Jan 13, 2010

The Fantastic Mr. Fox




I saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox over the thanksgiving break. It was honestly amazing. By far, my most favorite Wes Anderson movie ever made. It was so fresh, so original, and so funny. I honestly loved so much about it. Its claymation, but then its not. Its just fresh.

If you are not familiar with Wes Anderson, he has done movies such as Bottle Rockets, Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and The Royal Tenenbaums. His wit is hard for everyone to embrace, but if you get his sense of humor, his movies are pure brilliance. But its defiantly dry humor and wit.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Wes Anderson"]Wes Anderson[/caption]

The Fantastic Mr. Fox is based off the book by Roald Dahl, who also wrote James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Fantastic Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is the story of one Mr. Fox and his wild-ways of hen heckling, turkey taking and cider sipping, nocturnal, instinctive adventures. He has to put his wild days behind him and do what fathers do best: be responsible. He is too rebellious. He is too wild. He is going to try "just one more raid" on the three nastiest, meanest farmers that are Boggis, Bunce and Bean. It is a tale of crossing the line of family responsibilities and midnight adventure and the friendships and awakenings of this country life that is inhabited by Fantastic Mr. Fox and his friends. Through out the movie, the many characters make this movie a riot. Bill Murray plays the badger, and Mr. Fox’s “different” son is played by Jason Schwartzman so perfectly.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Bill Murray as the Badger"]Bill Murray as the Badger[/caption]

Here is a list of the wonderful cast.
Bill Murray ... Badger (voice)

Wallace Wolodarsky ... Kylie (voice) (as Wally Wolodarsky)

Eric Chase Anderson ... Kristofferson (voice) (as Eric Anderson)
Willem Dafoe ... Rat (voice)
Owen Wilson ... Coach Skip (voice)

Jarvis Cocker ... Petey (voice)
Wes Anderson ... Weasel (voice)

Karen Duffy ... Linda Otter (voice)

Robin Hurlstone ... Walter Boggis (voice)

Hugo Guinness ... Nathan Bunce (voice)
Adrien Brody ... Field Mouse (voice)

As you can see, this movie is stacked with brilliant actors and actresses. But what made me love this movie the most was how original the art of it was. I have never seen a Claymation movie done so beautifully. Now I am not heavily involved in the clay movie-making world, but this is by far one of the coolest movies done with clay that I have seen in a long time. It made my jaw drop. The way the shots were set up, or how they would use the most random household products to make certain effects. Like cotton for smoke. It was brilliance to see all the creativity used in this movie to make it so entertaining. So it was claymation, but then again it wasn’t.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2igjYFojUo

Besides the artwork being so fresh and a change of pace, the writing was pure funny. Instead of saying the F word, they used the word cuss. It was hilarious to hear them use the word cuss after everything. Little kids might not have gotten it, but adults sure did, and it therefore made it really enjoyable to a lot of people.

The soundtrack was a really fun listen. 1. “American Empirical Pictures”*
2. “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” - The Wellingtons
3. “Mr. Fox in the Fields”*
4. “Heroes and Villains” - The Beach Boys
5. “Fooba Wooba John” - Burl Ives
6. “Boggis, Bunce, and Bean”*
7. “Jimmy Squirrel and Co.”*
8. “Love” - Nancy Adams
9. “Buckeye Jim” - Burl Ives
10. “High-Speed French Train”*
11. “Whack-Bat Majorette”*
12. “The Grey Goose” - Burl Ives
13. “Bean’s Secret Cider Cellar”*
14. “Une Petite Île” - Georges Delerue
15. “Street Fighting Man” - The Rolling Stones
16. “Fantastic Mr. Fox AKA Petey’s Song” - Jarvis Cocker
17. “Night and Day” - Art Tatum
18. “Kristofferson’s Theme”*
19. “Just Another Dead Rat in a Garbage Pail (behind a Chinese Restaurant)”*
20. “Le Grand Choral” - Georges Delerue
21. “Great Harrowsford Square”*
22. “Stunt Expo 2004″*
23. “Canis Lupus”*
24. “Ol’ Man River” - The Beach Boys
25. “Let Her Dance” - Bobby Fuller Four

If you are having doubts about seeing this movie, ignore them and go see it. You wont regret it. I promise. It’s worth your time.
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2 comments:

  1. Fantastic Mr. FoxAugust 16, 2011 at 12:25 PM

    Brilliant movie ! Very well written story by writer ! Enjoyed it till the last. It is probably one of the most adult animated films I've seen to date. It is something to be experienced.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 6, 2015 at 7:23 AM

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