I remember reading about Fantastic Mr. Fox right after it was announced and being overjoyed. It was one of my all-time favorite books back in elementary school and until 2006 or so I’d completely forgotten about it. However, it seemed like it was in production for an awfully long time and by the time it was finally released in late 2009, I’d already re-forgotten about it. I wasn’t even aware that it’d finally been released until I saw its letters draped across the re-run board at University Mall about a month ago. I think that with all the acclaim and success of Up, Fantastic Mr. Fox suffered from being released within the same time period as the former.
I honestly had no idea what to expect going into the movie. Part of the intrigue for me was that it was a short and simple book through and through. The characters were all drawn messily on purpose and the villains couldn’t have been any uglier. The lasting memory I have of reading that book is their pale white, English looking faces with gigantic noses and misplaced weird looking moles.
Thus, going into it, I was really curious how the movie would flow, much less the character designs and movements. Wes Anderson’s dry humor coupled with a stop-motion animated feature seemed like a pretty strange marriage and first. Whether purposefully or not, the stop-motion used in Fantastic Mr. Fox is many steps above the few scenes it’s used in Life Aquatic. Where as Life Aquatic‘s animated characters felt jerky and choppy at times, Fantastic Mr. Fox feels extremely refined and thought-out.
The outdoor scenes are what first won me over. Every single blade of grass is visible and moves slightly differently whenever the wind blows upon the hill where Mr. Fox lives. The hairs on Mrs. Fox’s head all rustle with a life like bend as well. The detail and attention paid to the outdoor scenery is just really refreshing. What could be nothing more than a cool sunset looking frame is immediately brought to life as well as the fact that the wind direction leads your eye naturally from one end of the screen to the other.
Another thing that caught my eye that I thought was really well done are the various zoom ins throughout the film. They’re used pretty often but are effective each time. They aren’t random or leave you scratching your head either. For example, when Mr. Fox is trespassing in an apple cider storage cellar, he makes a loud noise that lures Bean to flip on the basement lights and check things out. The camera zooms in to the door and the swings back to a startled face of Mr. Fox. It all feels natural and further adds the element of surprise and alarm to the situation.
Scenes like the above are found throughout the movie. While Fantastic Mr. Fox contains the typical elements of dry humor and dysfunctional conversations that are a Wes Anderson staple, it was really the subtle detail given that made it an enjoyable watch.
