While there is still about a month and a half left in the year, at this moment “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is my favorite movie of 2009.
There’s just something wonderful about it. It has beautiful unique animation, a strong moral message and exciting film making techniques all rolled into a tight, 88 minute ball that will be as enjoyable for kids as it is for adults.
Based on the classic children’s story by Roald Dahl, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is co-written and directed by Wes Anderson who, in the past, has made more adult oriented films like “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.” Those films, however, always have a strong father figure and that’s certainly the case with “Mr. Fox.” In the book and movie, Mr. Fox (voiced by mega star George Clooney) is a thief who steals from three greedy farmers and gets all of his animal friends in trouble in the process. He then must devise a way to make sure they don’t all starve.
Anderson chose to tell the story through stop-motion animation (made famous recently by films like “Coraline” and, in the past, the “Wallace and Gromit” series) where you have a puppet that you move ever so slightly and then take a photo of it, times 24 times per second of movement. The result is not quite animation, not quite real life – and that happy medium fits perfectly within this film.
Kids are going to enjoy the wacky antics and relate to many of the characters on different levels. Parents will enjoy those things too, but will appreciate the minutia like Anderson’s musical choices (Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, etc.) as well as some sly inside jokes and the prodding of the English language. And all of those things together result in a high energy, crowd pleaser with a unique independent sensibility.
Joining Clooney are Meryl Streep as his wife, Jason Schwartzman as their son, Bill Murray as their lawyer and Michael Gambon, Willem DaFoe, Owen Wilson and others in smaller roles.
Friday, check back here to read a little bit about how the film differs from the book and why those choices were made from the filmmakers and actors themselves. And then, seek out “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” It opens in New York and Los Angeles November 13 and then will continue to expand until Thanksgiving. To search for tickets, check the official site.
Which is appropriate because this is truly a movie we should all be thankful for.
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