Fantastic Mr. Fox: A Review

[3113]

This review will be a quick one. Mr. Fox, adapted from the Roald Dahl book, is a Wes Anderson movie. If you don't like Wes Anderson, you won't like this movie, as it is very much Wes Anderson's movie. If you do like Wes Anderson, you probably will.

It is also old fashioned stop motion. Old, old, old fashioned to the nth degree. We're talking explosions made from cotton balls (very artfully and awesomely done!). If you don't like old fashioned stop motion movies, then, again, this movie is not for you. If you do like them, then you probably will, if for no other reason then this is some of the most amazing and detailed stop motion ever put on screen.

I like Wes Anderson and I like stop motion. So I liked this movie. I wouldn't rate it as my favorite Wes Anderson, but I liked it a lot. And I was blown away by the stop motion. As in the best Wes Anderson movie, the fun is in the details, unexpected plot twists, and crazy characters. Anderson delivers on all.

Should you take the kids? I honestly don't know. Parts of it were perfectly fine for a kids (Mr. Fox big plan to steal chickens; a cricket-rugby-soccer game more confusing than quiddich; a daring rescue). But the dialogue is often very obtuse and adult. I really don't know how kids would like this movie, but there's nothing in it that a kid can't see, though I wouldn't take very little kids. The look of the film and some of its topics might disturb the little ones.

 

[glynndah]

I heard an interview quite recently with one of the actors from this film. He said it was different from most of the voice-only movies in that the characters actually acted together rather than each one taping their part in a studio separately. He also related a story about "acting" a sequence of digging where they were all down on their hands and knees "digging" while they said their lines.

 

[CharleyH]

This review will be a quick one. Mr. Fox, adapted from the Roald Dahl book, is a Wes Anderson movie. If you don't like Wes Anderson, you won't like this movie, as it is very much Wes Anderson's movie. If you do like Wes Anderson, you probably will.

It is also old fashioned stop motion. Old, old, old fashioned to the nth degree. We're talking explosions made from cotton balls (very artfully and awesomely done!). If you don't like old fashioned stop motion movies, then, again, this movie is not for you. If you do like them, then you probably will, if for no other reason then this is some of the most amazing and detailed stop motion ever put on screen.

I like Wes Anderson and I like stop motion. So I liked this movie. I wouldn't rate it as my favorite Wes Anderson, but I liked it a lot. And I was blown away by the stop motion. As in the best Wes Anderson movie, the fun is in the details, unexpected plot twists, and crazy characters. Anderson delivers on all.

Should you take the kids? I honestly don't know. Parts of it were perfectly fine for a kids (Mr. Fox big plan to steal chickens; a cricket-rugby-soccer game more confusing than quiddich; a daring rescue). But the dialogue is often very obtuse and adult. I really don't know how kids would like this movie, but there's nothing in it that a kid can't see, though I wouldn't take very little kids. The look of the film and some of its topics might disturb the little ones.

I have not heard of it, but with such high favour from you, I may just track it down.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I have not heard of it, but with such high favour from you, I may just track it down.

The review in the L.A. Times was fulsome. Apparently it will be a hotly contested animation Oscar against The Princess and the Frog. Disney has, at last, returned to hand-drawn animation just as Wes Anderson has brought back stop-motion animation. It's a great season for the connoisseurs.

 

[3113]

The review in the L.A. Times was fulsome. Apparently it will be a hotly contested animation Oscar against The Princess and the Frog. Disney has, at last, returned to hand-drawn animation just as Wes Anderson has brought back stop-motion animation. It's a great season for the connoisseurs.

Oh, very much so, and Pixar's Up deserves the stiff competition. Pretty as that movie was, I really don't think it stands up to Mr. Fox if only because it didn't have such a strong directorial point of view.

I'll be checking out Frog next week and we'll see how the hand-drawn animation is there. I'm very much a connoisseur of classic Disney movie animation. Snow White still blows me away. It's just breathtaking (dreadful story, but mind-blowing animation!).

I know lots of people who work in CGI, and none of it is a walk in the park, but I sometimes think directors and movie makers are getting complacient with it. Mr. Fox displays its imagination and creativity and director's point of view on every frame on screen. And from the reviews I've been reading about Frog, it's doing much the same with hand-drawn animation.

 

[3113]

I have not heard of it, but with such high favour from you, I may just track it down.

I think this movie might be right for you, Charley. It's weird and wacky, but it also has a very droll and sometimes wicked sense of humor.