Has its place

Rating: 6/10 (14 December 2009)

Didn't quite meet expectations but still okay I guess. Wes Anderson is definitely a director who carries specific traits to all his films and although I enjoyed "The Darjeeling Limited", and "Rushmore" wasn't BAD or anything, I still don't get the fuss over "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (is it the ironic surreal "humour"? the soundtrack? Bill Murray?). To sum up Anderson's tac to film-making is simple: "off-beat, ironic, absurdist sense of humour". However, it often fails, and in the case of "Fox", the frequent (yet sparsely successful) stabs at humour arguably get in the way of what could (and again arguably should) be a whacky inventive narrative. Despite this, the film was an interesting experience - most notably because I initially persisted to attempt to view it as a child's film - when on the whole, it really isn't and it's plain to conclude from a number of conversations that it really wanted to be 'adult' and swear and talk about sex. Considering the reputation of the title's original novel, this is a reality that ultimately couldn't materialise - which is a real shame because I think the humour might have actually worked if it could. I wasn't entirely impressed by the soundtrack either sadly. If perhaps Anderson had asked Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo to write music like he has done on so many occasions already (suitably a veteran in soundtrack-writing for children's programming -repeat 'children's'), I could be claiming different. I won't say the movie's bad because honestly, it isn't really. Most Roald Dahl stories, no matter how wide a film treatment can be, always seem to wind up finishing excellent and though I probably wouldn't choose to watch this film again, it has its place.