Anderson World realized to its utter fantasia pinnacle.

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2010)

It is said that animation is the most pure way of controlling every element of a movie production, and nowhere is this proved more than in Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Viewers familiar with Wes Anderson's world (a self-defined and hermetically closed off alternate reality that remains consistent with each passing movie) are going to find themselves right at home--so much so that it's almost impossible to watch the film as anything other than warm homages to his own emotional topography. Quite literally: story? What story? We're in Wes Anderson Land, where the characters are quirky and the humor is almost always understated.
George Clooney plays Mr. Fox and Meryl Streep Bill Murray Jason Schwartzmann Willem Dafoe Owen Wilson is blah blah blah. You recognize the voices and you especially recognize them from previous Anderson films. The music. Warm-hearted childhood narration with darker undertones. Okay now that we've gotten the basics covered, what's new? THE ANIMATION! Holy cuss but it's pretty! It has the same movement and feeling of the Brothers Quay and Jan Svankmajer, without, you know, the utter disturbing darkness and phantasmagoric splendor. Anderson always loves blocking his shots, as in not only deciding how the action should be blocked but literally putting everything on lateral rectilinear spaces, and the childhood shoe-box diorama feel of this thing is absolutely perfect for his vision. The movement only gets weird when the action gets fast, but otherwise it is hard not to get utterly involved with every little detail of this make-shift fantasia. This movie is at its best in close-up; people who get put off by the uncanny nature of stuffed animal eyes should probably stay home, everyone else will be drawn into them.
Is it fair to discuss this movie solely as an Anderson production without taking into account the demographic it is promoted to? Well unfortunately, I'm not reading much of a positive reaction in kids. I went to see this with my friend because she was babysitting a four and a half year old and neither he nor the children of his general age-group seemed very impressed by the goings-on. Certainly I wouldn't argue that every kid who sees this was or will be turned off by it, but the audience appreciation seemed to come from the adults more in response to the detail and how the movie was made over the story and the characters. The story itself is pretty basic, and the funniest lines of dialog seem to fly right over kids' heads. Like what was expected of Where the Wild Things Are, The Fantastic Mr. Fox is really a nostalgic homage for the 20-30 something crowd, but unlike Where the Wild Things Are it didn't actually end up being a cerebral rumination on childhood, playing instead to Anderson's greatest strength: mop-headed hipsters unapologetic about their inner child and ready to watch some Roald Dahl accompanied by the Beach Boys. Of which, luckily, I am a member, which means the movie made no beef with me.
--PolarisDiB