(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from Fantastic Mr. Fox)
Doug (vo): So I'm kinda cheating again here, which, if you've watched my Disneycembers, you know you should be used to that by now. Fantastic Mr. Fox is, indeed, a Fox movie, but it was made before Disney bought the company. And I'm not gonna lie, when I saw the trailers, it didn't really impress me. Not that the animation style didn't look good or that I wasn't a fan of Roald Dahl, but there was just something about that time and place where I was starting to get sick of Wes Anderson. And I know you know what I'm talking about. He's that filmmaker you like, but there's a part of you that doesn't want to like him, because he does the same stuff over and over, and it does feel manipulatively formulaic after a while. With that said, I will admit, I've never seen a bad Wes Anderson film. I haven't seen them all like Life Aquatic or Isle of Dogs, but seeing this film not only makes me want to go check those out, it makes me want to look at all his films again. I always liked his movies, but this one bizarrely made me appreciate his films in an entirely new way. I know that sounds really weird, especially if you haven't seen this flick, but let me go into more detail.
Story[]
Doug (vo): Mr. Fox, played by George Clooney, understandably loves to steal chickens and geese and ducks from these three farmers. To him, it isn't just about survival, it gives him a legit thrill. Trying to break in with Mrs. Fox, played by Meryl Streep, they get trapped, she reveals she's pregnant, and she makes him promise that if they get out of this, his risk-taking days are over, he has to think about his family. They get out, she gives birth, and for a while, that's exactly what he does. He lives in a safe foxhole, his son is born, he starts to grow up, he takes on a boring job, and as you would imagine, he gets really bored by it. While doing all this, he's also looking to move in to a really nice tree, take in his nephew Kristofferson, who doesn't get along with his son, Ash, or at least, Ash doesn't get along with him, and avoid the vengeful farmers who are not very happy he's back to his old ways.
Review[]
Doug (vo): Okay, so this doesn't sound like that complex a story, and on the surface, it isn't. There's a lot of familiar notes here, wanting to relieve the good old days, two kids that are trying to get along, trying to keep something from your significant other, a best friend constantly saying he should know better, getting in over your head, and eventually coming to grips with reality and smoothing things over, getting out of that predicament.
(Various footage is shown, focusing on the stop-motion animation)
Doug (vo): There's two things, though, that really does make this film unique. One, as you can clearly see, is the animation style. We've seen stop-motion before, but this particular style, the way the little hairs move all the time, which you know is because the puppeteers' fingers get on them, but every time you see a move, you feel the dedication, you feel the hard work, it's really there. Something about feeling that effort literally in every frame makes them feel so much more alive. I'm sure computers were used once or twice in this, too, but I think the idea is that everything you see is man-made and the computer usually just laid those man-made things on top of each other, like there's a few layers to it. But everything you're looking at physically looks like it's really there. But as you can tell, it's not exactly a Pixar film, they're not gonna have these grand, sweeping landscapes, so what do they do? They work within their limitations and make it really stylized. I mean, look at this. This is clearly just kind of a flat image, but there are some elements that really stand out as 3D, and it just looks beautiful. This style is perfect for this type of writing, because you know Wes Anderson's writing, they're always very dry and bleak and blunt. There's a lot of comedy in Wes Anderson films, but there's not always a lot of smiling. Everything's kind of sad in this deadpan way, yet the characters still strangely have a humanity to them. So the small subtle reactions on these puppets actually do go a long way, even with a lot of zany slapstick stuff going on. But it never feels too cartoony or over-the-top, it's balanced out just the right way.
(Various footage is shown, primarily focusing on the characters)
Doug (vo): The other thing that really makes this film so special is the way it's told. I have no idea what the original Roald Dahl book was like, I get the feeling they're hitting the bullet points, but I just got an inkling it was a different style and a different way of speaking. This has that adult Wes Anderson writing, but it bizarrely works as a family film. I think kids are gonna like kind of the weird way these characters look and talk and the strange atmosphere, and, yeah, again, the more cartoony moments with the slapstick. But then, I think adults are really going to relate to the fact that they talk adult, but they're animals. And what I mean by that is, this opened up my eyes to what Wes Anderson films really are: a study of one's nature versus one's compulsions. Somebody just straight up asks Mr. Fox, "Why do you do what you do? Why do you risk your life, your family's life, all of this?" And he straight up says, "Because I'm a wild animal". And he's right. But at the same time, you know he can also evolve and change. How much of what he naturally is should he shut out and how much should he hold on to? Is it right to repress it? Should he just give into it? Is it a little bit of both? Is it an entirely different answer? Having these creatures talk in such an adult, mature way, but still have this very simple setup, and there are these cute cuddly little animals, in a strange way, kinda makes his point even better than something like Rushmore or Royal Tenenbaums. You just get so much faster where these characters are coming from, because they are wild animals.
(Footage focusing on Ash and Kristofferson is shown)
Doug (vo): And it does lead to some very legit emotional moments. Again, you always have those scenarios where one kid doesn't get along with another and they always kind of fight, and there's one scene where, like, the nephew visiting has a family member who might not live, and the son is telling him, "No, you sleep on the ground, don't be anywhere near me", and he starts to cry. The son climbs down, he just turns on this little model train, and they just kind of watch it, no dialogue, no nothing. And it's exactly what the scene needs. It is so effective. It knows when to use clever dialogue and also when not to use it.
(Various footage is shown, focusing on the farmers and the main characters)
Doug (vo): I feel like I can relate to every single character in this. Even the farmers, I know they're the villains, but their livelihood is being stolen from them. Yeah, I kinda see where they're coming from. I'm still rooting for Mr. Fox, but I relate to them. This movie works on so many levels, and I'm so happy that not only is there a Wes Anderson movie that works for adults, but also for kids, because it is so different from what kids see, and I think will be kind of challenging because of that. But I think the simple story and the relatability will make kids want to watch it, too, and then come back to it years later as an adult and relate to it in a completely different way.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): I'll just say it, this might be my favorite Wes Anderson movie. I know now why everybody was saying I should check it out and critics were praising it and why there's a Criterion version of it. It's overwritten at just the right moments it needs to be overwritten, it's simplified at just the right moments it needs to be simplified. It looks really complex, but also deceivingly simple at the same time. Yes, it's technically the same Wes Anderson stuff you're used to, just in animation with animals, but it's still done the best way it can be done. It's often dry and cold, but also heartfelt and poignant. Wild and zany, but also adult and mature. A run-of-the-mill Wes Anderson movie, but also somehow the best thing he's ever done...eh, for what I've seen. Like I said, I guess I do have a few more films to check out. And not only do I want to see those, I honestly want to watch all his films again to see if I enjoy them more. And really, what higher praise can you give a movie? It literally changed the way I looked at all of an artist's work. I guess there's no other word to use to describe it but fantastic.
(The final scene showing Mr. Fox and his family and friends dancing at a grocery store is shown)