Anderson Should've Done Animation All Along

Rating: 8/10 (10 January 2010)

There are many criticisms towards Wes Anderson films, mainly, that they are pretty to look at but do not have much beneath the surface. To that I respond if you do not see anything beneath it's because you are not looking. Fantastic Mr. Fox is like many of Anderson's past endeavors: The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and The Darjeeling Limited. It's centered around the importance of family and what you will do to protect them.
Mr. Fox is fantastic, as his wife and his children, but being fantastic sometimes isn't enough. Tired of the inertia of daily life Mr. Fox steals from the top three farmers in the area in an effort to reclaim some of that, "pure wild animal craziness". Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) seeking a responsible husband to take care of her and her children wants no part of his coop-raiding days and seeks an end to all of it. Unfortunately Mr. Fox does not heed her advice and Boggis, Bunce and Bean launch an all-out war against Fox and his family.
George Clooney was perfect casting for Mr. Fox, the suave, sly and often persuasive head of the Fox family who realizing he is reaching up there in years decides to just be what he is - a wild animal. Uncharacteristic to most of Mr. Clooney's roles, however, is the emotional vulnerability he lends to Mr. Fox. Despite the smooth polished exterior he has created, Mr. Fox is not all that different from his introverted son, Ash.
Anderson's latest brings back some of the fun of Rushmore that Darjeeling lacked and it shows. The earth tones used to create the home of the characters evoke a warm, friendly feeling and ground the story in a way that sometimes The Life Aquatic did not. It really is a pleasure to see stop-motion animation revived and done so well.
Led by an excellent voice cast headed by Clooney, Streep, Schwartzman, Dafoe and Murray(see 9, this what an actual ensemble animation film looks like) each character is fleshed out effectively to avoid cardboard cutouts.