Review
Wes Anderson's first foray into stop motion animation is a success. This is a movie full of trademark quirks that mean it can comfortably keep up with its peers in the stylistically mesmerising filmography of Wes Anderson. This telling of Roald Dahl's 1970 classic of the same name will not invoke the same sense of desecration we seem to get at every recent adaption of classic literature. This movie is a colourful and delighting ride through the combined creative minds of two very quirky story tellers.
Fantastic Mr Fox was a love letter to the stop motion classics that Wes loved as a child, he snubbed CGI for a more traditional method of production which gives off visually stunning results. Particularly during the 'Whack-Bat' scene in which we get a long shot of the overcomplicated sport. The sheer spectacle of the visuals are not merely a gimmick as the characters in this movie are likeable and easy to root for. Noah Baumbach and Wes Anderson's script acts as a brilliant foundation for this charming adaption adding depth to each character and a wacky plot that manages to both stay true to Dahl's vision and be refreshing at the same time.
George Clooney in typical wise cracking mode puts in a fine vocal performance as Mr Fox making it hard to picture anyone else giving life to the character in quite the same way. He is supported by an A list cast that includes Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jarvis Cocker and Willem Defoe. A highlight performance is Jason Schwartzman as Ash, Mr Fox's angsty son, from his delivery of scolding insults aimed at Eric Anderson's Kristofferson to his rants about his bandit hat Schwartzman remains as witty as ever.
In an interview with MTV Movies Schwartzman remarked that Anderson had "brought the genre to him" which I think is the perfect way to describe most of his projects, the outgoing film-maker cannot be confined to the limits of a genre as proven by his continuous output of original and high quality films. His latest triumph is full of emotion and humour just simple enough to access the hearts of viewers of all ages. Fantastic Mr Fox will go down as one of his great successes due to its brilliant characters, style and direction.
Lewis Urquhart
Fantastic Mr Fox was a love letter to the stop motion classics that Wes loved as a child, he snubbed CGI for a more traditional method of production which gives off visually stunning results. Particularly during the 'Whack-Bat' scene in which we get a long shot of the overcomplicated sport. The sheer spectacle of the visuals are not merely a gimmick as the characters in this movie are likeable and easy to root for. Noah Baumbach and Wes Anderson's script acts as a brilliant foundation for this charming adaption adding depth to each character and a wacky plot that manages to both stay true to Dahl's vision and be refreshing at the same time.
George Clooney in typical wise cracking mode puts in a fine vocal performance as Mr Fox making it hard to picture anyone else giving life to the character in quite the same way. He is supported by an A list cast that includes Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jarvis Cocker and Willem Defoe. A highlight performance is Jason Schwartzman as Ash, Mr Fox's angsty son, from his delivery of scolding insults aimed at Eric Anderson's Kristofferson to his rants about his bandit hat Schwartzman remains as witty as ever.
In an interview with MTV Movies Schwartzman remarked that Anderson had "brought the genre to him" which I think is the perfect way to describe most of his projects, the outgoing film-maker cannot be confined to the limits of a genre as proven by his continuous output of original and high quality films. His latest triumph is full of emotion and humour just simple enough to access the hearts of viewers of all ages. Fantastic Mr Fox will go down as one of his great successes due to its brilliant characters, style and direction.
Lewis Urquhart
Production
Revolution Studios had the idea to adapt Fantastic Mr Fox(1970) into a feature film in 2004 when they bought the film rights to the Roald Dahl classic. It took a few years to get the project off the ground but in 2006 Mark Mothersbaugh of New Wave band 'Devo' revealed that he was working on a soundtrack to the film. Shortly after this Wes Anderson signed on to direct giving a huge boost to the stature of the project. Anderson needed to rework the original plot to make the story compatible for the big screen. He added small plot points preceding and succeeding the events of the novel to create the beginning, middle and end of the script.
Wes Anderson used some unorthodox methods when creating this film, according to MTV Movies interview with Jason Schwartzman instead of recording the audio separately, all the starring actors lived in a house with one another for a week during the recording process. He also recorded much of the audio in places similar to that of the story setting places such as forests and even underground. In 2006 Revolution Studios closed down and the project moved to Twentieth Century Fox.
Producing the first puppet reportedly cost $50,000 due to amount of different prototypes they worked with. They chose a fully posable design with a silicon skeleton, this allowed them to have full control over small details such as eyebrows and cheekbones to make the characters really come alive. Each character had four different sized puppets, a large one used for close up shots, a medium one for general use, a small one for full body shots and a micro one used for long distance shots.
Producing the first puppet reportedly cost $50,000 due to amount of different prototypes they worked with. They chose a fully posable design with a silicon skeleton, this allowed them to have full control over small details such as eyebrows and cheekbones to make the characters really come alive. Each character had four different sized puppets, a large one used for close up shots, a medium one for general use, a small one for full body shots and a micro one used for long distance shots.
Fox Searchlight - Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5pQvytHIEE
Public Forum - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Mr._Fox_(film)#Production
Larry Carroll - MTV Movies http://www.mtv.com/news/1619463/the-fantastic-mr-fox-jason-schwartzmans-favorite-wes-anderson-film/
Themes
Upon first viewing Fantastic Mr Fox's deeper themes are hard to pick out, but if you look past the glossy surface you'll find a tale of poverty, depression and crime. Mr Fox is a former criminal who has settled down to start a family, in his mid-life he grows tired of his new job and living standards and decides to make a change. This change involves manipulating both his new neighbour & nephew into helping steal from three businesses. This clearly immoral act leads me to believe that we're not following the 'good guy' of the story and that the antagonists may deserve more sympathy than we're giving. An overlying theme could be that the class system forces people to commit crime due to their quality of life, distinctly the scene in which Mr Fox is shocked by how much cider is in Bean's basement. He can't believe that while he struggles to make a living other people have hoards of food and he feels this is unfair.
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