Review: The Fantastic Mr Fox
Wes Anderson’s take on the Roald Dahl classic
When indie darling Wes Anderson was announced as the director for the big screen adaptation of The Fantastic Mr Fox, the beloved children’s novel by Roald Dahl, the reaction was, to say the least, mixed. How, some felt, could a Texan director possibly bring to life a book with such a British sensibility? And how, others pondered, could two such disparate voices as Dahl’s and Anderson’s co-exist?
The finished film provides the answers to both these questions and, whilst the cultural xenophobes needn’t have concerned themselves with any notion of cultural imperialism, those fearing a cross-pollination of tones may have had their worries vindicated.
The story centres around the sociopathic Mr Fox (George Clooney) who, after announcing his retirement from chicken hustling to his wife (Meryl Streep), decides his life of writing a newspaper column isn’t as exciting as he may have hoped and, instead, plans one last big heist (in a neat, inter-textual nod to the Ocean’s series). With his opossum confidante Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky), Mr Fox sets about his task in stealing from the three farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean, despite the reservations of his lawyer Badger (Bill Murray). It transpires that Badger’s advise was well-founded as the three farmers, each equally mean, seek revenge on the perpetrator of the robberies – a revenge that may have ramifications not just on Mr Fox and his family but rather the whole animal kingdom.
Whilst more or less retaining the general plot of Dahl’s book, Anderson has no qualms in imposing his own trademarks. The Futura typeface, the Kubrick-esque symmetry of composition, the sixties soundtrack, the kooky clothing choices and the disintegrating family unit at heart of all of Anderson’s films are all present and correct here. What Anderson also retains is his light, breezy tone; his sense of awe in the banal and the imperfect that permeates a joie de vivre throughout his oeuvre. Conversely Dahl’s original tome is something much more sinister; his writing has a bleak, dark feel. Tonally the two could not co-exist and as such the success of the film depends on a personal preference for either Anderson or Dahl. Searching for a pitch perfect adaptation of the book would be a misstep.
Similarly looking at The Fantastic Mr Fox solely as a “kid’s” film would be wrong. Yes, the film is animated but that is hardly a barometer by which to measure a target audience. With jokes about existentialism, references to platinum cards and a cameo from Jarvis Cocker that are clearly not aimed at children, it is clear that Anderson has taken the source material and used it as a launch point for a very personal film. However, by interjecting his own personality onto the project, Anderson has created a piece of work that is warm, delightful and, in trademark style, oddly, zanily profound.
It would be inexcusable to end this review without a remark about the films stunning aesthetics. Rivalling the works of Nick Park, Fantastic Mr Fox is gorgeously animated in stop motion; within each slight movement it is possible to feel the love and attention that went into the finest, slightest of details. The feeling of deflation and demoralisation felt when watching a film with shoe-horned 3D effects tacked on for marketing purposes is the exact opposite of the sense of wonder spent in but a few moments company with Fantastic Mr Fox. Wes Anderson may not have made the perfect Roald Dahl adaptation but he has made something equally as delightful; a film with spirit and joy pouring from the screen, a film imbued with ecstatic hilarity. In short, a fantastic Wes Anderson film.
