Since its release, Fantastic Mr. Fox has over and over again proved to be just that: fantastic. This is my personal favorite Wes Anderson film as he absolutely nails his style accompanied by a charming story from Roald Dahl. With an exceptionally incredible voice cast and beautiful stop-motion puppetry, this film will stand the test of time as one of the most entertaining and original animated films ever made.
This film, at its core, is truly what Wes Anderson's style is striving to be and it succeeds. The adorable and charming, stop-motion animation not only aids in the peculiar quirkiness of the tone but creates a very interesting world for these animals. The tone of this movie was very storybook-like and had a tall tale vibe that worked so smoothly with the quick storytelling. This is truly where Anderson's style shone the most, as it worked with the story excellently. Even though this film is not exactly what happened in the original book from Roald Dahl, it still manages to be an incredibly faithful adaptation.
The story throughout this film was very well-written and utilized comedy and character development amazingly. The main attraction of this film for, as well as many others I'm assuming, is its quirky humor and fast-paced nature. The humor was incredible and provided enough substance for not only children to enjoy but plenty of adult humor too. This is also a staple of Anderson's films which worked so well here, is that he is able to incorporate adult themes and content to keep all of the different audiences plenty entertained. All of the characters in this film were great too, and very well-developed. It was interesting to see how Anderson gave the different animals their personalities and the voice actors playing them gave them so much life too. The cast, including George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Bill Murray, all fit their furry characters to a tee.
Other aspects that were incredible include the action, message, and visual gags throughout the movie. While this is definitely not an action film, there were many scenes of Mr. Fox and his cast of characters stealing the poultry, apples, and cider from the three evil farmers that were very well choreographed. Many of these platform-like action scenes almost felt like a Rube Goldberg machine in how mechanically mesmerizing they were. The visual gags in this film felt that same way too, as they were obviously well thought-out and created from the mind of someone who truly knew what designs they were aiming for. The message of this movie was very sweet too and will definitely bring a certain amount of warmth to any heart. Its focus was really just loving and supporting your family, no matter what you may go through as an individual. As we saw Mr. Fox struggle with what was wrong and right, he learned that no matter what he went through, his wife and son always had to come before his previous life of theft. There were also some underlying messages about the treatment of refugees and the issue surrounding low-income housing, but this was, of course, more for the adults to ponder.
Fantastic Mr. Fox will always win me over as one of my favorite animated films of all time. The story is creative, the characters are incredible, and despite its quick runtime, manages to truly make the audience feel warm inside. I would strongly recommend this movie to not only fans of Anderson's quirky directing, but for anyone with a good heart.
My Rating: ★★★★
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