Wes Anderson brings Roald Dahl's children's novel to life in stunning stop-motion animation.
You either love or hate Wes Anderson yet everyone loves Roald Dahl. It’s with that sentiment that I went into see Anderson’s latest effort – a stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. I can’t say I imagined a stop-motion version of this book when reading it but the way Anderson has approached the book shows how great this type of animation can be as a filmmaking technique.
Just so you know where I stand on Wes Anderson – love The Darjeeling Limited, like The Royal Tenenbaums. Indifferent towards Rushmore and didn’t particularly dig Bottle Rocket. And Fox? Either I’ve grown to like his style or his offbeat indie humour is more accessible in an animated format. Either way, Fantastic Mr. Fox is firmly on the Darjeeling/love side of my Wes Anderson appreciation.
For his latest, Anderson has filled it to the brim with Hollywood talent including George Clooney in the eponymous title role, Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox and Anderson regulars Bill Murray, Jason Schwarzman and Owen Wilson as Badger, Ash and Coach Skip. He’s also cast his brother Eric as the high achieving Kristofferson Silverfox.
The plot, for those of you whose childhoods weren’t blessed by Roald Dahl follows Mr. Fox as he drives three farmers, Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), Bunce (Hugo Guiness) and Bean (Michael Gambon), mad stealing from them. Eventually the smartest of the bunch, Bean decides enough is enough and becomes determined to hunt Foxy down. But never underestimate a fox…
Anderson has taken the classic tale and imbued it with his trademark quirkiness, making it accessible to both adults and children. The stop-motion approach is a refreshing change from all the bells and whistles of 3D and its rougher animation style gives the film surprising heart.
The acting is fantastic across the board with Jason Schwarzman at his very best as Ash, the conflicted adolescent continually outshone by his perfect cousin. He might be typecast in this sort of role but boy does he do it well. Clooney effectively plays his Danny Ocean character here but it works a treat.
If you like Wes Anderson you’re probably already in line to see Fantastic Mr. Fox. For those less enamoured by his work you’d be missing out if you avoided the film based on that alone. He’s proved himself an able animated director; entertaining children without alienating the adults. That’s increasingly rare these days.
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