Fantastic Mr. Fox
Composite Score: 85.03
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Wallace Wolodarsky, Eric Chase Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Wes Anderson
Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach
Genres: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Family
MPAA Rating: PG for action, smoking, and slang humor
Box Office: $58.09 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Fantastic Mr. Fox is Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s novel of the same name, about a fox whose criminal activities (stealing from poultry farmers) lead to complications for his family and his neighbors. The stop-motion animated film features the voice talents of George Clooney in the titular role role, Meryl Streep as his wife Felicity, Jason Schwartzman as their son Ash, and plenty of other familiar Wes Anderson cast members filling out the other roles of animals and humans. The film received Oscar nominations for its score by Alexandre Desplat and for Best Animated Feature, losing out to fellow animated feature Up in both categories. Its animation style, blend of themes for children and adults, and Wes Anderson’s requisite aesthetic have earned it near universal acclaim as one of the best animated films of all time.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
I don’t know that I’d ever go so far as to label any Wes Anderson film as “approachable”, but as they go, there are some with lower barriers to entry than others. Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of the more difficult of his films to get “average” audiences to watch because of how it has been presented. On the one hand, your adult audience will be hesitant to jump in due to the film’s nature as an animated film, and specifically one based on a children’s novel. At the same time, the film’s actual content has very little that feels heavily geared toward its implicit child audience. In this way, it alienates both of its potentially broad sets of audience members and struggles to fully bring them to bear. As it stands, I do think that most adults who can get over themselves and accept that animation isn’t just for kids will find this to be an incredibly rewarding and rich watch, and I believe that the film does contain lessons and entertainment for younger audiences as well, just probably more for the 9-12 crowd than the 3-7 one.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
I should probably note that it helps this film tremendously that it’s raining and in the 70s where I am today, which is about as close to fall as I’ll get until the end of November, because its vibes, while undeniably Andersonian, also encapsulate a feeling of autumn and the season’s palate and potential. This is a film that thrives on aesthetics while also offering plenty of substance. The particular stop-motion style that Anderson chose to use in Fantastic Mr. Fox gives it a feeling of grittiness that only serves to amplify that sense of fall – things are dying, people are staying indoors more, there’s rain and all that – and set the film apart from other animated films entirely. I don’t know that you could pull a single frame from this film that would be mistaken for some other film. Additionally, Anderson’s adaptation of Dahl’s children’s novel offers audiences plenty to ponder, from the youngest to the oldest. For the younger members of the audience, this is a fun fantasy story about animals going up against bad British farmers that contains lessons about listening to your parents, being kind to those who are different, and to remember that actions impact more than just yourself. For the adults in the crowd, those reminders still remain important, but it’s also got lessons in parenting, marriage, and knowing when to let loose and when to reel it in in the midst of a story that is really about an adult man’s mid-life crisis and the ways that it causes his life and the lives of those around him to spiral dangerously out of control. That’s not to mention the wolf scene, which I still don’t fully understand, but I know it fills me with a sense of wonder and adventure as we get into the end of the film. This film is great, and it’s not just a great kid’s movie or a great animated film; it’s plain and simple a great film.
Wes Anderson’s stylistic choices and the story that he tells through them in Fantastic Mr. Fox deliver excellence on all levels for all audiences, well-deserving of its spot among the greats. Though it might look on the surface like a film that you might want to avoid, there’s something in it for everyone, and I have yet to meet someone who didn’t at least begrudgingly admit that it’s an okay film that looks great. Plus, it’s fall, which is the perfect season to watch this film. It is currently streaming on Max for anyone looking for that opportunity.
