From Art-House To Playroom

Rating: 7/10 (12 February 2015)

A pleasurable children's film sometimes over-infused with adult sensibilities, "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" gives us plenty of charm and character, as well as a sense of director Wes Anderson poking a little fun at himself as noted art-house auteur.
Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) is a retired fowl-thief who feels rather restricted by his new life as a newspaper columnist. When he moves to a new tree with his wife (Meryl Streep) and cub Ash (Jason Schwartzman), the prosperous farms of three mean humans prove too fat and juicy for him to ignore. But a life of crime has a downside, even for a fox as fleet and sly as the Fantastic Mr. F.
As a director of wit and sophistication, Anderson may seem an unlikely candidate for bringing Roald Dahl's children's novel of forest- animal hi-jinks to screen. But Anderson has always had one foot in the water of lost childhood, and his treatment of the source material is clearly a labor of love.
The film also benefits from the stop-action animation employed, giving it the feeling of one of those Rankin/Bass productions from the 1960s and 1970s. The film veers occasionally into twee territory working this vibe, but Anderson's usual directorial style of static compositions and tight close-ups seems a perfect match. At times, Anderson seems to play this up deliberately, pausing on a mealtime scene for one of Anderson's pregnant pauses, followed by the characters devouring their meals in wild-animal mode.
The exchanges scripted by Anderson and Noah Baumbach also reflect this congruence:
"They'll kill the children!"
"Over my dead body they will."
"That's what I'm saying, you'll be dead, too, in that scenario."
"Well, I'm arguing against that."
Anderson's predilection for casting more actors than he has parts is evident here, too, but it kind of works. The usual gang of suspects, i. e. Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Wally Wolodarsky, etc., all provide sterling support as various animal characters, while Michael Gambon shines particularly as Mr. Bean, the nastiest of the human farmers.
It's a more overtly comical offering than you usually get from Anderson. The school Ash goes to has a sign reading "Co-Ed, All Species." The word "cuss" is used as a substitute for a popular profanity, as in "This is going to be a total cluster-cuss for everybody." The humor may play a bit above the heads of little ones at times, but the message of accepting one's differences as strengths rather than weaknesses is cleverly developed. As morals go, it's a pretty good one.
So is "The Fantastic Mr. Fox." At its best, which is often, it brings out the kid in you with its easy charm and pervading sense of wonder. It's not Anderson's greatest film, but it shows why he's worth watching.