Fantastic Mr. Fox

Review by Jason Donner

There is something wonderful about old-fashioned stop motion animation.  Sure, you might count things like The Corpse Bride or Coraline into that category, but when I talk about "old fashioned" I mean the uneven and jittery OLD fashioned stop motion before computers figured into the mix.  Stuff like the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special and the Claymation Christmas.  Seeing these kind of television specials and movies are literally like seeing toys come to life and the imperfections only add to their quirky charm.

Take Fantastic Mr. Fox, for example.  Based on a book I've never read, Fantastic Mr. Fox only benefits from being an imperfect presentation.

I am no fan of Wes Anderson's works because I like to be entertained when I watch a movie, but this one has got something special to it.  While still boasting the cry and sardonic dialogue of all of Mr. Anderson's opuses, Fantastic Mr. Fox has a charm lacking in his other movies.  Perhaps it's just the fairy tale presentation or the charm of the rough stop motion.  Who knows?  All I do know is that this movie about a fox is my favorite of Mr. Anderson's overrated body of work.

But, oh... how I loved this movie.  It is everything that Mr. Anderson tries to be in all of his movies: quirky, funny, and heartfelt.  The vocal cast really nails it and the characters are all crafted with superb attention to detail and painstakingly animated bit by bit until they become living and breathing characters.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a movie that will speak across ages.  Forget about this movie being aimed exclusively at kids, this is a movie that has something to say to all age groups about growing up, growing older, and growing outward.

I just adored this movie!  The characters are wonderful and you care about every single one, the dialogue is clever, and the story is always entertaining.  Even the seemingly throwaway and clichéd subplot about the non-athletic son trying to win his father's approval is done so well that it's a winner when it had no right to be.

Wes Anderson's style and this joyously cozy story are such  perfect fit with each other.  Fantastic Mr. Fox is just fantastic all over and, while some of the sarcastic dialogue and understatement might be off-putting, this is hand down my favorite Wes Anderson movie in that I was entertained and not put to sleep.