapstick guffaw scenes will appeal to younger movie goers for the holidays.
See the Trailer of Fantastic Mr. Fox here.
Written by Seamus Esparza
Posted November 25th, 2009 by Seamus Esparza
