Fantastic in every way
Mr. Fox is a wild animal. It’s established the first time you see him onscreen and the last time. During a squab raid on a farm, Mr. Fox finds out that Mrs. Fox is pregnant. Along with this information, he is also asked to stop killing/stealing chickens/squabs because the act has gotten too dangerous for a Fox that is going to be father soon. Reluctantly accepting the plea, Mr. Fox changes careers and begins writing for a newspaper. As you can’t change the stripes on a zebra, Mr. Fox decides that he can no longer contain himself and begins to kill/steal chickens/squabs again behind Mrs. Fox’s back. Eventually his wicked ways catch up with him and the farmers (Boggis, Bunce and Bean) take revenge on his thieving ways. Determined to kill him, they dig out his tree and try to track him down; no matter the cost of other innocent animal life.
Anderson really puts up a director/writer performance like no other. He moves away from actual actors in place of stop-motion animation for his story based on a Roald Dahl story. The choice to do the story in this manner was a good one. I couldn’t imagine this in CGI (I.E. Pixar-ish). I’m not sure that Anderson would have captured the style that he captures in all his films. Imagine the popular, alternative kid in your high school and that’s the style that Anderson brings to all his films. A heavy amount of brown, very 70s color palette that emits the word ‘cool’ in every scene. Had he done that in CGI then it probably would have been lost. The choice to make this with stop-motion animation was a good one and one that payed off heavily in Wes Anderson style visuals. Plus, it’s a lot funnier this way.
Animation aside, picking the actors to bring the characters to life had to be perfect. George Clooney as the lead was nothing short of brilliant. He added a much-needed suave attitude, something we’ve all seen in Oceans (pick one), and accompanied it with a mild case of comedy. While I must give some kudos to Meryl Streep (whom I love as an actress) as Mrs. Fox, the other two performances that take the cake come from Jason Schwartzman as Ash (Mr. Fox’s son) and Eric Anderson as Kristofferson Silverfox (cousin to Ash). Schwartzman, who usually ends up in all Wes Anderson films, plays a great bitter son role. Ash is the weak link in the family; the outsider that is trying to find an identity. His banter with perfect Kristofferson is priceless. Both Anderson and Schwartzman completely buy into their roles and that translates well onto the screen. Fox, Ash and Kristofferson are the best parts of the film. Switching sides, the main antagonist Franklin Bean, played by Michael Gambon (Dumbledore for you HP fans out there), is mean and nasty and a perfect villain for Fox. Gambon’s performance helps push the story along and seems really sad and bitter towards the end; for that I love it.
Are there any rough spots in the film? None really. It’s not the most ‘epic’ story, but it’s damn enjoyable. I watched this once with my kids and twice by myself. There are only a handful of films I will watch three times in one week and this officially made that list. It’s evenly balanced and there isn’t’ a dead spot in the film; it just keeps going on a smooth ride from start to finish.
As for the Blu-ray versus DVD decision, not a huge difference. Clearly the Blu-ray version of this film is more visually appealing, but it’s not like a live-action film where the difference is huge. Sure you get a much clearer, pretty experience on Blu-ray, but the DVD is just as good. The color palette that Anderson uses is very rich and it looks great in HD. The bigger selling point of the Blu-ray, outside of the features I’m going to mention soon, is that the soundtrack sounds ten times better in 5.1 DTS HD. Wes Anderson films have always had good music attached to them and this movie isn’t any different. You’ll be happy if you love audio enrichment.
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
Disc One Blu-ray
• Making Mr. Fox Fantastic
o The Look Of Fantastic Mr. Fox
o From Script To Screen
o The Puppet Makers
o Still Life (Puppet Animation)
o The Cast
o Bill And His Badger
• A Beginner’s Guide To Whack-Bat
• Fantastic Mr. Fox: The World Of Roald Dahl
Disc Two
• Fantastic Mr. Fox widescreen feature film (16×9 1.85:1)
• From Script to Screen
• Still Life (Puppet Animation)
• A Beginner’s Guide to Whack-Bat
Disc Three
• Digital Copy of Fantastic Mr. Fox (Blu-ray Disc exclusive)