A Film Rich in Text, Texture, Subtext and Fur and Fun Mixture...

Rating: 9/10 (30 July 2017)

Mr. Foxy Fox is voiced by George Clooney, but this isn't just some publicity stunt, Clooney has always been somewhat a foxy guy, handsome, clever in a funny way with a touch of darkness, when he says "I'm just a wild animal", it sounds like something Clooney would say about himself. The actor is no Day-Lewis but he has always been good in that particular range of smooth-talking small-time crooks, whose looks and natural swiftness make him get away with everything except with the one who won't take it. Because, you know guys like Clooney or foxes have their weakest point, which generally coincides with the heart.
Felicity Fox comes only one minute later in the picture. Before, we just saw Foxy warming up a little, he's at the top of his game as number one thief, and in what other job would a fox excel if not stealing? In this movie, animals' personalities are defined by their archetypes but Anderson, faithful to Dahl's spirit, always find a little twist, a way to play with it rather than being chained to it. And the whole tonality of the film indicates that this is a rather adult-oriented movie. Indeed Mrs. Fox comes from the doctor, a few minutes later, during a fox-trap situation; she'll reveal what we didn't dare to suspect. It seems like Fox is caught in a worse trap with no getaway except the promise to go straight.
Meryl Streep has always possessed that homely, motherly authority and creates the perfect contrast with Clooney. Together, they form a more believable couple than any live-action movie. As a matter of fact, it's a miracle how Anderson finds the perfect tone between a ludicrous premise (style-wise) and the authenticity of his characters. His movie is set in a world where humans and animals coexist and seem to live within the same standards, except for one thing: humans have all the rights, they can raise, domesticate, kill and eat animals, this is the only Disney territory where Anderson ventures. But the paradox of anthropomorphic animals confronted to normal humans is one of the film's most creative bits. It's interesting though that the two worlds rarely share the screen.
The film is based on the childhood rhyme about three mean men, Boggus, Bunce and Bean, one fat, one short and one lean, they're three farmers who mind their own business (poultry, duck raising and cider) before they're victim of Fox' robberies. With the help of their new house's attendant Kylie Oppossum (Wallace Wollodarsky), Fox steals from the three farmers and make mortal enemies out of them. The three men will know no rest until they get Fox, digging him out to the point that all the furry animals are forced to live underground and risk starvation. But foxes have more than one trick under their sleeves and thankfully, the plot doesn't just rely on a simple humans vs. animals antagonisms, there are a few demons to overcome within the animalistic characters and Anderson treat them sometimes with the same three-dimensionality than the people from his live-action movies.
In fact, anyone familiar with Anderson's style shouldn't be surprised by the kinship with his films.Anderson is a director who cherishes static shots and linear movements, in perhaps the style that is the closest to comic-books than any other directors or maybe animation à la Hanna-Barbera. In the film, characters run like in the old Atari video games, and the digging looks exactly the same except in the vertical sense. We suspect that the 'artistic license' was also forced by a few budget restrictions and the fact that Anderson isn't an animator from the start, but he finds a way to transcend possible flaws and turn them into old-fashioned visual delights, as the lack of green and blue provided a nice autumnal sepia texture. The eloquence of the scripts makes up for the static moments, many times people talk without necessary looking at each other, which also simplifies the use of stop motions.
Overall, the stop-motion gives a real edge to the film and is perfect for a movie centering on furry and funny characters, each fox has a unique design and fur complexion accentuating the realism (while the human characters are more ordinary looking with the help of CGI). The real thrill of the film comes from the various personalities, and they're surprisingly believable. A masterstroke of characterization is Ash (Jason Schwartzman), the teenage son (two years in fox years) who could have been a little brat or an awkward teenager, like any of the "Incredibles" children, but he's a kid who lives in the shadow of his father, who's bullied because of his short height, who's everything his father is not, and who must suffer from the inevitable comparisons with his cousin Kristofferson, who's everything he's not. I never thought a movie would feature an archetype that has seldom been in movies: the perfect guy.
After two Hayao Miyazaki's movies, which multiply the number of viewings by two to fully get the films' brilliance, my mind needed a rest. I pulled a Monty Python and said to myself: and now for something different. Yes, I needed to see something new, imaginative enough to challenge my perceptions but in a more soothing way. I didn't know what to expect exactly from "The Fantastic Mr. Fox", but that ignorance was perfect, the film was exactly the medication I needed, I longed for something different and maybe the best compliment I can give to this Foxy adventure is that it's like no animated film I've seen before and like no animated film you'll ever see, from beginning to end. And one thing for sure, this Mr. Fox is indeed, fantastic.
And as if ever needed, here's another offering that proves that Wes Anderson is as much an auteur as Miyazaki in the sense that he really invented a style, a form of storytelling that channels his own creativity, in total symbiosis.