Review

Review Date: 28-November-09
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

A few days ago I reread a Spotlight that I wrote for Thanksgiving 2002 in which I included Wes Anderson on a list of young directors who promised to keep movies interesting. Having failed to dazzle since then, it is interesting that he now delivers his best work in November with a definite Thanksgiving feel. Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on a book by Roald Dahl, is Anderson's first foray into animation, using old-school craft and state-of-the-art puppets. It is also witty, wacky, fast, and furry fun.

In a perfect mating of voice and character, George Clooney stars as Mr. Fox alongside Meryl Streep as his wife. As the story begins the chicken-snatcher settles down and gets a desk job so he will be safe and respectable while raising a pup. Yet he has marauding in his vulpine DNA so respectability bores him. Trying to scratch this itch, he trades up from an underground den to a tree house. Then he decides to throw caution to the wind and steal from the three richest and meanest farmers in the county — Boggis, Bunce, and Bean, the latter of whom takes charge with the voice of Michael Gambon.

Fox' robberies pull in a host of colorful critters including his possum sidekick (Wally Wolodarsky), his nerdy son (Jason Schwartzman) and his son's nemesis (Eric Anderson), and the family lawyer (Bill Murray), a badger whose own son is the cutest darn thing I have ever seen. Before long Fox is at the center of an all-out war between man and beast in which survival wipes out any thought of boredom.

The Thanksgiving feel derives from a couple of scenes where Fox and his friends pause to take stock of their situation, the first time over a nice meal. Gratitude notwithstanding, an air of melancholy runs through the movie which by no means detracts from its appeal. This relates to the crises that occur within a person (or canine) of a certain age and within societies that have grown soft and synthetic. It goes against the nature of some to live lives of pre-packaged placidity, especially as they get older and wonder "What's it all about?" I reckon many adult viewers will sympathize with Fox' instincts (as well as the arguments for dampening them) as they laugh at the comings and goings of his bushy tail.

Copyright © 2009 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.